Hot Rods How hard do you work your old truck?

We all know the guy who hauls lawn chairs only...
So Who uses their truck, and works it pretty hard on a normal basis?

Hamb friendly trucks is what I am going after....

How I use mine frequently... this was headed to swap meet a few months back... Lets see your loaded down old gals...

 

the last time I worked my old truck hard (towing my Chevy II to Illinois from AZ) it died in New Mexico, and I had to drive the race car to Illinois....so I kind of gave up on that, for now.

 

Since getting mine on the road last year mine is used for all my hauling purposes.
But his Spring I picked up an old buckboard wagon that the owner was giving away for free. Those old wagon wheel hubs are a lot heavier than they look!



And last Fall I used it to haul home lumber from a deck I tore apart. This took multiple trips.

 

Hauls the dog but is set up for camping-

 

Been driving my 30 pickup for 19 years and it sits outside since I ran out of garage space. I use it as a daily driver and it hauls a little of everything, keep thinking I need to put it in the garage and repaint it but never seem to get around to doing it. If you look in the back ground there is a 29 pickup that belongs to a friend that is also full of firewood.

 

I have driven my 1939 Ford pickup every day for 17 years often pulling a trailer with another old car on other. It has moved more than 50 cars. Each antique that truck has pulled has gone at least 400 miles. I have posted pictures of it pulling doubles on a 300 mile trip. I have driven antique/hotrods ONLY for 51 years. The newest car I own is a 1966 Chysler convertible that I inherited from my parents. It has been in the family for 47 years.

 

I use my 66 GMC 1/2 ton very hard. I certainly aint afeared to load it. Its gets regular abuse .I pull heavy loaded trailers. flat bed and stock trailer load it with green firewood. haul heavy loads of tractor parts . Haul square and round bales of hay. Got it from the back of a rollback headed to the scrap man. been using it going on 6 years. Just about ready to let it have a permanent rest. Im building another truck . It will have a 60 Pontiac 389 engine. 56 GMC bell and flywheel. Sm420 trans and 342 rear gear. on a 1/2 ton frame with disk brake front and rear leaf springs.

 

That's what ya get for having a sissy ass automatic in your tow vehicle. LOL.

 

The bed on my old deuce pickup wasn't big enough too haul groceries, before it went to Texas Brenda used it to sell Poinsettias for Christmas. HRP

 

What works for me is to utilize my '40 as a Hot Rod/Mild Custom, that is what I built it for.
I have a much newer F350 4x4 that gets the duty for being a "truck" in the true sense.
I read on here some people seem to have issues, with "not using your old p/u for what it was intended"..well in my case (as well as others I'm sure) my intended use (occasional fair weather cruiser) is what I am using it for (and yes, on occasion there have been lawn chairs in the back).
We all seek out body styles we like for our builds, not necessarily, if ever, because they're practical.
Curious how many Nomad owners with their 3-4 kids use them for their family vacations.
Good on the people who use their old trucks as intended..whatever that intention is.

 

My wife owns a 66 chevy 3/4 ton her daddy bought it new in Dec of 65. Back in 2000. we where in the Feed business. Debbie would regularly haul 6500 pounds of feed in it. One time they made a mistake and loaded a extra 1,000 pounds. 7,500 pound that load. its equipped with a 292 six SM 420 trans and 456 rear gears. She parked it when gas got $4 per gallon.

 

yeah, I put the automatic in after tearing up 4 speeds drag racing, a few decades ago

 

I have plenty of granny low 4 speeds and a few pass car 4 speeds. However I use those old Muncie 318 three speed for drag racing. I don't cry when I tear one up. and I carry a couple spares and can swap one out in a short time.

 

Air shocks are a great invention. I regularly exceed the Ranchero's rated load capacity, and it doesn't notice at all.

 

Never been to a show with it, but it still does plenty of heavy lifting.

Sent from my SM-J727T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Mulched Up!

 

Hey Wolf, I’m curious, why a half ton frame? Is that what you have? By the way, I love your wife’s red Chevy! Neat truck with a great story. Family trucks are the best!


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This guy was a workhorse and pure stock except wheels and tires installed by one the POs. I had just moved into a house that was built on the side of a hill. The cut side of the hill needed something to stabilize it so I built a free-stacked stone wall about 90 feet long with two tiers and the tallest elevation of about 6-feet. The neighborhood was new and all kinds or rocks were alongside the road from the utility installation. I used the truck to haul over 40 tons of rock back to the house, backing uphill in the driveway to the back yard where I unloaded the rocks. I loaded (overloaded?) the truck and stopped stacking rocks in it when I couldn't pass my knuckles between the rear tire and fender. I was never in better shape for all that exercise.

 

hard enough?

 

Strictly a weekend cruiser, I have a daily driver pickup for hauling stuff...

 

I'm not a big home improver type just keep the house going . But I've hauled lots of engines, parts plus a washer and dryer in the panel.......along with hauling my fat butt.

 

You can’t really work a truck until you put a Gooseneck hitch in the back. I built my slightly ot truck with a 428 CJ to pull cattle trailers for our ranch....smoked the Dodge Diesels and the GM Diesels of the day! Just to put into perspective, my trailer empty weighed 6,000 lbs..... then we loaded it with cattle! Averaged 8 miles to the gallon, round trip. Yeah, I worked my truck..... it still sits in our barn on the ranch.

Long live the fabulous Ford FE!!




Bones

 

Daily driver and work truck for 22 yrs , Still had the original 216 in it until last month (235 now) .


Broken bus 7 ton.


Camping trips .

 

I dunno just use mine for whatever...............runs to the track, dump runs, and anything I need a truck for.

 

Here's the only pic I seem to have with some junk in her. Used to haul some pretty good loads, but now the springs are worn out:

 

The 66 GMC is all original. 6 cyl granny 4 speed and dana rear with 336 gears. It has done a great job but is going to need a lot of money spent on it if I continue to use it. Clutch slips. trans and rear end leakes. brakes needing a freshing up. ball joints ect. body rusty & bent. and the frame is beginning to show signs of metal fatuge.To be honest Ive about drove it into the ground. Engine still good! Now the deal with the truck im building most of the 3/4 ton chevy trucks those years have rear coil springs and extremely low geared rear ends. Ive already got a OT 3/4 wrecker and a big block 3/4 ton flatbed. both are low geared and guzzle gas. So I have this rare 71 chevy 1/2 ton frame. it was factory granny 4 speed correct driveshaft and has 342 gears. I plan to leave the 389 stock except for a tri power. and run on one carb most of the time. I think the disk brakes on front will be of benefit. Its going to be my daily and have tall tires on back. shouldn't be real hard to get acceptable fuel economy. I don't think there would be any benefit to using a 3/4 ton frame of this application. Ive never bent a half ton frame overloading it. If you balance a load you will likely never bend a frame.