The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs 48 panel floor

how many are foolin with an early AD panel that has the wood slats for a floor? i have one that i'm about to junk out and i know we have talked alot about the plywood floor.i don't remember much conservation this.
tom

I have a 52 panel (early?) that I am about to lift the body off as soon as I get the steering column out. My floor has the one piece plywood made out of oak and it is definitely the original. Some speak of making it two pieces by putting one of the skid strips over the joint. I understand from my cabinet guy that you can get a one piece big enough but it will be costly?! I suppose so if you can find one. I am going to try but I'm a good ways from needing it yet. Your not far from me. What are you "fooling around on"?....duh, I checked your profile and see you have the 53's.

Achipmunk
i've got the new plywood from a lumber store(a real one not home depot)two sheets were right at $100 marine grade. it is identical to the orginal but much better looking than the old. anyway, i'll need to post an end profile of the orginal floor where you can see the tounge and groove joints to make the orginal floor. it was t&g 4 times(guess there was less/no waste that way). i get to it around new years if my schedule holds. any way i thought i would ask about the old slat floor as i've never heard any one saying aything about it.where is boiling springs ,never heard of it before
tom

Tpyle
I have seen an old panel with the slat floor. Seems to me it would be easier to replace than the one (or two) piece plywood. I was concerned about the dust it might let through but the wood deck in my 51 pickup holds water when it rains. Maybe not when the rain first starts though!!
Comments?
Ter

I think the plank floor is typical in a panel while the plywood is typical in a Suburban. But this is just based on my limited experience.

Both my Suburbans have plywood and both my panels are planks...

Steve, ya sure the AD panel is individual planks? I know for sure both models of TF series have ply floors .... I think the skid strips in panels are foolin ya, the burbs didn't have those, but I think all series of panels & burbs have a ply floor, it's structural - sounds like TYPLE is talkin about the single sheet being fabbed - mighta been before GM was makin their own full sheets the right size, which is when there's less waste

Bill

My 53 1-ton panel has a plywood floor.

Brad

Well I'll admit I haven't taken either truck apart yet, but I'm real sure the 1-ton is planks and though not as sure on my 1/2-ton, I know I've seen 1/2-tons that were planks.

Mine are all AD trucks, not TF.
'51 Chevrolet 1-ton panel with planks for sure.
'52 GMC Suburban definitely plywood.
'53 GMC 1/2-ton panel my memory says is planks.
'55 1st GMC Suburban definitely plywood.

Could there have been multiple floor options on the panels? Might different plants have done them different? Or changes between years?

And of course, one can always wonder if one or more of them has been changed...

I'd go out and look but its 20 degrees out there with snow on top of the trucks. Not typical weather around here and I'm just not inclined to enjoy it up close.

I should add that the slat floor panel that I have seen was an early one.. had a vent in the drivers side kick panel which I think means it was a '49 ?
Ter

I should add that the slat floor panel that I have seen was an early one.. had a vent in the drivers side kick panel which I think means it was a '49 ? Also has the stainless trim on the fenders and back doors.
I have a '51 panel and it is plywood.
Ter

My '54 is plywood.

well the panel examples i have found with plank type floors have had side vents. suggusting pre 51, two in junk yard around here both 47 and one i have (49) all had planks. the plywood type floors have all been in 53 panels 1 gmc and 1 chevy i have and 2 that owners were kind enough to let me crawl under. as far as burbs go, all i have ever seen had plywood.a whopping 2 so i dont have agood clue about those.my guess is tho ,that as much a pain as it is to refurbish i dont imagine many an old owner took the time or effort to change it to a new or different type of floor. but then again i dont have a clue either.
tom

I have now taken my 1/2-ton panel a part. Turns out the cargo floor is plywood.

This is a '53 GMC and while I have no reason to think the floor has been replaced, other parts of this truck were not original, so I could not claim with any certainty that the floor is orginal. However it does have the heat shield in place and none of the metal around the edges look to have been removed in the past.

Forgive me for bringing an old thread back to the top, but thinking about that plywood floor I remembered being pretty certain I'd said this one was planks. And until you punch a hole in it with a hole saw it does look like planks.

An 1984 article in the "Light Commercial Vehicle Association" magazine about Advance-Design Chevrolet trucks stated that all A-D Suburbans had plywood rear floors but early Panel an Canopy Express rear floors were wood planks. In 1950, " . . the floor boards of panel and canopy express models were changed to plywood construction. In the new construction a single panel of wood and five skid strips replaced thirteen floor boards and twelve skid strips. The new floor was positively sealed against dust leakage and the plywood made the floor 25 to 30% stronger than the former construction."

The 1950 Salesman Truck Data Book (Supplement) states that the rear floor on 3100 and 3800 panel body (Single Unit Body) trucks was changed to 1 piece, 5-ply.

I have what I was told is a '51 1-ton panel that I'm sure has a plank floor. Maybe I better go decipher its serial number. Perhaps its a '49 or earlier? It came without doors so that easy clue is missing.

My 49 burb had a one piece plywood floor. I can say for certain that it WILL NOT come out or go back in in one piece. I have seen pictures (maybe from Tim Lederman) where at the factory the floor was laid down in one piece and the lower body was welded up around it.
weeds

Just to add to the conversation here I have a 1952 that I am sure is original and it has the one piece plywood floor. I wlll put plywood back in but have it "lap jointed" and cover it with the strips. Depending on what years you discuss we need to remember sometimes they used up parts of one model year on another. The engine in my 52 is/was a 1951 year engine. I've got my body off but I'm a ways from actually taking it out and putting more back in.

My 52 Chevy 'burb has a plywood floor with what appears to be a rubber type coating or mat attached to it. Sounds like that is an early 'aftermarket' item?

welcome to the shop first try - what you see may be the remains of the 'battle ship lino' that was the original floor coating on the burbs

Bill

Why did they use wood instead of metal? I would think that wood does not allow a very good seal for trying to stay warm in the winter.

Heres the floor in my 53 GMC Burb before it was painted and redone inside.


http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/1lowlesabre/000_0821.jpg

Interesting. I don't see the standard rear seat hold downs most suburbans have, nor the metal strips most panels have.

It looks like it was outfited to be a school bus or something similar when new. Do you know what the stuff above the rear wheel well on the passenger side might be? What are the two brackets just inside the door on either side?

Steve,

In an earlier post, 1Low53Burb posted: "It's an ex US Army vehicle and then used by the Colorado Forestry Service."

Other people have posting information that those special equipment Suburbans often had side bench seats or other side-mounted seats and apparatus. I'd like to take a lok at one close up.

Tim

Yea, it was am Army truck from the factory. The stuff on the passenger's side was for holding guns I guess? Or shuvles maybe....? The guy threw it all out though, AAAARRRRGGGG!!!!!!!

I don't know what those brakets by the rear doors are. this is how it looks now.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/1lowlesabre/000_09711.jpg