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

My Dad is 35Mike and he has been working on a 36 truck for a while now. Today it went on it's maiden voyage And I thought you guys would like to see all of the progress that he has made on a really cool project.

In 2005 my Dad and a friend of his found a cool truck and trailer in a field in Mo. The Truck was pretty far gone but the fifth wheel and trailer were very savable.

My Dad stared looking for a 36 truck to go with the trailer and found a great truck in south western Kansas. It was a 36 low roof 1 1/2 ton truck the only problem was that it had the wrong wheelbase. The truck was so nice, rust free, straight and original that he figured the wheel base could be changed.

As soon as he got the truck home he got it running but it did not seem to have much compression. This did not stop him from taking a ride around the field at my grandparents farm with no brakes. After this short ride the truck was stored for a while and was only worked on from time to time. But all the while my dad was gathering parts and making plans for the truck.

His plan was to remove the hoist and then shorten the frame 26 inches to make it into the short wheelbase model like the original. The head had been removed to find a number of burnt valves and was fixed with NOS pieces. King pins were replaced and the brakes were completely gone through.

A few months ago he moved the truck to Show Me Powder Coating his business so he could work on it inside where there was a lot more room and he could do things after work without having to go too far to get to it. Things started to move pretty fast at this point and there were a number of things on the truck that were not able to be finished until the truck was shortened.

So plans were made and with the help of my Dad's good friend Joel they got the truck to it's current shortened state in one Saturday morning and a few hours in the afternoon. The only piece they needed to do this was a shorter intermediate drive shaft and it happened to be one of the only pieces that was still salvageable from the original truck.

With the truck short the brakes could be finished and the motor was almost back together. In the last few weeks he has gotten a ton of things done. The back rest was recovered as it was the worst of all of the cushions. Before he got the motor all back together it was washed to get all of the years of grime off, the whole rear end was washed as well. A new windshield was installed as was the manifold and carb and exhaust. The motor started easily which was nice because he ended up putting new standard rings and checking rod clearances while it was apart. The pan and all of the engine tin was powder coated while it was off.

I live in WI and came down for a week visit yesterday and today my girls and I went to my Dad's shop to see the '36 and have my girls go for a ride.

I grew up around old cars, I rode home from the hospital in my folks '35 Standard Coupe. My first vehicle was a '38 one ton truck that was my sole transportation for a few years (I still have my 38). A few years ago I was in a bicycle accident that left me paralyzed, one of the things that I had come to terms with after my accident was the fact that I would not be taking many rides in prewar vehicles and this big truck was no exception.

My Dad had other plans. With the passenger side door removed and the use of a fork lift with a piece of plywood on the forks I was raised to the perfect height to hop right in. I was proud to be the first to take a real ride in the truck on it's maiden voyage. It rides a little rougher than my 38 (which I was not sure was possible) but what a great ride it was. We made a trip around the shop in the grass and then we took to the road to see if all of the gears really worked. Just as we were about to pull out onto the road I said "We are about to find out how round these tires are." The answer is not that round. It seemed to have plenty of power and zipped right through the gears as we ran down the road and the brakes seemed to work well. After we got back my girls all had a ride or two and I think it was quite a success!

There is more to come, the hood will be back on soon as well as the passenger side door, there is a new wiring harness that was waiting for the truck to be shortened, all of the vacuum brake parts that were on the original truck will be transferred to the this truck as they are redone. The next big step will be to mount the fifth wheel, it will need some oak cribbing under it but other than that it should not be much trouble.

The trailer is now rolling and the lift gear is freed up, there is still no deck on the trailer but the only thing keeping the two apart once the fifth wheel is on is distance. It should be quite a sight to see this rig running down the road again.

This is the original rig as it was found






This is the rig on moving day with every thing cleared away and off of it.








This is the new Truck (tractor)

More Pictures



This is the hoist that was removed from the truck

SHORT!








Here is som engine progress

More of the truck











New seat back cover, the seat bottoms will be next

Going for a ride!

WOW! Congrats!
Best Wishes, Don

Sam
Your dad and his offsider have done a good job and will be a something different when completed as I dont know of many early truck and trailer restorations.
Tony

Thanks guys. We are really looking forward to seeing the trailer hooked up again!

We set the fifth wheel on the truck for a minute last Sunday. Then pulled it back off to free up the latching mechanism and make sure it was working the way it should. We thought that it would not be a very good deal if the trailer came unhooked while running down the road.

It came apart easily considering how long it was in the field. There were two springs that had broken/rotted away that made it work the way it should. Moving pieces are going to get cleaned up and painted.

The way that it was mounted to the original truck left a bit to be desired. So we are not sure if we will use the mounting plate that came with it or do something different.

Here a a few pictures of it apart.

Your Dad, whom I have had the pleasure of dealing with and talking to, has done a great job. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us.
Richard

Great photos, thanks for sharing. And a great truck! We never get to see a rig like this. Please make sure and post lots of photos when this is done. And very cool, that you got the ride.

I think we might reasonably call this "An Ambitious Project!"

My Dad has quite a few old cars but it has been a while sense he had one that was ready to go, the fact that it is a truck is a big plus.

