The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1951 Chevy 3100 “Alaska Road Commission” - A restoration saga

This saga begins in March of 2015 with my son-in-law, who lives in Juneau, sending me a link to a Craigslist ad for a 1951 Chevy pickup that was originally owned by the Alaska Road Commission, a Federal agency charged with developing roads in Alaska that traces it's roots to 1905. For those interested HERE's the wikipedia article about the ARC. I had always liked the style since my dad’s plumbing shop truck was a 1951 GMC ¾ ton, and I worked for him in summers when I was going to high school and college. Picture #1.

Since I was nearing retirement I needed a project to work on so as not to annoy my wife too much hanging out at home. Don’t remind her about how she wound up losing her garage - she’s still not happy about it. But maybe I can blame that on my son-in-law.

So I gathered up a buddy and we drove about 50 miles north of Anchorage to look at it. The thing that sold me on a restoration as opposed to modifying it was the brass label screwed to the valve cover indicating that it had a short block installed in 1954. Since it was a fleet truck, it must have been rode hard and put away wet. The most recent registration was from 1982, and it was pretty complete, although a rust bucket, with the front floor gone, along with cab supports. The cowl had been kinked where the fenders bolted on, so the cowl panels needed replacement. The right front fender was bent up and eventually deemed unrestorable. It was painted blue with LOTS of the original Orange showing through, and had a white top on the cab with some stupid looking mickey mouse ear turn signal lights on top. I made the guy an offer a bit below his asking price, and he agreed. We agreed that I would pick it up within a couple weeks. I conned a co-worker into borrowing his dad’s tilt trailer with winch, asked another buddy if I could keep it at his place for a while and we picked it up.

April 2015- THE BED

The first order of business was working on the bed, which needed some serious repair, with the wood being totally rotten . I took my O/A torch out and got to work, cutting the bolts attaching the bed to the frame, discovering that a previous owner had tried remounting it with some rubber donuts in place of the wood blocks. I removed the wood with my bare hands as well as some of the bed strips. The left side of the tailgate was only attached with the chain hook, the hinge mounting and stake pocket being rusted away, so that made removal pretty easy. The Barden style bumper needed to come off, then the rear fenders, using the “tighten the bolts till they snap“ removal method. The rear bed cross sill was cut with the torch near each side, and the front panel unbolted from the bedsides to get the pieces into my F250 for the trip home. Sections of 4” steel pipe had been welded to the frame arch above the rear axle in the fashion of overload coils, but they didn’t have much “give” so they got cut off. There was also a nasty looking home built upper shock mount that had to go, but that could wait.

Welcome to the Project Journal Forum. I am really happy to see you start your Journal here in the Project Journal forum. You really did start with quite a project, and it’s role with the Alaska Road Commission did merit a restoration. I’m looking forward to your updates knowing where your build is presently at and again Welcome!

Thanks, Phil. Stay tuned for more episodes. Unfortunately quite a few were lost in the "What did you get done on your 'bolt today" thread. I'll have to resurrect those from the dates on my photos.

June 2015 - Front Bed Panel

My first repair was to replace the lower section of the front bed panel. I had a sheet metal shop bend up a piece of metal to replace the lower 4 inches or so and welded that in. This was the first welding I had done with the new MIG machine I bought for the project. Being somewhat of a newbie at sheet metal welding, I managed to get it slightly warped and had to work at getting it flat again. I had to dig up some of my experience in restoring a Model A pickup back in the 1960's to get that done. Then I started tackling the bed sides that had rust thru spots along the angle strips and at the fender mounting holes. I noted the hole locations for the fender bolts and cut out the rusty metal and welded in new pieces of 16 gauge steel, then redrilled the holes. The right side rear stake pocket was trashed, so that got removed, also.

