The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Denney's 1959 Viking 40 Dump-bed *

Hey there, I'm Denney Liptak from Fort Collins, CO
I recently acquired this truck from Emporia, KS. It's sat idle for the last few years but was able to fire up and power itself with some coaxing. Truck currently has no brake pressure and the driveshaft-mounted e-brake needs adjusting to have any function. I have full shop manuals for the '58 Task Force series to help guide me in my endeavors, along with this Forum! The '58 shop manual states that only 4spd (manuals) came in these trucks but mine currently has a 3spd with PTO. The inline-6 'looks' original but I'm not sure if it is. I'll try and locate some casting numbers. Maybe all the original valve covers said GMC?
The truck also has the 2spd rear end, brake booster and secondary leaf spring stacks. After looking at the manuals, I believe this is a 1.5-ton. The outter real wheels were removed for trailer travel.
*digression*
This was an event in itself; had to get the truck to two different tire shops to break the rusted old lugs loose. It was only about32 degs in KS so their heavy duty impact tool had to be warmed up insde the shop before it had the nuts to twist the lugs loose. They ended up busting one of the studs, so I'll have to work on that as well.
*end digression*
Reportidly, a gas theif had cut the hydraulic line looking for fuel, then proceeded to cut the actual fuel line...so I'm not sure the working state of the dump. The fuel line was field-dressed well enough to get it up onto my trailer for travel.
Here is my album for it sofar. We just got about 6 more inches of snow in Fort Collins, so I've not been able to work on the big guy much.
Hope to get it safe come Spring so I can put him to use!
Here is a link to my picasa google album; contains a bunch of pictures from the drive as well as a brief walk-around.
http://picasaweb.google.com/denney.liptak/1959ChevyVikingTruckArrival

Thanks and I look forward to talking with you all!

P.S. My dad has a 1958 1/2ton Fleetside been in the family for about 20 years. He got a new bed kit for Christmas so he's waiting for the weather to warm up for some work! That truck has its own fair share of stories so I'll get him to sign up and get a profile posted too!

Hi Denney

Looks like you've got a solid old task force truck to work on. Your GMC engine looks to have been there for a long time, but its not original. I'm sure your trans is a 4 speed, marked as 3 speeds with 'L' for low gear. I think the 40 series is a 1.5 ton, its a great size to haul 2 to 4 ton loads with.

Good luck with your truck and welcome to the Bolt!

James

Very nice old truck. Gotta love those old duallys. Looks like you got yourself a good project. keep us updated with your progress .

I like it!

I have a '59 Viking 40 myself. Mine isn't much to look at, but I get lot's of use out of it.

Welcome to the Stovebolt.

John

Hey guys!!
Thanks for the replies!
Might you describe what the shift pattern would be for the 4spd? When I got in it to roll it down from the trailer, I moved through the pattern and the 'H' was pretty fluid. (Yay!) Top-left was a little hard to get into (I figured this was 1st or reverse and maybe the gear wasn't quite lined up). As an aside, the hurst shifter on my super T-10 4spd places reverse up-and-to-the-left of the H, with a pretty stiff spring to keep one from mistaking it for 1st
After you mentioned that the GMC motor is not stock, I began looking around online; I found some photos of a GMC 270 that seemed to look similar and also fit the era of this truck. This could be a whole other thread but is the GMC 270 much different than the Chevy motor that would've been in it...as far as tuneup and basic maintenance, as opposed to rebuilding or innards. Just curious if the shop manual I have will still pertain in this area.

While the GMC motor is not stock, I'd like my repairs as stock as possible. The truck has seen plenty of hacks and field-dressings so I'd like to correct them in a 'stock' manner. For example...and I've only had a very short look at it while it was up on the trailer...the fuel pump looked very similar to the unit that is on my '70 Firebird. However, I've read that it 'should' have a combo fuel pump/vaccume booster to aid vaccume accessories like the brake booster, 2spd rear and windshield wipers. Maybe my visual was off; I'll get a closer look once I'm not rolling around in snow

Take care for now!

Reverse should be to the far right, and back. It might have to be running to get it in gear.

John

Sweet truck...thanks for sharing the pix.

Hi Denney...

Enjoyed your story about retrieving your truck from Kansas. It does have that natural outdoor weathered look to it, but as long as the sheet metal is solid you've got something to work with. This type of truck is notorious for rotten cab corners and quarter fenders. Yours appears to be quite solid.

As far as the transmission shift pattern goes the forward gears are the standard 'H' pattern with upper left as deep low, straight down is 1, upper right is two, down right is high. Believe me it'll seem like you should have one more higher gear but you don't. These trucks are slow, at 50 MPH the motor is turning wide open. Reverse gear should be spring loaded with the position at far left and down (close to your leg). At least that's the pattern on my '57 dump.

Good luck with your new find, keep us posted!

James