1952 Gmc half ton
 

My father and I picked up this 1952 gmc today. I thought it was odd that it didn’t have much chrome on it until I read about the shortages for 52 53. I am more familiar with the Chevrolets. Should the headlight bezels be painted? Any callouts on the truck that seem out of place other than a butchered tailgate? Last question. Would this rear bumper thing be original?

Thanks in advance.

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

I don't remember ever seeing a painted headlight ring on an AD except possibly military rigs. The school district here where I went to school and later taught picked up an AD truck at surplus along with a 57 Chev sedan and wagon and the truck had belonged to the Navy but was a really nice truck that I worked on in high school auto shop a few times. For years they would pick up federal govt surplus vehicles for the school district. The Audio Visual guy for the district drove the wagon for years and I don't remember who in the district maintenance staff drove the Chevy truck. The sedan got used by staff in the district office. I did some work on that one too. 235 six in it and I can't remember automatic or stick. Plane bare bones rubber flormat sedan.

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

rear bumper was an option from factory and it was a less curved version of the front bumper. I'd say what you have there is a 'custom' bumper.

You have the bare bones amount of chrome: headlights, windshield divider and emblems. A little unusual to see that combined with the 'deluxe' 5 window cab, which typically got more chrome. Is any of the dash chromed other than gauge bezels?

Looks like a solid truck, what are your plans?

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

looks to be a solid truck


I see 2 custom pieces, the tail gate? what is going on there? looks like some kind of recess/indent in the inner panel

and second, it has the spare tire on the side, but the rear fender is not indented to make space for it?? custom tire rack?


Congrats on the purchase, what are your plans ?

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

Kind of appropriate the gain bins in the background as I think that tailgate was modified and used to dump grain out of the bed.

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

Thanks for the replies. The tailgate was cut by previous owner for hauling grain. I kinda like the look of it. We will see. Current plans are to just get it cleaned up. We spent the day vacuuming out the interior and putting oil in cylinders and diesel in the carb to get it soaking. We haven’t tried to turn it yet but presume it to be stuck. We were just happy the hubs were not stuck. We put a set of tires on it to move it around. I was afraid 225/75/16 would be too big but it looks pretty good. I will start looking for a rear bumper for it and maybe a tailgate but I presume Gmc tailgates are hard to find unless new which will look out of place. I like the look of an old truck in its glory.

The spare tire carrier looks like it was added on later upon inspection you are correct.

Thanks again everyone.

Jason.

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

That grain chute doo in the tailgate has me wondering if that truck didn't get used to haul a bed full of grain down to the local feed mill to have it milled for feed. The Ace Hardware here in town used to be Ideal feed and lumber and along with selling lumber they had a feed mill in the back building that you backed your truck into the top part and dumped the grain in a hopper and they would process it for animal or Chicken feed.I would help my grandfather fill the bed of his 48 Chev 1 ton with as much grain as he wanted to take out of the grain shed ( i store car parts in it now) and we would haul it town and the woudl process it and put it in sacks that he hauled home and stored and fed the chickens with. At the time you could do a trade with them where they processed the feed for part of the total load. I used to love the smell of that place though.

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

So we worked on it a bit yesterday. We were told it was taken out of service because of a knock. We spun it over by hand and heard nothing strange. When using the starter heard a clunk. We pull started the engine after points etc and it fired off and ran smooth. No issues. We pulled the starter and found the ring gear misaligned and in poor shape in addition to the flywheel itself. Is the flywheel the same on a 248 as the 228? We have the 228 engine.

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

You are not allowed to post parts wanted adds or parts for sale adds unless you are a paid premium member. That not only supports the board it keeps riff raff that only shows up to sell "those old truck rubes" parts and not be active participants on the board.

If it is still a six volt truck with a six volt starter it takes a 139 tooth ring gear and Jim Carter and others show them.

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

Thank you for responding. I will get it figured out. Was kinda hoping someone would say it is the same as a 216. Appreciate the help I have received.
Jason.

Re: 1952 Gmc half ton
 

The Filling station shows the original GM part number.

I'd trust Jim Carter on this though. His site doesn't throw out guesses from what I have seen.