Meet Homer

[cooperhw]

Like the title says, Meet Homer. He is my newest member of the family. He is a 68 Chevy C30 with a frame at least a mile long. Currently has a "Open Road" motorhome (hence the name Homer) on him. I went over 350 miles yesterday to get him and haul him home. 5 hours to get there, 13 hours to get home. Longgggggggggggggggg slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww trip home. My car trailer was way overmatched. Glad I made it.
Now down to Homer. Bought him to strip the rotten motorhome off him and shorten him up a bit, and probably put a flat bed on the back.
has less than 70,000 miles on the 327 motor and a new turbo hydramatic transmission.
Body is really nice and completely rust free. Has one dented front fender that made be able to be hammered out. Interior is dusty bet really clean. Don't even think it needs a new dash pad. have not cleaned it out yet, that starts tomorrow morning.
I will consider this the beginning of the build thread.
I am planning/hoping to be able to keep Homer as original as possible after sorting out. I will post more pictures as I go.

[trac209]

Cool find,I'll bet it made some family pretty happy in its hay day.

[cooperhw]

Ok, well today was day # 1 of the project other than the day I drug it home.

I am pretty sure I heard Homer breath a sigh of relief to finally get that huge, heavy, ugly, parasite off his back. Kinda like having a 3000 pound tick on you for 45 years and not being able to reach around and scrape it off.
Here are some pics of the removal.

[cooperhw]

few more

[cooperhw]

Will try to get the rest off tomorrow and clean up the mess and haul it all to the dump. What a lot of work, and not very fun either.

[Possmguts]

Ha!.. Sweet!. I drug this beast home a couple years ago...

[sierragrande71]

I like the bumper guard!

[flashed]

Im in for another 1 ton .

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by Possmguts

Ha!.. Sweet!. I drug this beast home a couple years ago...

Cool. I had heard about those but can't remember seeing one.
What became of it?

[pat english]

How much longer is that wheel base then a standard longbed?It would be cool to do a crew cab longbed on that.

[Possmguts]

Originally Posted by cooperhw

Cool. I had heard about those but can't remember seeing one.
What became of it?

It was too far gone for me to do much with... and being it was the first one.. its was a learning deal with them... they did much better after that one.
Once the camper was off I sold it to a guy that needed parts.

That and my kids said they would never get in it knowing dead people road in it...

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by pat english

How much longer is that wheel base then a standard longbed?It would be cool to do a crew cab longbed on that.

I think it is like 187 inches longer than a standard longbed. Ha. Serious though, I will check.
As to crew cab, I will leave that to you guys. I have a 2006 Crew cab Duramax that is now my daily driver, so one is enough. I am wanting to just fix the cab, shorten the frame to a standard longbed length, put a flat bed on it and keep it as a truck.
I think it has 63,000 miles.

[Katrina/10]

Good plan.

[cooperhw]

"OFF MY BACK" finally. At least off Homer's back. Hard to imagine packing that super heavy camper around for the last 46 years. He is finally starting to look like the beginnings of a truck.
Here are pics from today. Got the last of the floor off, the trailer finished loaded, and ready to go to the landfill on Friday morning bright and early.

[flashed]

I cant believe how long that thing is ,looks much better already.

[cooperhw]

Well here are a couple pics showing how Homer looks with that huge tick off his back.
Trying to figure out the best possible way to fix the cab now. Open to suggestions (actually welcome them) on whether to clip the entire cab roof and back off or just cut out bad and graft in new. Don't want to swap cabs as my donor has floor rot and Homer is rust free.
Anybody got any links to any cab roof replacement threads? I would love to see how somebody else did it.
I know I am not the first to rescue an old motorhome/camper.

[Hubscrub]

very cool i bet that was a fun ride home poor trailer that could be a nice ramp truck car hauler. Good luck on the build

[trac209]

Personally I would graft in patch panels from another cab, obviously it's a big hole but the premise is the same as a small patch panel. Also what I think would be cool on there depending on the duties your going to use the truck for would be a sleeper cab on there.

[nlped]

I'm doing almost the same thing with one I got a few months ago, but moving much slower. But I'm going to use the perfect front sheet metal and doors on another project and put my rough pieces back on this for a workhorse flatbed.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by Hubscrub

very cool i bet that was a fun ride home poor trailer that could be a nice ramp truck car hauler. Good luck on the build

Yeah, I think my trailer might now hate me.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by trac209

Personally I would graft in patch panels from another cab, obviously it's a big hole but the premise is the same as a small patch panel. Also what I think would be cool on there depending on the duties your going to use the truck for would be a sleeper cab on there.

That was actually my first thoughts also. I really don't want to cut out any more than I have to. Like you are saying whether it's a 4" X 4" or a 40" X 40" same premise, just more weld.
Thought about the sleeper cab but it would probably just be used to throw junk in that I can do without.
Thinking to just shorten it back to 127" wheelbase and install a flat bed on it.

[nlped]

Because I read this, I spent all day getting mine sans the tick.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by nlped

I'm doing almost the same thing with one I got a few months ago, but moving much slower. But I'm going to use the perfect front sheet metal and doors on another project and put my rough pieces back on this for a workhorse flatbed.

Nice. Is that a factory (dealer) installed push guard on the bumper of yours? Kinda hard to tell. The one on mine is really nice and fits like a glove.

[jkeating1]

I'm in! Maybe this will inspire me to get back on my dually project! I hope you go straight to that frame surgery!

[nlped]

Originally Posted by cooperhw

Nice. Is that a factory (dealer) installed push guard on the bumper of yours? Kinda hard to tell. The one on mine is really nice and fits like a glove.

Mine isn't a pushbar. It's a custom relief to house a crazy cool housing for the engine oil cooler, trans cooler and the p/s cooler...with 3 electric cooling fans.