The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop won ton or 1/2 ton

:confused: What do you guys think about this?
I have a 55 1 ton dually flat bed. 3800 Should I go through the trouble of restoring the current chassis or should I swap it for a 1/2 ton?
Just trying to get an outside opinion. I keep going back and forth on this problem. I cant decide.
Is there a big difference in fuel consumption between a 1 ton and a 1/2 ton? Its got a 305
I'm restoring it so I can have a truck to cruse around in or haul a refrigerator around in. nothing too fancy.
If any one has any positives or negatives of either I would appreciate it.

Why dont you do one of each? since you would need to get a 1/2 ton anyway.... and you would probably get a better response in the lounge... no one even reads these other forums.

The fuel consumption is mostly dictated by the carburetor and rear end gear ratio.
If you want to have an all around, one of a kind COE but still get gas mileage, then set that body and fenders on a late model 1/2 - 3/4ton. You'll get the looks, reactions, you want and still have the comforts of a late model truck and the milage you're looking for.
Although not a Chevy, I've placed my '55 F*rd COE on a 1 ton E350 diesel chassis. My goal was to pull a house (well an 18' car trailer), haul lumber from Home Depot, a yard or two of gravel/top soil for the yard, get decent mpg (15mpg) and still get the reactions from the public.

You could go get a 14 bolt corporate rear end with 3.73 gears and swap. That way you get better milage and better brakes on the rear. Cab swaps between models aren't very easy, usually require a lot of fabrication.

hamon, ask yourself a few questions like how far and how often you expect to use your truck. Will it be a daily driver or will you use it only on weekends around the house? I had a '54 half ton that was my only transportation and since I had no choice I used it for everything from going to the store for a loaf of bread to hauling furniture to make gas money. I'd drive it about 125 miles at about 45 mph to the city several times a year. It was also my "take the date to the park" for free band concerts there on Sunday afternoons, truck.
I've got a 1/2 ton '46 that I tool around town in on weekends mostly, when it's not raining. I've always been partial to the big brothers of my 1/2 ton but around here the biggies were used till they couldn't be used anymore.
Make a pro's & con's check list with all of the positives & negatives of each choice written from the top of the page to the bottem. When I do this I like to use stars to indicate the degree of positives for a question or little (-)'s to indicate how much of a drawback a point is.
Once you've done all of this, carefully crumble up the paper you've written on, throw it away and do what you wanted to do in the first place
Jacques
BTW, where is Morgan Hill? Have fun!

Well im going 1/2 now.
Just south of San Jose CA. and just north of Gilroy "the Garlic Capital of the World".

Thanks guys.
By the way anyone need a 1 ton chassis.

Gas mileage is a matter of Physics. "It takes so much gas to move a given weight over a given distance".I specialized in this field for years. The more efficient your engine is the better but light cars get better mileage than heavy ones. Having said that, your half ton could get lousy mileage also if everything isn't right.My 65 Chev. PU in original condition (283 2 barrel carb. & 3 spd.)got 10 MPG with 3:73 gears. Now it has a 400 H.P. 400 small block with an early Corvette close ration T-10 4 spd. & same 3:73 gears and gets 16 MPG. Honest!