The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk QUESTIONS ON A 1942

I have been all over this site and others and don't seem to be able to find the answers to these questions.

1. what is the width of the inside of the 1/2 ton pick up bed?

2. What type of rear end housing doe they use?

3. What is the rear end ratio?

4. Can you change the ring and pinion and what are the available ratios?

66hemi, try this great site and do a search here at Stovebolt, you should be able to find all you need!

Off the top of my head the bed is 47 1/2" wide.

The stock rear is a 4.11 the only other rear gears for the stock rear end are 3.55. These are available from any of the vendors.

Hope this helps.
George

fredoly,

Thanks for the link, great info


46forme

Thanks for the rear end info.

NOW, the question is, with a 3:55.1 ring and pinion installed, is the rear end assembly strong enough to pull a 7000 lb., loaded, enclosed trailer at highway speeds OR do I need to find a different rear end assembly?

There was a recent post on this. The center section of a 50-54 pass. car with powerglide has 3.55 gears & fits this model. The rear end is the ONLY part of that truck that will pull a 7000 lb. trailer.

Thanks Wrenchbender Ret. for the rear end info.

If I buy this truck I would probably just order an new ring and pinion.

The truck has already been been converted to a 327 engine with a TH400 trans.

If these trucks don't already have a boxed or heavy channel frame I will do that as well as install a load equalizer hitch, electric brake controller, and disc brakes.

I know that the wheel base is approximately the same as a later model full sized short bed truck but the width is a little narrower.

Many people thank that a small towing vehicle is a problem for a large trailer. A trailer with good working electric brakes and a towing vehicle with a load equalizer hitch system is the key to safe towing. The vehicle maunfacturers towing capacities is based on the power, frame stength, spring rates, and braking ability of the vehicle. From that point on, the hitch and their manufacturers have guides for the tongue weight and towing capacity of their hitches and systems. Of course companies like Reese were not around when a 42 Chevy truck was built or in typical everyday service that they would have ever had any towing specification for it, so we just have to GUESS at what they would be with the combined stats I have given for this truck above. That being said I don't see a problem with what I have outlined above.

A stock '41 thru '46 frame is just two chunks of 'c' channel. No way i'd try pulling any 7,000lbs trailer with one unless you were to re-enforce the frame and replace the rear with something off a later model (70's ish) vehicle with better gearing.

66 hemi

The bed is 48 1/2 inches wide on the inside (1940-1946). If The truck you are looking at already has a 327 and a TH400, THE REAR END HAS ALREADY BEEN CHANGED! There isn't any way to hook up a TH400 to the torque tube rear.

I would agree with Fumblin46 on not recomending towing a 7000 pound trailer. When I had my truck completely disassembled down to the frame I flipped the frame over upside down to clean up the underside. I was amazed on how flexible the frame was by itself. I can't imagine towing a big trailer with that frame design.

That is good to know, just one more thing that I won't have to deal with.

With regards to the other comments about the frame, as I stated above, I figured I would have to box or channel the frame on this truck and it is not that big of an expense.

BTW, to those of you that have links to pictures of your trucks, there are a lot of nice looking iron here!!!

Problem solved. Check out my new post in "what is it worth" that got moved to the greasy spoon forum.

Thanks to all for their help.