We got a few other things done while I was down. We rebuilt the carb and got the vacuum wiper motor working.

The exhaust is now on and done, it is way quieter than I remember my 38 being.


We got the hood windless on.

I just talked to my Pop to get the update on the truck for the day.

He got the passenger door hung but it looks like the wood in the cab is going to have to be replaced at some point. It is on and closes ok.

A plan for the mounting plate for the fifth wheel has been made and it out at the welders.

He got the the big pivot free on the fifth wheel. It was the last thing that needed to do before it went back together. it took a bunch of soaking and heat to come free.

A more final valve adjustment was made, so now the hood can go back on.

After we had the carb apart it ran better but was still not wanting to idle down like it should. It does not seem to be using the idle circuit. Just to cover the bases he put on a new set of plugs and checked the point gap and timing. The timing adjustment seemed to help but it is not quite right.

Next on the list is a good drive to get every thing up to temp for a good shake down run. After that he is going to reevaluate the carb situation.

Sorry no pictures today but he did not have a camera with him. I will be back down in the middle of Sep. and will take a bunch of updated pictures. I am planing on driving my 62 Corvair Monza Wagon down so I will post a picture of it for you guys. I think we might have to pull it up on the trailer for a Russell family picture!

Great pictures. I'll bet your Dad can't wait to give the grandkids a ride in it. I know mine enjoy my car.

I called for the update last night and the plan is to swap out the wiring harness today with an NOS cloth harness. The original is in bad shape and has been cut in a few places. We already put new wiring in the headlights and polished the reflectors as best we could. Wish him luck, it is job that is not much fun.

As I said the first part of the day turned out to be a bit frustrating as my Dad did not have a large enough flat head screw driver to remove the dash and it took a few trips out to find just the right thing. He did get some head way made though.

The steering wheel was pulled to replace the horn contact in the mast jacket and make more room to work in the cab.

The gauges were removed and cleaned. He had replaced a bad temp gauge and cleaned it while it was apart. This really made the other two look shabby in comparison.

Most of the wiring behind the dash is done. Tomorrow he is hoping to finish most of it up so he can start tasting every thing.

The oil bath air cleaner got cleaned and the mesh element has been soaking in gas and should be ready to go back together with fresh oil any time.

The original truck was set up with vacuum brake hook ups and controls. There was a hand operated trailer brake control on the column. My Dad was not sure if it could be saved but when it came apart it was not that bad. It is a Vel-vac unit if any one has any in site or advice they might want to pass along we would love the help. You can see it in this picture.

The truck is 2/3s wired. The dash is reinstalled with all of the gauges cleaned and looking nice. The speedo gauge face had a stain on it that would not come off so it was swapped for a better one.

The steering wheel is back with a new horn contact installed. The horn button that my Dad was going to use seems to have contacts that are a bit to short so he is going to look for one that will work. Every thing seems to work when he uses a wire to test the horn.

The motor is mostly wired, enough that he was able to start it.

The things that still need to be done are, generator, front and rear lights and fuel sender. The brake light switch needed different connectors so he is going to replace it with a new one.

My Dad took a few photos but left the camera at work, so when they are available I will share them here.

While looking around on ebay for Fruehauf stuff we stumbled on a photo with a truck and trailer almost just like this rig. Pretty Cool!

The horn itself is on and hooked up as well as the headlight wires. The lights are not working yet but my Dad thinks he knows what the trouble is.

The horn is still giving trouble and instead of pulling every thing back apart he is going to lengthen the contacts on the button.

The generator was hooked up but it does not seem to be working. A replacement will be at the shop tomorrow with all the pieces that will be needed to get it in tip top shape.

Here are a few pictures of the dash all back together with the cleaned up gauges.

Did you polarize the generator first?

I am not sure if he did or not. Do you have to polarize a cut out the same way you would a regulator?

I just changed that last post after talking to my Dad in the phone. He had an extra correct generator that came off of his 35 standard that needed to be fixed any way. He figured the worst that could happen is that it goes on the 35 when done.

Yes.

Man that would have been nice, but it is still not working. The replacement should be done soon I hope.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Lots of ground issues that my Dad is chasing down trying to get the lights to work the way they should. He now has the head light bucket grounded well but transferring that ground to the reflector is proving to be a pain.

If anyone has any insight on how the reflector is supposed to be grounded to the head light bucket we would love to here about it. It seems like a system that would not have worked that great even when every thing was brand new.

Here a few links to videos of the truck in action.

This is the first ride in the truck.

This is us pulling back in the shop, if you look closely you can see day light under both front wheels as we bump up on the concrete.

This is the truck soon after my Dad got it.

The parts for the fifth wheel are finally back from blaster. Now all they need is a little pant and the fifth wheel will be back together.

The time is getting short to get the truck on the road. My Dad is hoping to have the truck and trailer at the local steam show in a couple of weeks.

These are really great! I know not too many people are posting anything - but I bet there are a whole bunch of us watching and following your story. Keep it coming! Love the videos.

What are the plans for the trailer? What's it going to look like?