1991 V3500 Project Heavy Hauler

[MTCK]

Last fall I was wrestling what to do with my '77 short bed. Our family was growing (just dogs right now) and my wife and puppy and I could not comfortably take long drives to go camping or fishing. I also wanted to be able to haul some heavy trailers with it and some good loads in the bed. Previously I procured a set of one ton axles and prepared to install them. They were both 4.10 geared, but the rear had a gov-lock in it. The dana 60 had some rust on the ring and pinion as well.

After reviewing my needs, I decided my little short bed had to go. It was fun, and did a great job of serving as my daily driver while my wife was in graduate school, but it just wasn't practical any longer for what I wanted it to do. I started keeping my eye out on the classifieds for crew cab long beds and responded to a very basic ad with no pictures. 91 Chevy one ton. Good start.

One test drive and a little haggling later, I was driving home in my new truck. Odometer shows 99k miles and the truck is rust free. I ran the codes in the glove box and was very happy with what I found:

TBI 350
4L80E trans
NP205 t-case
4.56 gears
open rear diff
4 headlight front end
Truck was originally sold to the Air Force
heavy duty cooling and brakes (hydroboost)
No A/C, Crank windows, bare interior

The 350 is pretty tired and doesn't run well at all. Maintenance has not been high on the PO's list of things to do, but the trans and drivetrain seems solid. I'll continue later with what I have done to date, and my plans for the truck. Here is the short bed leaving the bank with its new owner, and shots of the new truck as I bought it.