October 2015 - Repair of the rear fenders

After a time out for fishing season, next up was repair of the rear fenders. This was where I got a good education in metal forming. No patch panels existed for the rear section of the fenders where the Barden style bumper had been bolted. Both sides needed work there, especially the passenger side, which had hole in it that needed a patch of about 6” high by 18” long. The mounting flanges of both rear fenders had some serious rust also, so I cut replacements for the doublers used there. I bought a neat little drill mounted nibbler, which made cutting out the flange doublers pretty easy. Also used the nibbler to cut out areas that needed to be patched on the fenders. But I had to be careful to pick out the little crescent shaped bits of steel from my shoes to keep from incurring my wife’s wrath by tracking them into the house.

The damage to the rear fender on your truck looks nearly identical to the damage on the fender of the truck in your black and white photo.

Yeah, but my damage was to the RF fender. That got replaced.
Not sure of the make (International?) of that truck at the right of the B&W photo, but that was a pretty sizeable dent.

Oh ya, I just now see the vents on the cowl. I thought it was the rear fender.

November 2015 - More Fender patching

I bought patch panels for the front of the rear fenders, along with a bunch of other patch panels, including cowl, floor sections, front cab mounts, the right rear stake pocket, and anything else I needed. I continued working on patching the rear fenders, making pretty good progress on all the chunks that were rusted away.

January 2016 - Patching the giant hole

It was finally time to address that giant hole in the passenger rear fender. I researched stump shrinking on the web, and rounded up a stump and started beating a patch panel into shape. Once it was pretty close, it got welded in place.

February 2016 - Tailgate repair - not usable

I had found a local guy advertising parts on Craigslist, so met up with him the previous summer and bought a right front fender and a tailgate from him. I discovered the tailgate was missing the hinge socket on one side, so got that from my original roached tailgate and welded it in. I also patched a couple of popped loose spot welds and a small hole. Soon afterward, I discovered that someone had cut an inch off each side so it would fit a slightly narrower pre-1946 bed. That's still sitting in the garage waiting to find someone with a pre-46 pickup that needs a decent tailgate.

March - May 2016 - Patching rear fenders

I welded in patch panels I had bought for the front where the running boards attach. Not wanting to lose the bolt hole locations, I marked those with triangulation dimensions on the part of the fender that was not cut away.

May 2016 - Tracking down the logos for the doors

My son-in-law had found a picture on the web in an article by a fellow who worked for the Alaska Road Commission back in the 50’s as a bridge engineer. I was able to contact him and he sent me a higher quality picture of himself standing in front of his assigned ARC pickup. I was able to use that to create a file to reproduce the logo, which a co-worker agreed to print onto vinyl for me (that’s still a work in progress as of July 2024.)

that is a outstanding find and great work of research. great job. I really like the truck that go back to what they where restorations. I have a few projects in mind.

That is going to look authentic when you’re done. Nice job preserving a little bit of history!

June 2016 - Rear and Front fender repair

Still working on the rear fenders. Also did some minor patching of the front fender that I bought. It had a few cracks near the mounting flange and at the lower rear that needed fixing.

July -August 2016 - Back on the bed side

Got back to work on the left bed side, including fixing the incorrect bolt hole location for the tailgate hinge. It seems that it had been manufactured with the holes off by about ¼ inch. Not wanting the tailgate to be lower on one side, I had to fix that, welding a nut inside for the upper hinge bolt. The bed side needed a patch at about every fender hole, as well as along the angle strip for the wood. Also retrieved the trashed stake pocket stops. I fabricated replacements, but needed a sheet metal brake to do that. But a prior employee worked at a company that had a giant press brake and they bent them up for me after I had cut them out. The last pic shows the replacements alongside the best of the originals.

September 2016 - Working on running boards
Got back out to my buddy’s place where the cab and chassis were and removed the seats, seat frame, adjusters, and running boards. Found a treasure behind the seat in the form of a pan gasket in the original GM packaging. The running boards were pretty rusted out and all the mounting brackets would need to be replaced. I made up a location sheet for replacing the mounting brackets and proceeded to remove the old rusty items.

