The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts My $200 1950 6400

I picked up a 1950 chevy 6400 this weekend for $200. This is going to be my first attempt to work on anything this old. So far i a can tell it is going to need the floors, cab corners, and roof replaced or i may just try to find a rust free cab. If i keep this cab and end up replacing the roof, it is likely going to get chopped about 4 inches. The overall goal of this truck is to be able to haul my toyota rock crawler around without a trailer. I plan on a 14 foot flatbed, 427TD motor, sticking with the SM420 and adding a brownie box to get overdrive. I know i am going to have a million stupid questions so i will say thank you in advace. Anyway here are some pics of the truck the day i got it home.
http://www.texas4x4.org/gallery/album777/Crawler_Hauler_1

NICE, So what is wrong with the cab? that'll buff out.

the roof seems to be rusted inside and outside and doesn't hold its shape real well. I am afraid that once the rust is gone it is going to be to thin. The floors are toast and the driverside rear cab corner is rusted out. After a quick look on LMC just those patch panels would be $800-900. I plan to fix the rust but not the dents....adds character.

Using patch panels and retaining the original character is difficult. Wherever you weld, you will have to paint it to keep it from rusting and the new paint will clash with the old. You might just want to repair the floor. The roof is probably stronger than you think. It may just have surface rust. It was common for people to use the roof as a step when hauling hay or cattle. I would let someone who has body work experience look at the roof. It is quite possible that it can be bumped out.

Another option for the roof is after you have the rust removed from the inside trat it with POR-15 and maybe a layer of fiberglass mat. It will rust proof it forever and enforce the thin metal.

I may try the por-15, i have never used it but have heard good things about it. I added a couple pics of the damage to the original link. The cab corner is rusted both inside and out and the roof seems to be rusted worse from the inside than the outside. The truck will be disasembled and everything will get sanded down and primered and probably some roll on paint. I want this truck to look like an old beat up farm truck, but i want it to look like a nice beat up old farm truck if that makes any since. I want everything working 100% so that anyone can jump in and take off down the road.

If chopping a top is in the realm of your ability, possibly a top transplant would be in order. There are lots of parts trucks around with a good top and not much else. If that's an option, I would patch the rust with angel hair to get by until you decide about a top chop.

I'd try to find another cab.
Chris

Body doesn't look that bad to me....top looks fine from what I can see. I haven't seen the inside, but it looks like surface rust. A body guy should be able to quickly get the roof back in shape. Cab corners are an easy patch as well as the floors.

Once you are done with the body work (that you are going to do) then I would suggest can or gun spray paint and the best way I have found to make an older looking paint job is to have layers. Shoot some black on first to protect it, then some colored primer (color of your choice). You can then wet sand to get a semi gloss look, and have some of the black show thru. You can also use any base color you want as long as it is paint as opposed to primer so it protects against rust. Allow more of the under-color to show thru on top surfaces such as the top of hood, fenders and roof.

the cab is just going to have to be something i tackle when i get that far. The guy i got the truck from has a 5 window cab for $250 that he says only needs the floor replaced. It is to cold here for me to even start working on this thing, so i am trying to find parts.

I have read all the discussions on air brakes, but has only ever fitted modern semi axles under a 2-ton? i figure the front beam axle could be narrowed the same as the p30 and you would get airride and 22.5 wheels and tires. the price of the axles might be more than they are worth , but there is an old mack truck for sale up the road for $1900 so a cheap parts truck might be found.

I doubt you can take a semi truck axle and narrow it to fit under an AD truck.
There is a limited amount of room between the centerline of the wheel and the frame/springs. A semi truck axle has a lot of stuff in that space, to much stuff.

There are some medium duty axles with air brakes that will come closer to fitting, but I still think you'll have a difficult time making it work.
Check some imported cab over trucks, they're generally smaller and may be small enough to work?

Not all that many semi trucks come with air ride front suspension.
Not that you can't make something, but just having a semi truck front axle doesn't get you a workable front air suspension.

I too am on the lookout for air brakes for my 2 ton. What I'd really like are air disc brakes that I can adapt to fit my current P-30 axles.
So far all the air disc brake calipers take very specific size rotors, (no room to fudge on diameter) and the one caliper that looks suitable for my truck accepts a rotor that is no where close to adapting to fit, and I can't find any substitutes that are any better just yet.

Give it a few more years for more of the air disc brakes to trickle in from Europe and I bet we start seeing ones that might work, probably on delivery trucks and other medium duty stuff.

If you want to pretend you have air brakes you could use an air over hydraulic setup. Not saying it's a good idea, but it is an option.

Grigg

i am not to worried about the airride for the front, I plan on putting a dovetail on my flatbed and would like the airbags to drop the back of the truck to drive on and off without ramps. As long as i can get the back of the bed around 20 inches off the ground then drivng on and off isn't to big of a deal even with a dead truck, but lower is always better. I am just looking for alternatives. I know the p30s come with 19.5s and to small of a tire, so something with a stock 22.5 would be perfect. I am new to the big trucks so i haven't seen to many up close.

Here are some wheel and tire options:
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/wheels/

I've got 22.5" wheels and tires on my 2 ton with P30 axles, simply bolt on, details in the above Tech Tip.

Grigg

An axle from a larger truck would be no problem to fit under your frame. However the ratio would be way to fast because todays trucks are geared for 70 mph at about 1500 RPM, Fitting an air ride suspension would be relatively simple too. However, dumping the suspension will only lower you 4 to 5 inches. We have suspension dumps on all of our trailers to ease getting under a loaded trailer. If you will look at your truck now and imagine removing the rear springs, that is as far as you can drop before the axle housing hits the frame. The lift axles you see on trucks are dead drop axles, not drive axles. Also what are you going to do for air? When you drive, the airbags are constantly inflating and deflating to compensate for the road. This takes a lot of air.

