The GMC CCKW

Last night I was trying to diagnose why my cargo CCKW was almost undriveable. I knew it was a fuel/carb problem. I took the carb off (Stromberg WW) and looked inside and blew out all the passages. After I reinstalled the carb, the truck started badly again. All of a sudden I smelled gasoline! I looked out from the cab to the engine and to my horror saw gasoline going all over the place! After shutting it down, I found that a pressed in plug in the bottom of the fuel bowl had come out. One of the places that the gasoline was going was all over the alternator. Had it been a generator after all the hard starting and hard charging, the commutator would have been throwing all kinds of sparks....

The alternator does not....

Hi Doc
I am glad to know you didn't lose your truck but it seems to me your warning the rest of us about a problem we don't have. Your truck is not what you would call cckw stock, To me the problem can be traced to the stromberg carb, because most of us do not have a 302 engine with a Stromberg carb with a alternator set up . My truck has what I believe most of the majority of collectors have, A GMC 270 with a Zenith carb and a generator set up, with no problems, after all 562,000 GMC's can't be all that wrong

I agree with Doc on this. I have the 12 volt alternator set up and love it. Just because that was standard in WWII does not mean improvements have not been made in the some sixty years later and especially with electrical systems.
Great story Doc.

I agree with 42cckw on this...When somebody looks under the hood of my 1944 cckw they will see exactly what was in it when it was built...

"teaching history through living it"

As I have said many times before. This is all a personal choice as the vehicle is yours and you may do with it what you may and everyone has their druthers, and nobody is either right or wrong when it comes to rebuilding and keeping these old beauties running.
I happen to like 12 volts and alternators, and that is just my choice as your choice is to keep 6 volts and everything like it was in 1944.
Just choices nothing more or nothing less.

>I am glad to know you didn't lose your truck but it seems to me your >warning the rest of us about a problem we don't have.

You could never have a fuel leak like I had? Come on.

A generator would have been the end of the deuce, the GPW, the Bomb Truck, The chevy K51 panel truck The airborne dozer, all the tools, all the spare parts, all the engines, etc

Well here's my 2 cents worth.

I'm with Jim and Mark on this one.

All my restorations are to " as built " for the year of the vehicle.
My reasons are ;
Best value for resale and I will need sell them to augment my retirement income.
If you notice prices on vehicles for sale you will see the correct resto always brings more than one that is not as original .
True with tech advances there is a better more modern way to address some issues. But my choice and AD is right " to each his own " is to stay with original equipment.

Wow maybe that was 5 cents worth.

See Ya
John

Im just poking fun at you fellas. I learn a lot from all of you.

Your VERY lucky to still have a collection. It is scary how fast tragedy can take place and loose everything not to mention your own life.

when I was a little kid (still am at heart) I watched my dads 1970 chevy truck catch fire while sitting idling while he was inside the house. lost the truck.

Dr wrote : You could never have a fuel leak like I had? Come on
Yes I could have a fuel leak, you missed my point you were explaining about a fuel leak with your truck, my point was most of us do not have trucks set up like yours , your problem came from a stromberg carb and since most of us have zenith carbs with no pressed in plug at the bottom of the fuel bowl no chance of a problem in the same manner happening. Can a zenith have a fuel leak yes, If we all had stromberg carbs on our trucks and after what happened to you I would say we all need to take a look a the plug at at the bottom of the fuel bowl before its next use, but my point was yours is a isolated incident because your set up is different from the rest of us thats all Seriously after what happen to the Good DR we should all make sure you have a good fire ext in your truck at all times its a must have

And my point was, and is that (notice the title) if, IF you have a fuel leak for whatever reason; stuck float, float sinking, something in the needle valve, cracked-rotted fuel line to the carb (all of these items are common to ALL cckws and ALL carbuerated engines) that having an original generator sparking away trying to recharge the battery, you would be much more likely to have a fire.

I was not comparing the value of one cckw versus another. I was just stating facts as they happened and stating 1 actual outcome (alternator) versus one probably outcome (generator)

this is getting interesting he he he he

Hi Army
To answer you I never the DR's choice as it is his truck to do with as he likes and your right it is a choice, I look at things a little different . I am an original type, when I hop in my truck I want to experience that truck just like it would have been some 60 years ago when my grandfather drove one thru France the look, sound ,handling, and smell and of course that double clutching as long as there are original type parts out there that is how my truck will remain.I look at it that I don't own my truck (anything you can't take with you you don't own) we are only care takers of historic vehicles and it is my job to preserve mine accordingly for future generations to experience and to keep alive what the WW11 veterans accomplished . It is each owners choice this is mine I also have 5 john deere tractors that I am restoring to original condition to help show people the simplicity and sounds of the poppin johnies just as they were in the 30's and 40's so as to help keep alive the farming heritage of this great country

Ahhh the old John Deere. My grandfather owned a cotton plantation in North Louisiana and I grew up around the old John Deere. We had 6 of the old G models that had to be started by turning the fly wheel by hand. We would start them on gasoline , then turn the lever to the old green tractor fuel. I spent hundreds of hours on an old G model..
The rows of cotton were about 1/2 mile long and I remember sitting on that thing in what seemed a forever trip with a 4 row cultivator attached, then make that spin at the end of the row by pressing on the right brake and aligning with the rows for another long trip in first gear down to the end, only to repeat the process over and over until that feld was free of grass in the middles, then on to another field.
Every morning we would line up at the old hand operated fuel pump and fill the tractors, then into the fields. Day light until too dark to see, then back to the tractor yard, where you would release the hydraulic pressure and kill the engine by cutting off the fuel.
That was in the late 40's and early fifties. He eventually traded in a couple of the old G's for a couple of electric start tracors. Man was that a great improvement , in my mind.