November 2016 - More running board work

Working on the running boards required building a press to reform the ribs back into shape. Also needed to burn up a bunch of welding wire patching rust holes and thin spots on the tops of the ribs. I also built a prying tool from some scrap steel for straightening the edges of the running boards.

January 2017 - Kind of a slow month.

I built a slapper for dent work out of an old spring leaf I had laying around (who doesn’t have one of those?) I also saved exhaust bending cards that were shared by a stovebolt member for future use.

I went by the local muffler shop a few days ago to see if they could make me a tailpipe, and he gave me the deer in the headlights look, insisting on having the truck or a wire pattern. I was able to look at a couple videos and figured out how to do it, I just don't have a bending machine. Maybe I can bend a pattern for him from welding rod, since the truck isn't quite mobile yet.

March - April 2017 - Sandblasting

Had the fenders, bedsides and front bed panel sandblasted and primered. I had the blaster do the running boards but left them unprimered so I could do more welding on them. Got a thumbs up on my metalwork from my co-worker’s dad who owned a body shop. I finished welding the flange doublers that I had fabricated on the rear fenders.

June 2017 - Moving it home

My buddy’s wife finally put her foot down and said “that old truck has to go,” so I rented a u-haul trailer and drug it home. I discovered that in the meantime, one of the tires had gone flat and the brakes had seized up on one wheel. We finally managed to get it winched on to the trailer and in the last little bit, the brakes released. That made it a bit easier to roll off the trailer. Here he is at his new resting place next to my garage.

Kevin, you're doing a great job setting this out. I'm guessing there will be many links back to this page for folks who are asking questions in the Shops area. On behalf of everyone, thanks.

Peggy, I've got a few more episodes drafted, but as I mentioned, need to get on the road for tomorrow's show. Should have more progress on the PJ with pics soon.

October 2017
I built an engine dolly from some scrap tube steel in prep for engine removal. Removed the front clip. It came off pretty easily as most of the bolts between fenders and cab had rusted away. For lifting, I just hooked on to the inner fender brace rod brackets, the radiator came with it, and was balanced pretty well. Got a look at the USS Missouri reinforcement of the radiator support. YIKES!! Also discovered that the front crank seal had been leaking, collecting a bunch of crud in the crossmember. Disassembled the front clip and worked on straightening upper and lower radiator aprons. Welded patches on the LF fender.

November 2017
Continued patching upper radiator apron. Straightened and patched LF inner fender. Stripped paint from inner fenders. Prepped running board reinforcements for welding on to running boards.

No pics of the work.

January 2018

Disassembled and straightened the grille. Photos taken so I'd be able to reassemble it. Note the notches to locate the inner and outer bars together. Discovered that I'd need some replacement grille bars, as some were too far gone to use. Drilling stake pockets for fabricated stops.

March 2018
Continued disassembling grille. Straightened and removed paint on purchased used RF fender. I discovered a lead repair on that fender at the saddle just inboard of the headlight. I removed the lead and straightened the area using hammer and dolly. Wondered why they'd bother to use lead, as it wasn't a bad defect. I bought two engine stands and modified them to build a cab rotisserie. Had to buy another welder to modify the engine stands. Straightened RR and LF fenders.

May 2018

Welded in stake pocket stops. Welded replacement RR stake pocket to bed side.

July 2018

Designed and fabricated rotisserie brackets for bolting to hinge locations. Stripped all the stuff out of the cab interior, removed steering wheel and pitman arm. Removed wiring harness and tagged locations. Cleaned up pedals and gauges. Repaired cracked steering column support. It had been stressed because of the cab supports rusting away.

August 2018

Removed hood trim and latch panel. Straightened hood a bit. Had a couple bolts break on the striker nut plates so drilled those out and retapped the threads.

September 2018

Pulled the cab off the frame and mounted it on the rotisserie. Discovered an interesting rear cab mount during the cab removal process. Power washed the cab and moved it into the garage to start repairs.

October 2018

Repaired driver’s side A pillar and removed rocker. Repaired B pillar and rear cab support (pic) Removed rusted gas tank brackets and fabbed a floor patch with reinforcing rib. Straightened and patched firewall.

