What would u do with this..1938 Fire truck

I made a ramp truck out of a 56 F750 fire truck only to find out that the 5 speed transmition was made for city driving in a hill area. First gear is usless. I start in second, wind out third (3500 rpm) and drop into fourth gear ( direct drive) at only 1900 rpm. Over drive only gets me about 60 MPH @ 3700rpm.

If I do any hills, I must use third for the whole hill and on the level I can go to foruth.

I am sereiously thinking or a 454 Chevy with an automatic that I took out of a camper.

The one thing that really breaks my heart is that I have to replace 6 tires that look brand new with only 15000 mi. on them but may be over 50 years old.

( The old DOT tire dating system only shows the last year of the decade as no one would have thought tires would last more than ten years)

 

Roger
it is not your transmission that is geared low it is the rear end. Most folks don't know it but for a fire truck to run 45 MPH it is hauling ass. They were never intended to run fast, just to get there is all they were ever intended to do.

 

Use the body for a cool pickup truck...and the chassis for a giant speedster.

 

Awesome .....keep the ideas coming
Believe me I have some more of which will
be discussed soon

 

How much does it weigh?

 

Do what you want and then get hooked up to the local fire apparatus restorers shows. I do and it is really a hoot. '27 Morelands? 28 Studebaker straight eight trucks, 29 Seagrave inline fours with individually cast cylinders. Lots or unusal things to see. My favorites are a 26 Stutz fire engine and a 29 Packard fire engine from Santa Barbara City FD. Once in a while a V-16 Cadillac shows up too.
Normbc9

 

hence the nickname; "foundation saver"

 

Personally, I think it would look BA with a couple vintage Harley's in the back headed to Laconia. Just my $.02

 

I vote for car hauler.

 

Is it a G.M.C.? I couldnt see much marking, thought Chevy first and then second thought G.M.C would make more sense. It's cool, not sure what I would do with it. Outstanding spotlight on there! Thanx for sharing this unique vehicle. ~sololobo~

 

Nice. One of the best and most useful firetruck rehabs I think I'ver ever seen.

 

Here's a photoshop of a firetruck that someone on the HAMB did.
I think it's interesting that the smaller rear tires look fine.




I used a Mack firetruck to make this pickup truck.



http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=439617&showall=1


If I had that truck, I'd probably make a car hauler out of it and get a wrecked one ton truck with a duramax for the powertrain.

 

Flatbed?

 

If you plan on driving it at all, you can pretty much forget the current setup. I recognize 5 bolt widowmakers a mile away. Also, gearing is going to flat suck so forget anything resembling highway speeds. Your best option is to find a newer utility truck or something and swap frames or do what I am doing this winter and drop the cab onto a 1 ton dually frame and build a bed for it. At least that way you would actually be able to drive it.

 

I was thinking "Widow Makers" too. Those things scare the mess out of me.

 

No, don't need to do the whole chassis swap thing which usually ends up with track widths and wheels that don't look right. You can easily swap to similar 5 lug ring wheels that aren't the 'widow makers' and are perfectly safe or even use older solid wheels. Studebaker used them among others. The Ford ones are the dangerous one though from what I understand. You can also swap the rear for a 5-lug Dana 70 out of an early 70's Dodge chassis RV and get a great rearend with tons of gearing options and better brakes. Then drop in a suitable motor and trans of choice, upgrade the master cylinder to a dual and your almost done with the chassis.

 

Will work for souls

 

I would build a traditional hot rod out of it.

Oh wait... no I wouldn't... because YOU CAN'T... it's a fucking FIRE TRUCK.

Sam

 

An LS1 would make it bad ass.

 

go for it free use to all hamb members lol

 

I hate to jump on the band wagon , but my first thought was "car hauler"

 

Barney Fife sucks......................try again, this time with Jack Webb.

 

Hire clowns or Shriners. Done.

 

that thing would make a great car carrier

 

make sure the pump works, it will be the ultimate rolling squirt gun

 

Oh and by the way, if you are concerned about track width. What I am working with is a 55 F600 former grain hauler. I measured the track width and researched it with the internets and the track width of my 95 F350 dually frame is almost exactly in between the track width of the 55 F2-3 and the 55 F6-7. I thought about just swapping front and rear axles (going to be a towing 4x4 dually, not lifted) but two things surfaced.

1. Frame is pretty jacked up.
2. I would have to fabricate all new mounts, fabricate a steering box mount from scratch, run all the lines, etc.

For all the work, it is just more cost effective time wise and money wise to just drop the cab on the newer frame. All the stuff is factory assembled and I can get things like a 5th wheel hitch and towing accessories that fit this frame without fabrication. I know I do good work but I still would rather have factory assembled stuff that is rated for 10,000+ pounds by engineers and not by me guessing.

Also, I can get a easy to install kit to turn my new(er) truck frame into a 10 bolt with 19.5 wheels and OTR tires to approximate the original profile if I find I want to go that route.

Just some more things to think about...

 

Send me the Spot Light and Siren!

 

I'm in for a hauler

 

Channel, section and chop it, loose the hood. Blown Chev BB and badass pipes.

 

A fine looking hauler: