The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1941 Chevy HD Dump Truck - New Project

Gents,

I just picked up a new project. I'm looking for any information about it. So far I know that it's a 1941 Chevy HD dump truck. The PO thinks it was originally destined for military service, but ended up being routed to private hands.

It has the 2 speed rear end. There's couple of things I've noticed that are different from other 1941s and I wasn't sure if they're factory or mods. The most obvious is the fuel tank. I've only seen 1941s with the filler neck behind the passenger door not a frame mounted tank.

Anything anyone can tell me about her from looking at it?

Plans for now are to make her road worthy.

That's a cool truck. Does it run? I noticed the new looking West Coast mirrors.

Well, I just want say what great find of a truck anybody could love!
We would all enjoy lots of pictures, I’m sure.
Good luck on fixing and driving!

Welcome to the Bolt!
I've always been partial to the '41 - '46 style of truck. Tell us more about it when you geta chance, and keep us posted on your progress.

Hawk - You'll find a wealth of initial knowledge in this 1941 Chevrolet Truck PDF. Lots of reading in that to start learning. You can also see other info in this 1941 Chevrolet Truck Dealer handout.

Welcome to Stovebolt and keep posting pictures and updates on your project!

Thanks for the welcome guys.

Her status... I put a new battery in. Still 6 volt. I cut the fuel line so I wouldn't suck any of the old fuel into the system. It cranked, but the wires got crazy hot. Obviously a short. So I spent the day yesterday doing some rewiring. There was a lot of electrical tape and tons of wiring sins. It went well and she spins over nicely. Unfortunately she didn't fire. The coil tested good and I tried filing the points. I decided to just buy replacements so I know what I'm starting with.

This probably isn't going to be a full resto. I do know that I'm making it road worthy so I can use it. I'll fluff her up a little and probably paint it at some point. I'll be going through all the hydraulic system seals, the PTO, tranny and rear end etc.

The truck is all in visually good condition and complete, but it's like she's been packed in cosmoline with all the grease and oil protecting the underside.

She needs brakes and tires. I think I'm going to try for wheels too. The ones that are on it seem to be a little rough. I've been researching that. What I've found is that the dually wheels are 10 on 7.25" with a 4.75" hub and they're hub centric. Apparently newer 10 bolt wheels are 5.25" so I might go with that and bushings.

If any of my info is off, please correct me. I'd appreciate it!

Here are some pics as I've been moving along.

A few more things I found today. Turns out the motor in it that was rebuilt in 1953 was a 1937 216 according to the casting number. It was bored .060" over and I'm not sure about the stroke. If they used a 235 crank with the 3.9375" stroke then at least it's still a 235.

Would it have been normal to convert it to a pressurized oil system back then on a rebuild or would it still be splash lubed? I'd Imagine new rods would have been used with bearings instead of the Babbit bearing, but who knows.

Those wheels are nice. Sandblast and paint them as long as they aren't the deadly Firestone RH-5 type split rims.

I doubt that they converted that engine to full pressure oiling with a 235 crank back in 1954. Back then, reconditioned babbitted rods were readily available and were likely used. That's engine's likely still a spray oiler. If you pull the pan, you'll see the spray nozzles and dipper troughs installed in the bottom of the pan.

I have some awesome news. She's alive! After filing and setting the points and a little persuading with fuel down the carb, she fired up. Once I saw her fire I set up an external fuel tank and off we went. Clutch was stuck initially so I pushed it in and side stepped the pedal a couple times then turned it over in gear. She freed up. Idles nice and smooth so I tried the pto and raised the bed. Worked flawlessly.

Pretty psyched right now. So next on the agenda will be to pull the wheels off and check out the brakes. The brake pedal goes to the floor. It might be just a bad line or something.

What's that aluminum canister on the firewall? Is it a remote brake reservoir? I'd be inclined to think the MC is bad/gunked up.

The aluminum canister is just an IV style fuel supply that I made for when I'm working on motorcycles with the tank removed. Obviously it comes in handy for other things too.
The brake system is 84 yrs old and I'm sure has seen better days so I'm going to go through from wheel cylinder to master so there are no surprises.
Something else I'm going to think about doing is making an aux fuel pump to squirt some priming fuel in the carb to start. Seems all I've seen is how hard these are to start. Mine might just need a better fuel pump or a carb rebuild. I'm not really up on these completely yet.

Keep your original fuel pump and rebuild it or have it rebuilt by Then and Now Automotive. www.then-now-auto.com.

New ones are junk from the box and not worth buying. Once your fuel situation and starter/electrical situation is sorted out, your truck spin over fast and start as easily as a modern 12v system.

I've put 10,000+ miles on my truck in the last 3 years with no problems from the rebuilt fuel pump. No auxilliary pump necessary. Once your pump and carburetor are rebuilt, your truck will get all the gas it needs from the mechanical pump.

