New Purchase: 1985 GMC 6000 Medium Duty Truck

[arrover]

This is a truck that my brother recently bought and I thought some people here might get a kick out of it. The truck is a 1985 GMC 6000, 2wd with a 8.2L Detroit diesel. From the SPID we found out that the truck was originally ordered for the Corp of Engineers and it currently has 49,350 miles on it. The manual trans is a Clark with a two speed "no spin" rear axle (5.57 ratio). The front bumper is pretty interesting but it makes getting to the engine compartment easy. The front winch is a PTO driven Ramsey 400. The truck is pretty rust free except for a quarter sized hole in the middle of the door sill on the drivers side and some surface rust.

[arrover]

The interior isn't to bad except for the terrible dash pad and sun damaged door panels. I thought the gauges were cool with the 4000 rpm tach with built in fuel gauge and a gauge for the air brakes pressure.

[arrover]

Here are a few shots of the engine compartment. I'm curious why the sticker on the engine says "Allison" even though it doesn't have an Allison trans? The hour meter is factory. We think that the rusty cylinder on the passenger side firewall is a "Quick Start" system that can inject starting fluid into the engine from inside the cab. Of course its warm out now but the truck starts really easily without the quick start system.

[arrover]

The truck has 4 SPIDs. One on each visor and two in the glove box.

[arrover]

Couple of questions: Are these split rims or are they just wheels with a separate center section? I'm really trying to figure out if these are the dangerous "Widow maker" style wheels or not. Would it be possible to switch these to a newer style one-piece wheel?

[BHB]

I can't answer any of the questions but I just wanted to say...this is awesome.

[Dsquared]

what size tires are those?

[arrover]

The tires are 10.00 - 20.

[ozark]

Is this the truck that was at riverview store for sale?

[arrover]

Originally Posted by ozark

Is this the truck that was at riverview store for sale?

Yup, thats the truck!

[ozark]

Originally Posted by arrover

Yup, thats the truck!

Steve give you a good deal?

[Dieselholic92]

That whole 5 spoke center section is separate from the rim. You just loosen those 5 nuts, tap with a hammer around the rim to get it to slide off some, then take the nuts the rest of the way off, remove the wedges, and the tire and rim come off

[Dsquared]

looks kind of like a 3 piece wheel. look to see if you can see a split on the outer rings

[Dsquared]

i believe you can put some 22.5 wheels on there

[arrover]

Originally Posted by ozark

Steve give you a good deal?

I felt like it was a fair deal. I'll shoot you a PM.

Originally Posted by Dsquared

i believe you can put some 22.5 wheels on there

22.5s or 19.5s would be great. Is the swap difficult? We haven't had any of the wheels off the truck yet.

[Dsquared]

if you look at the 2nd id tag it says 20 or 22.5.

[ozark]

I've got a couple 22.5 wheels that will fit if you want to go tubless tires.

[J Knight]

Cool old truck.

Those hubs are a type called "Dayton", and the rimms have no centers like a "Bud" type wheel has. The 10.00-20 tires should be tube type and should be marked on the side of the tire. All tube type truck tires go on "Split rims" wich have the ring that is very dangerous if not installed properly. I worked at a tire store when I was in high school and a guy that worked thier was standing over the tire he just installed while it was airing it up the ring came loose and took his head off.

[arrover]

Originally Posted by ozark

I've got a couple 22.5 wheels that will fit if you want to go tubless tires.

Thanks man. I will mention it to my brother. If it were my truck, I would like to convert.

Originally Posted by J Knight

Cool old truck.

Those hubs are a type called "Dayton", and the rimms have no centers like a "Bud" type wheel has. The 10.00-20 tires should be tube type and should be marked on the side of the tire. All tube type truck tires go on "Split rims" wich have the ring that is very dangerous if not installed properly. I worked at a tire store when I was in high school and a guy that worked thier was standing over the tire he just installed while it was airing it up the ring came loose and took his head off.

Thanks for the info. Just to clarify: "Daytons", "split rims", and "widow makers" are all the same thing (dangerous)?

[J Knight]

Originally Posted by arrover

Thanks man. I will mention it to my brother. If it were my truck, I would like to convert.



Thanks for the info. Just to clarify: "Daytons", "split rims", and "widow makers" are all the same thing (dangerous)?

Yes sir, and if I were you I would convert to the tubeless 22.5's if you can afford it. You can get much better tires in a 22.5 tubeless than the out dated 20in split rim.

[Bigasstrux]

"Widowmakers"are made of two almost equal halves that are assembled by lining up a notch in the rim and twisting the halves 180 degrees. These were not made like the more common multi-part rims that consist of two or three parts, one being a snap ring, either with a split or solid, that snaps to the outer edge of the rim. The rims with the snap rings are still in use today and still are serviced in many big truck tire shops. The "Widow Maker" type rims can be tricky to spot. From a casual glance they look like one piece rims because they have no outer snap ring that most people are use to seeing but if you look in the concave side of the rim you will see 1 1/2" band running the entire circumference of the rims, this is where the two parts lock together. The two and three piece tube type Dayton rims are still manufactured and widely used on shipping container trailers, usually wobbling due to improper mounting.

[Number21]

That's cool, those are definately on my "to get" list. Maybe someday.....

[J Knight]

Actually Daytons or Bud are the hub/wheel type, its the 20in rims that are split tube type rims that are dangerous. Dayton or Bud 22.5/24.5 are tubless and safe.

[v30crewcab]

detroit diesel and allison was a division together. thats why the name is there.
I need an instrument cluster just like that for my truck. hmmmm. gotta track one down!

[arrover]

The tires do say "tube type" on them.