November 2018

Derusting and painting body mount shackles. Visited a friends shop to use his sheet metal brake and stretcher to fabricate patches for transmission opening supports and the bottom of the seat riser corner. Patched transmission floor opening with fabbed supports. Removed windshield and rear window. Removed some cab dents and welded up rust holes. Cleaned up door hinges.

Great article. Awesome project👍👍👍👍

Thanks.
And thanks for the reminder to get a few more episodes posted up. I've been slacking off.

April-June 2019

Spring found my wife and I on a road trip to collect parts for the project and show her parts of America she hadn‘t seen before. We started out on Monday April 22 with our F250 headed down the Alcan. We found out when planning the trip that not many places to stay were open along the Alcan, so did a few 500+ mile days. We got down to Seattle and met up with our daughter for a quick visit, then picked up a new truck camper in Tacoma, then headed East to Spokane to pick up a cargo trailer. On the way there we stopped in Sprague, WA where we found a bunch of old Chevy trucks and other makes to gawk at. While in Spokane, found a wrecking yard with a burnt out AD truck and got a spare tire carrier setup. Next stop was near Coeur d’Alene where we met with Gary Severence who had quite a few parts I could use.

Then some stops in Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore for some touristy stuff, then east thru the sand hills of Nebraska. We stopped by the little farm towns where my dad and mom were born just 35 miles apart, even though they never met till they wound up in California. In Seward, Nebraska, saw an AD Chevy pickup at a place that did frame setups for them, so stopped and talked with them for a bit. They told me about a wrecking yard in Wymore, NE where they got the cabs they used for mockups of their frames, so drove down there and browsed a bit. I found a front bumper with splash apron and drug it thru the mud about ¼ mile out of the back of the yard.

We spent the night with a cousin in Omaha then visited my wife’s sister in Ames, IA. After that we headed south to Independence, MO to pickup a big order of parts from Jim Carter. From there, we went OKC to pick up parts from Mar-K and then to visit with Martin (Justhorsenround) in El Reno. After a lunch with Martin and Kathy, we headed west on parts of old Route 66 (the dentist’s friend) and then down to Ruidoso, NM to meet up with Eugene (Alaska Gasser) and Jackie. We continued to SoCal to visit with my Mom and sisters for a few days, then north with a side trip to Yosemite, and another short visit with our daughter in Seattle. On the way North out of Seattle, we filled up the trailer with a machine tool that a friend needed transported. Then back home to Alaska. The trip was 12,500 miles and 45 days.

June 2019

OK enough playing. Back to work.

Welded new running board reinforcements and mount brackets on. Shot some epoxy primer on the new tailgate and bed cross-sills I picked up from Mar-K. Cut out rusted floor section and fabricated a patch. Got the under-seat floor depression formed using a plywood sandwich and beat the metal in to the right shape. Also got the little swimming pool shaped depression at the corner of the seat riser formed using the plywood sandwich and a wood tool. Marked out some dimensions of holes at the sides of the firewall in preparation to cutting rusted metal away. Cut away rusted corner of the seat riser after marking locating dimensions for the patch piece.

Missed the photo of the bed parts in primer.

Loved your 12,500 mile trip visiting friends and family, national parks and last but most importantly, truck parts! Got a camper and inclosed trailer in the process. You are not only a talented restoration artist but a schemer to boot. Great job!

That is neat to see the sign still in place .🪒

LOL! Yeah the National Parks bit was needed to get the wife on board. We also visited the Botanical Garden in Wichita. She's a big gardener.

July 2019

Dug out the heater and tested and painted the core. This one was painted a hammered green color, which seemed a bit rare. I have tried matching the color, but without much success, so will eventually paint the housing with the usual Rustoleum Hammered Bronze color that’s a pretty close match to the more common bronze colored heaters. Also arranged for a sandblaster to come to the house and sandblast the cab. He set up a tent and went after it, spending nearly all day. I also managed to track down a nice used air compressor, a 60 gallon vertical 5 HP unit

August - September 2019

After spending some time working on my boat (complete rewiring), got into welding patch panels on the cab. Started with the bottom of the passenger side A-pillar, and replacing the rocker panel.

