4X4 Crewcab Stepside Project..............

[toomanytoyz]

Am starting a Build of a 4x4 Crewcab Stepside, Ist of all i would like to Say Thank's to OJOE For the Inspiration & Most of All sharing the Info on How to do the The Conversion....................

This will be a Back burner Project as i have other's Currently going, Just want to share Pics & Details as i go Along.............

Here is a Photo shop of how i hope Project will Turn Out, Many Thanks to the work of desertrat & 75silverstep

[toomanytoyz]

Many Thanks go Out to Troybuilt for supply of the Crewcab for this Build, My Brother & i went down to his Shop on Friday to Help Strip down The K-30 of his for the Build, I will be Using 1/2 Ton 373 Axle's from a Blazer on the Crew & he is gonna Put the d 60's in one of his Project's.........

Pics of the Tear Down

[toomanytoyz]

During the Tear down of this Truck, Troy Suffered a Injury to his hand while unloading the d 44 axle from our Truck. Despite urging from His Wife, Myself & anyone in General he refused to go to the Hospital until after the Truck was done & loaded on our Trailer.

Injury occured around 3 pm & he recieved 13 Stitches in his hand around 10 pm that Night, I Just Thank God it was not Broke..........

I must State that Troy is one of The Great Guy's that i have Met in Life & Consider it an Honor to Know Him..........

More Pics

[1969k10stepside]

Good luck with the build,cant wait to see how it turns out....So,did the bed,and front end get junked?I noticed from the pics they werent on the truck when it was loaded on the trailer.
And about Troy being a great guy,I havent met him,but even my son has..lol.He said he seemed like a great guy,so Im going to believe you 2.

[toomanytoyz]

Originally Posted by 1969k10stepside

Good luck with the build,cant wait to see how it turns out....So,did the bed,and front end get junk?I noticed from the pics they werent on the truck when it was loaded on the trailer.
And about Troy being a great guy,I havent met him,but even my son has..lol.He said he seemed like a great guy,so Im going to believe you 2.

Dustin

They were Loaded on Troys trailer to go to scrap along with some other stuff he Had, Not Worth anything else........

Thanks for the Comments, Still in Search of the Stepside bed & Rear Frame if you hear of one

Rick

[toomanytoyz]

We got home around Midnight with the Crewcab & waited till morning to unload it, We had used the fork lift at Troy's house to get it on the Trailer & was lucky enough to only have to change out one Tire on the front to get it Off the Trailer.........

Once off the Trailer we pulled it about 5 feet till the Rearend cocked due to only having u bolts on one side of axle ( Axle was wider than the spring pads)
Made it real Fun to get it rest of way up my drive.

Spent a little of time Cleaning it out over the weekend & Actually filled 4 Trash bags from the interior. The Speed limit Sign's were the Patches for the Front Floor Pans

Againg I want to Say a Great Big Thanks To all Who have Helped with this Project so Far

Rick

More Pics

[1969k10stepside]

Rick,I did manage to find a 79 K10 shortbed outside town.It was in a head on collision and the front frame is mangled.The rear is ok.It has a 6 Cyl(think its a 250) and 4spd/np205.I dont know if it has the bed and/or if it is a stepside or not

[toomanytoyz]

Thanks Dustin, Let me know if it's a Stepper............

I can get this from my Local Yard for $ 325.00 with the rear half of Frame with it, Just searching for a little better one

Rick

[Troy-Built]

I will check on that truck at Beedles junk yard I told you about while you were down

[1969k10stepside]

I will check on the bed/truck and let you know.
Is the bed all you want?Or do you want another whole truck for your yard

[sparechange]

well guess ill make my first post on this one lol

thought I recognized that trailor in these pics,I was at that yard(wont name it in case you are keeping it hush hush) last week when you guys were loading that other truck on there,how did that one go getting it back off the trailor?lol. we were the guys trying to get that hard cover in the back of the avalanche.

P.S. you better get that big ten bed because I've been eyeing it to keep back for the next build

[toomanytoyz]

Originally Posted by sparechange

well guess ill make my first post on this one lol

thought I recognized that trailor in these pics,I was at that yard(wont name it in case you are keeping it hush hush) last week when you guys were loading that other truck on there,how did that one go getting it back off the trailor?lol. we were the guys trying to get that hard cover in the back of the avalanche.

P.S. you better get that big ten bed because I've been eyeing it to keep back for the next build

Welcome to the Board, Actually all we had to do too get that k30 off was Take off one of the Rear Tire's. As you Witnessed it sure was a Bear To get Loaded, Rick has 2 Other Stepbeds in the Yard Currently, But this is definatly the best of the 3............

