few questions from a newby

[willisch]

Couple months ago I purchased a 65 chevy fleetside lwb for my son and me to work on. He is ten now and I figure I've got 6-7 yrs to before he can drive so we are going to take our time and hopefullly he can learn a thing or two about these old trucks.

Well I got my truck home and started doing a little digging into what I had. Turns out that it is a 65 chevy c20 custom camper with factory in dash a/c, automatic, originally had a 327, bbw, custom comfort package. I believe it has all the trim that could of been added. It is still the original marroon color. It has the foot step in the side of the bed, it still has the camper tie down hooks on the side of the bed, and it also had two lights on top of the cab.

Is there alot of these around? When doing a search very few 65 custom campers come up and the ones that do don't have factory automatic,in dash air, etc. I would hate to modify to much if it is something they did not make many of.

I have taken it completely down to the frame. The body is waiting for sandblasting. I am working on the suspension and frame now tearing it down and rebuilding. Here is where I am a little confused and maybe someone can help. The PO had changed the truck over to 5 lug with disc brakes up front. He has also lowered it. It looks as if he cut the springs up front and maybe heated the rear and put lowering blocks on it. The front upper a arms are pointing up in the air and I would like to fix this while I am rebuilding the suspension.

My question is how far did the PO modify the front. I would like to get suspension parts but I don't know what to order year to order them for. I know a 73-87 parts will bolt up but will 1/2 ton 73-87 parts bolt up to the 65 3/4 ton stuff. I can assume that since it is 5 lug disc and the front bearing is a timken m12649 that the spindle was changed out. How do I know if thats as far as he went. Would he had to of changed the a arms to because of the different ball joints between 1/2 and 3/4 ton? I am trying to figure out do I order springs for 65 3/4 ton or later model suspension and does it matter. Also as for dropped spindles I assume I just order 73-87 ones. And what ball joints do I need? The crossmember is bolted on to the frame. Are they originally riveted to the frame and this maybe a clue that he did a whole crossmember swap?

Here some numbers I found on the various parts
Brakes fdp03fe
front outer bearing timken m12649
Rotors 210404 c thk 965
spindle 75589402 rh cfd 2 72 gm and 15589401 lh cfd 1 93 gm
upper a arm 3786
lower ball joint 6m1 9740977

Dont know if they help but maybe someone will have a clue.

[lakeroadster]

Let me be the first to say . Sounds like an interesting project. You might find these links interesting:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ghlight=camper
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ghlight=camper

As far as identifying what has been modified you need to post up some pictures... A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say.

[62gmc910]

Welcome Sounds like you found a pretty rare truck Cool to hear about the father son build plans
Post pics and maybe start a build thread

[willisch]

Here some pics of when I bought the truck.





I have more pics at home of the tear down. I will try and post some of the crossmember and suspension. I will also probably start a build thread since I am taking lots of pics.

[protrash64]

Sounds to me like the PO ditched the 3/4 suspension and went 1/2 ton. Pretty common and a better option for customizing/wheels/etc. IMO. It had the 8-lug set-up before.

Thats a well optioned truck and looks cool to me. Looking forward to more pics of your project.


from AZ.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the Forum

As already mentioned,a picture is worth a thousand words. To answer a couple of your questions, the front suspension crossmembers were originally bolted to the frames. As for the springs you should be able to use springs for a '73-'87 C10. Of course we need to actually see what you have to make a firm recommendation.

[LILRED66]

Welcome to the forums from Kansas City, KS. Post your VIN and it can be decoded.

Good luck with your project and it is a low production model truck, that is well-optioned. Please keep us posted with pictures of your progress.

[willisch]

I got a few pictures of the suspension.



Here is the rear suspension
As far as I know it definitely is a later model year because of the 5 lug. Date stamp shows E117 which is probably 1977 or 1987. I haven't figure out what the ratio is yet.



Does it look like the coils in the rear have been heated?

I am going to start a build thread with pictures and progress later today.

[DPowers]

Welcome to the site.

[willisch]

LILRED66 here is the vin number c2545b134770

[Captainfab]

From what I can see of the front suspension, I'd say it is original or at least older C10 style, except for the disc's it has.....can't see the spindles or rotors.

In the rear, I'd say that the differential is likely a '73-'87 since it still has the leaf spring pad on it. And yeah those springs have been heated.....they're junk IMO. Someone didn't take much pride in doing a nice job on that rear swap.

[62gmc910]

If you could pull a front wheel and get some shots of the rotor and knuckle as well as how the pan hard is mounted in the rear .... The rear drop blocks need to have tubing in the bolt holes to carry the bolt load instead of squishing

[willisch]

Here is the front suspension




[img]

Anyone have a clue of how far back it the PO replaced? And if he replaced the spindle would the 3/4 ton a arm work with the later model spindle?

