VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans 1936 1 1/2 ton Low Roof Semi Lots of Pics

I have a 37 heater for my 37 and will be going in when I find a 12 volt motor that will fit,I do not know a electrician so I will be buying the tool to punch the holes and I will not be drilling any holes for a antenna since I have a stereo in the glovebox with a USB port and have plenty of music on a flash drive and MP3.

Remind me what the three holes in a triangle shape are for? They are out near the hood on the firewall.

I believe there is a reinforcement bolted or riveted there on pickups with a fender mounted spare tire.

Mike

Yes that is what I could not think of.

Here are the wheels. The top three are the spare for the truck and the last one is a wheel for the trailer. You can see that it has TRUE written on the side wall because it was one of the tires that was sent out to be made round again.

I just saw this post regarding the steering box adjustment. Several years back I rebuilt my 36 1/2 ton steering box with ALL nos parts, including a hard to find nos worm gear and shaft. I could never get all the lash out of It per the service guide. I pulled It three times and tried adjusting it in every position, no change! I finally gave up and decided that 1 1/2 inch steering wheel play was not so bad if I hit something that was going to spin the wheel and break my hand as our old farm trucks did when you hit a furrow. It tracks straight and doesn't wander.
Hope this helps,
Richard

My wheel has only about 3/4" to 1" of play. Steering is not as smooth as I think it should be. I'm worried that I am creating unusual wear on my new parts.

Mike

I had several nos steering sector shafts at the time. I did find that each one meshed differently with the worm gear, but lash adjustment didn't change. I am sure they would "wear In " differently and maybe lash could be tightened up after more miles.I find it interesting that the sector shafts are easy to find. Not so with the worm gear. Maybe the worm gears didn't wear out much, but the sectors did, thus more sectors were produced or just the opposite and all the worms were used?? BTW, steering is smooth on my truck, just a little too much play IMHO.
Richard

I put a 41-6 steering box in my 37 and like it alot better then the original,it seems to steer a little easier and better road feel but I had to go with a 41-6 steering wheel that looks similar to the original 37 wheel.

Jeff,
I saw a '41-'46ish column on ebay. It looked like the worm was below the sector. My truck has the worm above the sector. It would have changed the angle of my column significantly. What did you do?

Mike

It bolted in my 37 like it was made for it,I did have to use the 41-6 column and wheel but is at the same angle as the original.

Any chance you could snap a picture for us Jeff?

I need to get me a new computer before I can send any pics.

The illustration in the catalog looks like the worm shaft is below the sector on the stock '37 truck steering gear. That would make the later column fit correctly as Jeff stated in his earlier post.

Mike

I have been collecting tire chains so that I can make a set for the dual wheels on my truck. It's not that I plan to use them but all us big rig flat bedders keep our "tar chains" draped along the frame of our rigs. I don't want to look like a rookie so I need some chains. In my pile is a single string with a very unusual (to me) type of cross chain. I wonder if any of you know the era of this style and better yet, does any one have some to share if they turn out to be appropriate for my '36 truck?
Sam will post a photo soon. I will place a wanted ad in the classifieds.
Thanks.

Mike

I'm running a 41-46 steering column and box in my 37, also. I cut the steering shaft and re-welded it together with a 37 top so I could run the 37 steering wheel. This is what I call a significant upgrade and no one knows upon sight, but steering is twice as good at the 37 stock box.

The 41-6 steering box made a big improvement in my 37 and the 41-6 wheel looks close enough to a 37 whee to me but might be hard to find a good one since they like to fall apart,for some reason the 1 1/2 ton trucks had a longer shaft so if you do the swap get the box from a larger truck.

You're a celebrity!!!!

Great writeup and pictures in this month's G&D!!!

FINALLY I get the recognition I so richly deserve.

Mike

I spent last week in MO with my folks and had a ton of fun working on the truck. Dad drove it to the cruse in night while we were there and it is so well behaved even in the hot weather.

I went to his shop two days and we decided to tackle some work on the doors. Some of the screws that hold the inner door panel on had come out or were striped. We should have just installed the rivnuts in every hole. We had the panel on and off so many times that they would strip out from one time to the next. It is going to have to come apart one more time as one or two more holes striped on the final instal.

