VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 k ('49 Chevy 4400 Big Adventure

Well, I did it. About 10 days ago, I drove my '49 Chevy farm truck (1949 Chevy 4400 with grain bed) from Brookings, SD to Proctor, Oklahoma. Being too slow for the interstate, I took US Highway 14 from Brookings to US Highway 59 (Minnesota) then 59 to Westville, OK, then US Highway 62 to Proctor. It took me two days (overnighted in St. Joe, MO at the Ramada there).

The generator failed on the first evening. The Chevy was loaded and I had my battery charger with me, so I charged my battery overnight in my hotel room and drove the second half of the way on that battery charge.

Going up steep hills, I often got to the top at 10 mph in second gear.... remember 40 years ago when you got behind a truck climbing a hill.... well, that was me. Lots of people showed me their middle fingers as they passed me.

At a gas station in northern Kansas, a lady asked me if "that old truck will make it to Oklahoma". Yeah, she made it just fine. Just a little slow. Gas mileage was about 7.5 miles per gallon.

Lee Prairie

Good to see you did the drive Lee Prairie, Were you moving to OK or just hauling a load down and back to prove that you can do it?
How about some pictures?

Thank you for your post, Mr. Mack! She was fully loaded and it was a 'move'. I need to go back in my 1/2 ton and get a few items, but the bulk of the moving was done in the '49 Chevy 4400 (washer, dryer, air compressor, John Deere riding mower, wagon/trailer for JD, tools, my shop (engine hoist, engine stand), pressure washer and so on).

I do need to post some pictures....

Now that the '49 Chevy is essentially finished except for renovating the bed, I am casting about for another classic Chevy truck for next year's project! But, there is always something to do on it... I need to re-connect the actuator arms for the wipers as per my other post yesterday.

Thanks again,

Lee

I removed the generator today.... the armature was gone. The generator was even making clanking sounds as it turned, but the stuff (lead?) that runs between the metal separators in the armature was gone half way up the armature and evidence that it was rubbing against the field coils was clear.

I installed a new generator I had. But the voltage regulator may be damaged now. While running with the new generator, properly polarized, the voltage across the battery is 7.1 volts with the lights off. The dash ammeter indicates charging. With the headlights on the voltage across the battery is 6.25 volts and the dash ammeter indicates discharge.

(I was an electronic technician in the military) discharge alone is not necessarily a bad thing. But the data indicate the voltage regulator is allowing the voltage to vary about 0.8 volts. ...Now I did drive the truck half way (the second half) from Brookings, SD to Proctor, OK with a dead generator. The dash ammeter didn't move during that time (ignition takes very little from the battery). I have to think about this some more.

Comments welcome! Also, any ideas about the wiper actuation arms (thread below).

Lee

Lee

If that is an an idle then everything sounds cool to me.

Thanks, Dog - yes that was idling and charge rate did come up with engine speed. I believed that, before the generator went out, the voltage was more constant than that. Frankly I never paid that much attention to it as long as the dash ammeter didn't indicate a discharge condition for any length of time.

I'm reading the manual and thinking about this some more. Anything technical I say right now about it, I could regret posting later!

Lee