60-62 V-8 auto crossmember

[southern parts]

not for sale, just posting pics for 1960chevypanel

[DakotaKid]

nice piece. wondered what they looked like to.

[southern parts]

The burb it came out of must have drove down a lot of old tar and chipped roads. I didn't think i was ever going to get the asphalt and dirt chipped away from the bolt heads.

[pimpston65]

Originally Posted by southern parts

The burb it came out of must have drove down a lot of old tar and chipped roads. I didn't think i was ever going to get the asphalt and dirt chipped away from the bolt heads.

i'll take it!!! just kidding, my 65 1/2ton rear lower control arms have that same "S" in a circle, what does it stand for? saginaw?

[markeb01]

Interesting the GMC automatic transmission crossmember in my truck looks just like the one pictured above, after being sectioned in the center:







It’s been over 20 years so I don’t clearly remember the dimensions, but I believe we removed about 3 inches from the center (steel angle was added underneath for additional strength). I always assumed it was from a long bed, as it fit my short bed perfectly after being narrowed.

I also spotted this one on Ebay a number of years ago. Not sure why it has the drop center compared to the other design, but saved a copy of the picture to share with others. Just going by the photos it doesn’t seem to be modified:





Also for what it's worth - my crossmember seems to be marked C - inside the stamped circle.

[1960chevypanel]

Originally Posted by markeb01

Interesting the GMC automatic transmission crossmember in my truck looks just like the one pictured above, after being sectioned in the center:

It’s been over 20 years so I don’t clearly remember the dimensions, but I believe we removed about 3 inches from the center (steel angle was added underneath for additional strength). I always assumed it was from a long bed, as it fit my short bed perfectly after being narrowed.

I also spotted this one on Ebay a number of years ago. Not sure why it has the drop center compared to the other design, but saved a copy of the picture to share with others.

I found the same thing, there's a 60-62 Chevy short bed automatic cross member that's dead level, and another one that has a drop in the center. Which doesn't seem to make sense because there was only one automatic transmission available (the Powerglide). The only explanation I can come up with is that the drop cross member was used in trucks with low hump transmission covers, and the level cross members were used in high-hump trucks. I've seen both low-hump and high-hump cabs used with Powerglides in 63-66 trucks, but I haven't seen that in the 60-62 automatic trucks (probably because I've seen a lot less 60-62 automatics...) I think this just shows that when Chevy rolled out the high and low hump cabs they didn't always know which drivetrain would be going into which cab. So the drop cross members were probably a workaround when they had to put an AT trans into a low-hump cab.

As far as I can tell 60-62 GMC never used these cross-members, they were Chevy only. But they can be swapped onto a GMC frame as the mounting holes were all pre-drilled. If your cross member is sectioned in the middle it was from a long bed truck, which used an almost identical, but wider, cross member than the short beds.

[61K10]

that tar was probably undercoating. my 61 had it sprayed on parts of everything.

[1960chevypanel]

Here are some pics of the drop vs. no-drop cross members. Another difference I noticed is that the drop member uses 4 mounting bolts while the straight one uses 6:

[southern parts]

So what kind of crossmember did a 60 - 62 gmc use ?

[DakotaKid]

my 62 Chevrolet only had 2 bolt homes in the Xframe, that i assumed were for the Auto crossmember. i used them for the one i built. my truck was a factory Stick though. the 6 hole ones might be GMC.

[markeb01]

For what it's worth - my 1960 short bed was factory equipped with a 3 speed column shift transmission, under a high hump floor. Perhaps all GMC's came with a high hump floor? The nephew of the original owner swapped in an SM420 granny box, which I replaced with a Turbo 350 automatic.

I used what appears to be a long bed flat top crossmember (sectioned to fit), and both the crossmember and the frame had 3 holes pre-drilled in each end/side.

[southern parts]

There were only two different types of auto transmissions that went in 60-62 trucks. Chevrolet had the powerglide and GMC used a 4 spd auto. Does anyone know for sure what the crossmember looks like for the GMC ?

[padresag]

Originally Posted by southern parts

There were only two different types of auto transmissions that went in 60-62 trucks. Chevrolet had the powerglide and GMC used a 4 spd auto. Does anyone know for sure what the crossmember looks like for the GMC ?

unless it had a 235/261 then it may have had a powerglide. the hyranatic would have been used only behind the v6 eng
ron

[60-66]

Originally Posted by padresag

unless it had a 235/261 then it may have had a powerglide. the hyranatic would have been used only behind the v6 eng
ron

Ron , GMC didn't use a powerglide till 1963 and from what I'm reading the inline six was not available till 1964 for GMC .

This rules out the above Chevy crossmember for GMC , although each GMC frame is drilled for it, so it seems.

[southern parts]

So the hydramatic was only behind the v 6
The powerglide was only in chevys until 63, and then in gmc's but still not behind the v6
There are 2 different widths, one for lwb and one for swb.
Thers is a straight type and dropped down type possibly for high or low hump cabs.
Did sombody over at ford design this ?

[60-66]

Both my 1960 GMC 3/4 ton and 1962 GMC 1/2 ton are, V6 Auto trans trucks. Neither use this crossmember. They both use cast iron bellhousing and side mounts. Heres the 1960s chassis.

[markeb01]

I'm curious, are either of those transmissions the 4 speed Hydramatic, or are both of them Powerglides?

[60-66]

Both are 4 speed autos Mark .

[60-66]

1960 GMC Data book only lists the Hydra-matic trans

[MusicMan70]

Southernparts, would mind posting the dimensions of your crossmember? Thanks

[1960chevypanel]

Yeah the GMC Hydramatic is huge compared to the Powerglide. The Hydramatic uses a front mount that runs under the bell housing, and the Powerglide uses a rear mount. The GMC mount looks similar to the 3 and 4-speed manual transmission mount that most of the trucks came with (kind of saddle shaped), except that GMC welded short brackets onto the frame (which the automatic cross member then bolted to), and Chevy welded the manual cross member directly to the frame. Here are a couple of pics of some Hydramatics in my yard:

[1960chevypanel]

Top view ~ GMC A/T cross member

[1960chevypanel]

Bottom view ~ GMC A/T cross member

[1960chevypanel]

So, the only other automatic trans out there (the GMC Hydramatic) used a completely different cross member. Meaning the Powerglide must have had two different cross members. It's just a guess on my part that the drop cross member was made for low hump cabs, but if I can run the drop member and a low hump with a 700R4 it might free up some more space inside my cab.

[1960chevypanel]

Glad to see the snow finally melted Jon!