The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 1955 Chevy 6700 School Bus

Loc: New York






Hello,
First time saying hi,About 3 years ago i bought a 1955 6700 series school bus 42 passenger all original out of Nebraska.I already had a 55 chevy show car foe the last 6 years...but with 8 children we always had to take 2 vehicles the show car and a 3500 chevy express van (12 passenger) 5 car seats . So i finally sold it just recently and decided to do the bus project.So far bought a new ZZ4 crate motor,All new brake parts,Dakota Digital dash,Now i need some help with the tires and wheels.The bus currently sit on the original 20" 7.50x20's. I know that in 1956 they made the 22.5 7.25" and 5.25" hub piloted wheels for tubless tires.Also you can go with the 19.5 wheel by accuride. I did find Bridgstone R227F tires for the 19.5 rims and they are 36.3" in diameter..but they are11.0" wide.my question is has anybody tried this and will it work.its a very expensive endeavor.Or does anybody have a handle on some 22.5's.would love to get the bus going to bring the whole family at one time.Thanks for listening .

Ted

WOW !, Would love to see pictures of this. My first School Bus ride (when in Elementary School) was in a 1955 Chevy 6700 series School Bus. Seems like it was either a Perly A. Thomas (Thomas Built), or Hackney body. Had rode in a spare bus alot that year that was a '49 Chevy, just can't remember which body, was on which Bus. Are your wheels 5 lug front, & 10 lug rear, or 6 lug front, & rear? 7.50/20's don't sound right for a 6700. Would have more than likely been 8.25/20 originally. We still had a few late 50's, early 60's buses at the School Bus Garage I just retired from, back in 1981 when I started.

Just in case you missed it in the "Welcome" forum, here is a repeat...

Howdy Ted...& welcome. Glad to see another Skoolie here. As for wheel choices, I've been told there are some ten lug 22.5's out there. Here is a quote from an earlier post...

In 1956 Chevy used that bolt pattern (10-lug same as '42-55) with 22.5" wheels on the 1.5 ton trucks. As far as I know it was only 1.5-tons, as the 2-tons had 6-lug, stud-centered Budd wheels. Best I can tell these wheels were only installed on Chevy trucks from 1956-1959. That makes the wheels somewhat difficult to find.

That said, most anything can be made to fit either by altering the center hole, lug sizes or via adapter plates.Best of luck and if you find anymore related info, please pass it along. Best of luck with the build and do post a few pix as you go.

I have a 1956 22 passenger school bus. It's a shorty. I had a set of the 22.5s, but for me it did not look good because the tires were so tall, 9R22.5s. So I got a set of 19.5s with 8R19.5 tires and i like the look a lot better. I am making it a hotrod for the family. We have 6 kids and wanted to be able to all go at once like you described. I had a T bucket, but that had no room for ANY kids. Anyway here are some pics of my bus with both sets of wheels for comparison.

[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m290/fclaridge/GreenSide18.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m290/fclaridge/195Wheels3.jpg[/IMG]

Here is a link to my entire album of my bus project and progress:

http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m290/fclaridge/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ24

Along with using the 19.5s I am now able to lower the bus 4-5 inches in the front and 3-4 inches in the back. This will give it a more hotrod look with a nice rake to it. It won't be set up for RVing or camping. It will be just a simple cruiser for the car shows and having fun.

And please post up some pics of your bus!!

fclaridge, I was going to do this but was afraid the bus would not go fast enough, it has 6.17 gears in the rear and a SM420 top loaded 4 speed. I wanted to keep the tires around 36"... I also am not going to make an RV out of mine /more of a restorod. Thats why i went with th ZZ4 engine.

Sounds real good there. I am planning on getting a rear end out of a P30 chassis and change over to a 700R4 transmission. That will definitely make it nicer to drive. For now I'm using the SM420 and not sure what gearing I have yet.

Do you still have the 22.5" rims?

No, I sold them about a month ago. Sorry.

Spanky,

The 7.50x20 wheels were the standard issue in 1955, 8.25's were optional and needed to get the max gvw.

fclaridge, you more than likely have the same 6.17 rear.

Oh and Welcome to the Stovebolt 55CSB...

Mike B

Yeah Mike, figured the State probably ran whatever was on contract, & 8.25/20 was used on all 48, & 54 cap. buses we had, & 9.00/20 on the 60 & 66 cap. buses.

I forget school buses are "fleet" purchases and whould more than likely have the better equipment, like tires.

Mike B

Hey fclaridge --- do you know the wheel size & pattern on the P30 rear ends???

Well, there are various sizes and bolt patterns on that chassis. For me personally I don't know what pattern I will look for. I plan to take the axle and front spindles and disc brakes to put on mine. Might look at what modern wheels are available and match up the bolt pattern. I do know that the 10 lug on 7.25 with a 5.25 bore is available on them. I have a set of 19.5s on my bus now that came from an RV. many of the guiys here don't like the look of a smaller wheel, it suits me fine for my project plans. It will somewhat depend on what you are doing and what you want your bus to look like.

Hi Ted and Welcome to the forums.

I have a 1959 Shorty I have been working on and have been through what you are going through now...tires and wheels. Most of this information came from this site, but there's is a lot of it, so it never hurts to have someone elses viewpoint.

My bus had the stock 2-piece locking rim 20's on it. You probably know that your wheels are hub piloted, so you need to comply with that, and your bolt pattern. So, 10 lug, 7.25 x 5.25 center.

I'm sure you have read Griggs article that advises the "hard to find" 58-59 one piece 22.5 wheel. That enables the use of the 9.00 x 22.5 radial tire. The overall height of the wheel and tire is the same as the 7.5/8 x 20, so no loss there.

Our stock wheels (6" wide?)cannot safely accept anything wider than the 9.00 tire and there would probably be clearance issues with the duallys anyway.

So, if you are going to stay with the stock rear, this is the option. If you are changing out your rear, or plan to do it in the near future, you may want to consider doing it now. Wheels and tires hit your pocket book (at least it did mine).

Good luck with your bus.

Victor

is the shcool bus for sale if not do you know where one is may be

No not for sale...just getting started on Her after a 3 year wait.As for knowing of any for sale not at this time.

Ted....is it possible to send a few pictures of your bus to my yahoo address ?? [email protected]

Thank you in advance

Paul D :shake: