Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

nothing like a clean k30 plow truck . . .

mine here in pic to give you motivation .

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

I'm looking hard, J-Rod! Figure I've got less than a month. Got a schedule for your work next year yet?

Good looking truck you got there K30. Those lights are serious. I need a beacon.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

if i took a pic of here now you would freek . . . she is getting replaced with a new build currently . hope by next season . this winter she will stay here at the house only .

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

I noticed the pic was 10 years old. Salt doesn't help. Too bad the plow trucks have to be driven in the winter.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

not the salt so much anymore .

she started going down fast in the last 5 or so years .

liquid de-icer crap there using on the roads now :devil:

here is a sneek peak of new one in shop . 1 piece at a time . i will post up a thread sometime on this site .

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

:smoke:That liquid de-icer crap there using on the roads now is calcium chloride, way more corrosive than salt and way more harmful to the environment. Salt will melt ice but once the ice is melted it will re freeze, calcium chloride won't freeze and will mix with water and ice their for preventing it from re freezing, making it an apply once and done type of thing, plus its is incredibly cheap. When you combine the fact that it needs fewer applications and its so cheap, it saves municipalities hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. As usual if it saves a buck everything else is trivial.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

I have a buddy who works for the DOT and they have a few varieties of products. One is actually based on sugar beets. They call it car-be-gone.

Good news, bed, tailgate and bumper located and deal struck. I was going to buy a whole truck and part it out, but this will be quicker and cheaper. I also have new sending units and straps for the fuel tanks, a selector valve and switch coming so I can use both fuel tanks. The driver tank straps were actually rusted through, so it was just sitting in the plastic tray. Maybe that's another reason the dash sticker says right tank only...

Big dilemma now is do I slap some paint on the bed and tailgate. It's DOT fleet orange. I'm thinking so...

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

That's right I forgot about the sugar beet. Either way it doesn't matter anymore, the steel in vehicles is now so thin or they use beer cans. Body panels are no more than cosmetics now. Razorblade's are thicker. Vehicles are now junk right off the assembly line.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

In the spring of 2015 I was bringing home a 79 GMC to restore, I had it on the car trailer and on the way I decided to stop at the local restaurant and have supper, as I walked in to sit down a 16 year old kid stops and says, so you taking that old relic to the crusher? I said Na I'm going to restore it, he looked at me and said why? No matter how well you restore it and how nice it looks when your done it's still going to be an old piece of junk, it don't have four wheel disk brakes, abs, air bags or traction control, so it's always going to be an old unsafe piece of junk. We are a dying breed, I have all but given up the oldies and I just might.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Those beds don't look too bad! One I'm getting is in pretty drawn good shape. Better than the rest of the truck.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Time to finally get a little work done. Origins of parts are always interesting.
Tanks - Canada
Sending units - China
Selector valve - USA
Switch - Taiwan ROC
Straps - China

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Marcus, where'd you get your tanks and valves from? I gotta do the same thing to my GMC in the near future. Thanks! :chevy::gmc2::metal:

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Yo J-Rod! Everything but the tanks came from rock auto. The tanks I will have to go back and look, but it was a small outfit that advertised and actually honored free shipping (even to AK).

The tanks were covered in some sort of shipping and storage goop so I had to spend a good chunk of time cleaning them before paint. The paint was recommended by the auto body supply shop here as good for chassis, preventing rust and easy to apply. Zero Rust is the name of the product. Took 3 cans to do what you see.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

http://www.davesdiscountautoparts.com

Dave's Discount Auto Parts! I would recommend them.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Awesome tanks, I'm going to checkout that zero rust

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

So now I know why the sticker on the dash says right tank only.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Pretty much trashed brackets too.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Look what followed me home today.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

I’ve been living on borrowed time with no plow truck this late into the fall. Luckily we haven’t had a real snow yet that needs to be plowed.

After staring at the stupid plastic stone guards and rusted out remnants of tanks, I elected to take the new tanks in and have them sprayed with heavy arctic grade bed liner that a local company pedals. This will make them easy to clean and won’t allow moisture and soils to be trapped under the tank. This rig doesn’t get a ton of miles so it shouldn’t have too much wear from rock chips.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

My one good set of brackets modified to eliminate the stone guards and new straps installed. A buddy brought me a clean used set off a parts truck to make up the other side.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Plow truck is getting to spend a few days in the camper garage while the frame is prepared for the new bed.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

That bed liner should be a good solution on the tanks. I just did a bunch of coats of rubberized undercoat on mine, but mine will see limited winter driving.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Flapper wheel, wire brush and lots of elbow grease got it “ready”.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Shot the frame, springs, rear end etc with a quart of zero rust. Conditions were not ideal.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Seems to have taken fairly well though. Mounted the rear shocks and prepped the tanks.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Used carriage bolts instead of rivets on the straps.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Ready to hang tanks which takes us to today.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Better get that thing done, termination dust is looming im sure!! :lol:

Did you ever decide what color you are going to go with when you paint it?

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Looking good, keep up the good work.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Hell yes man, frame looks great!

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Jrod I’m pedaling as fast as I can! :lol: have not thought about paint yet but soon. May need to let the bank heal up a month or two after buying all the little stuff for this upgrade and the camper garage. We will see what the CEO/CFO says...

Thanks guys. I’m ready to drive it. Fuel selector looks nothing like the original, but all the connections are the same. Says it’s rated to 65 psi interestingly enough. No return lines. Maybe you just take the caps off...

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Should be able to throw the bed on tomorrow. Tanks are hung and plumbed. Still have a little work to do on the hitch and bumper but we are getting close.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Progress.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Finally. Both tanks work. Both gauges work. Spare tire, bumper and hitch are all mounted. I need some ballast for the rear, mud flaps and proper fuel fill hardware and hoses.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Looks good Marcus! I would love a k30. I wonder how long it will be before you wish you still had a flatbed on something....

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Looks good Marcus, what are you gonna do for rear ballast? 55 gallon drums of water/ice?

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

15" tall 3/8 or 1/2" thick i dont recall 9ft I-beam cut in 2 and set side by side and welded up is my ballest weight .

500-550 lbs of weight .

i added 2 weld on d-rings to secure it to the bed with heavy ratchet straps.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Thanks guys. This season I’ll probably just use some sand bags. Ideally I’d like something like sweetk30 has or plate steel with good tie downs.

Hauled a load of trash tonight, filled both tanks and cruised around a bit. Ride is great with the kyb shocks. Fronts were actually original. No bangs or driveshaft vibrations. I️ really like driving it.

Re: 1984 K30 Project Plow Truck
 

Oh boy...