The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun Drivng impressions

Just got my brakes done and went for a joy ride in my 54 3800 with my nephew. Wow, it drives like a truck! The guys in the old days must have been hard core and built big. I now see why they have such big stearing wheels. I thought it would be pretty rough with the straight axles, but wow this thing is rough. It is missing shocks in the back and one front leaf spring is broken at the back shakle. We only ran it up and down our grass runway, in third it only made 25 on the speedometer, did not want to push it to hard since it is the frist time it's been run in 40 plus years. Only other biggie is that the clutch is slipping pretty bad.

JMS

the ol boys that drove these trucks for a living weren't necessarily big, and most did wear out young the 1 tons and up didn't have back shocks standard, they don't do much on a heavily [over]loaded truck

Bill

and you loved every minute!

John, I don't believe the 1 ton's had rear shocks.

I really like driving my 1 Ton, bumps and all. I find the seat belt stops me from bouncing off the seat. I guess as a grocery getter they may be a little hard on fresh eggs, but the rest would survive! The only other note I would add is crossing rough railway tracks. For the rough ones I slow down below 30 mph or the truck wheels will actually leave the ground.

Yeah, the springs in the seat get a workout when I roar around.

If you put a yard of gravel in the back, it'll ride like a caddy.

If you aren't loaded don't worry about shocks, the rear springs aren't going to be compressing while you'd drive anyway!

My truck rides the same way, but that's part of the fun!

I think it rides better than my 1/2 ton. Longer wheel base smooths it out a bit.