The Chester Chronicles

[OrrieG]

That one fender looks like it was hand modified for the spare, factory ones have a smooth recess.

[Stephanie]

Originally Posted by TennesseeZ

OK, I'm impressed! I linked here from the Countup thread, and couldn't stop reading! I'm impressed with your vision to start with an old military truck, I'm a history buff, and your plan to keep some of the originality, don't know your full plan, you could restore it to perfect originality, "resto-mod" it and keep the militaryness touches, many ways to go, but your plan to keep it military makes me happy. Also very impressed with your obvious joy to be involved in a family truck project, and with your planning board. Great artwork and orginazation shows thru there. And your photography caught my eye early in the thread, I've tried and tried to get half that good, with very limited success
Wow thats some long sentances huh?
Well I like your build thread and can't wait to see future progress! Welcome to the boards, Looks like you'll (both) fit right in here.

Wow! Thank you so very much for the kind words!! So glad that I was able to keep your interest and have you go through all 4 pages, haha!
I am a history buff as well and I love all things old and used; they always tell amazing stories! I type this from my 1920s-ish desk As for Chester, we want to keep him as original as possible, though down the road we might add an A/C unit and upgrade his tires to beefier ones that will still fit in the current fender wells As for everything else, it is staying! Going to try and get the horn, heater, and windshield whippers working as well
Hehe, I appreciate your comments on my obvious joy, haha! I think I have let slip a bit of my goofy side in some updates ;P And thank you so much for the compliments to my weekly goals board and my photography! I have only been taking photos for about a half a year now, so I am far from a professional, so your compliment is very kind! I need to come and look at your photos now because I bet they are just as good as mine, if not better
So glad that I have caught your interest enough to keep checking out Chester and the progress we will be making on him Please send any and all advice you can offer our way, we will need it! Haha! Thank you again

[Stephanie]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

That one fender looks like it was hand modified for the spare, factory ones have a smooth recess.

Yes, we agree that it was hand done as well. Especially the hand done job on the spare tire mount itself. We are going to try and smooth it out with a simple body shaping kit we got, but who knows how that will go. Do you know if we took it to a shop, if they could smooth it out for us?

[Stephanie]

Originally Posted by mknittle

there are sockets that fit square nuts. square nuts were common into the 50s
My late 40s singer industral sewing machine even has some.

Huh! I had no idea! All that we have gone over on Chester now has not had any square nuts, so I thought they had taken them from a house and put them on him, haha. Learn something new everyday Thanks for the info!

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by Stephanie

Huh! I had no idea! All that we have gone over on Chester now has not had any square nuts, so I thought they had taken them from a house and put them on him, haha. Learn something new everyday Thanks for the info!

I ended up breaking up what little wood was left in mine to get to the bolt shanks then I cut the bolts otherwise the Square holes in bed strips get messed up. How do you drill a square hole? I know but think about it.

[Russell Ashley]

"Huh! I had no idea! All that we have gone over on Chester now has not had any square nuts, so I thought they had taken them from a house and put them on him, haha. Learn something new everyday Thanks for the info!"

It's probable that the square nuts did come from somewhere other than the factory if they were some of the nuts that were holding the fender on. Square nuts are/were common on farm implements and other things like toys but not too much on vehicles. The exception being where the nut is welded on to a panel or housed in a metal cage where some movement is needed. I have a 57 but I think this holds true for your AD style truck as well. Here are a couple of pics that shows both types. The nuts are welded in the first pic and in a cage in the second. There are sockets for square nuts but I don't know if it would be worth the investment since you don't normally use them much. When you put the truck back together you probably won't be using any square nuts but if you do vice grips or Crescent wrenches work fine. You can still buy square nuts and also the weld nuts at many hardware stores.

BTW, I love the way someone created their own fender dimple for a spare tire. That looks like something my Grandfather would have done to his truck. Function trumps appearance on a farm truck, LOL.

[mknittle]

I just checked our Ad trucks all have square nuts on the carrage bolts holding the bed wood strips down. And we have eight with stock beds Ranging from 47to 53 Not including my current gmc that is apart and It had square nuts too.
Could be a carry over on the bed wood because of carpentry.Or maybe they were cheaper as they are soft steel. anyway they are only on the carrage bolts going through the wood.

[Longhorn321]

Subscribed! I saw your link in your sig in the Word Association thread and I just read your whole thread. Nice project. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Although everyone knows that this is obviously the best place on the web for good people and information, I will point out another possible source if you promise not to abandon us here. www.stovebolt.com Those guys also welcome people with "newer" trucks like mine ('69) but a lot of them are more focused on the "AD" trucks like yours. I know several of the members over there and they are great folks too.

[coralhead]

That must have been one heck-of-a wedding!!!!! Are you two still recovering?

