The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 1937 GMC 1 1/5 Ton

I recently bought a 1 1/5 ton GMC with a good cab, inop engine and no bed or box on the back. It does not have dualies on the rear.

My plan is get the truck into running condition for light hauling with a wooden flat bed on the back.

I was wondering if I can chop the long frame and shaft, and move the rear wheels forward.

Do anyone have experience with this?

Thanks

Dave, welcome to the Stovebolt.
I have not personally done what your talking about but a friend of mine has and he had no unexpected problems. It was a GMC COE. I'm sure others will chime in here.

...you are now a member of the "Texas Connection". The guys will find you!

With my 38 chevy 157" wheelbase the frame is drilled for 131" wheelbase that would allow for moving the axle forward. I don't know if GMC worked the same way.

Thanks for Texas welcome..

I have had old 50s Chevy cars and trucks but have not had a project truck ike this one..

I will keep you all posted.

All the best

Dave

That is good news.. I won't have the truck for another week as it makes the ride down to Texas from Minnesota..

Thanks

Would like a px, have 3ea. '37 T18's.

/Users/davidnickerson/Desktop/1937 GMC/IMG_4296.jpg/Users/davidnickerson/Desktop/1937 GMC/IMG_4298.jpg

not sure if this will work, but here are two pictures

no it doesn't work, we can't see pictures on your hard drive, you need to upload them to a host site on the net, lots of free ones available

Bill

here is an FTP link that will download a folder of photographs


www.powerbargecorp.com/FTP37GMC.zip

Wow that truck is in great shape!
It reminds me of my truck when it first showed up here. You have the same wheels as mine.

Great photos.. I will document the truck's progress and keep them posted..

I aim to keep the paint as is.. and add a wooden bed made out of salvaged wood.

thanks

Nice truck Dave!

It was somes baby to be in that shape after all these years...imagine the stories if it could talk...

Mike B

Thanks Mike..

Yes, it must have been in someones barn up in Minnesota.

You seem to have a huge collection. I like the 56 Tractor.

All the best

Ed

Do you have any photos of your 37?

Dave

Love that truck!!
Welcome to the Bolt!

Nice Loadmaster.. those MN trucks are amazing..

I was surprised to see it had a flathead.the 37 chevys I've seen were OHV. looks like sheet metal is in excellent shape

kb3csw

I did read that in 37, some of the GMC trucks ran with the Olds engine.

tks

Just one of the differences between Chevy and GMC. Makes things interesting.I can always stand to learn more.

The truck arrived this morning. I am beginning to strip down the chassis and getting ready to pull out the engine. I will post some photos.

Any suggestions on what to swap out the engine/drive train with. I am looking for something late model that will fit in.

Dave, I'll get some px, yours is the 'small cab(Chevy)' version, 233 Olds engine, possibly Pontiac. It will say T16 or such on the large data plate on the inside of the firewall.

Jeff

What are you doing for tires? One of my friends is telling me that these wheels are dangerous.

Dave

My 38 chevy had a combination of solid lockring wheels and split lockring wheels. There are several threads on these wheels. Lock ring wheels are relatively safe to work with. The rh5 firestone split wheels are generally recommended to stay away from. The rh 5 wheels will have no lock ring and split in the center where the raised portion similar to a tubeless wheel is. You'll have to check yours as wheels could have been mixed.

these are the wheels that I have

http://www.powerbargecorp.com/1937GMCHub.JPG

I have those on my '37 as I understand it you still want to be careful but those wheels are safer than the split rim "widow makers" you hear about.

Any recommendation on the type of new tire to buy and where to find them?

I need a full set as these are slashed on the sidewall.

thanks

Dave

Those appear to be the solid lockring wheels, just seeing that small segment. You may be able to get tires locally, other wise on Internet. Universal, coker, Nebraska tire, Tucker tire are some of the vendors. A friend just priced 8.25x 20 tires locally and got a slightly better price. 700 or 750's can be pricey.

