I have old Polaroid photos of the truck but they are stuck together from a basement flood several years ago. 

Those cab marker lamps in the photo are not original to the truck as the chrome base and amber glass, (and later plastic) Yankee, Vis-A-Vis, or Truk-Lite styles were original.   

The H/J-series (H=single; J=tandem) were 93-inch BBC.

Rode pretty well too for spring ride. 

So it was a "dead tandem" as in front axle live and rear axle an idler ?

I may be wrong, but I never knew of a factory original dead tandem; all I ever saw/drove were after-market or homemade creations.

They might have carried a bit more weight, but they were helpless in the least likely situations, such as pulling out of a parking lot onto a highway and the drive axle end up spinning in the air when the drive wheels get to that low spot where the parking lot meets the built-up highway; such could get one killed if he was crowding his luck trying to beat oncoming traffic and get stopped right in front of them.

I drove a dead tandem L8000 Ford dump truck with 3208 Cat and 5 and 2 and hardly a day passed that someone didn't have to pull me out, usually on almost level ground.

The air bags on that one would push down the dead tandem, but there was no second set of airbags to lift it up clear of the ground.

Most of the leaf sprung dead tandems had no means at all to raise or press down the tandem.

Many homemade ones were designed such that when empty, the dead wheels didn't contact the ground.

A lot of the homemade dead tandems had no brakes whatsoever on the dead axle.

You have given me another quest = to find out if dead tandems were ever a factory option.

Typical of any Detroit of the day, a small "snort" would get it fired off easily. 

If it were an aftermarket kit, I imagine the front axle had a "hump" to clear the driveshaft.

I have seen more than a few homemade dead front axles that were drive axles with the hogs-head and cover removed; the driveshaft went through the opening.

Wooden plugs were driven in the inside end of the tubes and either the bearings were packed in grease or plugs and vents added on each side so they could be "wet" axles.

The reason dead front axles were used, instead of the dead axle being the rear one, was to keep from having to stretch the frame.

Quite often, when a longer frame was needed anyway, a dead rear axle was included to prevent the truck rearing up on steep hills or when a moving load shifted to the back, such as liquid or livestock.

I have seen cattle rear up a truck on a bad hill; and, if the livestock bed were open top, the front cattle would climb over the backs of the ones trapped against the tailgate and escape; or, on a stout closed top bed, a heavy truck or tractor would need be chained to the front end and pull it back down, hopefully before the cattle trapped underneath smothered to death --- they smother pretty quick.

We have a lot of really steep bad hills around here. 

Had my Share of GM 500 and 600 generally 630 series Round Grills that had Gas Engines, inline Sixes that SWILLED gas.  Actually had a soft spot for Gull Wing 9500s with 8v and 12V Detroit Diesels, horrible to work on but sounded cool.

So that is why so many of the older Dayton spacers were corrugated.

Back in the 60s and 70s, more that I saw were corrugated than not.

It is about 50/50 now, corrugated or smooth.

As much stuff as I have seen, driven, and worked on, I have never seen a drive belt between the tires.

I guess my idea isn't so original as I thought---- ; I have been designing a live tandem addition for my twin-engine F-350 and have came up with the idea of putting sprockets between the rear duals and connecting them with roller chain.

I had also thoroughly considered connecting front to rear with drive rods like a steam locomotive.

Thanks for enlightening me about the belt driven rears.

Had a customer years ago who had a Mack with this setup on it.  Belts were a pain to replace after picking up a rock between pulley and belt. Usually broke the belt.

https://silentdrive.com/our-company/" rel="nofollow - https://silentdrive.com/our-company/

This actually a 1947 Ford  off Ford Trucks .com

Can Laugh, that has VACUUM Applied Brakes not Air Brakes.  Size of chambers dead and usually Dead giveaway.

Thanks for the photo.

Okay, after extensive eyestraining searching, I am seeing plenty of 7500s and plenty of 9500s, but I have yet to see anything 8500 except bus chassis.

My mystery truck is single axle with a tilt-hood cowl, so definitely a C-series; I think it is too old to be N-series (1973-1976) 

I have seen photos of 1967 and 1968 with the three rear windows, but they had butterfly hoods.

Google doesn't help a bit by plastering dozens of late model pickups for every big truck in a search specifically for big trucks.

I wish they hadn't shot down that 6066GMCGuy site; I would have had this figured hours ago with plenty of photographic evidence.

I read that a divorce case with a court order caused the abolishment of that site; it sure drove a lot of old GM truck aficionados to tears.  

B-Model 1960-1966

7500 = 1963-1978

9500 = 1966-1978

And a bit of bewilderment on the SRA versus tandem story; I see tandems even in the lower numbered medium dutys.

I am fairly certain that a 7500 could very well be a single axle; can a 9500 be SRA as well, or are all 9500s tandems ?

One would think somebody would have documented all of this ages ago --- someone already did = 6066GMCGuy; I guess nobody else saw a need compared to the massive amount of information he had gathered in one place.

