Agent Orange- My 1968 K20

[1968_K20_4x4]

So I have decided to start a thread on my truck. I have loved these trucks since I was a little kid, and I am so happy to be living out my dream of owning one. I bought this truck in September of 2016 and although it was in really good shape to begin with I have been doing a lot of work to make all those "little things" right on the truck over the past year, and I have spent countless hours on this forum doing research and learning everything I can about my truck. I would like to share my progress and hope everyone enjoys my pics and what I have done with the truck! I will start out by uploading some pics of the truck as it looked when I first brought it home

[1968_K20_4x4]

More pics of when I first got the truck...

[1968_K20_4x4]

And a few more...

[Dieselwrencher]

Congrats, that is one nice K20!

[1968_K20_4x4]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Congrats, that is one nice K20!

Thank you Dieselwrencher!

[1968_K20_4x4]

Ive got a few more photos of the ole girl as she looked when I got er home

[1968_K20_4x4]

Now the whole story of my love for these trucks actually begins with another truck. When I was a kid growing up on our farm we had a Chevy dump truck, a 1968 C60 Tandem axle. It was so old and loud and as a kid I thought it was the coolest thing ever... it was definitely my favorite piece of machinery on the farm! A few years later as I got a little older and started going out to car shows I saw trucks like ours that matched the old dump truck, especially the 67s and 68s. Since that time I have always dreamed of owning one. Here is a pic of that dump truck as it looked in the 90s when I was a kid

[1968_K20_4x4]

And now a few pics of the dump truck as she looks now. The last time it was plated for the road was in 1988, the last time I recall it running would have been about 2003. Notice the missing glove box door and factory tach...

[1968_K20_4x4]

I removed the glove box door and the Tach from the dump truck. I installed the glove box door in my truck and it matches perfectly! I rebuilt my dash over the winter and installed the tach (I just wired it up and it worked beautifully!) Not only does this give my truck a nice upgrade, but it has huge personal meaning to me as well. To have some parts of the old dump truck back on the road again is so cool to me, and to incorporate some parts of the truck which had inspired my love for these trucks, into the truck that I am currently living my dream of owning... it just doesn't get any better than that!

[Dieselwrencher]

Very cool! My Grandpa drove a lot of C60s when I was a kid so I know where you're coming from. The farmer he worked for had several varying in ages. They're probably all gone now.

[1968_K20_4x4]

Ohh ya right on, I definitely like to see the big trucks around although there are not to many left, most of them worked hard for many years. I will post some more pictures of my truck when I get a chance, and update the thread as I go along

[flashed]

Very nice truck , Im in to see whats next .

[1968_K20_4x4]

Hey Guys... sorry its been a while since I had a chance to upload some more photos. But I appreciate your guys interest in my truck, and Ill continue on with the story! So as I had mentioned before I bought the truck in the fall of 2016. Over the winter I did a lot of work on all the "little ****" to make things right on the truck. I spend a lot of time on the interior, completely rebuilding my dash as I mentioned previously. I also took apart my doors and replaced the window regulator on the drivers side, as well as all the seals on both doors, including rebuilding the vent windows (what a PITA that job was!) I cleaned up the wiring and made everything work as it should, the windshield wiper/washer fluid switch was especially tricky to figure out but I got it working properly. I also added a toolbox (No new holes in the bed of course) and a spare tire

[1968_K20_4x4]

On the outside a few changes as well. I added the rear trim pieces that were missing, as well as the trim pieces around the tail lights. I also added some larger mirrors and restored my side marker lights. When I got the truck the tailgate was all orange, but I could see that the "Chevrolet" letters had once been painted silver. I scraped the top layer of orange paint off to expose the silver and make the "Chevrolet" stand out, and it was a major improvement. The old girl is looking pretty good... except for that ugly steel bar bumper on the back!

[1968_K20_4x4]

So now its the spring of 2017 and the truck is really starting to come together, but the "bumper" the PO had installed on the back of the truck was driving me crazy. I did a lot of thinking about what I should replace it with. I originally thought I should put a stock chrome bumper on it, but I decided against it because although I think they look great on the c10 trucks, I don't think it suites my lifted 4x4. Also, it would not have been a very practical choice as I wanted a step bumper so I could get up in the bed without having to drop the tailgate. However, the huge step bumpers that these trucks originally came with are a little bit ugly in my opinion. To me they belong on older trucks of the 50s and early 60s, but dont look right on the beautiful lines of our trucks. After much consideration I decided on a slightly newer style of step bumper for the truck, it would look right and still be functional. So I pulled the bumper off my old rusted out '88 F-150 (I know, putting a ford bumper on a classic GM truck is probably the worst thing ever. But my dad had an 88 F-150 also so I have a bit of a soft spot for the late '80s fords too) I set it up on jack stands, and really liked the look!

[1968_K20_4x4]

Next I took the truck to my dad's farm where we welded up a custom trailer hitch/ bumper bracket/ spare tire mount

[Joseph2001]

Gorgeous truck. I love the 88 ford bumper, I had an extra off an 82 f100 I thought about using on my 72 K25.

[1968_K20_4x4]

Success! Got my trailer hitched up and the bumper all painted up and installed. Couldn't be happier with the results!

[1968_K20_4x4]

Originally Posted by Joseph2001

Gorgeous truck. I love the 88 ford bumper, I had an extra off an 82 f100 I thought about using on my 72 K25.

Thanks! Check out how the end results turned out. Thought I was thinking crazy to put a Ford bumper on there, but I really like it!

[flashed]

Truck and bumper look great , I believe Chevy used a bumper just like that on the later trucks .

[graham1]

I like the Ford bumper, I agree with your line of thinking on the Chevy bumpers and think this matches really well, good find

[1968_K20_4x4]

Thanks guys! I did consider using a bumper off a 70s square body Chevy to keep it all GM, but I wanted to have something a little different and liked the look of the Ford bumper better. I will post some more pics soon!

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice work! That bumper is more than likely an after market part and not a genuine "Ford" FoMoCo part so you're good. Even if it was a real Ford part, you don't have to say so if you don't want to. IMO you just made the truck better. I have a real soft spot for the 88 up Ford pick ups too.

[hewittca]

Cool truck! The bumper swap looks great too. There were so many variants of the step bumpers that I never would have known it was a Ford bumper if you didn't mention it.

[1968_K20_4x4]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input. Glad you think that bumper looks good on the ole girl. So after working on the truck all winter, I took her out for the first "Official" drive on the road. This was in April of 2017 when me and the wife went out for dinner for my birthday. I saw the most beautiful truck in the parking lot and I had to stop and take a couple pics... Oh wait, thats mine!! Lol