The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Picked up a 1955 Chevy Dumptruck today for $400

I'm not sure what I just got myself into, but I picked up a 1955 Chevy dumptruck for $400. Barely any rust at all. The previous owner used it to drag his horse arena. It has an electrical issue that it doesn't want to crank over. He said it runs well when it does run and the dump bed works. The tranny may need to be rebuilt though. At the very least the shifter is very very sloppy. It rotates around on itself. I can't really push it side to side. When he put a new starter in it Pepboys said the starter is off of a 1971 straight six, so I'll have to investigate what year motor is in there. I'll post up pics tomorrow. I can't wait to tear into this for my winter project. Woohoo!!!

Right on hope you have fun with your project and I for one will be looking forward to some pictures

My '67 GMC pickup had a sloppy shifter like you describe. The problem was on top, where the lever went into the transmission. I don't recall if it was the lever itself, or the housing where it went into. (This was probably 15 or more years ago.) At any rate, my brother, who is a welder, was able to build up the area that was worn, and it's worked good ever since.

Yep, the alignment pins on the tranny cover and the grooves in the shifter may be hogged way out. I found some grade-8 allen head screws to replace the pins and welded & reground the grooves. Shifter works great now.

Here are a couple pics. More to come.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/jonschwenn/55ChevyDumptruck012.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/jonschwenn/55ChevyDumptruck001.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/jonschwenn/55ChevyDumptruck002.jpg

Engine pic:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/jonschwenn/55ChevyDumptruck007.jpg

Looks like you got a good deal!

Took the shifter out and there is one slot on either side of the shifter that is "hogged out". Looks like I need a welder/machinist or just a new shifter. I'll take some pics of the shifter later today.

Oh yeah:

IT RUNS!!!! Just a mis-wired ignition switch. The bed goes up and down just great. The motor has a sort of clanky/grindy sound to it that I hope is just the water pump. But for $400 who can complain if I have to rebuild the engine.

That is a sweet deal! Very cool.

Looks like it has a later model 6 cylinder, such as a 292, etc. That makes sense with what the owner told you about the 1971 starter.

Welcome to the bolt! And again, great find!

Jeff

Just ordered a new shifter from Novak. It all should be here on Friday. Hopefully all the gears work. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I just have to drill out the top piece where there were a couple of cap screws loosely placed in the dowel pin holes and tap them to thread in.

Nice looking truck! And the price was definitely right.

And by the way----Welcome to the Bolt!! (Forgot to mention that yeaterday!)

That's a 250 cubic inch, not a 292. The side tappet covers are short. If they were tall that would = 292.

Picture of a 292

So it's a 250 then. Thanks. Next up on the list is electronic ignition, a new waterpump, and an electric fan. Oh yeah, and rewire the whole truck. The wiring is a horrible mess. I'm not looking forward to it. I may just pay my buddy to do it. I hate wiring, grrrr. But on a plus note the oil pressure and charging gauge still work. I don't know how accurate they are, but my at idle oil pressure is 30 and it goes up to around 40-45 when I rev it.

I'm pretty sure the modern electronic ignitions are a simple drop-in....as long as you're already on 12-volt.

The "Rat Rod" folks would tell you to leave the paint alone. They work hard to get that kind of aged patina.

Paint and body is definitely last on my list. I need to get it running good in all gears and rewire the truck. Then maybe I'll sand or media blast the heck out of it and paint it. It's all just surface rust right now and since I'm in Arizona I am in no hurry to get to it. As it sits now with a good running engine and new wires this truck would last another 50 years easy.

Nice Buy!

I love the "patina" - I'd almost just git it safe to drive and some new tires and have some fun, you can always paint it next winter!

Paint is last and most likely next winter. The new tires are going to kill my budget, lol. It's hard to spend that much money when the truck was initially $400.

Sure is purty, great find!

Thanks! Although I'm starting to realize how many multiple thousands of dollars are going to get "dumped"(insert knee slapping pun) into the truck. It's gonna be sweet when I'm done though.

cool truck! tires and brakes are the usual reason these big bolts get parked and then sold.

The brakes work good, just haven't done an inspection of them yet. Some Nankang 8.25-20's are $160 each, so not to bad. I haven't gotten a price on the tubes or mount cost though. I found a local old tire shop that's been in business for about 70 years that can handle the multi piece wheels.

Very Kewl looking truck.

Yep, nice truck! The motor is a 250 or smaller. The 292's had fuel pumps in the middle of the block and 6" high pushrod covers.

Very nice!! What a great deal.

John

That is a great deal....... The truck gods were smiling on you! Very cool truck.