The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 55/1st Shop Manual

For what it's worth I will share this tidbit. I finally ordered a shop manual for my 55/1st 4400 from Chevy Duty. Along with the manual I also ordered the '55 supplement, thinking this was something I needed for the mid year model change. The supplement was $6.95 and consisted of 13 pages on the care and feeding of the 1/2 ton rear axle....sheessh, not what I expected!

Stuart.

They should not have sold it to you and should certainly take it back for refund. Chevy Duty sucks.

Never had a problem with CD. Anyone familiar with the difference between a '54 and a '55.1 would know what's in the supplement.

atomarc - I have a 55.1. 55.1 has open drive, no torque tube. Rear axle is on top of the springs rather than underneath. This makes the shock mounts totally different. The rear springs are different. If a 55 1st the rims will only have 3 hubcap clips instead of 6. If original colors, the grill back half is black in 55, white in 54. The hood badge has red stripes in 54, black in 55. I'm not certain but also hear there is access to use a handcrank in 54, not in 55.

GMCpanel - MAYBE he should have known, but regardless of who made the error a refund should be automatic.

50GMC,

Thanks for the info. I am not upset about the supplement and will gladly keep it. I now know what is in it, and what the main differences between these two years are.


Stuart.

50GMC...I just don't see the error...except that maybe in the repops those pages should be inserted into the '54 manual. The one change for '55.1 is well-known knowledge. The few times I've bought something that was wrong for any of my projects (due to ignorance, miscalculation, whatever), I've just used the company's return policy to send the parts back (and if that was impractical, eBay to get some of the money back).

As far as vendor dealings go, I have only had an issue with one vendor, and that wasnt on a sale or return...just general rudeness and stupidity. I won't do business with them, and if someone asks about their service, I tell them I wasn't impressed.

atomarc, it's not the main difference, it's the only difference...and then only on 1/2-ton models. :p At least Chebby gave them a model year split...GMC just switched drivelines and kept calling them '54s.

GMCpanel,

I almost feel like I am in the middle of "something" here. I was already aware of
the driveline/rearend differences between the two years. I thought the supplement would highlight more differences, ones I was not aware of. As these two years are basically the same, the manual did all it could for me.

I have had excellent dealings with Chevy Duty and am sure, had I wanted to return the book, they would have gladly accepted it..for seven dollars, it hardly seemed worth it.


Stuart

Not that I am interested in stoking this up, but there is one other (maybe two) differences between '54 and '55-1st Chevrolet trucks (on 1/2 ton and up). :rolleyes:

I have had problems with orders from both Chevy Duty & Jim Carter; but, in all cases, the problems were easily and readily taken care by both companies (in fact, both companies took care of year-old problems that they had no obligations to deal with).

I've never seen anything different except for back of the drivetrain...I think the 235 came up in '54. It's possible that an oddity or two exist with Chebbies and not GMCs, but I'm not too worried about that. :p

The additional Chevy oddities on '55-1st are the standard all-white grill and the different hood side-emblems.