1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Hey guys... been a lurker for a long time. Recently joined and have accquired a 1953 6400 grain truck. It runs, drives, stops and dumps. Looking for some ideas ...... you guys rock!!!

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

That's a tuff one. It would make a cool car hauler or tow truck. But, if you don't need a hauler/tow truck, it would not be very practical.

Jeff

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

What would I do with it? I would haul turkey litter in it. but that's just me. OR you could pull the side boards off and haul hay with it. You can never have to many dump trucks on a farm.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Welcome to the forum. Always great to have another 47-59 guy here. I'm not real familiar with the larger trucks, but if it were a half ton I'd swear it was a 54 or 55 1st series with the one piece windshield and wrap around grill. Are you sure it's a 53?

Either way, great lookin' truck. What are your plans? Keeping the original running gear?

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Give it to me!!!

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

great find. looks to be in great shape for a northeast truck. mine was kind of a basket case. my truck was a 1 ton and the title says 54 but is is a 53 because my dash is the 53 and earlier style.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Not sure about the year or my plans just yet. I just thought it was a cool truck... you guys gave me the fever, haha. The vin # is W54B002764.
Not sure how to decode. Thanks for all the ideas and comments so far!!!!

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Great truck. I'd shorten the frame and get an old Holmes wrecker bed for it.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

the cab is the same as a 1/2 or 3/4 ton you could start with that and an s-10 frame and go from there. nice find i think it is a 54.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

I like the car hauler option. With the tilt bed all you would need would be a good winch and maybe some ramps to help with the angle loading / unloading wise.

I wonder what state laws are for your area with regards to haulers. I have heard that in Texas that if you have a wrecker unit you have to change insurance on it even if its for personal use. That and I think a few other weird laws along with it. I am not sure though about a flat bed truck.......

I would still love to have one like that though....

Nice find,
Paul

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

i would let it sit in your yard and let everone who drive by say

" I wonder if hes ever going to do anyting with that truck"

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

LOL.......haha, their already wondering...:lol:

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

1954 6400, 161 inch wheelbase, Utility 2 ton, made in Baltimore MD

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Thanks for the decode... you guys are awesome:wave:

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

I'd put a cummins in it with a NV4500.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

I like the way you think, then I would put a different straight axle and rearend under it to get some good brakes on it, them I would haul my firewood with it.:metal:

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

My vote is a car hauler. I have the body off of the same truck, but I'm only using the cab to put on a S10 frame. If you put the body on a late model car hauler or flat bed frame, that would be too cool. I like the COE's done that way too. Good luck.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

:c2:I see you still have the hood ornament too.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Thanks for all the great ideas and comments :metal:

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

I'm with Syderman and Arkansas50, Having the tilt capability, it's a natural as a hauler.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Hey WELCOME to the site from 45 minutes south.My good friend lives on Blue Hill Rd. pretty near you.I guess it`s Black Rock where he lives.He was here today working on my truck with me.Another member l`ve just up from the hill from him.I see a member from Hanover in this thread,too.There should be a get together.Do you get to Westminster ever?Some Maryland members are getting together at O`Lorden's Pub on 1/16 at 3:00.

I know what to do with that truck.Sell it to me!:lol:
I know what I`d do with it.I`d make a big boy pickup.A bed is easy to fab up and you can mount pickup fenders on there.Use a front bumper and pan or the rear bumper.
I don`t know why anyone would put a lot of work and money into it modernizing axles,brakes,motor,and transmission to haul firewood.It`s perfect as it sits for that.

I like the wrecker idea,too.How about a utility body?Put a hitch on it and haul a trailer.It could be an ultimate hobby mechanic`s truck for junk yardin`,etc.

Some food for thought:
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...s/P8230424.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z.../19484_16a.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...ucks/54Gmc.jpg

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

You haven't seen the hill I have to go down to deliver to big cedar lodge. A load per day, every day. I haul with my 1 ton dodge now. It's all it wants. I use my exhaust brake and if it wasn't for that I would go though brake pads once a month.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Welcome to the board. I would keep it just as it is if everything works. It's a cool looking truck.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Thanks again for all the ideas and pictures. Yep I'm not too far from Mt Airy (about an hour) Thanks for the invite... probably working that day though. Any good parts suppliers for this 1954 6400?

