Technical 1954 Chevrolet 3100 Truck Bed overrides for heavy loads to touch axle

Hello all:


I have a 1954 Chevy 3100 truck. I am restoring the bed and have removed a mid 1970’s trend of welding a metal plate over the old broken wood. I have removed the wood and now down to the metal sections such as supports etc.


My question is I am trying to get the metal bracket with the solid rubber section for both sides that set high until someone overloaded the weight on a bed poundage and would set down on the axle as a last resort. I have looked online at LMC truck and others and not finding a name or diagram with part number for it. I know it’s likely because I need the official name of what I am deeming an old truck being overloaded and pushing the bed to the axle bracket catch safe thing a ma jiggy….


Any assistance would be great..

 

The bump stop rubber & bolts are available, but the bracket itself is not. You'll likely need to find a new bracket from a parts truck. It's riveted to the chassis. It'd be simple enough to straighten your existing bracket, and weld the crack.

https://www.lmctruck.com/suspension/suspension-front-rear/ca-1947-55-rear-suspension-12-ton

 

Thanks, I can weld to patch / seem back with a support plate. I was hoping to get one as a replacement since so many parts are available for the pickup with the online parts suppliers. I appreciate the link to order the replacement rubber(s) . Have a great day!

 

If you haven’t, inspect the whole frame for fractures. Weight ratings were commonly ignored when these were 2nd-3rd hand pickups and loads needed to be carried.

 

Amen! 1952Henry.

I just brought this 1960 Ford C700 home, with the goal of turning it into a roll-back car hauler one day. It was rated at a GVW of 22,000 lbs from the factory. The farmer up in the Red River Valley had it licensed and tagged at 33,000 lbs. I guarantee it spent a good portion of it's life overloaded by 10,000 lbs or more. The most likely over loaded F350 providing towing duties further drives the point home.

 

An over loaded truck? HA! HA! HA! Say it ain't so!

Most truck owners back in the 60s didn't much care how much weight was on their truck as long as it would still crawl up over the hills and they could get the loaded truck stopped before they hit something. Some times, both of those could be questionable events.

That is, unless a cop was there with a scale to weigh the truck. Then they were mostly just concerned how big the fine was going to be.

 

As a heavy duty truck mechanic, I feel it my duty to ask you guys what the weight rating of any given vehicle is?

Answer? Whatever fits in the bed!

 

Gross weight of 4600 lbs on his truck.
I don't think they changed that auxiliary spring setup between 48 and 54. All I can say is that you have to get out and hunt the pieces on a frame and knock the rivets off and haul them home. My 48 had the auxiliary springs and I took them off when I did the axle swap in 1973.

 

Thanks for all the updates on the truck folks. I have inspected the frame in the back and the front when I took the doghouse off and pulled engine to rebuild and reinstalled plus added manual disc brakes to the front.

It’s a decent truck body and frame to restore and I know the lineage since new.

It was originally owned new by an older lady who was a high school teacher for business and typing. My parents both had taken her class for typing in high school. When my dad retired from the Air Force, they helped her keep her place going over the years as her husband passed away early in life. She bought it new in Terre Haute Indiana. Her husband had relocated for work to Kentucky, and they had a small little lake property where this truck not only provided transportation to her school nearby daily but would do miscellaneous lake upkeep and help with the cabins being readied to rent again.

Not saying it never got overloaded but the small lake and property was more for rentals than real hard work farming and hauling.

I worked two years in high school assisting with the upkeep on the lake with mowing, clearing brush and lake upkeep etc. I also used the truck to drive on the place back then.

Ironically my dad’s brother in his high school days worked for one year on her lake and drove the truck too.

Then the older lady at 98 gave the truck to my father because the clutch was a bit too much for her to continue to drive. She lived to 102 years of age.

My father only drove it around some and parked it in the barn. When he passed, I took the truck to complete. I am just now finishing it up to complete as I have been distracted with other projects such as restoring my 63 Split Window Corvette back to all original etc. I hope to my spring have the truck back the original dark blue with a white cap again and drive around for fun on weekends.

 

Great story and luckily for you that it doesn't sound like you plan to or did lower the rear end as the kickup over the axle on 54/55.1 don't allow for much of a drop before things go clunk.