CCKW open cab on G-506

[bobc]

OK, yesterday I planned out my attack on the Chevy, the front axel and transfer case are both out of the chassis I'm going to use, both are in the bed but both need work, so instead of putting extra effort into those I decided I would part out the parts truck I drug home last winter, they already butchered the rear frame, the engine is locked up and the sheet metal is rough, the doors appear to be civvy, but there are a lot of good parts, I was going to pull it over to the disassembly area yesterday but decided I should finish bolting down the bed in the yard truck, it only had the two front U bolts on the bed and when ever I picked up some thing heavy the bed would tip and slide around, but since I used an M series bed on a 41 GMC none of the U bolts I had were long enough, so I found some head bolts the same size and thread and cut the heads off and extended the U bolts,, starting a fire out behind the barn, luckily the wind was blowing the right direction and it didn't hurt any thing, but it made me think I should probably cut the weeds before I got myself into trouble, so finally today I was able to drag the parts truck over to the barn, the yard truck has proven itself invaluable! The parts truck has the early one piece grill, which I like over the later style, I'm thinking since I'll have to pull it one the other truck I may install it. Is there a firm date when they changed grills on the Chevies?

[bobc]

I need some advice on the Chevy swap project! After I got the parts truck over by the barn I got looking at the chassis on the clean truck, not only did the pull the front axle, but the springs,shocks and they weren't too careful about hoses and lines, then I got a closer look at the rear axle, they pulled the over load springs on one side and for some reason they removed the overload frame contacts and welded these huge ugly brackets directly to the side of the frame. The other chassis has had the frame cut right behind the rear spring hanger and an ugly box type affair welded onto it, but the rest of the frame looks good, I didn't see any cracks and the front bumper is much straighter then the one on the good Chevy. So it would mean pulling the bed and front sheet metal from one truck and after I install the 270 and 5 speed install it on the other, I didn't plan on doing a full on frame off restoration, but since it's going to be that far down I might as well plan on blasting the frame and painting the whole thing. Has anyone else repaired the back of a frame like this? Looks straight forward? Bob.

[JimB]

Hi Bob and Nick and everyone else out there. Sorry I have been so busy and not kept up with the G. I bought my chevy with the open cab already installed form a guy named John Enders in Fresno. I think he still prowls the shows around here. It was a cab and chassis not running at the time. I put on new wires and plugs cleaned the dist, checked the oils, put in a battery and new gas hooked a chain on front , towed it about 50 feet and it started and ran great. I found a nearly perfect bed about 5 miles from home for $100 did much minor cosmetic work but no engine work and drove it for many years. It needed a fresh paint job so I did one and thought it will never look better so now is the time to sell.

They make a good looking baby duce, and one is shown in the military marking manual, although only a drawing.
Good luck on the project and try to stick with it till it is done. Starting and stopping is harder. It may be a while before I am back on the G.

Jim Bertao

[68427vette]

i could use a good hood, closed cab... parts.......

[bobc]

I pulled the flat bed off what was supposed to be the donor Chevy and the mess on the frame was worse then I thought, the cut into and welded a big piece of metal to the second cross member back from the rear, so if I'm going to use this frame I will have to cut it off between the over load bumpers and the rear spring hangers, which I think would still be easier then trying to cut the mess off the other chassis, here's pictures of both, suggestions welcome!

[bobc]

Well once I got down to the frame with just diffs and transfer case I got looking at the frame rails, not a pretty sight, they welded the gas tank brackets to the frame rails and badly warped the right frame rail, so this week I'm going to drag the other chevy over and strip it to the frame, if I have to use it's frame it will be a lot easier to change the transfer case if it doesn't have a cab on it, this quick project is becoming much more involved then I had hoped! I don't have the time,energy or money for a proper full off restoration, but hopefully this other frame is in better shape!

[j506]

Bob,
Pay close attention to the frame at the front spring mount areas as well , most Chevy frames I've seen that WORKED HARD, have many cracks in the rail itself between the closely spaced rivets.