The goal was not to have to take the door apart again and we decided to add a layer of sound deadening insulation to the door panel as the doors are like drums and can move some sound. I made a templet so I would miss the upper support and the edges. The back of the door panel was dirty and rusty so we scrubbed the loose stuff of with a wire brush and when blasted them with soap and water from the power washer. it dried quickly in the sun and the sound deadener stuck really well. It stretched some as it was installed so we did have to test fit and trim it a bit. It seemed better and as you guys know these truck are pretty loud at speed so every little bit will count.

While it was apart we installed the passenger side NOS door latch. We are not sure when they added an extra spring to the latch but it keeps the outer handles standing up strait. It also keeps the outside handle from dropping when you slide the inner handle. Dad has one for the drivers side as well and looking at the non spring version it looks like the spring could be added if you were so inclined. With everything back together the door really worked nice. the outer stainless ferule that goes around the handle was rattling around so we tightened it up. The crimping tool that does this job is cool and I total forgot to grab a picture of it. We could not find the rubber insert that goes in the ferule but once it is installed the door handle should be solid and have no place to rattle.

I also replaced the two rubber door bumpers with new soft repops. They had a bunch of flashing left from the molds but I was able to get them cleaned up with the scissors on my pocket knife. The old ones had turned to stone and were rattling, the replacements were nice and tight.

Next was the lower inner door seal that was also hard as a rock and falling apart. This was a two man job as the large flat blade screws that hold the little rocker panel on have square nuts on the back side. With it off every thing got cleaned up. I scrubbed on the top of the running board that was now exposed and shined up some nice black paint. I did not know that the truck had black fenders and running boards. Everything went back together with out much fuss and the seal looks nice and should seal the bottom of the door nicely.

Now we will have to do the same treatment to the drivers side and doors will be in good shape.

My Dad is still hoping to put a deck on the trailer some time this summer or fall. He got some huge telephone poles that he is going to have his brother saw up for him. It sure will Change the look of the whole rig, can't wait. Hope everything is going well for you guys.















Old Latch


New Latch with spring

Old crumbly door bumpers




New soft bumpers




The top screw on the door sill was stuck but the gentle use of the impact got it out.

The truck is coming along nicely. It is a slow process but worth the effort in the end.
Tony

Hello everyone, I thought I would give an update since I was home for the afternoon and it had been so long. The truck has been working great and is used often for runs into town and car club events.

There are a ton of things that have been done to the truck since my post about the doors. The spare is finally on, the tail lights had to come off as they were using some holes that were for the spare mount. They will be back on soon.



The front bumper bar behind the chrome bumper has been bent since my dad got the truck, it also had a plate welded in between the frame rails that needed to go. Both were removed. He found a nice replacement that is going back on on.



But here is the big news. When my Dad got the truck it had a hoist and after the truck was shortened he thought it would be cool to be able to pull the fifth wheel and put a small dup bed on when needed. Well he found one and the truck is well on the way to being a Semi / farm truck with dump.

The bed he found is a St. Paul, it needs to be changed a bit to fit the way it should but will look right at home when done. All of the hardware for the bed and side boards is super cool.

Here is what it looked like when my dad got it.





The floor had come apart by the time he got it home but it will be replaced anyway so no big loss.



It needed to be shortened and modified to to fit well on the truck. I know it is farther along and I will post a few updated pictures when I get them. I will let my Dad chime in with more details.

This farm dump bed had been on a '34 Chevy truck and, from what I can tell, might be older than that, perhaps around 1930. It was about 10-1/2 feet long so was probably on a 157 inch wheelbase truck. My truck has been shortened to 131 inches.
The factory installed flat bed on a new 131 inch Chevy truck in 1936 would have been 9 feet long. The GOLD BOOK illustrations of this set-up look a bit out of proportion to me so I am shortening this bed to 8 feet to suit my eye.
The side and end boards are solid enough to use and the hardware is neat looking. The tail gate lets down like a pickup gate with chains at each end. This does not seem like a particularly practical arrangement for a dump bed but I will leave it "as is" because it is just so darned COOL.
I took the tail lamps off for the mounting of the bed so no more trips to the bank or hardware store until I get them back on.
Thanks, Sam for posting the pics.

Mike

Thanks for the update and the pics. I agree, that dump bed is way cool!

Cheers, Dean