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

My neighbor.I could give you his number.He may have what you need.He has a good bit of Advance Design parts.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Sounds good, please check your pm's for my details....thanks

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

im definitely interested in this thread because i also have a 53 6500 and im wondering what to do with it as well. ive thought about the cummins (an earlier cummins maybe 94-98) but ive also recently been thinking about doin work to the 6 in it and cleaning it up. mine already has a custom winch bed on it. the 6 in it runs and drives and the winch was newly rebuilt when it was parked 15 years ago. so keep the suggestions coming.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's a big undertaking to put that cab on a modern one ton chassis because of the different widths of the frames.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Not really sure... I've been doing alot of reading lately. Just gotta think outside the box. Sorry for the photo quality, but study these two drawings, I dont think it would be too difficult.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

The cab widths on all the AD trucks were the same. I do believe that the only thing different were the front clips, but with the cab overs almost everything was different body wise. So I don't think that it would be that difficult to swap over.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

The cab is the same. I know the grill and bumper are wider and taller. I think the fenders are wider and taller. I've been told the fenders are longer too. I know a guy who put COE on a bread delivery truck frame and it looks like it was made for it.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Yea, a COE is different because of the obvious; Cab Over Engine. The cab rides on top of the frame. Again, I could be wrong, but I think the AD's outer frame measurements are somewhere around 42" and a modern dually is a whole lot wider than that. I have a 92 3500, if I remember I'll measure it tomorrow. But, the frame is pretty much directly under the door sills.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

In the above diagram, the isuzu/gmc is about 34" and a straight rail version. Similar to the AD truck design. Some of these trucks come with 350 v-8 and 4 speed auto and can be purchased used for 3-4k locally.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

You should be able to put it on a late model frame. You may have some work to do there with frame width but the big bolt fenders will drop right over the front wheels without a lot of pain. I may do the same thing since I have a 4400 cab and clip from a '54 sitting on a hay wagon at my place!

If you are looking at keeping the hoist, check your insurance regs. In MI at that age I could register my 2 ton as a pick up or a light truck (as opposed to a multi axle, since it had only 1). Putting the hoist on made it a dump truck and my insurance went from $150 a half year to $650 a half year!! I had a 1 ton dump truck and sold it to get a 2 ton flat bed. I just hauled firewood and hay so I didn't NEED the dump.

By the way, I love the '54s!

The '53 GMC may have been titled as a '54 because it was sold in late '53. Some states went on sales date, some went on engine serial number, some went on the door jamb VIN! Good thing they finally "standardized..."

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

I got it now. I misunderstood. I thought you were wanting to put it on a 3500 frame. They are extremely wide directly under the cab.
How are the steering boxes mounted on those Isuzu's?

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

No problem... I have a 360 page manual and it doesn't have anything on steering. Guess I will do a little more checking

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

Let us know what you find out. I think I remember an older cab (non-GM) and a wrecker unit on one of those Isuzu frames on eBay about a year ago.
I was asking about the steering box because of it being a cab-over design, I wonder if the rag joint kinda has to point to the sky. But, either way it shouldn't be a problem just changing out the box.

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

I just saw one of these yesterday that I'm going back to look at today. It's very similar to this one except white. If I can snag it, I'd like to make something comparable to what Ford calls their "Super Duty". One big-ass dually with a torquey 6-banger in it. Drive around in my coveralls with a twig between my teeth, just daring 'em to flip me off for driving too slow :D

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

You could shorten it up and use it for hauling a trailer

Re: 1953 6400 Grain Truck...What Would You Guys Do?
 

I just bought the same series truck! I'm going to shorten the frame and put a 2500 or 3500 drive train in it! 4x4 with probably 4" lift