Hot Rods Can you Say Ramp Truck? Or Too Rare to Cut Up? 1955 GMC

I've never driven one either, but there is a charm to them, a certain simplicity and single-minded purpose that lends itself to our shared hobby/obsession. I do want one, preferably a COE.

 

does look like a military bed on it......

 

Cool truck, I say make it a ramp truck..But I am biased....

 

I have put a few miles on my 56 since the early 80's.

 

i use to drive a rap truck for my buddy that owned a car lot but wasnt cool like the ones shown here

 

Bring it to the AutoFair; it'll punk Boobie's Cornbinder.

vic

 

I would pull the 302 and build a FED or altered around that big 6. In its place, I would dump in a slightly newer diesel. 12 valve 6BT Cummins or 7.3 powerstroke or DT466 IH or similar backed by an auto and the right gears to cruise happily at 70 mph. Finally finish by putting the ramp on and now you have a decent driving truck with a nice dragster to haul around (and a custom looking grill to boot).

Good Luck.

 

Now THAT is COOL !

 

If it was my car, and it has a dump bed, I would make ramps for the dumb bed.

Because a truck you can use, you dont need a excuses to keep!
I would use the dump bed for everything and anything I have.

Its easy to have a car on a dump bed, then hauling rocks in a ramp bed.

But again, your truck = your call.
If you dont cut the frame you can always go back.

And If it was mine and I found between Russ's house and your own I would hand paint: Russ Meyer Towing (or truckin' depending on the bed).
And under neats write: vintage and the tits. ;-)

A Jimmy 302 are the king in its own field, like flatheads to hot rods and Richard Petty to nascar

 

Put an Isuzu 6BD-t motor and trans in it [ from the NKR / NPR trucks ] and it'll be a good hauler.
Then go looking for an Altered / Gasser project for that cool-as 302 GMC 6

 

Here's a fun one to drive. Only been on the road for 6 months now but I have driven it a couple hundred miles. Just a 235 chevy inline 6. I have dual Rochesters on it and split exhaust. I have had it up to 90 but that was on a trailer. Really, it will run 55-60 and I did have it up to 65 and it drove good. Straight exhaust gets loud, I recommend mufflers if you plan to drive it much. These trucks don't need two speed rear ends. Two speeds rear ends only gear a truck down, not up.
That is a fleet grill in it. By the way, the original drivetrain is good. The Jimmy will be fine on power and it has turned around so original drivelines in these old trucks are now the cool thing to have again.

 

Where is the video of the test drive with no brakes

 

Here's a front shot with it loaded up.

 

I want so bad to build one of those hideous Tex Smith Toronado's...if I did I would be living in it though...

 

A later model 2 speed rear end would be the best thing you could do to make it more driveable on the road. Look under motor homes and newer school buses. The GMC 302 is one of the toughest sixes ever made, very hard to kill one of them.

 

Great buy, Josh!!!

That 302 is just a boat ancher- I'd be HAPPY to get that out of your way

 

Regarting the 2-speed rear, its not straight and OD, its straight and UD, under drive.
Its so you can have a "High speed" rear and not go "granny" first, but go granny on all you gears. So a small engine can go stumb pulling AND highway.
My daddys Bedford run 8.20x20 8ply tires, and a five speed (5 =1:1) full syncro, Bigger tires will give more speed, and since its not gonna pull a 6Tons on a regular basis, that 300 would pulls nicely with taller tires.

The heavy load truck ran same tires, and 4 speed non-syncro and 2-speed rear.

Do what you want, but build it to suit your needs, not just keep it for the cool-factor.


We use it for junk, scratch, garten stuff, gravel for my driveway, wood and now and again a trip to the Mac for milkshakes and/or icecream.
So fun, despite being the "readheaded step child" from GM, it runs good 55 is desent cruising speed, 60 is noisy and 65 calles for tough drivers (def).
It has a 3way dumb bed, danish manufactured.

Cab looks like AD minus vent.

 

What, you haven't done it yet?