Dave, sweet truck, i have a thing for the 37 gmc as I have a T16 that i bought when i was 14. If i recall i saw this truck for sale on the Hamb for a good price, glad you got it and have plans to keep it decent vs a rat rod. anyway, i digress.

as far as shortening the wheel base, i was able to do it to mine way back when, the gmc has an open driveshaft and i removed the solid non slip section of driveshaft and used a cold chisel and 4lb sledge and took the heads of the rivets holding the spring hangers on the frame off. I then slid the springs and axle up that amount. I drilled and bolted with grade 8 bolts and it gave me a 115" WB if i recall.
I am also wondering what model yours is for sure, mine is a T16 and it has the vertical louvers on the hood sides and a different emblem and 3 horizontal trim pcs that are over the louvers. Yours has the later general motors truck emblem like on the 39-40 and no louvers. I bet you have a bit heavier gvw, or maybe a canadian truck?
As for an engine - easiest to fit would be an I6, although i shoe horned a 396 BBC in mine useing the factory steering box and a set of headers.

I see that your grille is banged up, i made new vertical bars out of solid aluminum. I am possibly going to make some of the curved horizontal ones too. if you want, PM me and we can discuss making some for your truck
good luck
jason

what does not make sense is the tech article on Stovebolt identifies the original wheels for the 1 1/5 GMC/Chev as 10 lug and these are 5 lug?

It is a T16 but there are many things which are just a little different, so you may be right about Canadian build.

Once I get to the finish work, I will shoot you a PM on the grill.

Thanks for the tip on cutting down the bed length.

Dave,

My 37 has 10 lug in the back and 5 lug in the front. It is the same wheel with a cosmetic plate to hide the holes that are not being used.
The tips on vendors for tires is good. I almost went with Nebraska tire but after shipping and finding a local address to recieve them the cost was close enough to a local guy that I just bought the local tires. Expensive though $200 a tire tube not included.

Anyone have any ideas about lifting the cab off, once I have stripped out the interior? I had planned to make a couple of spreaders and lift it through the window openings..

I would like to edit my past statement about safety of lockring wheels. Please do a complete inspection of both the wheel and lockring before putting it back together. If either part looks the slightest bit suspect to you...rust pits missing bits of edges or rounded edging do not use.

I had one get away from me today. Fortunately it was chained down and didn't cause any damage. After review I concluded I had no business using that rim in the first place.

So safer than the rh5 split in the center yes but still requiring safety precautions. Chains, Wall(to stand behind), and remote fill are all good ideas.

Wow.. can you tell me how it happened?

So many of the photos of these trucks have what appears to be the same wheel. Is there a safer tire to put on?

Are you changing out your wheels?

I am considering replacing the wheels with newer ones.. any idea of anyone making a new truck rim which looks fairly utilitarian??

There is really not much to tell except the tire tried to demount itself, explosively. I had chains on it and made sure the lock ring was centered but as I was airing it up boom. The chains stopped the lock ring from sailing into the sky.

Like I said if you make sure the rim and lockring are in good shape and take safety precautions it should not be a problem.

If you are interested in changing to tubeless tires you will probably have to change to a 19.5 size. http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/wheels/
describes what is needed much better than I. Make sure the center hub is the same size as well as the bolt pattern and it should be fine.

As it happens I may be in the market for a couple of original 20s that are in good shape. Unfortunately I can't really drive across the country on a whim.

Did you ever find new wheels for your truck? I have a '36 and having trouble finding. Thanks for your help.

No I haven't looked seriously since I still have 4 wheels that allow me to move the truck around. When I get to the point when I start using the truck I will need 3 more.

If you need some wheels and have decided on what you want to use you might try putting an ad in the parts wanted section.

Thanks for answering.

Accuride has made a 19.5 wheel with a bolt diameter of 7.25 and a hub diameter of 5.25. You will have to make a spacer for the front wheels with your old wheels since the hub dia. is 4.75. The spacer for the rear will be your 10 hole plate reversed. This plate was used when duallys were on the back. Just go to Ebay and key in 19.5 wheels or rims and you will find some. I bought 4 from a guy that had 6. You will have to grind a 1/4 inch circular spacer from your old wheels-this is not easy.