65 GMC questions

[DetroitDan]

Hi, just me again lurking around. Been thinking again about dumping the 82 to buy a 60-66, and I have some questions about what I want to do. I'm looking at a 65 GMC right now, I think it's a C10 but not 100% certain, it could be a C20. It's a longbed fleetside with the 305 V6 and 3 on the tree. I am using a K2500 Suburban for my daily driver, tow rig, and it will also be my plow truck next winter. So the 82 is a little redundant, however I do need a pickup truck jsut for dump runs and the occasional large item purchase. And oh yeah, I buy wood pellets by the ton 3-5 times a year, so I need a pickup capable of hauling 2000lbs in the bed. My duallies were overkill for this. I did it a couple times with my 1500 Avalanche which had a 1500 lb payload, it was a little light in the front but not too scary or I wouldn't have done it.

So, would a C10 be able to carry 2000lbs for a short haul? I would be running good radial tires and splitting the brakelines with a dual master cylinder swap. The only 305 I ever drove was in a 66 C50 firetruck, plenty of power to move that heavy rig, so I expect it would move the weight ok. I'm mostly concerned about rear suspension. Isn't the C20 a leaf sprung rear? What are the C10 coils good for? I kind of feel that an old truck is usually built far better than the new flimsy junk, so capacity should be fairly high, but idk.

I do know that 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton designations are not payload, so please don't bother pointing out a half ton truck can only carry a half ton, because I don't believe that to be the case.

Also interested in possible future upgrades. Did a lot of reading about swaps but didn't see what I was wondering about. How hard is it to swap the cab and bed onto a 73-87 4wd chassis? Be nice to get an OD automatic, 4wd and disc front brakes all at once.