The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 1953 chevy1 1/2 ton cab over brakes

have a lead on a 53 cab over still in the shed where it was parked 25 yrs ago. Going to look at it tomorrow. question what is an estimate I can expect to spend on brakes ie wheel cylinders, one source I looked at talked about a front and rear wheel cylinder for each of the rear brakes. are there two wheel cylinders on each side on the rear axle? any ideas what a fair price would be for 53 cab over? description said no rust, no dings, has grain bed with hoist on it, has a stock rack, thanks for any input

There are indeed two wheel cylinders per rear wheel, on any 280 series (1 1/4 ton), & up. I haven't done any brake work on my trucks in several years, so I can't give you a price. There's a few guys here that i'm sure will step in, that have done brake work recently. This truck will be at least a 2 ton. There were no 1 1/2 ton rated GMC COE's in the years '47-'54. Check the ID plate in the driver door jamb. If it's 16000lb. gvw, it's a 2 ton.

Thanks for the reply Spanky. Any ideas what the truck would be worth in non running condition? Think it probably has a 235 , haven't seen the truck but the owner said it wasn't the original motor also has two speed axle looks like pretty good paint in the picture. Willknow more tomorrow

Before I purchased my last COE, which is a '52 model 470 series 3 1/2 ton COE, I had been looking at a '53 model 350 series 2 ton COE cab, & chassis, that was a non-runner. It was a flat bed dump truck from a Farm in Eastern N.C. The present owner purchased it at an Estate Auction, & he is now asking $1500(which in my opinion, is about the right price) for it after he sold the bed from it. He runs a large truck, & tractor Salvage Yard. So i'd say in your part of the Country $1000-$2000, would be about right. Be sure to get the ID tag no. from it.

There are lots of farm trucks in the midwest and they don't fetch that much money. Spanky's estimate is pretty much on point. I certainly wouldn't pay more than that.

I'm working on a '54 2-ton.

Each of the 4 rear wheels cylinders were $60.00 + at NAPA. On my truck, the front cylinders are not available so I had them stainless sleeved at around $75.00 each.

I had both front and rear shoes relined at a shop specializing in automotive frictions. That was around $200.

I also chased down a pair of NOS brake lines that connect the rear wheel cylinders. (They have an odd fitting on each end and VERY tight bends) They were way to expensive on ePay. There is actually a GM part number for these special lines.

The rubber brake lines are from NAPA and were reasonable. Numbers are my best recollection since I did this over a couple of years.

If you need rear wheel bearings, get the replacement bearings generic number and search for that. I bought them through NAPA with a good discount and they were still, at the very least, breathtaking.

Thanks for all the info. Went looked at the truck today. Body is pretty much rust free still has original paint. Just couple of dings. As mentioned above was told it had a newer engine installed figured being an old farm truck it would be a 235 was shocked when I opened the hood to find a small block chevy. Has had the master cylinder updated to the fire wall. Am thinking I might like the small block about the only damage is of course mice was one staring at me when I opened the hood and door windows are broken. Think I'll add it to my collection if we can come to agreement on price.

Didn't happen to notice what thr ID number was did you. did you get any pictures.

Got some pictures will try to up load later never did an upload, anyways the only tag in the door jam said 16000 lbs, s/n 5VSF , V-8 put in about 53000 miles. I need to go back one last time to crawl under neath see how that motor was installed. The shop that did the work way back when is still in business and a bunch larger so sure it was done right, has 85000 miles on it now. Under the seat had a lot of cut outs kind of dark not sure if it was factory or not, couple holes cut in drivers floor for access to dip stick,etc. Just want to see what kind of issues I'd have later trying to change plugs,points etc.

Can anyone tell me what top speed may be for the old truck with a two speed axle?

16000lb. puts it at a 2 ton. "VS" makes it a 1952 model.

It depends on the transmission. My 3ton '52 coe has a 5 speed with overdrive, two speed rear. I've had it up to a blistering 47mph. I don't have a tach, but I'd say that was about topped out. That was unloaded downhill and entirely fast enough, by the way. You may get a few more rpm from the small block but I'll bet that'll be in the ballpark.

Here is a formula for figuring speed if you know your gear ratio, tire diameter and RPM.
MPH = RPM X tire diameter divided by: gear ratioX336
If you have a 40" tall tire and your engine is turning 2500 rpms, with a 7.17 gear ratio, the speed would be 41.5 mph. Of course this assumes that you're in high gear and it's a 1:1 ratio, I doubt that you have overdrive in that truck.
I used to have the formula for figuring big trucks, using the tire revolutions per mile but I can't find it; if I run across it I'll post it. It was important to me when I had trucks on the road, now it's just trivia.

Kind of figured about 50 was top end. My 3/4 ton diallys shows about 40 to45 as top end sounds about rapped tight enough at that speed. I think it's probably a 4 speed but not sure. Thanks for the info

That formula will work just as well for your dually, if you have a tach and know the other stuff. If I remember right, a 10:00-20 is about 41" tall and makes around 498 revolutions per mile some thing like a 235/70-15 will get up toward 700. That explains why a big truck with 4.11 gears will run as fast as a car. The small block should turn 4,000 rpms. If it has a 36" tall tire, it would go 60, that might still be exciting on the way home in a barn truck.
My 65 C-80 with the 409, 10:00-20's and 7.17 gears will turn 4,000 rpms before the governor shuts it down. At that point, it's running around 68.

Yell might get little scary trying to hang on to the beast going that fast. I'd be happy with maybe 50 if I can keep her straight. My 37 (car) does real well for awhile then in an instant it just goes squirrelly. But it's because I have a bad dubbonnett shock on it. Well going for my last look see tomorrow it's decision day. Thanks for all the advice from everyone