Jeromy,

Reminds me of my $250 '49 4400 from 10 yrs ago. http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz296/BAFTUB/49Chev4400for300.jpg
Feature Stovebolt story to come out soon.

How about a cheap coat of paint to start?, then you can plan the project driveline and suspension.

Also, I picked up '45 Art Deco 2Ton (El Gringo Loco) last month ($100).
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz296/BAFTUB/IMG_0429.jpg
First thing I did after air-blowing out the crap inside/out was a coat of paint to stabilize it for the winter. One quart of basic (Oil) enamel, 2" brush, 1 1/2 hrs time, in the cold. Total ~$10. Cab corner rust, roof dings, floor rust, fender rust/dings.
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz296/BAFTUB/IMG_0523.jpg

The finish was easier and looks better than a roller. It stopped any further rust till I get to it later next yr.
He sleeps outside for this winter. Long term plan is a tilt deck for my race car.
Look for the story in the Stovebolt Sagas next week.

Rick M.

I think 1500rpm would be good with my 427 and the long flat roads we have here. The Brownie box i am going to use is a Spicer 7231-D
2.14:1-underdrive
1.00:1--direct
0.86:1--overdrive
So i should have plenty of options as far as gearing goes.

5inches of drop at the axle could be as much as 8-10 at the back of the flat bed, depending on how long the flat bed is. I plan on using either the stock air compressor off my 427 TD which was in a C60 if i can get it to fit under the hood. Or i can get a york air compressor. I guess the biggest reason i was looking at the semi axles is because i am cheap.....i know...i should get another hobby. But half the fun for me is figuring out different ways to do something without spending a lot of money. I have less than 4K tied up in my toyota rockcwaler and keep up with the guys in 30k buggys. here is my GF playing around in it. http://www.texas4x4.org/gallery/Jeromys-Toy/At_the_river

I have an 83 chevy 1-ton 4x4 i concidered using for parts as it has the same D70 HD that a P30 has except i would be stuck with 8 lug 16.5 wheels. I can also get a 97 chevy 1-ton 2wd dually with a vortec 454 and NV4500 for $1200, but again tires and wheels are the limiting factor without spending big bucks. Honestly the possiblities are endless at this point and they make my head hurt.

Looks like a fun project you've got there. With as many of these old grain trucks as there are abandoned in fields in this area, I think you could easily get a better cab.

I also like to hang out at the river, but I am on my four-wheeler usually playing in the mud.

if you see my toyota out there stop and say hi. I was wondering if there was anyone in Amarillo working on these old trucks. I see a lot of 60s and 70s running around but hardly anything from the 50s.

I am going to look at another truck this next weekend, I know the cab isn't in much better shape than mine. He says the truck drove to its present location 4 years ago but had no brakes. He also said the bed hydrualics worked before it was parked. I think the biggest selling point is the guy has the title and i dont have one for mine yet. The guy is asking $200 for it as well....what do you guys think, should i go get it?
www.texas4x4.org/gallery/albums/album777/San_jon.jpg

If you buy the truck for $200 to get the title and strip off the dunp bed you would end up with about 5000 pounds of junk steel. Junk steel is selling for about $5 per 100 pounds (check the going rate in your town) making the rusty remains worth about $250. So in the long haul you end up with a dump bed and a title for free (less your time).

Go for it!

Mike B

Given enough room where you live, why bring it home for 200...plus if you don't scrap it, you'd have parts....then again, I'll probably have a wrecking yard before I die cause I just can't turn down an affordable bolt.

Hi,
Looks like a great project. Do you have plans to keep the stock rims? If not I would be interested in them if they are not a center type of split rim.
Best Regards,
Phil Stewart

I am going to go get the other truck this weekend. Hopefully it is in better shape than the pics...yea right lol...I am already working on the wrecking yard at my place as it is. This truck will make 7 cars or trucks that are not running.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to coat the flatbed with? I know it is going to be rusty but it would cost any arm and a leg to por 15 it.

Phil, my current rims are split rims so if by chance these are not then i will be using them on my project till i do an axle swap.

Note to self, a 16ft utility trailer is to small to haul a big bolt with a dump bed. The truck fit just fine but all the weight was on the back of the trailer. I could do 33mph but it would start swaying at 34mph. Took me about 4 hours to get it home. The bed is in worse shape than i had hoped for. I think the metal on the top is going to have to be cut off so i can replace the wood underneth it.
www.texas4x4.org/gallery/albums/album777/dump2.jpg
www.texas4x4.org/gallery/albums/album777/dump1.jpg
www.texas4x4.org/gallery/albums/album777/dump3.jpg

Nice find Jeromy
BTW I can tell you that depending on the size of the big bolt even a 24' trailer can prove to be to small it is kind of like a garage they are never big enough. The bigger they are the more stuff you will cram in to it LOL.[IMG]http://inlinethumb60.webshots.com/44347/2975267100096773078S600x600Q85.jpg[/IMG]

I have the chance to purchace a set of axles for my truck they are mid 80s chevy axles probably C70? It is all 3 axles they have webb hubs and air brakes. He is asking $300 for all three axles and the older tube style wheels and then will throw in 4 20" tubless wheels. I just have no clue about these axles. Any info you guys can provide will help me make my decision.

Have you made any progress? I am sure the weather has slowed your build. Maybe it will be ready for next years mud bogs/sand drags?