The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Who uses their truck as a truck?

288 bottles of beer in the bed, 288 bottles of beeeeeerr
Take one down, pass it around, 287 bottles of beer on the wall.

You must have been really thirsty!!

JW got pulled into duty yesterday to run some errands. Had a to get a valve spring compressor and some other odds and ends. The tailgate also served as an ergonomically-friendly work bench to do some valve train measuring on my son’s mustang project.

After a 6 week nap, truck needed a few seconds of cranking to fill the bowl, and then lit right off. Ran smooth and restarted easy for the 3-4 stops I had to make.

An old Chevy doing what it can to get an old Fjord back on the road…..

Nothing like a Father and Son project...

That's some important cargo there. Both in the cab and the bed!

X2 for TUTS 59's comment there JW51!

It’s way more good than bad. Glad to be doing it.

But it’s not quite the fairytale most Dads (myself included) probably picture in their heads.

My advice: Don’t pick a Fjord project for this kind of adventure. And if you do, make sure it’s already a driveable project.

Ohh Come on now, where's your sense of adventure...

If that is a picture taken yesterday, I want to know why the ground isn't white, you could be in your shirt sleeves if it's above 32 degrees!

He was in a t shirt when we started. Sun was setting and temps ~plummeted~ into the lower 60s, so he went to get a light jacket.

Speakin' of......Here's the green turd hauling our daughter's '65 m00stang motor a few years ago.

Hauled a bunch of mulch, garden soil, and pea gravel today. A heavy load in the back sure smooths out the ride.

Great old Roy is back to work, Better thank him with some hammer dolly work on that fender.

Oh man! plummeted to the low 60's, how do you work outside in that terrible condition? It's a freakin' skatin' rink up here, we had several inches of snow, then warm and rain, now in the teens. I'll have to run the furnace in the barn to work on the wife's car but I'm grateful to have it.

Ya, that fender had no damage. I think it was a welding truck or something with a steel flat bed that gouged it in a loading dock or parking lot.

That’s like real work! Not my lame-o parts store run and tailgate project.

78buckshot -

It was a super nice day. Too nice not to drive the old rig around.

We actually do get some version of a winter. But nice thaws in between cold fronts. My pond ALMOST froze over enough to be safe for skating a couple weeks ago. If it had, would have been only the second time in 10-ish years.

Had to go get Alfalfa..
Mount Shasta in background!
Awesome day after three storms back to back.
Todd

Todd - Another outstanding pic! Love that background!

It is truly "Awe" inspiring . We are very blessed to live here!
Todd

Hi fellow Stovebolters

Been away from the old Chevy trucks for a while but I am about to procure another one.

I really enjoy reading about the guys on here that are using their trucks as trucks and that makes me think about when I had my last old Chevy truck...it was a 1953 Chevy 3800 that I swapped out the rear end for 1985 Blazer rear end and added disc brakes to the front axle (swapped it to a 1/2 ton axle)...it was also changed over to 12 volts...pretty much an old truck still...

I see the pictures posted and it appears as thou you guys that actually can use your trucks as trucks live in a more rural setting than I do...

I would love my next old truck to be used as a truck...but where I live....I would get run over...

So do you guys live out in the sticks?

My story probably does not relate well to most of the members here. My first 4 wheeled vehicle in high school in 1972 was a '67 Chevy 1/2 ton, I have since owned and daily driven 12 other GM trucks. My 1957 Chevrolet 2 ton is all about my hobby of keeping old things useful. I don't really daily drive the '57 but I have used it to run errands and just jump in it sometimes to play with it. I live in a rural township between Detroit and Lansing Michigan, about 25-30 miles from Ann Arbor. I upgraded to a 2 speed rear differential with better gearing than the original single speed and now the truck can run close to 65 mph if I don't mind the screaming 4000+ rpm and horrendous fuel consumption. I can stay up with traffic on the 2 lane blacktop roads that are my main arteries to town, church, parts, etc. If it wasn't for the 5-6 mpg fuel consumption, I would use it much more. I go to small local car shows with it where it gets quite a bit of attention due to the semi-rare cab.

I like running my 1946 EC152 during the week when most tailgaters are working.

