1943 lend lease chevrolet (3ton)

[Shaun Mastin]

My names shaun mastin, ive been looking on this page for a while and decided to register and put up my project

at the time I was on my P's so I had to look for something RHD and didn't want to make anything RHD (eg a jeep) and good forbid I was getting a landrover .So this was the next best thing had a choice of getting a chev , dodge or ford of the era. And me personally I do like the chevys the best.

I got this truck about 3 years ago now from mike Edwards property (rip) , with the help of simon allen and euan McDonald with the transport, it came with a lot of extra parts which has help me along the way with the project

[Shaun Mastin]

tearing the truck down for a full nut and bolt restoration
can see the truck was worse for wear "inbetween the covers"
luckly I had another cab which is in better condition that I used

[Shaun Mastin]

just some more photos

[maple_leaf_eh]

The colloquial name for a gas tank under the seat is a suicide tank. For a while Dodge 1/2-ton pickups had the tank behind the seat back. It was unnerving to hear the fuel sloshing as you drove along.

Looks like a project with good prospects of success. Keep up the good work.

[Shaun Mastin]

oh really, never really thought about that but you do make a good point

[Shaun Mastin]

first job was to sandblast the springs chassis and diff ,
I disassembled all of the springs after sandblasting and wire wheeled and fish oiled in-between them. replaced the bushes and dad made up the nylon spacers for the front . I found that one side at the front was sitting lower so I had to take it apart again and went to jack nevilles house and he helped me make the spring more taught and now its sits more level.
the front bracket that holds the bumper and front shackle was broken and "farmer joe" welded so we had to make a jig and bolted together to re-weld it in properly.

when these trucks came to Australia the Australian army put 8mm strengthening plates along the side .Unfortuntly mine started to de-laminate so I had to cut the rivets and drill them out and make up new plates and bolt them up

the crown and pinion gear was to worn so couldn't use the original , good thing about the banjo diffs that I could keep working without waiting on the diff. I eventually found one and pick it up at corowa last year