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by mknittle

I just checked our Ad trucks all have square nuts on the carrage bolts holding the bed wood strips down. And we have eight with stock beds Ranging from 47to 53 Not including my current gmc that is apart and It had square nuts too.
Could be a carry over on the bed wood because of carpentry.Or maybe they were cheaper as they are soft steel. anyway they are only on the carrage bolts going through the wood.

I never owned an AD so I was speaking from what I've found on my 57. I thought she meant the fenders were held on with square nuts. She seemed surprised that there was such a thing as a square nut.

[Clay54]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

I never owned an AD so I was speaking from what I've found on my 57. I thought she meant the fenders were held on with square nuts. She seemed surprised that there was such a thing as a square nut.

Don't know where all the square nuts are on the AD trucks, but I am surprised no one has mentioned the running boards. Those stupid bolts have square nuts and are something else to get loose. There is an 8 point socket that fits the 7/16" square nut but I don't remember which one. Some 12 point will also fit, I think. I had neither - I did have a 1/2" drive extension that I screwed up royally several months ago so I cut off the female end and welded a regular hex nut on the cut end. Now I just put that homemade tool in the appropriate size socket, start turning and off they came. Now the problem is keeping the other end from turning.

Enjoying all your pictures and comments about Chester. Keep up the good work. Clay

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

I never owned an AD so I was speaking from what I've found on my 57. I thought she meant the fenders were held on with square nuts. She seemed surprised that there was such a thing as a square nut.

No problem After you said that I started wondering so I checked. I figured theirs and mine weren't likely to be the only two
I thought the same about the square nuts.

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by Clay54

Don't know where all the square nuts are on the AD trucks, but I am surprised no one has mentioned the running boards. Those stupid bolts have square nuts and are something else to get loose. There is an 8 point socket that fits the 7/16" square nut but I don't remember which one. Some 12 point will also fit, I think. I had neither - I did have a 1/2" drive extension that I screwed up royally several months ago so I cut off the female end and welded a regular hex nut on the cut end. Now I just put that homemade tool in the appropriate size socket, start turning and off they came. Now the problem is keeping the other end from turning.

Enjoying all your pictures and comments about Chester. Keep up the good work. Clay

You need special sockets for square nuts the ones we have are craftsman.

[50-MO]

Subscribed! Great reading so far and amazing photos! Plus we have to support our fellow members from MO, come down south to exit 100 on I-44 and you will be in my neck of the woods!

[Stephanie]

Hey everyone!

Loving the comments and info about the square nuts! We shall see if we stumble across anymore of them as we continue to un-build Chester. As of right now, we have only come across a few with the fenders, but we haven't touched the running boards yet!

And recovery from the wedding was replaced with my little sister coming into town a few days afterwords. So we are entertaining her for a week Unfortunately, she is more of a girly-girl than a gear head, so we haven't been able to convince her to work on Chester yet! Haha! But hopefully this Sunday she will help us pull the second engine so she can go back and brag to her friends that she helped out with that!

Phil has been working on the engine when he gets home from work and I haven't been able to do much with keeping my sister entertained out here. Hopefully more progress soon! Along with more photos

Thank you so very much to the new people that have stopped by and subscribed! I truly appreciate it and all the advice and tips you can send our way Thank you again!!

[skoolbusyeller72]

Thats a great old truck....

[ChevroletWT]

I just finished reading every post of this thread from start to finish. What an awesome project you guys have going! I can't tell you how amazing it is to see a couple working on a project like this together. You two should let the local news know about it, trust me, it's unusual!

Anyhow, the speed of progress on this build has been fantastic. It is awesome to see yall going at it and not letting anything hold you up. I just finished a full frame off restoration on a 1956 Bel Air and I had not done any automotive work prior. It was incredibly gratifying and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I know yall are going to continue to have so much fun with this build.

I also have a 1955 1/2 stepside pickup waiting to have a restoration, and after reading this thread I am going to go out there and start turning on it!

And one last thing, what is yall's current plan for paint? Are you planning to take it to a professional? If you are open to the idea, I think this truck could be a fantastic opportunity to learn how to do your own paintwork at home. It would save a ton of money, and the fact that it doesn't need to be a show quality paintjob (to match the Army motif) could give you a little bit of leniency on the quality of the final product, however I'm sure yall would do great.

[75ChevyGuy]

Awesome project! Just read this front from page 1. The stuff that you guys have found inside this truck is just unbelievable. I only wish I could get my wife to help me do 1/4 of what you and your husband are doing!

