1943 Chevrolet Cab 13 C60s Wrecker

[cordenj]

Getting the NOVA letter from Customs & Excise and then applying for a historic registration from DVLA all went remarkably smoothly. The Chev has a nice new set of black/polished aluminium plates.

While waiting for the bureaucratic wheels to turn I sourced some magnetic Hi-Vis signage for the back of the truck. Having been at the scene of two very serious RTC's where modern vans/cars have driven into friend's vehicles, I am very alert to the risk of driving slow vehicles in modern traffic.
The next safety measure is to fit a Xenon flashing amber beacon (12v from a separate battery)

We took the truck out for its first UK outing in more than 70 years on Saturday. Thanks to friends, James Baxter and Gosling for helping to get it started. As the engine hadn't been started for three weeks, all the petrol had drained back into tank, and on an icy morning the 6v battery struggled to pump up enough fuel and then start the engine.

On my Jeep I have a fuel pump with manual primer lever, but not on this Chev. Photo shows the pump fitted. Is there an pump option for the Chev 216 engine with manual primer? As I believe this will greatly help starting

[cordenj]

One of the slight oddities about the way the Chev was rebuilt is that the passenger step appears to be set about an inch too far forward, preventing the fitting of a mudflap.

I've been to photograph the Chev cab13 Wrecker in the REME museum at Arborfield and the difference is clear.

Can someone confirm that the REME museum set-up is "correct"?
Just seems odd that the rear vertical bracket is fitted in such a way as to reduce the space for a second battery (if one was ever fitted).

Any views welcome as I plan to try to move the step and supports back into a similar position.


Thanks

[Grant Bowker]

Unless there is an illusion involved, it isn't just the rear bracket but the whole step that is mounted differently (althought the front bracket appears to be the same shape in each case). On the green truck the front bracket appears to clear the fender while on the brown the front bracket appears to be ahead of the rear edge of the fender.
I have never seen a second/passenger side battery but that doesn't mean it never happened.
When the bracket layout shown on the green truck was used on the driver side, the battery was aligned transversely as the "standard" battery box will not fit lengthwise within these brackets.
My speculation is that the transverse battery may have been a C15A feature as otherwise the fuel tank I received with my C15A (no guarantee it hasn't been swapped from a larger truck but certainly not a C60X tank) is an interference fit between spring hangers and the step bracketry (brown truck style) on the driver side. I have original appearing battery tray support plates for both longitudinal and transverse battery mountings.
Overall, my feeling is that unless there's proof that the brackets your truck came with are definitely wrong (more than the mismatch of fender and step) or the setup offends you, they might as well stay. One way would be to just let the mudflap flex forward to seal the gap although this might look odd if the flap has the stiffener plate in it.
I'm not aware of a lever primed fuel pump for the Chevrolet but would also be interested in knowing if there's a source as it seems such a logical addition for a rarely used vehicle. On the other hand, there's not a lot of spare space in that area of the truck so the lever would need to be reasonably compact. (The combination fuel/vacuum pumps that I've seen don't fit the space available although they can help wiper performance.)

[cordenj]

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

Unless there is an illusion involved, it isn't just the rear bracket but the whole step that is mounted differently (althought the front bracket appears to be the same shape in each case). On the green truck the front bracket appears to clear the fender while on the brown the front bracket appears to be ahead of the rear edge of the fender.
I have never seen a second/passenger side battery but that doesn't mean it never happened.
When the bracket layout shown on the green truck was used on the driver side, the battery was aligned transversely as the "standard" battery box will not fit lengthwise within these brackets.
My speculation is that the transverse battery may have been a C15A feature as otherwise the fuel tank I received with my C15A (no guarantee it hasn't been swapped from a larger truck but certainly not a C60X tank) is an interference fit between spring hangers and the step bracketry (brown truck style) on the driver side. I have original appearing battery tray support plates for both longitudinal and transverse battery mountings.
Overall, my feeling is that unless there's proof that the brackets your truck came with are definitely wrong (more than the mismatch of fender and step) or the setup offends you, they might as well stay. One way would be to just let the mudflap flex forward to seal the gap although this might look odd if the flap has the stiffener plate in it.
I'm not aware of a lever primed fuel pump for the Chevrolet but would also be interested in knowing if there's a source as it seems such a logical addition for a rarely used vehicle. On the other hand, there's not a lot of spare space in that area of the truck so the lever would need to be reasonably compact. (The combination fuel/vacuum pumps that I've seen don't fit the space available although they can help wiper performance.)

Hi Grant,
I think the whole set-up on my brown truck is "wrong" and am guessing the green truck is "correct".

It looks to be a reasonably easy fix though:
1. Unbolt and move the front vertical plate backwards to next set of holes in the chassis (there are bolts in them at moment in my truck);
2. Up-bolt the rear horizontal step support iron from the rear triangular gusset;
3. Move the rear vertical angle with the triangular gusset forwards to next set of holes in chassis (this will also correct the odd angle it is currently bolted at);
4. Re-attach the four bolts that hold the rear horizontal step support onto the rear face of the triangular gusset.

Only new holes to be drilled would be in the relocated rear horizontal step support iron, but I suspect this was new metal when truck was rebuilt 9 years ago.

But before I do all of that, am interested in any views from the forum or any photos of how their Cab 13 C60 passenger step is supported

Thanks

[hrpearce]

Originally Posted by cordenj

But before I do all of that, am interested in any views from the forum or any photos of how their Cab 13 C60 passenger step is supported

Thanks

This is the setup on my Chev.

[cordenj]

Originally Posted by hrpearce

This is the setup on my Chev.

Thanks Robert,
Exactly the confirmation I was looking for. Your step is the same as the wrecker at Arborfield. I'll follow suit.
Cheers

[cordenj]

I moved the step back today, so can now look at having some mudflaps made up.
Once I'd removed the horizontal angle iron, found that the "correct" original holes had been welded up for some reason and new holes drilled on the other face.
Easy fix, welded up the new "incorrect" holes and reinstated the originals.