The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk What is this hole?

I have a '53 Chevy truck and have been trying to figure out what the odd shaped hole in the floor directly under the seat is for.Thanks for any help.

Do you mean this hole? A drain so the tool box doesn't fill up
with water: http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/139530308
DG

Does that plug the hole and defeat the draining?

In 1971, the similar hole under my Suburban's driver's seat had a similarly shaped hole and it had a large circular plug in the hole (water could then leak out through the "ears" in the floor-hole).

Thanks guys, yes that is it, anyone know where I could find a plug?

Any hardware store should have a whole selection of rubber plugs.

Have you looked at the shape of that hole Eric? The hardware
store don't carry rubber plugs shaped like that, nor does
McMaster Carr or any other supplyer.
I thought that was unique to the '54/'55 trucks, are you sure
that you '53 has that shaped hole in it TW and not just a round hole???

Now Tim, come on, if you've got water up that high you got more
problems than a flooded toolbox. And if you're washing the tool
box out with a hose then you simply pull the plug out, same as
you do after your bubble bath. Leaving the ears open is leaving
the door open for MIC-KEY MOUSE to come visiting.

Denny G

Yes DG it is shaped like the one in the pic you provided, round with ears.

Steele says it'll make any rubber gasket/plug/etc. you need if you're willing to pay for it.

So, Denny, that hole is not for drainage?

No dog in this hunt, but curious why such an odd shaped hole would be used? If the intent and purpose was to serve as a drain, is there an advantage over a simple round hole?

Hmm... the hole in mine is round.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8170/8015483676_d0879980f1_b.jpg

I kinda suspect the real purpose of the hole had to do with something in the metal stamping or assembly at the factory, and it was left because some engineer thought it'd be useful to have a drain there - but quite like with the hole found many years in the spare tire well of car trunks, they put a plug in it to prevent the ingress of water from road spray

all speculation if it's not in the assembly manual .... what's a pretty safe speculation Tim, is the factory didn't put a round plug in an oval hole to leave a constant drain, if the only purpose was drainage they would have designed holes for drains that didn't require the extra cost of having a "not plug" or have made a round hole that fit some existing cheaper plug - OTOH, some previous owner of your truck who lost that odd shaped plug might have used .... whatever

Bill

I thought the same thing Richard, figured I could make those plugs for a couple of bucks
but as it turned out I would have to get about five bucks each for them just to break even.
Here’s several days worth of work: http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/134852226

Yep Eric, yours and everyone else with a ’51 or ‘50’ or ’49 or ’52 has a round hole. As I
thought I made clear, I know the ’54/55’s had the odd shaped hole but it seems now that
tw’s 53’s might have had it also.

We must have a completely different picture of what goes on under the seat Tim. Of
course it’s a drain hold, but again, as I tried to point out, the only time you should need to
drain anything out of the toolbox is if you needed to turn a hose loose under the seat.

Sounds like as good of a guess as any Bill, might have been to radially locate the floor
pan on a fixture and afterward act as a way of draining the toolbox if it got water in it for
some reason.
Never saw one with a plug in it but I’d bet they came from the factory with plugs in them.
DG