The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Getting in a Wreck

My dad installed lap seat belts in my '65 C10 but I'm not really sure how safe i really am. The metal the truck are made of seems like its depleted uranium or something but i don't know. I was just wondering if anyones ever been in a wreck with their stovebolt but even if not, how do you think a '65 would hold up?

Should hold up fine. I can say from first hand experience that lap belts don't feel good, but they're better than nothing at all. Of course the best thing to do is to avoid getting into an accident in the first place, like keeping in mind that the braking system on these old trucks needs a bit more space than a newer car. That's what got me.

Yea my brakes lock up really bad, even on dry roads. Is there a remedy for fixing that?

I've been rear ended once in my truck, and it was fine. I was ok, as was my mom. The lap belt gave me bruise across my waist and I had an arched bruise from the steering wheel on my chest, but those went away. I feel safer in my '66 than in my '91 Honda Accord, the truck has substantially more metal in it.

For the brakes locking up, thats a common problem. I would check and see how tight you have the brakes adjusted. Jack up one wheel at a time, and spin that wheel and you should feel some resistance, and it should slow down gradually. If you really do stand on the pedal (emergency braking) the wheels will lock up. It does take some getting used to stopping with manual brakes.

My concern is twofold. One is the steering shaft on my 49. In the event of a good head on collision I can picture it coming thru and impaling me. I also wonder about roll overs if I were to swerve real hard to avoid something.

blu,
I would rather take one in my Bolt than in the PT Cruiser...at least theres some metal in front of me in the truck.
Roll Over ...dont even say them words....it bad Karma!
But with the rounded cab? I would bet it would have enough structural support to keep it intact for a minor one but like anything else it wil only hold as far as the impact is severe.
Back in my younger days I had a VW Baja bug we would intentionally roll it over for giggles...worst thing ya had to do after was smack the center of the roof with a fist to pop out the dent.

My worst fear is getting hit from the rear by some speeding nut. There is little I can do to stop it head of time but I do feel safe knowing how much metal is between me and the perp. I worry mostly about getting the truck damaged by some careless driver. And I put lapbelts in also!

i have never wrecked an old stovebolt but...i have been in my fair share of wrecks..(i race dirt track ovals)..i have to say it is strange...you want the old stovebolt for protection but look at the newer stuff for safety stuff..the dash boards are all padded the seatbelts are at least 3 point the seats themselves are all high back buckets for neck and shoulder support...the steering columns all collapse...look at the door handles/cranks and the dash knobs..they all break off in the an event of a wreck..i would say get all the modern safety stuff you can get your hands on but keep it old at the sametime...lap belts keep in in the cab but thats about it...shoulder harness keeps you from hitting other stuff in the cab...
thanks for listening...
mikec

From what i'v seen they hold up good.About 15-20 miles from my house there's a truck sitting ,I think it was a 47,it was fixed up with updated suspension.The rearend came loose and it rolled I think 4 times,everyone come out ok.Wish I could say the same for the truck,but at least no one was hurt badly.If I think of it i'll get a pic.

I have to agree about getting rearended,the good thing is most people are used to seeing tractors going down the road here so that should help.Va beach that a whole differant world.

I have to say that brakes locking up are not a normal thing with these old trucks. The brakes on my 1951 1 Ton work very well. They stop straight every time. Now there is no proportioning valve so it probably is possible to lock the big rear drums with no load on the back, if you really want to do that. However, for normal driving, they work just fine.

Got runover by 18 wheeler, no belts, walked away,, old black truck

being an automotive insurance company material damage estimator and having been rear ended by some putz while driving our 65 c10 i can personally tell you there is no "crash management" built into these old tanks. what i mean by that is the frame of modern truck have what are known as convolutes (indentations)or crumble zones that are designed to absorb the inertial forces at impact by folding over on themselves. these are built into bpr brkts and or at the frame rail ends. november 15th 2007 i had stopped at an extremely short to non existant merge lane and was waiting for a freightliner to go past as the ole 292 didn't have enough umph to tempt jumping out in front of a semi. there was a guy behind me in a ford explorer that as he stated, never touched the brakes and proceeded to plough into our truck. the rr corner of the rear bpr was squashed up against the box, the rr bpr brkts bent, the rt side of the box wrinkled up to the rr whl arch and the lf of the box was flexed enough to hit the cab right behind the driver's side. the left side of the box bowed out. all the inerial forces resonated through the frame to the occupant (me) in the cab. i'm still going to physio for my lower back due to the cross bar in the seat back that slammed into back and for my lt shoulder as it hit hard into the rear glass as i was cork screwed to the left looking at traffic going by. i was pushed a good two to three truck lengths before jumping on the brakes again as not to be pushed into a freightliner. the truck fared better than i. the frame does not appear to have "diamonded" ( one rail going further ahead than the other).i'll have it put on a frame machine to double check it for sqaure. these trucks are simply "tanks". i'm sure they're constructed from melted down naval battleships

cheers,

mike

My other concern is the latching strength of the simple door latches. A fellow here lost control of his 51 GMC went into a ditch and the door popped open tossing him out.

