The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1940 Canadian Chevrolet Series 13 (1/2-t) utility (Australian)

Mike - Thanks for the teaser pictures of the truck data plates to go along with your story opening about your trucks. How about some pictures of the trucks themselves??? Your story here is a big hit from what I can tell and I'm sure fellow Bolters want to see yours, regardless of how they have faired over the years. We've all had to start from somewhere.

Thanks Dan. Yes I have a few pics of my utility sitting on the trailer behind my friends F100. Before digital cameras were around .

This is how they fitted the brake master cylinder, it's crammed next to the Starter motor.

Mike - That looks like knuckle buster alley - oomph!

That's a interesting brochure, with so many body styles and chassis options available in the U.S. The bus was such a long vehicle. Has anybody restored a bus ?

The Australian cabs are a different shape , by 1941, an army specification meant that some of the cabs featured a roof hatch and a brass framed opening windscreen.

This was a long time back. It was a wet cold rainy Winter day, wind was high. This truck is now only good for spares.The utility body woodwork had fallen out, it was badly rotted back then, now it is worse.

They do exist! You’ve got a good selection of trucks to use to put one of them back on the road. Good luck with your project.

Cool pics. How long ago did you take those pics?

John

Is the red one the one you're restoring?

"How long ago did you take those pics?"

Hi John , It was back in 1998.

Yes Otto , the red one is getting pulled apart right now. I'm about to pull the engine out. Been reading, some say it's best to leave the gearbox on, and undo the round unijoint housing, the spline will just slide out ?

The 216 in the red one was running OK when I parked it. A guy in town has a 235 for free but I want to keep the factory Canadian 216 engine. I have spare 216 engines , all are single hole water pump. Thousands of Canadian Military Pattern trucks were shipped here during WW2, the Canadians continued manufacturing the 1940 type engines with dome pistons until 1945. I've never seen a flat topped piston engine , I believe the US sourced Lend Lease Chevrolet trucks had the flat top type engines .

Looks like you got some good projects to work on. I love these old trucks.

Love the gum trees and the heeler, too !

More pics of army vehicles

Nice camouflage work.

I found some nice newspaper adverts

How about posting some pictures of how it looks right now? ‘Bolters love pictures!

I'm surrounded with gum trees ! And screeching Cockatoos, laughing Kookaburras, Wombats, Echidnas and Wallabies. Tiger snakes, the occasional Eagles and Goanna visit.

This is the tag on the radiator , the red truck. Looks like the radiator has been recored. A advert from a 1934 magazine.

I am using a GM-H issued 1940 repair manual, it seems to a reprint of a Canadian manual. It has a supplement in the back for Defence vehicles.

I’m in the hunter valley in New South Wales and we have brown snakes and white pointers just for the faint hearted glad to see you joined Stovebolt

More stovebolts in Australian Army service:

Ambulance in the spray booth.

And a Field Post Office truck.

GMC fitted with the 18-inch wheels.

GM-H published some interesting books. The books are online and can be down loaded.

https://j52.hrc.au/holden/publications.html

We have a number of Holden trucks on the site. You'll have to use the whole site search ... just type in "Holden" for starters. Most are in the Gallery.

Have you started working on your truck, yet?

Hi Otto

Yes I've been busy. The old 1940 bolt is now stripped right down , just the front axle to remove. I've measured the frame diagonals with a tape measure and it all seems OK. I'm still undecided about what to do with the horrible frame repair from many years ago. I'm not young anymore, the heavy stuff , engine and rear axles, it takes some effort to move around !

If the frame is straight and there's no sign of cracking at the weld, I'd assume that the repair was done correctly and leave it alone.

After all, it's had 60 or 70 years to fail and it hasn't. The truck isn't going to be hauling heavy loads or driving on mud tracks anymore. It's going to have an easy life.

Put the truck back together and just monitor the repair.

Peggy M - Thank you. I had a look and found some interesting Southern Hemisphere Bolts.

Hi Phil

I read your journal. You have a neat little truck .

"How it looks right now" It's a mess of bits n pieces.

Mine is also in quite a few pieces at the moment but we’re moving forward!

Rainy day, I spent some time on the brake wheel cylinders, everything is jammed up, the bleed screws needed heating up before they feed up. But the back cylinders , the smaller ones, are pretty bad, pistons totally stuck and a bleed screw broke off .

I'm looking into buying new cylinders. Maybe the Filling Station ?