[protrash64]

He definitely replaced the spindles as they are disc('71+). The control arms appear to still have the older style bushings so they are original or '63-'66 1/2 tons. I thought that 3/4 ton arms would not work with '73+ balljoints, but I may be wrong. Others may know for sure.

[62gmc910]

Those knuckles look strange to me . maybe from a larger station wagon or big 4 door ??? From what I think I see I would check things over with a fine tooth comb

[Chevy Fleetside]

They have a vin decoder on this site http://www.americanclassic.com/ But it wasn't working when I tried it.

[Captainfab]

Going by the style of the caliper mount those spindles and rotors are the '88-'98 parts. The control arms are of the '63-'72 C10 and C20 style. I'm going to guess that the lower control arm is the C20 piece since the spindles are of the '88-'98 vintage. One way to verify the newer rotors is the studs will be 14mm instead of 1/2"-20.....those lug nuts look metric to me.

Originally Posted by willisch

Here is the front suspension




[img]

Anyone have a clue of how far back it the PO replaced? And if he replaced the spindle would the 3/4 ton a arm work with the later model spindle?

[willisch]

Yeah I don't really like the set up to much not knowing what I have. Looking at how the rear was installed and the welds on it it kind of scares me that it wasn't done right. I am going to take everything apart so I can have the frame sandblasted and painted and get a better look at the parts.

Does anyone know the difference in the 65 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton ball joints. Will the 88' up 5 lug disc and spindle work on the 3/4 ton control arms?

I really want to put bags on it. So I will probably do 1 of two things. Either take it down all the way to the crossmember and build out from there with new parts or if I can afford to I will get a dropmember from porterbuilt and replace the entire front. Then I will tackle the rear.

Should be sandblasting frame and cab in a few weeks once my pole shed gets up.

[Chevy Fleetside]

LMC has a chassis chart
C= 2WD
25= 3/4 TON LONG BED 127" WB
4= PICK UP TRUCK\
5= MODEL YEAR 1965
B= ASSEMBALY PLANT BALTIMORE

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cbe/full.aspx?Page=8

[2manyprojects]

Cool, I almost bought that truck, but didn't have anywhere to store it at the time. I'm pretty sure the PO told me he just rigged up the suspension to get it low. You might be better off starting over so you know what you have. It's a good start though. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[Captainfab]

Yes the '88-'98 spindle will bolt up once the lower balljoint is replaced with the '88-'98 balljoint. The '88-'98 lower balljoint will press into the C20 lower control arm. The '88-'98 upper balljoint will bolt into the upper control arm. IMO you could keep these spindles and rotors unless you just want the '71-'87 parts instead. Either way it would be a good idea to keep the front suspension and rear end matching.

A little bit of advise on the frame....before you get it sandblasted and painted, make sure you do all the necessary work to the frame beforehand. It will turn out much better than if you have to cut and weld on it after it is blasted and painted.

Originally Posted by willisch

Yeah I don't really like the set up to much not knowing what I have. Looking at how the rear was installed and the welds on it it kind of scares me that it wasn't done right. I am going to take everything apart so I can have the frame sandblasted and painted and get a better look at the parts.

Does anyone know the difference in the 65 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton ball joints. Will the 88' up 5 lug disc and spindle work on the 3/4 ton control arms?

I really want to put bags on it. So I will probably do 1 of two things. Either take it down all the way to the crossmember and build out from there with new parts or if I can afford to I will get a dropmember from porterbuilt and replace the entire front. Then I will tackle the rear.

Should be sandblasting frame and cab in a few weeks once my pole shed gets up.

[willisch]

If I recall the upper balljoint looks as if it is riveted in. Would the factory ones be riveted in. If so then these are original to the upper a arm. Would the 65 3/4 ton original ball joints work with the 88-98 spindles or could the previous owner force these to work. I will be tearing these down real soon and hopefully decipher some of what I got. Like I said earlier I may just replace it all.

[willisch]

One other item I was curious about. This truck has a place for two lights on top of the cab, one on either side. The look like they were teardropped shape. Any one have picture of a truck with these. Thinking of replacing if I can find a place that sells them. Might have to retro fit some.

[Captainfab]

Yes the upper balljoints were originally riveted to the control arm. I can't say for sure if the original '65 C20 balljoints are the 'correct' fit for the '88-'98 spindles. The part numbers are different so ????

Having seen the PO's workmanship not much would surprise me......