Make sure you use 00 gauge cables on your battery and that everything is grounded properly and your 6v system will work just fine.

Otto, I'm sure you're right. It spins over well now. It has an original glass bowl fuel pump which i want to keep so I'll figure something out with that. Carb is on my list. My ignition electrical is pretty good to go now that I've completely rewired it. I'm probably going to replace most of the rest of the wiring. Not that there's really that much. Alot of it is brittle or just repaired too many times with poor connections.

I got a rebuild kit from Then and Now for my original glass bowl fuel pump. Look for a stamped number around the edge of the pump and give that to Then and Now and they can provide the correct repair kit.
See the attached pic.

I rewired my headlights with 12ga wire and installed new 6v halogen lamps. They shine as far and as bright as any modern car.

I have the same fuel pump as you do. After two failed new ones, I decided to have the original rebuilt.

Thanks guys. It sounds like I need to have a look at Then and Now. I haven't come across them before. The pump looks like something I can rebuild so buying a kit from them might be the ticket.
I beefed up the wires I replaced with thicker gauge. I plan on doing the same for the headlights. I like to make things work correctly also. I need to replace the headlight switch. It doesn't like to click off. It almost does then you have to jiggle it and push harder to get the final click and get the lights to shut off. Your headlights do look like they shine nice and bright. That's great. Mine are very dim right now.
Someone hacked an 80s Chevy truck speedo into my cluster so I'd like to find a replacement cluster that I can clean up and install.

Mine were dim and yellow, too. They also only worked on hi beam. Re-wiring them correctly and installing new grounds and lamps did the trick.

Part of the problem was at the dimmer switch where the power comes in for the lights.

Your dash switch may just be gunked up with dirt or rust.

Original gauge clusters are available but you might have to look for a donor dash panel to replace what was cut out.

Removing the switch for cleaning is pretty easy. Do you have a shop manual?

I think a majority of any issues will be straighted out when I rewire individual systems. You're right I'm sure about the headlight switch. I'll pull it back out and take a closer look. Maybe I do just need to clean it. It's marked 75 amp so she's pretty heavy duty. I replaced the wire going to the headlight switch from the starter with a 12 ga. No more 50 splices... My parking and dash lights work fine after rewiring from the starter to that separate switch also.
I just ordered a fuel pump rebuild kit from Then and Now on their website. I tried calling, but they "try" to answer the phones on Mon and Thurs lol
My fuel pump is stamped 9798 AXX so I went with their FPA-211 kit.
I want to pick up a service manual, but I've been waiting to find the best one for my truck. There's a few options it looks like. I'd like to have one that includes the PTO and hydraulics, but that might be a supplement or something.
Dually and brakes system would be nice. Not that there's much to it, but I like having the manuals for reference.

Hawk, While you ponder which manuals to get to help you with working on your truck, take a look through the publications throughout this Keith Hardy's OLD ONLINE CHEVY MANUALS. It is an extremely handy source page. You will find shop, parts and owners manuals available to peruse as well as other technical source documents that will be of great help to you. Unfortunately nothing about the dump hydraulics specifically.

For questions on those though, you could probably post some questions about them and other "Big" truck related specifics in our Big Bolts forum. We have many Bolters with hydraulic dump systems which may be able to help you with questions or repair needs.

Thanks a lot! I've been looking through Keith's page a bit. You're right. Very handy. I might not find exactly what I want for a manual so I'll probably have to go with several. We'll see. I don't know why I haven't come across the Big Bolts forums. I don't know how I could have missed that. Thanks for the heads up.

You can't hate spare parts. I'm in deep... Picked up a 1954 long chasis last night. I'm planning on rebuilding the 235 from it even though the motor in my 41 runs perfect. Mine is bored .060" over already and started life as a 1937 216 whereas the new one has a stock bore and started as a 235 with all the benefits of the newer 235. Edit: Engine is a 1954 261 ci Cast # 3703414
The chasis also came with a big bonus. A complete stock seat. It looks very restorable. All the metal and springs are in nice condition. Unfortunately it's missing the base that normally wraps around the fuel tank.
I was happy to get spare wheels, but now I'm not sure if they're the Firestone rh5. I'll have to verify it. Edit: irellavant. Wheels are junk. Rotted.

Those really do look like the RH5 "Widowmakers". Give this legacy Wheels Tech Tip a read and look at the attached pictures. It should help you fully ID them before you attempt to work on them. Also some insightful info on replacement wheel and tire info, but the tip does date back to 2008.

If you want to read more current info on the Big Bolt wheel and tire topic, use the Stovebolt Search link to find posts related to what you want to know more about.

On a slightly different note, while your looking through our "Legacy Tech Tips", you will find at least one on your previously mentioned topic on basic info about your "Dump Body".