Ben

 

It makes sense that the 2 speed rears are UD and 1:1. That way you start with a low numerical ratio, or tall gear, and go UD when you need grunt. This should work well because you have less friction loss of power when your trans. is in a diurect gear, neither reducing nor overdriving. You just start out with a gear, combined with your tire diameter, gives you a comfortable rpm at your desired road speed. And then, with the UD engaged when you're pulling a load and pulling away uphill from a stop or similar situation, you've got the gear to do it without abusing the clutch.
Josh, it's time to start measuring tires, investigating available ratios in 2 speed rears and using a calculator!
Some of the pics that have been posted show ramp trucks with largediameter tires, so it can be done. Is it a straight bed or a dump bed?

 

Thanks for all the great input guys! It's a fixed bed on it now. Love seeing all the trucks. That gold one gasser chevy is the bomb! Super busy right now. I like the dump/ramp idea so it can do both. Also leaning towards keeping the 6 and staying as stock as possible. It's all so cool and in good shape. Changing the rear ratio up. Not sure if a single speed can get converted to 2 speed. An entirely different rear end would be less money to switch in. Don't have a lot of knowledge or access to the heavy truck stuff. I do know Brad Looper!

 

Brad, and his connections can/should be very valuble in this project. Gotta be somebody Brad knows who will know more about the rear axle you need, but first you gotta decide if you can stay with the rear tire diameter you already have or need to go smaller, as the tire diameter is gonna affect what you need in a gear ratio.
I notice that the gold truck you refer to has what appear to be somewhere near the same rear tire size as yours.
If you don't have a pto on the trans to drive a hydraulic pump, you'll need that too.

 

LOL!!! More comments like that and we'll have to put a breathalizer interlock on your keyboard.

 

cool truck! I say make a ramp truck out of it repower it and use the 302 to power the early gasser to haul on the back !

 

Cool truck, like the idea of a ramp truck. People posted lot of nice ramp truck examples.
The 73-91(?, GM kept the old style body and chassis on the bigger trucks past the 88 switch on half-tons) GM 1-ton used the removable front IFS crossmember. That may be an front swap option and then use a similar dually rearend, stock leafs are probably way heavy and you could remove a few to tailor the spring rate to be better for your final configuration.

As for engine and trans choice, up to you. The good thing is you have a great running 302 GMC already there.

 

If it was mine I'd put the body on a late model diesel truck chassis and build a period looking ramp body for the back. That way I'd not only get the higher cruising speed and economy of the new drivetrain but better long distance drivability.

 

I can agree with the late model chassis, but if it's a diesel, go with something with the old style injector system, as the newer common rail high pressure systems are just having too much trouble.
My '03 Duramax had the injectors go bad, and even getting a dealership mechanic to borrow the special tools needed, doing the labor for half dealership price and buying the injectors (GM OEM) at a big discount online, the job cost me $3500.00. If I had taken it to a dealer and said "fix it" t5he cost would have been like $5500.00! And this was on a truck I have owned since new, always careful to buy clean, fresh fuel from a high volume station, installed another 2 micron filter from Caterpillar, and always used a quality fuel additive. This on a truck that had just under 80K miles. And that's not even considering that diesel fuel has been about a Dollar higher than gas for a long time now.

 

Guess you're right. Forgot you guys are still on a diesel learning curve. Go Gasoline then, still, I'd go for a complete late model chassis.
Ed

 

I understand the tire diameter and gear ratio deal Dirty Old Man. It's all kinda like the chicken and the egg. First good usable piece I run into and start with will determine the path from there. I'd like to keep the larger diameter tires and stock stance like the gold truck. That is perfect!

 

Shoulda bought you a 7.3 powerstroke or 5.9 cummins

If I could throw an old body on my 01 dodge 2500 I would do it in a heartbeat. 550tq, 6 speed, 20mpg unloaded & 16 pulling the dragster to big's in Ocala.

 

Ramp truck without a doubt, unless you can find a missile to drag around. That would be cool too.