[DirtyLarry]

Tooanytoyz,

Dude, don’t take me wrong here. I like the idea of a custom crew cab short bed stepper. I lived in MI for a few years, travel to my companies assembly plant in eastern IN several times a year…..BUT.....Krymany, of all of midwestern and eastern salt belt folks, it never ceases to amaze me what Indiana folks are willing to pull in from the pastrure, out of the salt mine and junk yards to rebuild (worthless rusty tow trucks from Indiana , 4x4’s with swiss cheese holes rusted through the FRAME from Indiana, Indiana, the list goes on and on).

You Hoosier’s remind me of the Alabama guys and their obsession deep frying food…. deep fried fish, deep fried pickles, deep fried cheesecake, deep fried peanuts, deep fried deep fried deep fried what ever hopped into the deep fryer????? I can go for deep fried food but not loading a truck body and chassis with so much welded on material and plastic filler it is not even worth the money and labor you put in to it.

Friend, for the money you will spend in mig wire, arc weld sticks, sheet metal, body filler, personal labor, fuel for that there fork lift and beer alone would probably pay for your gasoline and U-Haul trailer to the southwest buy virgin rust free truck to start a solid project even if your pile was free.

Again, I do like the short bed crew cab stepper idea but I think you would have been better off starting with a cleaner canvas to create your art work on.

But that is just me talkin'

[Troy-Built]

Most of us are barely getting by with what we can get for our money. We work on them little by little when we get the time and money and can't generally afford the loss of work and money spent for the trip and the initial cost to pick a rust free vehicle up. Besides it is a learning experience. Maybe most of us Indiana folk like and can generally overcome the challenge. Besides, it is a moral booster for the younger people when telling someone you built it yourself from a rusty hulk. If we could all go get rust free projects that would be great but then again there wouldn't be as many left either. Troy

[Rc 415]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Tooanytoyz,

Dude, don’t take me wrong here. I like the idea of a custom crew cab short bed stepper. I lived in MI for a few years, travel to my companies assembly plant in eastern IN several times a year…..BUT.....Krymany, of all of midwestern and eastern salt belt folks, it never ceases to amaze me what Indiana folks are willing to pull in from the pastrure, out of the salt mine and junk yards to rebuild (worthless rusty tow trucks from Indiana , 4x4’s with swiss cheese holes rusted through the FRAME from Indiana, Indiana, the list goes on and on).

You Hoosier’s remind me of the Alabama guys and their obsession deep frying food…. deep fried fish, deep fried pickles, deep fried cheesecake, deep fried peanuts, deep fried deep fried deep fried what ever hopped into the deep fryer????? I can go for deep fried food but not loading a truck body and chassis with so much welded on material and plastic filler it is not even worth the money and labor you put in to it.

Friend, for the money you will spend in mig wire, arc weld sticks, sheet metal, body filler, personal labor, fuel for that there fork lift and beer alone would probably pay for your gasoline and U-Haul trailer to the southwest buy virgin rust free truck to start a solid project even if your pile was free.

Again, I do like the short bed crew cab stepper idea but I think you would have been better off starting with a cleaner canvas to create your art work on.

But that is just me talkin'

X2, I just sent a suburban to the scrappers because it had less rust than that! I could have got you a crew cab for 100 bucks out here rust free too, but anyway cant wait to see the finished result!

[Bus Ted Knuckle]

All of the trucks I build were either free, or dirt cheap. I can't do it any other way. I totally understand and commend you for digging into what you got and getting the job done, one step at a time. Some of these responses shocked me to tell you the truth.

I love it man. Go all out on it. Can't wait to see the results!

P.S. Did you ever get the 6cyl power steering stuff that you bought from me?

[Russell]

That white step bed looks pretty nice, not a huge ton of rust...

One thing to keep in mind is that the 1 ton's frame is quite different than the 1/2 tons -- you will not be able to just splice them together.

You'd be far better off shortening the crewcab's stock frame, then moving the spring perches on your diff to match the width of the 1 ton's spring spacing.

[Ivan D.]

Am I the only one ho thinks using half-ton axles on a crew-cab with lift and big tires is not a very smart move? Toomanytoyz, go to FSC and post yer idea about that, I bet the first reply you get will be to go to 14-bolt full-floaters (1-ton) axles, lol

[Russell]

I'd tend to agree, use 1 ton 14 bolt that bolts straight in, then change the knuckles up front out to 3/4 ton, and off ya go! Front won't be very strong, but the rear will definitely hold up considerably better.