Thank you sir. One thing I never stop doing is research. Since I first posted I've located a ton of info. Some here and some elsewhere.
The dump body and hydraulics (hoist) are Gar Wood model D6LU for the hoist and I believe C12 for the body. Gar Wood was apparently the inventor of the hydraulic dump bed. Very interesting reading.
Wheels were junk so that's a moot point now. Thanks for the tips though.
The seat that came with my new chasis is a rebuldable set up so I'm real happy about that. The frame and all the other parts besides fabric are going to be perfect for my resto.

Have you put a tape measure across that AD seat assembly? IIRC (please don't shoot the messenger) the AD series seats are wider than the 1941-46 "Art Deco" series seats. Here's a screenshot form the GM Heritage 1941Chevroket Truck PDF that gives the dimensions for your '41 so you can compare to the '54 seat.

Ugh. No I haven't. Honestly though, narrowing a bench seat before reupholstering it is pretty easy. I hope it's not necessary, but if it is it's not the end of the earth.
Bah... Thanks for the heads up. If I reupholstered it without checking I really would have been bummed.

Just sharing some knowledge and hoping to help avoid the occasional "Oops" pitfalls. I can say "been there - done that".

I'm a long standing member of that club myself...

Busy weekend for truck attention. The fuel tank had a leak from an old puncture "repair". I was able to weld that up and remount the tank. It held perfectly under a little air pressure and soap test. Now to run a fuel line to my fuel pump.
I also put a temporary carb set up on and replaced the choke cable which fixed my pour gas down the carb, crank forever, and then start issue. I'm going to rebuild the BV carb that was on it, but for now I'm using an offshore upper carb assembly. It's only temporary because I won't use offshore parts on my WW2 era truck if I can help it.
Next I fixed the driver door lock and installed some new to me hardware. I couldn't open the driver door from the outside so I pulled the lock assembly. I had to use my heat wrench to bend a piece of steel that was misshapen. It was fun pulling the lock apart. I still need to fashion some anti droop springs which will be easy. No way I'm spending what they want for replacement purpose built ones.
Last thing was dealing with the 6400 chasis I picked up. My youngest son and I pulled the engine and trans and removed the hydroboost set up. I'm storing the rest outback in the woods until I can decide what to do with it. I also stripped the ancillary parts off the 261 so I could see the base motor and know what I'm dealing with. It's going to work perfectly. I have a bunch of spare parts now like a car, fuel pump, manifolds etc. Spares are good when you're working on a 75 yo truck.
Now for the pics...
Feel free to ask questions, comment etc.

Slow, but steady... I made the decision that I'm going to install the 261 that I picked up. Along with the 261 I'm moving forward with it's matching sm420. I found a PTO and test fitted it today. Everything looked good. I probably won't do the swap for a while, but I wanted the plan and parts in place for when I'm ready. I'll figure out the trans mount and driveshaft length differences when the time comes. I don't see that being much of an issue.

Seems like the DIY Gallery is where project threads go to die. I'll give it a while, but I'll probably just start posting back in general once in a while.
Picked up a seat today. It's modern, but I think it fits well. I wanted a bench seat, but I didn't want to have to reupholster something. I didn't want something that was too fancy/modern either. I think this ended up being a good compromise. For $20 who am I to complain?
Now I just need to fashion a base/mount and it should be perfect.

Just a note that the DITY Gallery isn’t where project threads go to die.

There are actually the starting place for project gallery threads.

Your progress with your truck is moving at a good pace.

Some folks like myself would love to have the time available that you seem to have. I must satisfy myself with divvying up my time amongst many more important things, as I’m sure many others may be doing about now too.

Nothing wrong with you posting specific questions in the Shop Forums, but I think folks still enjoy seeing and reading about your continued work. I know I do.

Yes, we do appreciate your posts. Please keep them coming.

John

Thanks guys. I appreciate your feedback. I don't mean to be dramatic, but there haven't been posts from anyone else since the thread was moved. I'll continue posting.

I was just looking again at your new/old engine. Is the exhaust manifold the stock unit? I thought they were all a single collector, but you have a dual?
I get your thinking that nobody is paying attention, but we are.

The 261 has what I'm assuming is an OTC manifold. It came on a 235 I bought which was taken out of a 56 Chevy in 1977. The dual exhaust manifold is from a 55 Corvette. There were only something like 300 of them so I doubt it's a factory installed one, but who knows...

Wow, a Corvette manifold! Don’t tell your truck. She’ll be doing 4 wheel burnouts in the Tractor Supply parking lot. 😂

I heard there were only seven '55 Corvettes with 235 engines. The other 693 were 265 V8s.

I'm sure the 7 figure is probably right. I knew it was pretty low. Dual carbs and dual exhaust. The dump truck should be pretty cool with a little hot rod in it!