Here's my first post to oletrucks, and let me say right up front, THANKS for
your patience.
I bought this truck (http://www.umr.edu/~markb/thetruck caution, BIG images)
from a co-worker. I need this truck to haul gravel and mulch for me, and
the price was certainly right!
I bounced around the net for the last couple weeks trying to get some idea
of what I have, and eventually stumbled onto http://www.laroke.com and the
tales of billybob. An excellent site, by the way! (Are you there,
Larry?:-) Therein was the link to this mailing list and it's archives, and
I've been poking around in the archives since then trying to see what I
could find. I finally decided to ask you guys directly.
Anyway, I have questions in 3 areas: VIN/ID, Brakes, and tech manuals.
First the VIN issue.
The truck's data plate has this number: 374 PT 1073. I _think_ I
understand that this means the truck is a 3?? series, made in Pontiac MI,
and in 1957, with a production sequence number of 1073. I have NO IDEA what
that 74 means in the 374 part. Anyone? Anyone?:-)
Sooo... I bought this book (but haven't seen it yet):
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewItem&item=14094
97184
According to the pictures I've seen on the web, this is a 350 series truck,
not an LCF style. Question is... what _exactly_ do I have? (and what IS a
350 series truck?) I've been getting the odd parts here and there (see the
brakes question) by referring to it as a "57 GMC 2-ton". The data plate
referrs to a max vehicle weight of 19000 pounds, and a gross load of 32000
pounds. Seems like a lot more than 4000 pounds of payload with those
numbers!
Second, the brakes.
This truck has no functioning brakes, and hasn't for 4 years at least. I
pulled and rebuilt the master cylinder, found a nail plugging one of the
brake lines, took it out, found a leak, put the nail back, got the parts,
rebuilt one slave cylinder, but couldn't get all the air out of the system,
and so pulled the hydrovac off (but not apart). Turns out that some folks
who have been down this road before had trouble bleeding the hydrovac too,
so I'm going to say it's good and put it back on and try the bleeding thing
again. Here's the question: Any tips on bleeding the hydrovac? Other than
patience, I mean. I think I've figured out that one:-)
Third and final issue in this post: Tech manuals. Is the manual I got I
got on ebay what I need for this truck? It says it's for 100-500 series
trucks. Does that include the x50 series too?
Bonus Question: The tires were shot, and the truck had center split rims,
so, on the advice of a couple of local truck/bus people, I traded my
tires/rims for rims off a 2 1/2 ton military truck. These rims take 9x20
tires (bus tires). Trouble is, the rim is just about 1/4 inch too wide to
clear the steering knuckle on the front hub assy. Can I make a spacer and
put behind there and not have trouble?
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
|