1926 GRAHAM BROTHERS TRUCK

[Guest]

QUESTION I AM RESORING A 1926 GRAHAM BROTHER FIRE TRUCK.. THIS APPEARS TO BE ON A 2 TON OR LARGER FRAME. THIS TRUCK HAS

A GRAHAM BROTHER 6 CYCLINDER ENGINE (YES ITS A GB I CHECKED). I AM UNABLE TO FIND ANY INFO ON THE 6 CYCLINDER GB ENGINE.. ALL OF THE INFO I'VE FOUND PERTAINS TO DB ENGINES PRIMARY THE 4 CYC. MY ENGINE CAME WITH A CARTER BALL & BALL CARB.. IS THIS ORGINAL OR SHOULD THE CARB BE SEWART ????

[Jan Arnett]

Do you know if the truck was built by GB or a company specializing in fire trucks. If it is an aftermarket body you need to go to that manufacture for information. I can find no information on a GB fire truck. Acording to my lit. there were eighteen models in 26 starting with BA (1 ton) thru TC (2 ton). If you have the wheel base and serial number I may be able to help you.

<img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

[Guest]

I TALKED TO THE MFG WHO IS PETER PIRSCH KEN. WISC... THEY ORDERED THE TRUCK FROM A DODGE/GRAHAM DEALER IN KENOSHA. PROBLEM IS IT HAS 700X20 TIRES ORGINAL WHERE 34X7 ...THAT MATCHES A TC.. BUT I CAN NOT FIND ANY

GB TRUCKS LISTING FOR 6 CYCLINDER GB ENGINES! THATS WHY I WAS LOOKING FOR SOME ONE WHO KNEW.. THANKS BOB LORENZ

[JB-ed]

I'm gonna guess it's later than 1926. I had a 1929 GB firetruck with Boyer apparatus. It was on the 3 ton chassis. Get the actual serial number of the engine onto this website and we can figure this out quickly. That GB prefix to the number suggests that you have the Victory or Senior Six engine in this truck. The Senior engines started appearing on the trucks mid 1927. Victory not till 1928. (These are calendar years) You also should obtain the chassis number, probably on the frame under the right front fender, near the rear spring shackle.

If I am correct then the Ball and Ball may not be correct carburetor. Depending on which engine you have it will be Stewart or Stromberg. My 29 had a Zenith dual updraft carburetor and a split manifold, which were not available for the automobiles with this engine. Also had heat risers on the manifold, which the cars had also. Also had radiator shutters.

There are so many cases of these early vehicles coming down to us with the wrong titled date on them. So don't worry.

[Guest]

JB THANKS FOR THE INFO... NEVER THOUGHT OF TITLE ERROR... TRUCK WENT FROM WISC TO ILL. TO IND. TO ILL.

I HAVE LOOKED FOR CHASISS NUMBER BEFORE... I JUST SEPENT ANOTHE 2 HRS LOOKING UNABLE TO FIND ONE

LOOKED RT FT SPRING BRACKET, LT FT BRACKET AND BOTH REAR SPRING BRACKETS..

HOW EVER I DID RECHECK THE ENGINE NUMBER AND IT IS

GB

A514270

M

ALSO FOUND MANFUFACTOR DATE ON SIDE OF HEAD REAR THAT I DIDN'T NOTICE BEFORE

MARKED 3-1-28 GUESS YOUR RIGHT BOB

ALL NUMBER ARE CAST INTO THE HEAD REAR AREA NOT STAMPED.

[Guest]

JB WITH THE CORRECT ENGINE NUMBER WHICH CARB SHOULD BE ON THIS ENGINE... YOU HAD GIVE ME 3 CHOICES UP TO NOW... THANKS BOB

[JB-ed]

well, Chief, your number

"GB

A514270

M"

doesn't look like anything I have seen before. Is this a stamped (die cut) number in about 1/2 inch high characters somewhere ahead of the manifold on the vertical machined wall of the block?

Perhaps send me a private message and I will give you my e-mail address, then we can exchange photos and I can identify for you. I do take some time before I return to this website as I am awfully busy, so give me a week to reply. I am also the editor of the club magazine so you can find my e-mailaddress on themagazine. I just hate to reveal it here for all the spammers to exploit.

Is the "GB" of the number really listed above the number? Is that "A" really there?

A more typical number would look like this

"GB 111-111" with perhaps a hyphen after the GB. Sometimes no hyphen between the digits. Between five and six digits. The Victory number could be "M-00-000. The Victory number will between five and six digits. However, there is always something new to learn about these trucks so dont dispair if you turn up something else. We will get to the bottom of this.

The frame number will be on the right side under front fender, near the rear shackle of the frint spring. Behind or slightly above. It probably is covered in grease and paint. I have always found the number but start with solvent to clean up and then steel wool. Shine a light at a severe angle to pick up shadows. Sometimes you can clean the grit out of the recessed die cut numbers but often you wind up polishing away the frame paint to bare metal leaving the serial number in dark dirt or paint. The number will start to appear and then you willknow where to direct the steel wool.

[JB-ed]

I want to emphasize from my above message, the cast-in numbers you are finding are part numbers, not serial numbers. The serial numbers were stamped with metal stamps and are recessed. This is the number you need. You willneed to clean ages of filth off the block and chassis to get to these but they are worth having. They will help you locate parts and virtually enerything else you need to do for this project. The company made changes all throughout the model years and you need the number toknow which side of these changes you are on.

[Guest]

WELL JB AS USUAL YOU STILL GOT ME IN A CORNER... YES THE NUMBERS I GAVE YOU ARE LOCATED ON THE REAR OF THE HEAD AND THE NUMBERS WERE JUST AS I TYPED THEM IN... NO ITS NOT A MISTAKE..... I'LL TRY LOOKING FOR THE FRAME NUMBER THIS WEEKEND... BUT THE ENGINE NUMBER WILL HAVE TO WAIT AS THE ENGINE IS PAPERED AND COVERED OVER BEACUSE I'M GETTING READY TO SHOOT THE FIRE ENGINE RED ON THE HOOD, AND ALL OF THE MAIN BODY OTHER THAN THE WOOD WORK AND RUNNING BOARDS....JB ONE INTERESTING SITUTATION HAS COME UP REFERENCE THIS FIRE TRUCK... I HAVE THE HALE FIRE PUMP NUMBER AND HALE PROVIDED ME WITH A COPY OF THE ORGINAL PURCHASER AND PUMP TEST DATE FROM THE FACTORY..PUMP WAS TESTED ON 10-14-26 AND SENT TO PETER PIRSCH. THE PIRSCH RECORDS SEEM TO INDICIATED THAT THE ENGINE WAS PURCHASED IN 1926 FOR THIS CHASSIS TO BE A 28 THE MFG WOULD HAVE TAKEN OVER A YEAR TO BUILD... ALL OF THE INFO THAT I KNOW IS THAT FROM ORDER TIME TO DELIVERY WAS GENERALLY 2-5 MONTHS. THIS COULD BE A 27 ? I'LL KEEP LOOKING FOR THOSE NUMBERS...ADD TO THAT THAT THAT PART NUMBER DATE STAMPED ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD IN BACK SEEMS TO INDICIATE 3-1-28 THANKS BOB .... <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> [color:"red"]