December 2019

Restored the gauge cluster. Used decals from Jim Carter, along with a replacement glass and bezel.

January 2020

Worked on straightening the front bumper splash apron that I drug out of that wrecking yard in Nebraska. Someone apparently wrapped a chain around it and the bumper and crushed it in the center. I welded some tabs on it and tried stretching it back out with some all-thread and wound up building a fixture to stretch it back into shape. I finished it off by flattening it with the press I built to straighten the ribs on the running boards. Also worked on installing the passenger side inner cab corner and floor patching around the battery opening. Installed the rocker on the passenger side. Fit and installed the passenger side cab corner.

February 2020

Worked on patching the passenger side of the firewall, fitting inner cowl, inner-to outer cowl panel and outer cowl panel. Fitting passenger side floor.

March 2020

More fitting of passenger side cowl & floor, including reinforcement of transmission opening. Welding passenger side floor in place, fitting and welding flange on toeboard panel.

Still March 2020 (it was a busy month)

Welding in passenger side floor support. Fitting driver side floor patch panel with recess. Fitting driver side rocker panel & inner cab corner. Welding floor patch in place. Trimming floor patch. Fitting driver side floor panel. Fitting seat riser patch.

Your metalwork skills and tenacity to get it right is impressive. Great work and thanks for the great detailed narrative. It will no doubt help guide other ‘Bolters thru their issues.

Thanks, Phil. As of that latest date, the bulk of the metalwork was done. Then got on to the tedious part of getting the exterior parts ready for paint. Still working on more posts running thru all the pics.

That hammered green is nice .I have the same round heater that is the same colour and another spare that was grey .When I refurbished my recirculating heater I was looking for the hammered paint and realized mine was a silver originally. I think the heaters may have been a different color for chev/gmc .

Kevinski, I recall another bolter had a green heater as well, back when I was looking into it. Maybe it's a Canadian thing, as this truck may have been driven up thru Canada and they had the heater installed en-route to Alaska. This heater definitely had a "Chevrolet" sticker on it. I sure wish there was a close match in green hammered paint. If so, I'd put it back the way it came to me (less the rust of course.)

KL ,
You inspired me to get after my leaky Heater Core. I was dreading taking it back out of my truck. But last summer when it started to leak i install pex tubing ball valves in line of the heater hoses and put it on the back burner. It took me less than five minutes to remove it from the truck. probably just was putting it off because of past experiences with other vehicles and heater boxes being such a PITA.
Luckily I had another heater box that came with my truck and that one tested good with no leaks. When taking apart the unit I had in the truck I also discovered mine to be a shade of blue green on the back side and inside the box that you speak of. Shined up nice with rubbing compound.
Headed to my local Lowes. They had quite an assortment of hammered colored paints. Gonna see what I can find.

Jeff, If you find a paint that matches, I'd sure like to know what you find.

No luck. Nothing even close. I bought matte hammered black. Looks gray.

A little different logo but same green

I saw that Rustoleum has hammered clear coat. That might be an option if the base color could be matched to the color of the heater.

April 2020

Spent some time patching seat adjuster mounting point. It got beat up pretty severely with chunks cracked out. I welded in a patch to secure the seat adjuster. Checked the fit of the driver’s side floor/toeboard patch and inner cowl patch. As you can see there’s a fairly large gap that needs to be fixed on installation.

May 2020

Working on installation of driver’s side floor/toeboard patch panel and inner cowl panel.

June 2020

Working on driver’s side inner cowl panel and inner-to-outer cowl panel. Trimming and fitting outer cowl panel.

June 2020 (another busy month)

Working on doors. Removing run channel and recording clip locations (wound up using screws in place of clips.) Weld repair on loose door latch and building up worn areas. Working out crease on passenger door. Welding in outer cowl panel.