[Stephanie]

Just a quick update: my sister will be heading back to SoCal tomorrow, so we will have time again to work on Chester, but things will go slowly with having to buy anything now since BOTH of our daily drivers are out of commission currently :-/
Phil's Jeep is having engine troubles, but his warranty is covering everything, so we are set once they figure out what is wrong or replace his whole engine.
My little Honda, on the other hand, has seen her last days There is a major problem with the transmission and the repair costs are worth more than my car by a couple grand... So we are starting the search for a new car today. But that means cutting back on buying things for Chester
Though we are still set with several projects already: sanding, grinding, learning to weld. So the updates will keep coming, but with me having to get a job, who knows how often they will be now. Le sigh. Such is life, right?
I promise to come back and respond to the new people that have found our build post. Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out Chester! But for right now, I have to get back to spending the last day with my little sister

[oldman3]

Sorry about the car trouble, but like you said, that's life....Jim

[coralhead]

Life happens.......you can still a lot of the dirty work.

[OrrieG]

Bummer, if you liked the Honda get a CRV from 2002-2006. My wifes DD is a 2005 and we have had zero problems, it currently is at 75K miles, have replace the battery and are on third set of tires. Still has the original brakes, etc. It is amazing what you can haul inside of them. I brought back a 64 chevelle hood, trunk lid and PS front assembly plus a couple of boxes of misc. parts from Oregon. You can get a strudy metal roof rack aftermarket and put a bunch on the roof too. It is based on the Civic but has the hod rod engine to compensate for the additional weight of the AWD. Best 4wd vehicle I have owned and its all automatic which the wife likes, no hubs or transfer levers to mess with. Probably not a biggy in the south.

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by Stephanie

Just a quick update: my sister will be heading back to SoCal tomorrow, so we will have time again to work on Chester, but things will go slowly with having to buy anything now since BOTH of our daily drivers are out of commission currently :-/
Phil's Jeep is having engine troubles, but his warranty is covering everything, so we are set once they figure out what is wrong or replace his whole engine.
My little Honda, on the other hand, has seen her last days There is a major problem with the transmission and the repair costs are worth more than my car by a couple grand... So we are starting the search for a new car today. But that means cutting back on buying things for Chester
Though we are still set with several projects already: sanding, grinding, learning to weld. So the updates will keep coming, but with me having to get a job, who knows how often they will be now. Le sigh. Such is life, right?
I promise to come back and respond to the new people that have found our build post. Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out Chester! But for right now, I have to get back to spending the last day with my little sister

No matter how many vehicles you have they all seem to know and break down at the same time

[Stephanie]

Wow! It has been so long since I have had the time to post here that I got pushed to the second page! haha!

But I am back! Woohoo! You guys miss me?

It has been a busy busy couple of weeks. The day after I dropped my sister off at the airport, Phil's parents called saying they would be coming down to visit us from Friday-Sunday. So I had a fun few days of cleaning and prepping for their arrival and then we tried to come up with things to do with them. Phil spent a few hours with his dad on Saturday and they worked on Chester a bit. Got the wheels off and the brakes disassembled.
After they left, I was feeling under the weather and focused on getting healthy, while Phil spent an hour or so after work during the week, removing the wood and metal slats in the bed of the truck. Then he had to head out on a weekend field exercise and also went to a civil war battlefield in Arkansas with his coworkers.
When he got back on Monday, we found out that we are going to be posted next in Oahu, Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!

If you can't tell... I am really excited
But that means that I have to start dedicating more time to getting a beach ready body by December! Ugh. I hate working out and dieting :P No wonder I got fat! Haha!!

Anyway! So after finding that out, we have been trying to figure out what to do with Chester. No, we are NOT selling him! But, we are thinking that we might have to store him at my parents home in SoCal for a few months, until we can save up the 2,000 bucks to ship him out there, since the Army only pays for one vehicle and we have three... OH! We bought a car for me! Got a fairly reasonable deal on a 2011 Chevy Malibu LTZ. I am very happy with it and I am enjoying my XM radio and OnStar mirror

Then Phil's Jeep was supposedly fixed. He got it back and the very next day it started having multiple misfires again... So it is back in the shop and they still have no idea what is wrong with it. Now Phil is ill and who knows how long he will be like that, but we did get some more progress done. Got the steering column off and also the entire bed off. Now we just have to figure out how to remove the cab, especially since the wheels are already disassembled... Silly hubby, getting ahead of himself!

There probably won't be much progress this weekend though because my birthday is the 13th and we are celebrating it this weekend Woohoo to turning 27 :P But I can say that I will be back on here more often now Things have started to settle down and we are definitely going to get back into the swing of things with Chester. Hopefully have him up and running before we head off to Hawaii!

Photo drop:
Got everything out of the bed


Going to salvage as many as we can


Rear wheel


Less and less on the front half of Chester





Tada!


Chester! Where did your pants go? :P


My new Chevy Malibu LTZ
(had to become a Missouri citizen to get it ;P)

[mknittle]

Lol good to see you back.