'68 C/30 stepside

[SS Tim]

Just found a 9' long stepside one-ton. Waiting to get pictures of the SPID and such. Everything I'm seeing in the data book info I have says dual wheels were not avaiable on the C/30 pickups. Has anyone seen a factory dual stepside pickup 67-72? I know Dodge did offer dual stepside pickups like W300s and they had a spacer between the standard fender and the bed.
This truck would look too cool with a NAPCO conversion!

[special-K]

I'd love to see a 67/72 C/30 Stepside Napco. I had a '71 with a utility bed. I have no idea if it came cab & chassis or originally had a bed. I didn't know (or care) anything about model numbers back then. I did know I had something precious.
Only Dodge made those dual wheel pickups. You know Dodge 300 series was apart from the 100/200s being built like a medium duty truck on a straight rail frame,higher cab w/running boards,etc. Dodge did a lot of things different through these years. This,I'm sure,is coach-built but I just had to post it:

[Petie724x4]

I've seen the 1ton pick ups, never a dually though. I think they were mainly Canadian, GMC 1ton longbox stepsides. Sweet trucks, not too many around.

[71Crew]

Originally Posted by Petie724x4

I've seen the 1ton pick ups, never a dually though. I think they were mainly Canadian, GMC 1ton longbox stepsides. Sweet trucks, not too many around.

I have personally put my hands on 2 C30 duallys the option was listed on the spid. no boxes on them but Im trying to get the rear ends

[SS Tim]

Yes, In fact most C30s you find will have the dual wheel conversion (RPO R05) option. These are the CS/CE31003 and CS/CE31403 chassis cabs. The pickups would be models CS/CE31004 9'Stepsides or CS/CE31034 8 1/2' Fleetsides (Longhorns). It is the pickup models that are in question. Numerous Longhorns and possibly Stepsides have had aftermarket dual wheel conversions. Here is an example.

[PAWS 72]

SS TIM that would look sweet with a 48'' sleeper behind the cab.also a cummins under the hood.

I used to haul campers and enclosed trailers and alwys wanted to do an older truck that way. buy the way first time poster here.been lurking about 6 months tho. jason

[SS Tim]

The old Utiline Power Wagons were grand. Zero frills, all function and attitude. Ran a road maintenance crew out of one one summer and wanted to keep the truck... bad! Looked kind of like this... well it was red and rumpled. Thought I'd provide a picture for the younger members going WTF?

[special-K]

They were serious trucks...love 'em! I had a '69 W200 lwb but always wished it was the W300. That's right,Dodge also built swb 3/4t 4wds (W200). When I restored mine I replaced the Sweptline with a Utiline.

[SS Tim]

Thought a lot about putting a pair of 2 1/2 ton axles under my
D500 with 135"wb. The frame modulis numbers between the D500 and the W600 indicate that it might not be the smartest of ideas. But... NAPCO did convert D500s.?????

[BLAZERMAN]

I've never found any mention of a C/30 dually pickup in any literature..not even from any conversion companys in the Silver book. Years ago there was this C/30 dual wheel wrecker with a stepside bed on Ebay, I contacted the owner and he claimed it was factory but had no proof. The truck was sold to someone in Oklahoma that was going to remove the bed, I was in contact with him for awhile cause I wanted the rear fender extensions to build a 1 ton stepside 4x4...the guy kept putting me off and I finally lost contact with him.

A few years ago I saw a 56 Chevy stepside at the All Truck Nationals that had the same kind of fender extensions, this guy told me he had bought the truck from the original owner and the extensions were added after the truck left the dealer..I guess there was a company back then that made wheel adapters to run a second set of factory wheels [non budd] and it was this same company that sold the fender extensions.

So I guess a guy could have bought a C/30 cab and chassis truck back then and added a bed and the extensions or bought a C/30 single wheel stepside and added the dually rear and extensions....or better yet had a truck shipped off to Napco for a 4x4 dual wheel conversion! never seen one but it would be the ultimate truck in my book!

[BLAZERMAN]

Originally Posted by SS Tim

Thought a lot about putting a pair of 2 1/2 ton axles under my
D500 with 135"wb. The frame modulis numbers between the D500 and the W600 indicate that it might not be the smartest of ideas. But... NAPCO did convert D500s.?????

The bigger trucks like that were usualy converted by either Marmon Herrington or Howe-Coleman

[SS Tim]

Blazerman, fantastic pictures. Thank You! It all make a lot of sense though. The Dodges were exactly like this. Never though, have I seen it on a Chevy 9'. This is way too doable. A NAPCO front end and a dually rear on a stepside. Three tons of fun for sure!
In the lesser know department below are pictures from the '37 Silverbook showing the aftermarket dual conversions for panel and open expresses (pickups). Look real hard at Special K's avitar and see a 157". Well here are the part numbers for the wheels, boards, extensions and fenders.

[SS Tim]

pictures.. sorry!

