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The Wife is Screamin, For Joy or Pain, I can,t tell

nattieleather

Well-known member
1,884
134
63
Location
Cleveland, OH
Wow...what a great find! A Chevy tipper with original bed. Motor could be a 270 or even a 302 but I'd just leave it in and paint it OD. Only true die hards are going to know it's not "right". It's a great find and even just making it driveable and getting it OD with white stars will impress most people as I don't think I've ever seen a restored or even fixed up Chevy tipper. I fact this is the first one I've seen at all. So congrats to you on your excellent find!

Oh and keep us posted with lots of pics as you go through the process of fixing her up!

And yes we all hate you now just so you know... :lol: rofl
 

Karl kostman

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,283
836
113
Location
Fargo ND
How could your wife be anything but HAPPY with this find, looks to be in nice condition but perfect for a restoration! GREAT SCORE and congratulations, this will be fun!
KK
 

bigmike

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,004
354
83
Location
Dixon CA.
super nice score. I love the look of those trucks. You don't see too many tippers around either. Focus on the engine panels, paint, brakes and tires and enjoy it for a while.
 
554
0
18
Location
Sedona Az.
Update: I hate the fact that I've got to put the truck in the hands of the local shade tree mechanic. It has been at his shop for over a month without any work started on the brakes. On the bright side I was able to title and register it at DMV, it was a total of $23 per year, life is good. I've been considering putting some civi 9.00 20's on it, I have some concerns about the rear duelly's bumping without spacer's (comments, thoughts). I plan to go to better tires once I can assure its going to play well with the other rigs in the yard. As for paint the local paint shop said something about $4500 to make it O.D., I said nice knowing ya! I'll paint it myself once my brake and other's are done.
I really wish I had more mechanical abilities, if there's any ss guys in my area that could work on it at a rate I could afford to pay, let me know. I would really be grateful to have the help!!!
 

Karl kostman

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,283
836
113
Location
Fargo ND
Well obviously you have internet access have you ever done a search for the TMs pertaining to you truck? IF not that would sure be a good place to start out! Once you looked at them I do believe you would soon figure out that what we do is not some form of "ROCKET SCIENCE" and there is no mythical beast which has endowed us to have mechanical ability, there is a very logical sequence of event need to happen to get the end result your looking for and the TMs lay this out for you in extremely easy, usually logical ways so we can all understand them. Sounds to me like you need to get crackin in this, that is to nice a truck to leave in the hands of others!! Good Luck and you can do this if you give it a chance!
KK
 
554
0
18
Location
Sedona Az.
Thats all good advise Karl, I've downloaded the TM's and agree they are well layed out. As for doing the work, my first choice is to have a more experienced hand at the helm. I think one of the best quotes on this site speaks to the folly of, if you think a hiring a pro is expensive, then hire...... The biggest reason for not gettin her done myself is I don't have the facilities in my neck of the woods, my city would fine me major real dollars if I turned my driveway into a repair shop. We have some very committed code inforcement folks on the payroll, and I'm on there drive by route. I would however love the idea of taking the rig by the tail and making it a quality restore.
 

paulfarber

New member
1,081
19
0
Location
Gordon, PA
My $0.02..this is not a slam.. but a 'best case scenario'.

1. Get on every Chevy board you can and DOCUMENT THE TRUCK. If you have an original truck then there are people who would like to get pics of X,Y, and Z to help answer questions that TMs or for their own restoration.

2. 90% of the fun is restoring the truck. If you don't have the ability to restore it do you have the FUNDS to pay someone? A restoration is gonna cost $5k easy.. before you even consider labor.. and that's with a mostly original truck. Do you have $5k+ or will the truck sit?

If you are not going to restore the truck, I would say sell it to someone who will. If you think that you will get your purchase price, shipping and restoration money back out of a truck... good luck with that.

Average price for a Chevy is about $5-7.5k. You might get a little more for a tipper but they are not really that desirable.. or rare. But then you have to deduct for a mis-matched engine... big minus for a 'collector' (aka guy with money) and a guy in the market for a driver will not see any extra 'value' in a tipper.