You can find wheel cylinders and wheel cylinder repair kits and many other parts for your truck at Rock Auto. They ship all over the world. At the top of the main page, click Menu, then Settings. Choose Australian Dollars (AU$) to show prices.

www.rockauto.com

Rock Auto is also a good source of information to identify parts, compare parts, and research part numbers. It's well laid out and has multiple pictures of the parts themselves which makes it easy to compare to your original part.

Mike - Here's what I found from the Filling Station that should fit your truck. Description does say these are slightly larger diameter (1-3/16 vs original 1-1/8") but should fit.

You can also find them at several other of our usual vendors like Jim Carter, Chev's of the 40's, Classic Parts. Gotta run this morning, but if you need more details let me know and I will add more links later.

Thanks, guys. Your tips are always so useful.

I found Rock Auto , they have new wheel cylinders at a good price. 👍 I will look at their other parts.

The master cyl. is a heavy item, so I will probably have it sleeved here. I know a business here that does the sleeving. When I rebuild a vehicle, I always fit new brake pipes, the pipes are called Bundy tubing here. I have the correct flaring tools .

I pressed out the king pins. The king pin diameter is .732" seems to be a common Chevrolet king pin .

I decided to measure the chassis again. I discovered that the chassis repair is not done accurately. The RH rear corner of the chassis is 3/4 " lower than the LH side. The rear crossmember is not straight and level.

I will use the RH rear rail from other spare chassis, it is very rusty chassis , I will cut the RH rear rail section out and weld it into the chassis I am working on.

I got some new brake wheel cylinders . The new brake hoses I got are a Asian brand , the hose is very thin, but they should be OK. Sunsong brand.

I also discovered there is another little truck, same as mine , close by. It looks like a 39 but has 40 front guards. It seems that the Australian 39 models used the 38 headlight shells.

Hi

Been inspecting my rear axle. Some cooler wx has arrived, some large floods have been causing serious damage in Northern NSW. There is a shortage of hay at the moment , hobby farmers can't get enough hay. I hope TPR57C is OK , he is right in the flood area.

A few questions??

The oil seals need replacing. Do I need to remove the bearing and the seal as one unit ? I guess I need a slide hammer .

And, the two locating straps on the housing have come loose, the rivets are loose. Is there a easy way to fix this ? Maybe a short weld at each end .

I was replacing both bearings and seals, so I used a puller tool I loaned from Autozone and removed both at the same time. I had to borrow a slide hammer from a friend. If you just want to remove the seal, you can probably do so by using a seal puller tool.

Thanks John ,

I've got another problem, the thin bronze washer or shim that sits between the axle splined spider gear and the carrier has been spinning and it has scored the surface of the carrier. I might take the carrier to a machine shop and ask if they can machine it flat, I can then fit a thicker bronze washer .

Hi All

Been working on the 1/2 Ton rear axle housing. I'm having some trouble.

I have removed the oil seal, but there is a flange holding the axle bearing in the end of the housing .

It looks like I need to remove this flange to get the bearing out ?

How do I remove the flange ? The manual I am using says the bearing come out with the seal ?

Thanks .

Mike - There is no flange there as that piece goes over the exterior diameter of the axle tube. You really need to have a bearing puller like what is pictured in the shop manual diagram. The inside bearing retainer (large flat like washer behind the bearing), bearing and seal when installed per the manual are driven in with a setting tool and hammer blows. Slight press fit, so a puller is necessary to overcome that interference fit to remove from the bearing bore. The process for removal/installation is the same for your '40 as is shown in this page from a Chevrolet '38 Shop Manual.

This fairly recent thread may provide some helpful leads on tools and the process others have taken to get the bearing out. Let us know how it turns out.

Thanks Dan

You are correct , your advice is always helpful. The links are a good information source.

I have made up a slide hammer, but thinking about it, the slide hammer is a brutal method.

I'm pretty good at making my own tools ( have a lathe) so I will make a proper bearing puller similar to the puller in the manual.

The bearings seem to be in good shape, but I want to remove them for cleaning and inspection .

Mike

Mike - Appreciate the kind words! When you do get your tool fashioned, I'd like to see it and I think many other Bolters would too. Pictures for sure please!

Perhaps you could do a little write up on the tool fabrication and results. I'm sure we could find a place for such shared knowledge to be posted/kept for others to use in the future.

Got the bearings out , they were not a tight fit in the housing , but it took a reasonable amount of force using a puller to get them out. Because the housing is not held down, when using a slide hammer , the housing just moved along the floor !

I used bits from a bearing puller kit , I made a adapter up with a 5/8 unf thread one end and a 3/4 unf female thread the other end.

The bearings seem to be in good shape. The modern replacement seal appears to be a SKF 18695 .

A problem with the diff carrier.

Scoring , the thrust washer has scored the carrier.