[special-K]

I remember that red tow truck. It may very well be one-off vs a conversion. I see they modified the step. This is the only one I recall ever seeing. Of course,back in the day I would have looked right at one a thought nothing of it. I recall seeing quite a few trucks converted to dual rear using proper Budd wheels as well as two singles with a spacer in between and the front wheels were always the single wheels. Seen 4wds converted this way,too. I always figured I'd have to make the Budds work up front,too...so it would look built that way and proper and what do you do? Carry two spares?
I tell ya what. I love a beefy HD truck,but I've gotten past my dual wheel pickup fetish and only want those on something that absolutely needs them,like a tow truck.I still like to see them but just don't want one. What I like are those old 1t pickups that ran single Budds,like Timmy's dad's Dodge on Lassie! My fantasy is to build one of these trucks as a Stepside like that.I'm gonna tell you the rest now because I doubt I'll ever be able to see this through. Please pay $25 to continue....
Hey,I've spent my life dreaming up idea I have no means to carry out,only to see someone with deep pockets carry it out years later. I'm so broke I'm trying to stop thinking...hasn't worked yet. So,here it is. I want to have a set of wide Budds made,like 8". I used to want to do a 10" set. Take the centers and let them set in deeper a bit leaving the back space the same as original. Like Duplex wheels on big trucks. I believe I though about this even before seeing wider tires run on big trucks. I mean how cool,tough,and truck-like would that be? Just paint 'em white and let those who know their stuff take notice. I always wanted to build the truck I wish GM built and have it look like they did. That's the plan for my '72 GMC...K3500 w/Dana60 TruTrac front/HO52 No-Spin rear,emblems,8.25 x 16.5 white wheels w/hubcaps,and 12.50/37 Super Swampers. Hopefully end up with a Stepside bed once I restore it,but I have all the other stuff now. I haven't found Sierra or Sierra Grande 3500 emblems yet,but do have some cherry Custom Camper 3500s and just plane 3500s so far.
Here's a cool Advance Design for an example:

[SS Tim]

Well, I have standing permission to buy a '49 Reo D19XA, if I can find one, and convert it to 4x4 as well. A display 2 ton flatbed at the fair cinched it. My dogs would look too cool rolling in something like this.

[SS Tim]

Originally Posted by special-K

That's the plan for my '72 GMC...K3500 w/Dana60 TruTrac front/HO52 No-Spin rear,emblems,8.25 x 16.5 white wheels w/hubcaps,and 12.50/37 Super Swampers.

How about a slight change in plan? Run a 157"wb, short box rear overhang and fill in the middle.
Then there is plan "B". Posted this before but didn't get any comments.

[SS Tim]

Or even...

[PAWS 72]

yes sir i know josh.he lives about 5 miles from me.he's got a fine 69 right now.

[PAWS 72]

Some pics i took

[PanelDeland]

At the Gathering of the Goofs a couple of years ago there was a Father/son who had restored 3-4 dually's.They claimed none came from the factory with a PU bed though they had one they built.It looked like a factory bed also.The new super single semi truck tires open up a lot of options for building cool heavy duty rigs.
You can't beat an old Power Wagon for tough looks and ability.

[special-K]

That's the first dual wheel tandem I've seen. I have seen a tandem mid-70s Chevy back in the early '80s. I really liked the way it was done. Looked factory. It was a factory green (deeper than Medium Olive Poly) with a 12' bed,and all 6 wheels were chrome spokes. The rear wheel openings were done just right.

[special-K]

Back to dual wheel Stepsides...I always had a dreamed up truck idea I wanted to do. It was actually on an Advance Design I first was inspired,but would work on any Stepside. It would actually look better on a '60 or newer truck with the wide cab. My version was to widen the bed,leave the fenders alone,tub the inside. Might as well gain more bed to go along with the purpose of dual wheels...adding load capacity. And,I think widening the head panel and tailgate would be easier than widening fenders. At least for me it would.

[SS Tim]

Hot Rod featured a truck in about '78 you would have just loved. It was a short fleet with huge (for thr time) rear tires. They took the Fleetside bed and narrowed it like 8" then grafted on a set of stepside fenders. So it looked like these new dually conversions but was not much wider than stock.

[71Crew]

Originally Posted by special-K

Back to dual wheel Stepsides...I always had a dreamed up truck idea I wanted to do. It was actually on an Advance Design I first was inspired,but would work on any Stepside. It would actually look better on a '60 or newer truck with the wide cab. My version was to widen the bed,leave the fenders alone,tub the inside. Might as well gain more bed to go along with the purpose of dual wheels...adding load capacity. And,I think widening the head panel and tailgate would be easier than widening fenders. At least for me it would.

correct me if I'm wrong but didn't GM make a dual rearend that was narrower and was the sme width as a normal single wheel? so all you would have to do is tub out the box?

[SS Tim]

Originally Posted by 71Crew

correct me if I'm wrong but didn't GM make a dual rearend that was narrower and was the same width as a normal single wheel? so all you would have to do is tub out the box?

Note quite, The chassis cab DRW axle is narrower than a SRW but not enough to completely tuck under the stock fleetside. Due to an ordering restriction I believe the stepside is even narrower. !0.00x16.5" tires were not available on stepsides per the data book.