Big Truck/Pickup differences early1950's Chevy

I should know this but asking for some help=
Just got a project that includes a very nice cab and front clip[48-53Chevy] 1-1/2 Ton truck....
Cab seems pretty much same as a pickup...

It is aparrent that the front wheel openings are much larger,length wise-

here is the question I need answered......ARE THE FENDERS AND HOOD LONGER or not?
they dont seem any wider and the grille seems same.......

 

Hood and grille are the same. Fenders are taller/wider depending on model. Cabs can be the same also, depending on model.

 

Hoods are NOT the same. The hoods on the big trucks are actually a few inches shorter in height because the fenders and grille were taller. If you look at a big truck in profile, you can see that the hood has a much lower profile than a normal pickup. I'm fairly certain that the hood and fenders are longer as well. Only the cab is the same in all sizes of trucks in the 1947-55 models.

 

I believe the hoods are longer,2"to 4" and have a lower profile.

 

CAN ANYONE GIVE AN in- INCHES MEASUREMENT[of a pickup HOOD] from the"V" at cowl center- right down the bullnose to the very frt of hood?
this one is 57"......I sorta believe the length is same.
from firewall to the front of fender[at headlite ring seam] is 43-1/2"
top grille bar is 47" wide....
I am considering altering the wheelwell openings down to pickup size and using this front metal.....

 

Hmmmmm...... I smell cheap parts for a sectioning job.

 

....all sheetmetal on one tons and smaller is identical, all cabs are identical on all sizes, big truck grilles have more space between each bar, hoods are shorter as mentioned.
I don't think big fenders reworked with smaller wheel openings will look very proportional. (just my 2 Cents)

 

Will the big truck hood work on the pick up? I would look like it was pancaked.

 

I've got both 3100 and 1-1/2 ton pieces out here give me a couple of hours and I'll do some comparisons.

As far as I can see on mine the cabs are the same, the front fenders on the 1-1/2 ton have much larger openings and the core supports are different. The hood does have some differences at the front where the latches are.

 

The CAB is the same,the rest is different dimensions.

 

I went out and stuck a 1-1/2 ton truck hood on the 48 just to see.

It doesn't fit very damned good to say the least. It's close to three inches longer and the rear corners are all together different.

1-1/2 ton hood corner


Shows where they raised the 1-1/2 ton fender.


Fit on 1/2 ton fender.


1/2 ton hood, and fender


1-1/2 ton fender top curves up a lot higher.


The 1-1/2 ton stuff could work with a frame swap though. Especially if a guy left the running boards off and trimmed off the bottoms of the fenders with the bottom of the doors.

 

Mr. 48 Chev has it pretty well covered, pictures worth a 1000 words.

 

After looking at them some more the top of the 1-1/2 ton fenders and the bottom of the 1-1/2 ton hoods have a lot more curve to them.
I've fooled with and swapped parts on these trucks since 1973 and not until this morning did I realize exactly what the differences are.

The 1-1/2 ton hoods do look like they have a nicer line to the top of them and one may get pressed into service when I section the new cab in the next few months.

 

THANKS,Mr48Chev......
you have cleared the fog.
Ill use this big truck sheetmetal as it is very clean,but now I see the saw will have to come out.
I think I can use it as it is going on an S truck frame project,and will have a bobbed bed so a bobbed frt end to match is on the drawin board now!!

 

I'd just run it and make longer brackets for the bumpers. You might not even have to cut the S-10 frame horns off to do it.

I was thinking that the green one I have might look rather wicked sitting low with no running boards and the bottom edges of the front fender trimmed even with the bottom of the cab. I've had the thing for sale for months for 300 with a clear title and haven't got a rise out of anyone local. Those free frame donor cars are hard to find now though.