You mean this guy:

http://www.6066gmcguy.com/" rel="nofollow - http://www.6066gmcguy.com/

or THIS forum?

https://6066gmcclub.com/" rel="nofollow - https://6066gmcclub.com/

The top link was the good one; it goes nowhere now; that link comes up all over the web and is a dead end.

Thanks for the forum link.

I may have already made mention of it; my mystery truck is single rear axle and has Dayton wheels.

I just now was looking at a 1966 9500 tilt hood and a 1967 9500 with butterfly hood; both of these had the single back glass.

According to that, I am beginning to believe that butterfly and tilt hoods were options as well as the three back glasses as I see them overlapping in year models as well.

Does anyone know what it took to determine whether 7500 or 9500 ?

Other than being SRA, this truck looks plenty heavy duty enough to be a 9500.

The sign in the window says it is a 1966 GMC 9500, the very first year for the 9500.

It is Tilt-hood, so either a "C" or a "M".

It is single rear axle, so definitely a "C"

So, this truck is a 1966 GMC C9500; were it a butterfly hood, it would be a H9500.

I can't see beyond the glare to tell whether it has a single rear glass or three.

Curiously, and quite unque from what I have been seeing, this truck is on BUDDs.

Some references state the H/J to all be 93"BBC and all C/M and N/M to be 114"BBC; but, I have found that information not to hold true as I am seeing plenty of 93"BBC with the tilt hood.

It may hold true if the sentence were turned around a bit; maybe all 9500L, the 114"BBC, are tilt-hood C/M(1966-1978) or N/M(1973-1976) --- it's enough to make a man go over the hill talking to hisself.

I remember it being a pretty good truck as it never really gave problems I know of. Other than rebushing the rear suspension, never did anything to it myself. Seems it needed king pins but if so, I didn't do the work. It had painted pinstriping that was nicely done, stainless mirror brackets with heated mirror heads, and an air drivers seat. Also had chromed lock rings, (steer axle) wedges, and center hub caps on the wheel hubs. Always assumed it was never a fleet truck citing these items.

That's almost amazing !

I have been using Chrome and  repetitively trying to connect with the top link for days and all I ever get is "This Site Can't be Reached"

I just now tried again a couple times.

The bottom link works fine and takes me to a GMC enthusiasts forum site which I have bookmarked - Thanks.

P.S. I just now tried with Pale Moon browser and got "Site does not Exist"

Those chrome caps that cover the axle end are nice and no problem on Dayton wheels; it's a different story when they are on Budds as most of them are a wee bit bigger around than the wheel center.

With no discernible doghouse, I wonder if the truck you remember may not have been the 114"BBC long hood http://https://www.flickr.com/photos/jackdk/48752163947" rel="nofollow - 9500L .

Compare where the wheel skirts on that truck come back to with the yellow truck in my first post - 21-inches makes a lot of difference.

The wheel skirts on the yellow truck extend past the edge of the doors; whereas, those on the brown truck don't even get past the rear edge of the hood.

I drove a few 93"BBC and they all had a bit of a doghouse.

The nuts don't look like proper hub-pilot nuts; I don't see any flange-washer.

Of course, that don't mean a thing as I see plenty running around with entirely the wrong nuts and then people wonder why they bust so many wheels.

It would also be interesting to see if it had proper long studs for Aluminum wheels, or short steel wheel studs with barely a thread holding; I see that a lot as well.

I run into a lot of dual Aluminum Budds bolted on the short studs and there is barely half-a-thread caught in the nuts; a lot of chrome nut covers get sold just to hide their sins.

Weird.  I'll say it took a little longer than typical, but it worked.  Beats me.

What browser are you using ?

Once you got on the site, could you change pages and navigate around ?

Microsoft Edge, and yes, can navigate the page.

THANKS ! Now http://https://www.auctiontime.com/listings/trucks/auctions/online/215748369/1967-chevrolet-c90" rel="nofollow - THAT is a good find !

62 bids and only $2,225; that truck was a steal; I wish I had been there = it would be sitting here at the house now.

I bet that 238 Detroit sounds off.

Whoever typed it up didn't know what they were talking about "two-speed axle"

Definitely some traction limitations with only one drive axle, but on the other hand a set of doubles follows so much easier on a tight turn and does not cheat near as much. Pluses and minces in most things. Just like your talk of Dayton or bud wheels, never been around a Dayton wheel. Just about everything is bud wheels.  

  Of all the road tractors I've owned only one had Budd wheels and if I'd ordered it instead of getting what was on the lot, it would have also had spoke wheels. I can change a flat on the side of the road with a Dayton wheel and be back going before a road service truck could leave its shop. I also know how to properly tighten a Dayton wheel so that it runs true and doesn't  slip on the spoke and I only use a 4-way lug wrench and I've been doing it for 50+ years

Besides the wheels wobbling as you already mentioned, the main thing I saw the most of with Daytons is the rims slipping and shearing off the valve stems.