Years ago driving my '51 half-ton home at night with no seat belts, I swerved to miss hitting a dog, ran into the opposite side ditch and rolled it. When things stopped moving, I found myself laying on the roof staring up at the floor. As I struggled to get a door open, I began to feel something burning and realized it was battery acid dripping on me. I got out real quick and started ripping off my clothes which was somewhat of a surprise to the folks living nearby. Never the less, I came away with only a few acid burns and some bumps and bruises. The next day a friend and I came back, rolled Old Paint back on her wheels, poured in a quart of oil and drove her home. God, what a truck.

I don't know where I saw it, but the auto companies used to strap in sedated pigs into the driver seat and proceed to drive the vehicle into a wall. The steering column would impale the pig, quite gruesome. Those crash testers must have eaten well though! That is what I am worried by most, the steering column. Then being t-boned on the side door. I am considering a discrete roll bar along with 3 point seat belts. Might protect the gas tank too. I have already added power brakes and cross drilled drums to make the brake system as safe as possible. Mike mentioned his back injury due to the seat bar, do after-market bench seats or even newer truck bench seats have the same bar or are they designed to eliminate the bar and those type of injuries?

Yeah but i've looked all over the place and i can't find like a universal 3-point belt system or anything

I smashed my brother's '70 GMC into a seven car pileup. We were able to bend the fenders back away from the tires and drive her home. Some people worry about the gas tank being only inches from your backside but they seem safe to me. Better than those Ford Pinto thingies that blew up with a minor fender bender.

I was just reading the other day that the older models of the "jaws of life" do not work on the window posts of some of the new cars. Apparently they are putting some super strong metal in the posts. The rescue people end up using saws and going through many blades, taking precious time to do so. Has anyone else read about this issue?

To answer the question, I haven't had a single problem cutting cars or trucks at any accident. We cut through like a hot knife in butter. My fire department experiance my not reflect reality but we'll get you out no matter what it takes.

Just be careful out there!

Apparently this is a relatively new problem which turns up on new SUVs. The makers of the rescue equipment have new models that will do the job, for a price of course!

Here is a link to the article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...scue&hub=Search&searchType=Quick

In the link below there's the story of what happened to end my first long-term Stovebolt relationship. Epic #1 was destroyed while hauling a full load of topsoil by a busy little idiot in a new Buick who ran a stop sign while in a hurry. I think they should make seat belts and air bags illegal for people like her, then maybe they wouldn't think their car was safe. Hers wasn't; not with her at the wheel. My truck took the frontal-oblique impact with moderate to heavy damage(bent frame), and my passenger and I walked away. We had the original steering column and no seat belts.

Epic #2 is bigger, heavier and the next sonofa... uh, never mind. Nothing.

65 Chevy C10,
Here is a what I was talking about. I have not done enough research on how these are installed but it looks like it would work in your 65. 65 Chevy 3pt seat belts.

i would think it may hold up a little better than i newer truck, the metal it so much thicker, and over all they seem to be built more rigid and heavy.

Hotshoe,
what you are really saying is that she almost made the Darwin list!

My '66 C10 has lap belts as well. I have never wrecked it (not really). I hit a full sized deer with my truck when I was going around 70, all it did was bust a headlight and kill the deer, didn't even bend the grill. Another time I did a "break check" while driving with a friend, the dash held up well to his head (accident I swear)..... I almost rear ended a bus coming around a blind curve at 60, the breaks locked up and I was able to stop in time. I was especially glad about the breaks since I installed them. The steering wheels on modern cars are actually designed to break away during a crash, not on these old stovebolts. I would hate to see what a stovebolt wreck would do but the trucks do seem very sturdy though, lots of metal.

Lots of metal, indeed, Dellman. Truckernix, she never got close enough, to my way of thinking. Her big, new car was bent like a banana and they had to extract her through a window, but she had been roped in properly and, while shaken, was unstirred. Epic #1 kept her cab integrity, although the front clip was pushed over substantially and her frame was slightly bent. I had been approaching at arounf 40 mph and, upon seeing her charge, was able to shed more than half of my speed, I think, although at the point of impact I neglected to look at the speedometer. I do remember that with the load I was packing I had nearly a 50/50 weight distribution, and don't think antilock brakes could have slowed me sooner. The investigating officer was properly impressed with the performance of my brakes and, in all modesty, I cannot blame him.

I would be interested to read, 64Fleetside, what the impact speed was on your poor old black truck. That looks like a side impact from a rear oblique; am I right?

65C10, an empty pickup has a very uneven weight distribution, and on hard braking even more of the weight transfers to the steering (front) axle. Be always prepared for the rear axle to break traction first, and pay particular attention to the condition and adjustment of your front brakes. If there was ever a place for fine tuning, that is it on a pickup truck.

I really do miss Epic #1, even still. That truck would go anywhere and do anything I asked of it with aplomb, and with significantly greater fuel economy that has been hitherto achievable by #2. This pic [IMG]http://thumb11.webshots.net/t/22/23/2/71/70/2917271700096215731cGHBbH_th.jpg[/IMG] was taken circa 1983 on a weekend expedition into our mountains to kill and eat trout. On that trip - and many others - I successfully traversed trails most four wheel drive owners would categorically refuse to attempt in their big, shiny (apparently) capable vehicles, with nothing more than a Jack-all and a number of spares.