 

What would it look like with the cab channeled, 1-1/2T hood, 1-1/2T fender tops and 1/2T fender bottoms spliced together? In other words, raise the 1/2T sized fender opening, with the raised top of the 1-1/2T to give the illusion of a section without the difficult metalwork of sectioning the hood and cab. the way the hood rear corner disappears into the cleft of the fender/cab is a little funky, but hey, its only sheetmetal.

 

Mr48Chev - what is the distance from the headlight to the bottom of the front of the fender of both the 1-1/2T and the 1/2T?

 

If you use the front clip to build your truck, don't trim the bottom of the fenders, as that screws up the proportions. There are a couple on here and it looks jacked( IMO). I put mine on an 86 dually chassis and the wheel openings fit a 38" tire really nice. Again IMO a lot of guys run too small of a tire to lower the front and it throws off the look. The longer/ wider front end allows me to fit a big cad engine, and I chose to widen the fenders 2 1/2 " to use the track width of the donor truck rather than narrowing the track. Mine sits nice and low, about 5" under the bumper which is the lowest point of the truck, I could lay the running boards if I ran bags.I like the looks of the cab better than the 1/2 tons as it almost looks chopped.I will try to post a picture of mine if I can figure out how to do it with this new I phone.

 

...what cab you talkin about?...all truck cabs are identicle from this series.

 

Talking about a 2 ton and bigger ad truck as shown above, all the front sheet metal is larger than the pick up, only the cabs are the same. Mine is a 53 3 window, building a dually. Looks similar to the little truck until you park them next to each other.

 

Growing up in Oklahoma in my family's oil business in the 60's and 70's, we had a lot of late 40's-early 50's Chevy and Ford pickups-as well as 1 1/2-2 ton trucks. The hoods on the Ford pickups & big trucks would interchange, but not on the Chevys. I again remembered my youth recently-when I bought a 1 1/2 ton '51 Chevy grain truck at Oolagah, Oklahoma for 300 bucks. The truck had been sitting under a dead American Elm tree for years. One of the branches had broke off-then smashed the hood badly. I was then given a hood off an identical Chevy pickup-it was 'WAY too short!!! (As it was when I tried the same thing in reverse when I was a teenager-LOL!)

 

The bad part of the deal is that the big truck hood has a lot nicer slope to it and already looks like it had some custom work done to it.

 

Try stovebolt.com

 

Try stovebolt.com

 

Hi. Absolutely great info on all of this. Hood had to be a bit different because fenders had to be different for the big tires.
My 2 cents worth on all this is the differences in fenders, hood & grille we simply because of the increased tire diameter & widths on larger trucks requiring more clearance. The engines were physically the same sizes with the 216 being standard on smaller while the 261 on larger rigs. Even the 235 engines are same length. The blocks & heads had same outside demensions. May have been differences in radiators but I am not sure on that.
Jimmie

 

Hiya Greetings from Down Under...

Mine is an Aussie / Maple Leaf Big Truck.
I'm working on a spreadsheet with the differences between big trucks and pickups as well as US / Aussie truck differences.
A question for you...
Are the bonnet / hood hinges the same between the different sized trucks?

 

Old thread blah blah blah, anyway, not so funny story.
I knew a guy that had a customer's 50ish half ton truck in his body shop, seems the customer bought a pair of NOS fenders to replace the tattered ones, seems neither knew they were for big truck, story was they had them painted and tried fitting them up to find out their mistake, I heard they ultimately found the correct ones.

 

The 2 ton fenders are about 3” longer and 2” wider and 2” taller. Found this out using 3/4 ton inner fenders/rad support with 2 ton fenders and grill. It’s a nice option for using a more modern full size frame.

 

We don't do "modern fullsize frames on this board" At least we don't tell about it here.
Note that the orignal part of the thead was done in 2012 and it was dug up again in 2016 and the last post before yours was 2020.

 

I realize it’s an old thread, just some information that I’ve looked for, couldn’t find and thought someone might be interested in actual size differences. Just two cents from a guy that can’t wait to get on the road in an ad truck again.