Also, if you don't know what you are doing and don't loosen the nuts just a bit and knock the wedges loose with a hammer before taking the nuts completely off, those wedges will shoot off there like the projectile from a howitzer and kill you.

The biggest downfall of the lug-centric Budds with the two-piece inner/outer double-nut is one or the other or both wheels would get loose and break out the center around the studs.

We got at least one truck a day that would have the center broken out of a double-nut Budd.

I always liked Budd on the steer axle, and spokes on the drives. Steel Budd wheels are just about too heavy to handle alongside the roadway and both aluminum and steel are imbalanced as hell when trying to roll them alongside a highway shoulder to replace due to a flat. This is because of the offset of the rim. 

I too like the "unimount" or hub pilot style for it's sheer simplicity of use. I've seen steel rims rust to the hubs and these are a real bitch to get free when needed but they run true when the hub is maintained when the wheel is removed. Of course outboard brake drums, Q, or Q+ brake shoes etc. are leaps ang bounds better than days of old but some technology advancement is good.

Is there any obvious visible difference that says "This is a 7500" or "This is a 9500" ?

If one was sitting in the Walmart parking lot, could a person tell from three lanes over which it was ?

I didn't get the option to open the door and look.

That thing was sitting in our road across the end of our driveway, loading a W20C Case loader, and there was a pink-sweatered text-messaging lipstick queen in the passenger seat who may have poked a pistol in my face had I opened the door.

The mechanical and tire world is full of idiots with impacts.

I have probably put more wheels on, big truck or little car, than any man alive; and, I only ever resort to an impact wrench when it is the last resort.

I never allow anyone else to remove or install wheels on anything of mine because they think they are at the Indy 500 on a pit crew and will hammer them on with a big impact until Goliath himself could never get them off, warping wheels, hubs, and rotors, and stretching/stressing studs, not to mention cross-threading the studs/nuts such that, when the next poor guy that comes along tries to remove the nuts they spin on the stripped portion and will never come out over the larger wadded up portion, causing one to have to bring out the cold chisel and hammer or torch or both.

The huge problem with being in the tire business is you have to come along behind these idiots with impacts and try to remove the wheels without the studs twisting off or the threads stripping, often on these stupid pot-metal(Aluminum Alloy) wheels where the nut is two inches deep down in a hole where a thin-wall socket won't fit, let alone a  big cold chisel.

In all honesty, it is worth ten dollars a wheel to the tire shop owner when the customer brings in the wheels and leaves the car/truck at home.

Way back in the good old common-sense days, so-called VIN numbers were manufacturer specific and could contain as many or as few letter/number characters as the manufacturer so chose.

The best ones were very lengthy, with letters/numbers designating everything from date of manufacture to whether the engine had a single or double row timing chain.

For the last thirty or more years, VIN numbers are standard across all manufacturers and tell very little; they only contain something like eight characters and tell none of the specifics about the vehicle.

I don't even think that modern VIN numbers are unique to the vehicle; you would need a serial number to determine that.

   

S/n is 5J088496 the ONLY hard numbers KW installed was 088496  MO number is seriously LONGER.  Had we opted to license this RV, the Title would have changed from Road Tractor to RV and the VIN would have been Changed to reflect that.  Would never have been allowed to return to Road Tractor ever again.

As to the OP, I do NOT Miss the 5500, 7500 or 9500 series.

The V-12 gas-burners I have seen are two V-6 connected end-to-end; is that how your's was ?

I own a 1964 GMC 1-1/2-ton with Gas V-6 and 4-speed w/single-speed axle.

After my dead-beat crooked lawyer brother took everything my father had, unfortunately, the truck was sitting on my father's property; all I have to show for it is the title.

He put up big posts and hung locked cables across the drive before they got the casket lid closed.

I should report it stolen.

That is a W20C Case loader; the neighbor has three of them.

Not his truck, though; else, I would just walk across the road and investigate it thoroughly.(the red International in the distance is his).

BuckSkin wrote: I don't even think that modern VIN numbers are unique to the vehicle; you would need a serial number to determine that.

Modern VINs are unique to that specific vehicle.  They contain a certain amount of basic information that can be decoded to reveal quite a few important things, but are serialized and traceable in every possible way.  Typically, the last seven digits finalizes the unit's unique identity.

BTW...

Hi, My name is Dave, and I have a 478 V6, a Clark 5 speed, and a 4-speed Spicer auxiliary in my driveway waiting for it's turn for attention...

(but if someone had a 702 twin-six they wanted to trade... I'd be tempted to do so, and bore and stroke it to 956...  and find a way to mid-engine it into a long-bed pickup )

I also have a 4-speed Spicer auxilliary; 6041 if my memory is correct; Double-Under, Under, Direct, and Over.

I have the ratios figured out and written down somewhere.

Intentions for the last thirty years have been to mount it under my 1985 F350 6BT Cummins behind the existing 5-speed.

I need to quit procrastinating and get it done.

Yep, Mine is the 7041.   2.31, 1.21, 1, 0.86