My new shop truck- 1972 Chevy K20

[Threerun]

Greetings from Montana! Love this site- I have been lurking quite a bit after I picked up my new to me 72 K20 Cheyenne, and there is a ton of great information here. I'm sure I'll be searching for a lot of questions, and hopefully won't be posting too much redundant questions..

So I got this K20 (Zach's 72) in a weird, round-about way. It's kind of an amusing story...

I built a new shop last summer/fall and was pretty set on looking for an old Chevy truck to kinda tinker with for me and my 18yo son. However my mom passed away 11/01 and as I was out there for the funeral (in Ohio), my sister (my only sister) decided that she really wants Mom's 'stuff'. I have no need nor room for it, so I said- "Sure- have at it". Well my sister lives in ALASKA and her and her hubby decided to rent the biggest U-Haul and use my new shop as a storage facility until they could drive out this summer and haul it all back. So my plans for a old truck took a backseat until this stuff gets sorted out..

So.. My brother-in-law has a 1 ton Ford, but no trailer. He decides to buy a 22ft snowmobile trailer (enclosed and heated) here in Montana off of craigslist, and I agreed to go pick it up- 4 hours away from me. I call the owner of the trailer and chat with him to set up a date and time. As we are talking I told him the saga of my shop becoming a storage unit, and my grand 'plans' for buying an old truck got put on the back burner.

The guy says "Oh?? What kind of truck are you looking for?"

I said "well- either a late 50's Chevy or maybe a '72 Chevy. I always wanted a '72 Chevy when I was in school, so I guess that's preferred. Why?"

He says- "well I've got a really nice, straight, no broke through rust ANYWHERE 1972 K20 Cheyenne that I wound up with after doing some commercial HVAC work for a guy that was short on cash. He collects and restores old Bronco's, but he wound up with this gem and was going to do the same, but it's in pretty damn great shape as it sits. He bought it from an elderly couple that only used it to haul a truck camper."

So I said- "sure, send me some pics love to see it".

Well I'll be damned if it wasn't the color and scheme I LOVE.

He basically said he had $9,000 in commercial work invested in the truck, and he had the truck listed for $12,000 on Craigslist (WAAAAAY outside my price range), but he'd be willing to take $8,000 cash for it. So I didn't really say anything, but told him I'd take a look at it when I pick up the trailer. I already knew that was way outside my price range. So anywhoo I get there and was pretty blown away with how solid the truck is. It fired right up and I drove it into town (Hamilton MT). It has some paint missing here and there, the passenger side rear cab met the bed at some point in it's life, but not a big hit. The interior is in damn good shape. Drives straight as an arrow, albeit steering is in need of work..

So I pick up the trailer and told the guy when I get home I'll check with the boss, but I rather doubt it will happen. As a drove away my thoughts were "Someone is going to own a great truck". So I get home and tell the missus about the truck. We've been married for 27 years and were high school sweethearts. I know how to keep my marriage happy. In other words- she's gotta be happy with this. Obviously my wife said "you know you just built the shop. We've got the old boat, you've got two old farmall cubs, the 98 Jeep Cherokee, the John Deere tractor/loader.. I just don't think it's smart to add more to pile. You can barely fit it all in the shop when it's empty."

So I kinda sighed and said "You're right"... And I walk outside and take a picture of all that stuff that is parked outside waiting to be placed INSIDE the shop when my mom's stuff is gone. I sent the dude the picture and a text that said "Sorry man- got too many toys. Momma said no".

So this guy immediately sends me a response and said "Wanna trade for that John Deere tractor?"



Soooo... I bought this little 25hp John Deere tractor 7 years ago used from a guy that was at the time hard up for cash. We had just moved to Montana and my property had a lot of clearing work and general crap to do- and the loader would come in handy. However it is kind of small for what I need now- which is a beefier tractor to grade a Montana roadfill dirt road and also run a beefy 3pt wood chipper. I was getting ready to sell it, so I bring this option up with the wife. She said "It's your tractor, if you wanna trade for the truck that's your call".



