The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk AD heater in a Deco truck?

I've got some time to dink with the '46 1/2 ton tomorrow, and with the winter months quickly approaching, i've been thinking about silly things, like heat.

The heater in the '46 1/2 ton is a rusty mess.. so as luck would have it I have like 5 Advance Design heaters (both Chevy and GMC, identical except for the name plate) and i'm thinking they outta fit in a '46, right?

I mean, all there really is to it are two pipes and two bolts sticking out the firewall and a 6V motor.. worst case senerio the water pipes won't line up with the exsisting water pipe holes, i'm thinking.

If anybody has done this, let me know if there is anything I outta look out for or know.

I rashly assume none of these AD heaters are the fresh air design. That being the case I don't see why they would not fit.

I've seen lots of odd heaters installed in old trucks. I pulled a dodge heater out of the '48 I once owned.

I bought Chevy Duty's universal heater for my big 48. Even with the rusty ventilation, it keeps the windshield fog free, and I use it to plow snow.
Scott

yes they'll work fine, Fumblin - guy I know here had a 42 that'd had a late 40's/early50's junk yard heater put in it many years ago and it looked like it belonged

Bill

Fumblin,

Let me know how you make out with that. I've been thinking about doing the same with my 46.

Just haven't been ambitious enough yet to track one down, and try it.

Fumblin - you are lucky. I have just had my third round AD heater core fail the test at a rad shop. May have to go without which is not a problem but it looked good when it was installed.

My "testing" of them is limited to plugging one side, then hooking a garden hose up to the other side and putting some pressure thru 'em and making sure they don't leak.. then opening the other side to make sure they have flow.. then I hooked up a battery to see if the fan would blow.

They just have the lever for "defrost on/off" which is just a metal flap in the inside that directs the air to either the top round air outlets (presumably for the two window defrost vents) or the main outlet for cab heat.

The '46 1/2 ton looks to have what might have been the original heater.. looks like some kind of old time toaster with a little door looking thing on the front. It's currently not hooked up.. don't know if it was just bypassed the last summer the truck was driven regularly, or if it leaks.. but it's funky and rusty.. and the AD heaters just look neater, and seem like they'd provide a little more heat.

If it isn't raining tomorrow i'll stick one in and report back.

Well here's the report:

The heater that was in the truck was a Studebaker heater.. as reported in my original post, it looks like some kind of toaster oven.

The bolts and pipes didn't match up with a Chevrolet heater, so whoever installed it had to drill their own holes.

Apparently this truck didn't come from the factory with a heater, because the "knockouts" for the factory heater holes were still in.

So with the old Studebaker heater out, I tried to knock out the factory knockouts.. which didn't work so well.. I ended up using a 1/8 inch metal bit to drill a pilot hole in the center, then used a stepper bit to hog the hole the rest of the way out.

The AD heater stud bolts line up perfectly with the factory knock out holes.. the plumbing (water inlet/water outlet) holes are about a 1/4 inch off, so I just made both holes a little bigger and she slid in nicely.

I'll have to rig some duct work up to the defroster vents in the dash, and silicone the old Studebaker heater holes, but the short of it is, the installation of the unit goes pretty smoothly, and looks like it outta work.. and as a plus, it looks like it belongs in there.

I have one of those round-core heaters. If it works, I'm thinking about rigging it up as a secondary heater under the driver's side of the dash.

Got it all hooked up and plummed into the cooling system.. that little booger sucks up some water!

Ran the truck around the yard for about a half hour, the aftermarket temp gauge I hooked up rose and stayed steady in the 150 to 160 range, and no leaks.

Blows hot air.. dosen't leak.. looks like it belongs there.. i'll call this experiment a sucess!

My apologies to the purists out there.

Fumblin, I'm glad to hear it worked out so easily for you.

Guess I should start getting ambitious, and see if I can locate a good used heater, core, and switches.

Thanks for the follow-through with your experience. It helps me to know how it went.

When I first tested my cores in a tank and under pressure they were fine. But after driving for an hour they started to drip. Seems that once they get hot the expand a bit opening up any minute leaks.