1949 Chevy 3800 AD Dually

I drug home this 1949 Chevy 3800 this weekend. I picked it up for scrap prices so it was a steel(see what I did there).


I was on the hunt for a cab/front clip from this era and found a few but were way too expensive for the shape they were in.

This has a fuel tank from the era but not original to the truck. Dude wouldn’t sell me just the cab etc so I had to take the tank and chassis. No big deal because it’s given me some ideas now of what to do, maybe.

It was a challenge getting it onto my trailer but with the help of a tow truck and frozen ground we got her up there.


Barely fit on my 20’er and was Ass heavy. It floated quite a bit but it rode fine down the road. Luckily it was only about 20 miles away from the farm and many backroads to take at 30-40mph. Also helped with very little traffic on Super Bowl Sunday morning. Yes it’s a Ford but the second gen 6.7 diesel hauled this like nothing.


I have a 1951 GMC long bed I was working on years back that was in the middle of a s10 frame swap. Long story short all I have left is the rolling chassis and bed. So I was planning on robbing this cab and clip and making my ‘51 whole but now ideas have emerged and who knows what’ll happen....

Thought it was an old fire truck but clearly says GASOLINE on the side of the tank. Still neat though.






My dad suggested leaving the truck and tank loaded and hauling it to our scrap yard and let them take the tank of and save myself the headache. It’s an idea but I may have some plans for it unless I can sell it and make some of my money back.

It even has the original key!


The engine is worse for wear but I’m not concerned about it.


Now I need some warmer weather or a bigger shop to get into this thing. If they idle my plant down I’ll have something to occupy my time between this and JW.

Head on over to YouTube and see how low the rear of my trailer sat.

Bought a mid ‘70s c30 frame yesterday.

Truck frame came out of Tulsa and is in pretty good shape. Has a sm465 trans with a 14 bolt rear and 16” wheels which is a big plus.

Plans are to swap the cab over and step the rear with a custom 4 link and commercial grade bags to lower it and still remain functional to tow.


This is not my photo but this is the style I am after with this build.

Looks like a solid plan.

The example is good, except for the blinged out wheels and tires.

Catbox said:

Looks like a solid plan.

The example is good, except for the blinged out wheels and tires.

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Agreed I will go a different route on the wheels and tires.

Is this thing done yet?

Old77 said:

Is this thing done yet?

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you’ve got jokes it’ll be done once you come lend a hand!

Time to revive this thread but I’ve been busy bouncing around between projects.

I finally got around to pulling this truck out of the weeds since I started this back in ‘21.




I think I bit off more than I can chew with this project. It looks innocent right?


Well turns out the cab is completely trashed. The floor is nonexistent and beyond my repair skills.


Back to the drawing board….

I found another cab out in KS that is better suited for this project.


The front clip was still good on the ‘49 and all the cabs are the same for all series AD trucks so it should bolt up with no issues.



Here is the mock up of the 2 together.

The floor is gone in the new cab but there is a solid foundation for me to work with.


Since I’m having to lift and move the cab around a bunch I needed to brace the front of the floor pan area to keep everything square. Tacked in a 3/4 pipe I had laying around.



Just for fun I wanted to see what the cab would look like on the new frame.



Still a lot left to do but it’s making progress.

I went to the local steel shop and bought some 2x1 14g rectangle tubing to use for the floor supports. I ended up getting enough to do the floor and build a cart for the cab.




This should make life easier having it up off the ground and being able to move it out of the way when not working on it. Let’s face it I don’t have my own shop yet so I can’t tie up space. I still have to share with my dad and the farm.

I still need to come up with an idea on how to lay the floor supports down etc.

Awesome that you're able to start making progress on this

Old77 said:

Awesome that you're able to start making progress on this

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I know I should be working on JW but something with this just said I need worked on. I’ll probably hit a wall soon and be back working with JW.