Don't think that MVs are an investment.. they are not.

Again, not a slam... just a point of view.
 

jamesfrom180

Active member
534
71
28
Location
Gainesville/Florida
I would say if you can find someone who is willing to lend a big hand to you with the brakes and do them yourself. The little tricks to free up rusty metal are all you really need help with. The rest the TM will cover. You have to start somewhere. That said if you don't have the facilities ask around at local construction companies. Sure someone right now has a yard that they would love to have make them a few bucks a month.

Good luck go for it.
 

nattieleather

Well-known member
1,884
134
63
Location
Cleveland, OH
If you lived within 100 miles of me I would come work on your truck for free just to get my hands on it and I would gladly show and help you learn along the way. Are you a member of a local chapter of the MVPA? If not you should be. Then you'll find someone who may want to work with you on the truck. You may also find someone with some land where you can take the truck to be worked on. See if the local mechanic who has the truck will allow you to work on it with him? Let him be your teacher. Remember the TMs were written for men who had very little education and who where in many cases drafted into service. You'll be able to figure out what they are talking about when you read them.

Good luck with the truck.
 
554
0
18
Location
Sedona Az.
Very good advice, I gotta say that I'm happier than a pig in $hit with this truck, and see nothing but upside. If I can have the heavy lifting done by a good wrench hand I could then get down to the more nitty gritty stuff like all the above mentioned.
It would not be a long shot to do some of the stuff at my home, I just need to be able to get in, start it and move it if code inforcement comes to pitch a fit. My neighbors will and can deal with some in house wrenching. Don't hear any of what I've said as whinning, I can and will pay, within reason my cost as I go, at the end of the day it's my best intention to make it right!!
Thanks for good info and bring more if you got's:)
 
554
0
18
Location
Sedona Az.
One more thing, does anyone have a hard copy of the TM's? Scrolling and reading a computer screen kicks my A.D.D. a$$, I find it much easier to use book marks, old school style.
PM with price and details if you can.
 

nattieleather

Well-known member
1,884
134
63
Location
Cleveland, OH
For the cost of the manual you might just take it to Fedex or Staples etc and print the PDF out. Then you can get the pages all dirty and replace as needed. I just print them out at my job, but I understand not everyone can do that. For the cost of a ream of paper it might be a wash to buying the TM.... then again it might not be it might be less money to buy the book. Do your own price shopping... :lol:
 
554
0
18
Location
Sedona Az.
I'm going to try to find a local contractors yard to do a short term lease or rent. It makes sense for other things as well, it might keep the wife happy to have less around the house, when the wifes happy everybody's happy. Printing the manual could work and the contact for hard copies will be a good follow up as well.
Thanks to all for your comments!
 

jamesfrom180

Active member
534
71
28
Location
Gainesville/Florida
I would say most of my work with my jeep is keeping the wife/CFO happy. It is good to have a check over me keeps me from going out and buying a really old, rare, and random truck! I hope you enjoy the skinned knuckles that come along with this hobby. I sure do.
 
554
0
18
Location
Sedona Az.
Spoke with Sam Werner today, he thinks he has 1 side panel and is looking to see if he can find another. Can anyone verify if a 42 chevy has the embossed Chevrolet or just the louvers?? Sam says if he has right and left side he only has the louver style, no embossed around. He seemed to be the kind of guy you could hear stories from all day, it was a pleasure getting to talk with him:)
 
554
0
18
Location
Sedona Az.
Quick update,
I have fixed, a partial fix of the brakes. Seems that some where along the way the rears were bypassed as in t-offed and capped. So the fronts have new brake parts and function well next phase is to take down the rears and see about re plumbing them again. I'll replace where needed as we go. Also replacing the water pump and thermostat.
Looking for tire and wheel ideas/advice, a guy on another site suggested I go with M35 wheels and tires. First question has anyone done this, is it a good fit/fix, are they too big for the little truck to roll??? I was also giving it some thought to just run singles all around, thought it might help in it's back road abilities. Might look nice depending on wheel and tire choices.
 
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