So a few days later and the truck shows up in my driveway and the little John Deere is gone. Straight up trade.

Kind of destiny I think, if anyone believes in that kind of thing!

Any way here as some pics of the Zach's 72-


















I think I came out on top with this trade.. My son frekin' LOVES this truck too. He's been using it for work- He does some heavy landscaping/handy work on his own (until he goes to college in the fall).

I know it's long, hell of a way to start out, but I thought it's kind of funny and weird how it all came to be.

[Threerun]

Here's the SPID-

Pretty spartan but typical of a Montana truck.

[Threerun]

And this be Zach-


He won 1st place in the Vintage tractor/auto contest during our local parade.

[Dieselwrencher]

That is an awesome story with a great ending! that is a very, very, nice K20 you got there. You are right some one else would have gotten a nice truck. Probably a guy on this board from South Carolina. Congrats and enjoy that truck! Oh, welcome to the truck board too!

[Threerun]

Thanks! Yeah this truck is not what I envisioned originally, but it came to be.

I've got my new redhead steering box on the shop, a Cherokee shaft coming my way and going to put some fresh shocks on her. Then it gets used until winter. The worst rust is under the rubber floor and jute padding. Wet boots no doubt. It's just surface rust so a little sanding and some POR-15 should do it up. I'll hang the jute up to dry out and then back in it goes. The cab light/bed light doesn't work, so I'll trouble shoot that too. Gotta insulate the shop first though. And paint the house (uggh).

When I got it up on a lift me and my mechanic friends were pretty amazed- just surface scale rust on the frame. No evidence of ANY oil leaks other than the steering gear box. Everything solid as a rock. The frame doesn't really need any work.

Door windows need new seals, but thankfully the vent windows are in pretty good condition.

[Threerun]

Right now I have no 'grand plan' or anything like that with the truck. I know whatever we do I'll adopt the 'physician do no harm' approach. Anything I do cannot harm the integrity of the originality of the truck. I don't plan on any heavy mods or anything like that. More than likely I'll put new springs on the truck, and I talked to ORD and got a quote from them on 2" lift springs all the way around. I'll keep all the original hardware though..

I did piddle last night. Drivers side 6x9 speaker was blown, so out it came..







Too bad the door got cut, but that was the deal back in the day. Since the hole is already there, I'll replace the speakers. I'll clean out the little bit of crud in the door though. No broken through rust- just surface stuff. Not sure if I'm going to tackle that yet. Love to hear opinions on it first.
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[Threerun]

Put some new seals around the driver window.





Thought I trimmed that piece 'tight', and yup I need to nip the end. Didn't need to replace the window lower channel gasket. It was pretty tight. The window rattles no more!
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[mywifestruck]

Nice Truck! Love the U16 Code. Why did people cut holes in the doors for speakers man that bugs me. I wonder what we do to vehicles now that people 50 years from will think we were so dumb for?

NICE RIG!

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by mywifestruck

Nice Truck! Love the U16 Code. Why did people cut holes in the doors for speakers man that bugs me. I wonder what we do to vehicles now that people 50 years from will think we were so dumb for?

NICE RIG!

No one would have thought anything about it, lol. I'll probably get a set of Infinity 6x9's, refernece series with the separate tweeter. I can custom make a dash mounted box to hold the tweeters without having to cut into the dash. I'll figure out a way to wire it without cutting too.

I don't think I'll get a retro high end radio. I'll more than likely either take out the existing radio and replace it in dash, or just mount something in the glovebox. I'm leaning towards in-dash at this point.

Tunes are a very low prioirty right now. If a deal presents itself, I'll worry about it then.

[Dieselwrencher]

For rust prevention, you could try corraseal, or Ospho, an actual rust converter. I have had some bad luck with POR and have heard some very bad horror stories with it lately too.

[Threerun]

Will do. Never used any of it before, so all suggestions are welcomed.