Hope this helps
John

[42cargo]

Hi Bob,

For what it's worth, my bumpers for the overload springs are like the cast ones in your photo. I bought them from a fellow G-member, but have been holding off mounting them until I confirm 100 percent if the cast type were used on mid-'42 trucks or if pressed steel was.

Sincerely,

John

[bobc]

That's another thing I noticed while looking closer at the frame, at least two cracks on the front spring hangers rivet holes! These Chevies aren't nearly as tough as the CCKW!

[bobc]

After putting the rough frame aside for now I pulled the other chevy, the one with the bed and cherry cab over to to the work site, I started by spraying all the nuts and screws with BP blaster so help soften the rust so I could begin to take things apart, my 10 year old daughter loves to help, she picked up my screw driver and asked what screws needed to be removed, since they are all the stinking clutch head screws I didn't think she would actually be able to get any loose, so I told her to start on the cover plates for the front body mounts, what do you know they all came out quite easy, she only weighs 50 pounds so I didn't think she would have the strength to have enough down ward pressure and still get the crews to turn, she was so proud of herself, now with any luck the rest of the truck will come apart as easy! Hopefully these temps will come down a little so I can work for more then an hour at a time, it was 102 here today, plus the weeds are in full bloom, the pollen is a thick coating on every thing, so every time the wind blows at all there is a cloud kicked up, nasty stuff, a little rain would be helpful as well, but I try to get a little done each day!

[bobc]

When I first brought this truck home I went out a shot every nut and bolt and screw with PB blaster, this afternoon I went out to start pulling the front clip, I'm not sure when they went to hex head screws instead of slotted head screws, but this truck has all hex head screws, and every one came out like it was installed yesterday, even those ones that hold the fender to the cowl, I had the whole front clip loose and ready to pull in 45 minutes, last one took me hours because of all the slotted head screws that wouldn't budge, the bolts holding the radiator on the cross member was a U bolt, so much better then the carriage bolts I had to tack onto the radiator frame last time, once I got every thing off I figured I would try to turn the engine over at the crank pulley, I had tried to use the fan before but it wouldn't move, turns out the water pump is frozen, the engine turns fine! My daughter and I cleaned out the bed last thing tonight so I can get it pulled then the cab afterward, then maybe I can figure out which frame I'm going to use!

[Dr Deuce]

the cckw powertrain sits about 2" lower in the frame. The exact difference is the height of the startter linkage spacer over the top of the bellhousing. This creates problems with the lefthand side of the transmission tower and access to the gas pedal. I know others have done this and modified the floor panel, but it DOES interfere with the gas pedal. I had put a 5 sp into a chev and even w/o the floor decided it was going to be too difficult and dangerous with the gas pedal issue. You have to make your own decisions. A better solution is to put a chev rear end under the back of a cut down CCKW. I may do that with cckw #10 as I have a chev cargo body to put on it.

[bobc]

Cutting down a CCKW was my first plan, but it turned out it was a CCKWX and I got a bunch of flack so I put aside that idea and found this chevy, but now that I have this frame all clean off I'm not too sure it wouldn't be less work to cut down the GMC frame,my biggest worry is that the brake on the Chevy are only 14 inch compared to the 16's of the GMC, I haven't pulled the drums on both to see how wide each is, so next chance I get I'll set this frame aside and drag the open cab GMC out and see just how much it's going to take to bob the rear end, on the positive side I've already sold enough parts to pay for my shipping cost on the last load!

[bobc]

This afternoons project was to get the CCKW pulled from it's hole and drug over to where I could work on it, as you can see the front sheet metal is junk, but the cab is straight and solid and it runs good, now I have to clean off the frame so I can try to see what is going to be the easiest way to turn a 6X6 into a 4X4! That's my little helper there by the front tire of the yard truck!

[BillyClanton]

Hey, I like the "Yard Truck" Billy