The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk A BAD day for my '51

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Today I was welding some aluminum slide-outs for a trucker-friend's double drop. I was just about to run the final bead when I looked up and saw the passenger's side of my 51 was on FIRE!!!!! It was a nice day and I was out in front of my new garage, using the pickup's bed as a work table. I normally don't fill the gas tank all the way but I was talking to a friend at the station and accidentally filled the tank all the way. My driveway slopes and the pickup was parked with the filler cap on the downhill side. It was a nice warm day and evidentally the gas in the tank was expanding and coming out of my filler cap. An errant spark must have ignited the gasoline vapors and the rest was history.

I tried fighting the fire with my two big extinguishers and a garden hose, but I could not contain the fire, so I called the fire department. They arrived in 5 minutes, which seemed like 10 hours, and had the fire put out quickly.

I have a 5 window cab located from a 1949 farm truck that I intended to change out this spring when it got warm enough to ride the motorcycle to work every day, but now that schedule has been changed. I will now get my son a car for college so I can drive my 66 F-100. Another friend lent me a pickup so I have wheels besides a motorcycle (in December), so I guess things will work out. At least no one was injured and my garage was unaffected.

Sorry about your truck, but glad no one was hurt.

That is One Heavy Bummer, Racecarl. My heart goes out to you for this trauma and, yes, it is good no one was injured.

Be sure to post what you need on the Swap Meet, as I may have a few items that you can use.

The Best to you, Racecarl.

Did the interior burn? How 'bout the engine compartment? Doesn't actually look too bad if the interior and engine are OK. You could probably replace the glass, throw a quick coat of paint on it and keep on truckin' 'till spring...

Kurt

I have to ask.. Did you have insurance? I'm not sure if your homeowners insurance will do much, but hope you had some sort of classic car insurance.

Man, that hurts! Trucks can be replaced but people can't. Be grateful NO one was physically hurt!

best wishes,

Les

Sorry about your truck. Good luck with everything.

Carl, that sucks, big time. Glad your OK and that the tank itself didn't go boom!

As others have asked I am a bit curious as to how hot things got and how your planning to move forward.

John

First of all, thank you all the kind thoughts. I do appreciate each one!!!

I just carry liability insurance so I foot the bill. Since I do all my own work insurance probably wouldn't have helped much--they would have just totaled my pickup. I am not sure if the FD will send a bill--I don't think they do but my homeowners insurance may help with that, if there is a bill.

Today I got the seat out, removed the gas tank, and powerwashed the interior to get rid of the fire extinguisher powder. I removed all the upholstry from the seats and cleaned out the cab corners. The windows got hot enough that the inside layer shattered, so I can't see through them. The wiring was somewhat damaged but would be a fairly easy fix. It wouldn't be terribly hard to get it back on the road, but I really want to go through the 5 window cab I will be getting soon and do that cab right.

The fire had just started to bubble the paint on the hood, so an engine fire was probably a few seconds away. THAT would have been disasterous because my 261 only has about 10,000 miles on it since I overhauled it. When I removed the gas tank I drained two gallons of gas out of it. I suppose there was 14-15 gallons in the tank when the fire started, so if all the missing 12-13 gallons of gas burned in the fire, I now see how the fire got so hot so quickly.

So, the plan as it now stands will to get the damaged pickup inside the shop before the snow eventually flies and remove the burned cab. I will get the 5 window cab inside the shop and begin cleaning, repairing, and painting the new cab. I hope to be done sometime this coming summer if all goes well.

Dang, I hope this burning bolts is not becoming a trend. Glad nobody was hurt.

A few things I'm taking away from this:

1. Don't weld on the truck bed
2. Be careful on how far I fill up the tank
3. If the tank is over full, careful on the angle that the filler neck sees.

Glad to hear it was a minor set back and not a major catastrophe. Thanks for posting this info so the rest of us that hadn't even thought about stuff like this happening can learn from it. I know I haven't even considered the angle of the filler neck and over filling the tank. I suppose I would have learned at some point, but that may have been years down the road!

Sounds like you are well on your way to recovery. Just a note on the insurance. You might consider classic car insurance such as Haggerty or Grundy. There is no deductable and you are 100 percent covered on an agreed amount. For me I have an agreed amount of $10K and I pay less then $100 a year for full coverage with no deductable.

Well Racecarl I am new to the forum as well and I have had the unfortunate same happinging hence the coment on bolts burning. Mine was well on the way to being done when it was vandalizied. Burn really bad gutted everything inside mealted all windows warped body lost all my vintage ac system gauges etc. Hope this makes you fell a little better on your out come. And yes from now on I dont care of the cost INSURANCE..INSURANCE...INSURANCE. I like you had to learn the hard way. But great buch of guys and girls on here to help one another out.

Carl, very sorry to hear about the fire. Glad you're OK.

John

Most important thing is that nobody got hurt. Now you can use the experience as motivation to get the 5 window cab done you've been putting off.

Like CO2, gasoline fumes (the form in which it can explode) are heaver than air. That means that not only will they "flow" downhill, they also tend to pool in calm conditions in low spots. Therefore, for example, if a natural gas hot water heater or furnace has been installed in a basement or within an enclosed space in a garage, it is possible that the fumes from spilled or leaking fuel containers can settle in a depression that has a ready ignition point at the pilot light. A spark from the brushes of an electric motor has been known to set off accumulated gasoline fumes.

It is not necessary that the fuel be inside to ignite. I've seen a half gallon of gasoline spilled at the top of a drainage ditch create enough fumes that the gaseous mixture flowed from the spill down the steep ditch until it reached a small trash fire burning in the ravine. The fire ignited the fumes sending a ball of fire back up the ditch, much to our dismay. No harm was done, but we learned a lesson.

I hope that, while this bit of information isn't very relevant to Racecarl's unfortunate mishap, it does prove to be helpful in other similar situations.

I am sorry that your '51 was toasted, in part because I have a '51 that has practically become a family member or "pet" in that so many life experiences and memories are linked to that refugee from the scrap yard.