1959 1 Ton Chevy 3800 4x4

[Brettm]

After lurking here for quite a while I thought I would post my build thread. I hope to repay some of the great ideas that I got on this forum for others. A little history on the truck I got it from a Farm in Eastern Idaho in about 2002 and the owner said the old girl had been in his family since it was bought of the dealer. So being a broke college student I almost passed on buying the truck but my wife talked me into it so I added the man $100 bucks and the deal was done. But sadly the reality of college life and starting a family meant the truck got put on the back burner for quite a while, until about last year when I decided it was time to either sell the truck or actually do something with it.

I was planning on doing a Mustang II suspension but the cost always put me off. Then I found Orrieg posts and Dyno so I talked by brother out of some 3/4 Ton axles from a Mid 80's chevy and the project has started. I will try to upload photos as I go thanks.

Here are a couple from when I started a really quick paint job to stop the rust.

[Brettm]

Sorry trying to post some photos that aren't sideways. Lets try this again

[flashed]

Im in to see more .

[_Ogre]

welcome to the forum
looks like a good start to another 4 eyed build

[Brettm]

Hello

It has been a while since I have posted so I thought I would post my progress. With all of the snow and cold weather I haven't got very much done on the truck except for the running new brake lines to the back end I just need to replace the brake lines to the front and in theory I should be able to stop the truck.

I thought it might be helpful to show anybody who is interested in converting their truck into a 4x4 what I did to make it four wheel drive capable. So after so careful measurement I found that the outside dimension of the frame on the 33 15/16 inches and the outside dimensions on a square body frame is 34" so they are pretty much the same. My donor vehicle is a 84 3/4 ton Chevy. So if you carefully remove he factor spring perches and cold rivets from the donor vehicle the you can swap the perches directly to your task force frame. And the front axle swaps directly under the front spring axles. The front has about a 4 inch lift and so far the rear end has it seems like about a 3-3.5 inch lift I might need to add a couple leaf springs to get the back up. I am not sure yet. But all in all it was a pretty easy way to convert the truck to four wheel drive. A couple of nice benefits was that the rear end ratio was 3.42:1 instead of the 5.11 gears I had. Also you get disc brakes in the front.

Thanks for looking enjoy

[Brettm]

I have been pretty negligent about posting my slow progress on the old beast I I'll see if I can dig up some more photos in the archives.

I have rebuilt the carb put in a new fuel pump and filter new gas tank & fuel sender and replaced most of the old metal fuel line.

I put in new spark plugs and wires I think before that I was only running on maybe 7 cylinders. So far the old 283 is running pretty well. I have completed the install of the new master cylinder for the brakes now I have dual reservoirs that are working although they are still manual breaks.

Some of the trim pieces I pulled off and cleaned so as of right now it is a vehicle that can move under it's own power and stop. I still need to put in the 4 wheel drive transmission and transfercase so not 4x4 yet.

Thanks for looking

[Brettm]

I'm happy with how the back bumper turned out. It is looking more like a truck everyday.

[jjzepplin]

OHH. I like where this is going.

[mongocanfly]

Hadnt seen this before...nice

[Brettm]

Thanks guys for taking the time to look at my project.


I found some old photos of when I rebuilt the old 2 barrel Rochester carb. it was my first time using pinesol for the carb cleaner. It worked really good, it did take a little longer than I planned but the smell was kinda nice in the garage.

[Brettm]

When I put a new battery in the old beast. After about 10 minutes the truck started to go forward under the starter power and ran into the stair railing in the garage. I can't imagine why after I looked at the starter wires the insulation was completely gone so I had to fix that.

[Brettm]

I found some before photos of the bumper and the old drop hitch that the farmer welded on. I'll try to do better about updating later parts of the build as well. But this is all my archived photos. Just trying to get a bunch of parts ready for next spring at this point.

[G&R's57GMC]

Gee if you had installed the battery this evening instead of the other day , it would have you thinking the truck was possessed..... happy Halloween ��