I'm 15 miles from the nearest (small) town, and almost a mile from the nearest paved road. I can spend all day walking around my little 100 acre place and never set foot on the same area twice- - - -or trespass on any of the neighbors. Not that most of them would mind if I did. There's only one horse's behind in the neighborhood. I guess that qualifies as being "out in the boondocks"! The best thing I've done in the past 45 years was move out of the Nashville Tennessee metro area!

Hi Mike C (or are you Howard? ),

I'm probably the exception on this board in that all I ever drive and own are antique cars AND I live in Atlanta (city limits). As anybody who's been to Atlanta will attest, rush hour is almost a 24/7 deal around here.

My truck has its 216, 3spd, 4.11:1 rear end, Huck brakes, no seat belts, and its top speed is 60-65mph. I don't find it to be difficult to get around on the freeways here despite either the heavy traffic or 70-80mph drivers during the rare non-rush periods. I drive it night and day, rain or shine.

In fact, one of the other guys on this board ( hcb3200 ) saw me tooling along I-285 one day. I stay in the right lane and drive 55-60mph. It's no big deal.

I also don't have any unrealistic performance expectations for Ol' Roy. I understand the vehicle's limitations and don't over-drive the truck.

Needed to pick up some lengths of copper tubing ($$$erious ouch)

Welded up a few outrigger brackets and went off to the supply house….

Wow! What are you using that large diameter copper for? Surely not for a drain.

1-1/2”….. fab’ing more handrails
Chuck

Nice.

Nice work! How do you join the pieces together? Some kind of sleeve on the inside?

T-5 overdrive transmission and the appropriately geared rear axle will take care of being run over.
I have a '50 with a T-5 with .73 overdrive, 4.65 rear geared 2001 Nissan Xterra limited slip rear end, and 30.5" skinny radial tires on factory rims. I can probably pull a stump and drag it down the road at 65 MPH without lugging the engine or going over 2800 RPM.
I need to do that someday and have somebody video it.

Yes, internal fittings, 1-1/4 couplings and fitting cups match ID of 1-1/2 type ‘L’, I cut off the solder cups on the long turn 90s and slip in a sleeve.
Thechallenge is to get them soldered strong, pretinning and such, going to be TIG brazing some of the internals on this next location. The slight 22 degree mitred bends just cut a wedge out of a 45 and fold it to the shallow angle, will braze those this time.…

Looks like quite a project.
I'm curious as to why you hauled the pipe on the driver's side. Normally you see that on the passenger side.

I'm going to guess that it's because he might lock the doors if he has to make a second stop. The door lock is on the passenger side only.

Chuck, that truck is beautiful. Show more pictures.

I would rather have the extensions on my side for a better visual, they do extend slightly beyond the fender. But you’re right, when I started in the trade recoppering houses they were on the passenger side (of that dodge van).

Don’t have many pix of my own truck, most just document work as I go along, second pic is with the repo grill it came to me with, 1st is with the oe grill I found and had restored locally.

Chuck

Did Ferguson give you a deal on the short stick? I built a hand rail several years ago using copper pipe and fittings 'cuz it was quick and easy to follow the odd stairway, it was in one off my rental properties and I'm surprised it didn't disappear as scrap. A pricey handrail now days.

Hah! No deals on copper these days, especially ‘L’… I cut some off each as I know what lengths I need, kept the length within spec for the 2 brackets I made up, for full 20’r I would add a third support up from the front bumper…..
I priced having those (shown) handrails fab’d in molded steel, at just over $4k I blinked…..

When I was still an active HVAC tech (Refrigeration Pipefitter Journeyman), I would just strap pipe to one of my extension ladders on the roof of the van. It wasn't very often that I had to carry 20 footers as the company had parts runners that would bring us materials to the job site. Our Local has Gas Distribution jurisdiction for All of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and part of Tennessee, we turn out some pretty impressive, qualified pipe welders. Now that I only have to worry about my house and the family lake house, I won't be fabricating any more copper or steel handrails, and I have the 15 foot grain box on the '57 when I need to haul something long. You have fun with that project and be safe!

These are not current but One is my '36 headed off to the cabinet shop with our Kitchen Island when we built our house in 2018. The other is the truck in "semi truck mode" helping to rescue a 1928 Fruehauf trailer from an old dairy farms loafing shed.

35mike, that is a great piece of history, the Fruehauf trailer and the fifth wheel are priceless. Go to the Fruehauf website and read through the history, he invented the Semi-trailer.