[Zoomad75]

While I'd Agree with keeping the 1 ton running gear under it, we don't know the exact plans for the truck when it's done. From the sounds of it, it might not be planned to be a full time off road beast. If he's not planning on wheeling the snot out of it why not run the 1/2 ton axles. Even more so if the plans don't include lockers front and rear. I'd say if it sees no more than the occasional dirt trail and he's staying close to 35's for tire size why spend the time and money to stuff 1 ton axles under it.

1 ton's are nice, but not required if he's not going to abuse it.

[Pyrotechnic]

Thats my dream truck! Props on saving that cab as well. I'll definitely be following this project.

[toomanytoyz]

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

While I'd Agree with keeping the 1 ton running gear under it, we don't know the exact plans for the truck when it's done. From the sounds of it, it might not be planned to be a full time off road beast. If he's not planning on wheeling the snot out of it why not run the 1/2 ton axles. Even more so if the plans don't include lockers front and rear. I'd say if it sees no more than the occasional dirt trail and he's staying close to 35's for tire size why spend the time and money to stuff 1 ton axles under it.

1 ton's are nice, but not required if he's not going to abuse it.

Thanks for the Input, I could not have said it any better............

This thread deals with having converted 2 Dually's into 1/2 Ton 2 wheel Drive Crew's, I can't see any reason why it won't work for 4x4 Conversion...........

Thanks, Rick

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=218953

[Russell]

Again, the frames are significantly different between a 1/2 ton and a 1 ton. The 1 ton frame is like an inch or two taller, a bit wider, and made out a much thicker material...

You'd be best off shortening the crewcab's stock frame, then moving the spring perches on the diff if you are really that intent on using 1/2 ton equipment

[kevinr1970]

Originally Posted by Russell

Again, the frames are significantly different between a 1/2 ton and a 1 ton. The 1 ton frame is like an inch or two taller, a bit wider, and made out a much thicker material...

You'd be best off shortening the crewcab's stock frame, then moving the spring perches on the diff if you are really that intent on using 1/2 ton equipment

Since he linked to the thread where they "spliced" the rear of a 1/2-ton frame to a 1-ton frame I would assume that is the direction he is headed. So the rear has been dealt with.
For the front I was under the impression that the you could mount any spring (1/2, 3/4, 1-ton) to any of the frames (1/2, 3/4, 1-ton). For instance, he could remove the 1-ton springs (front) from his project truck and replace them with 1/2-ton springs and they will bolt right up. Am I wrong about this? I know there is a difference in the rears but thought the fronts mounted the same.
This is something that keeps getting me interested so if it is more difficult than that someone tell me now!

There is a fairly low mile 1990 3500 4x4 locally that would be a great platform to start with.
I have an '85 swb 4x4 that I am parting out so the frame and bed are taken care of.
Have a rebuilt 700r4 that was around $2000 for the guy when he had it done; all heavy duty parts - "I don't want this to go out again, money is no object".
Have a set of 1/2-ton 3.73 axles with an eaton locker.
Have a set of front and rear 2" lift springs with newer Rancho 900? adjustable shocks.
Have a TBI 350 from an '88 Suburban (it is actually sitting in my '87 2wd swb waiting for me to make up my mind on what to do - the TBI 454 would make the 2wd swb a pretty fun cruiser!).
I think I am ready to go!! Just need the crew to start with.

For the record, it wouldn't be a wheeling truck but a truck to replace my '86 GMC 1/2-ton 4x4. Might do some towing with it but not too heavy and not too far. I would basicaly be a Suburban with a bed.

[Zoomad75]

On the front for a 73-87/91 4x4 all the spring lengths are the same between 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton and 1 tons. Difference was the leaf pack count. As noted the rears are different, longer 56" as well as the wider 1 ton leaf position on the axle/frame.

Thats the beauty of these trucks is the interchangeability. You could go either way with the rear. Just shorten the exisiting 1 ton frame and change the spring mounts to the 1/2 ton variety And the short box bed mounts or splice the 1/2 ton rear back on with addtional metal to make up the difference. It's a lot of work either way since you are shortening the length.

It sounds like it's quicker to go with the 1/2 ton rear frame as the spring and box mounts don't have to get fooled with. Since it's not planned to be a hauler like it was as a 1 ton the smaller frame size in the rear shouldn't be an issue. You just have to make sure that you add some fishplating back in to the frame rail at the splice point .