Cab and Chassis One Ton Flatbed

[rwhit57]

I thought I would start this thread to show the extremely slow progress on my 3500. Also if anyone has a cab and chassis, photos, or just interest feel free to share. I'm Randy and I've been around Squares since I bought my first one new in 1981. I've owned a dozen or more mostly SWBs. My current project is a 1989 3500 Cab and Chassis with a period correct flatbed. It's a Silverado pkg. with windows, locks, tilt, cruise, AM-FM, and quite a few more options, black with burgundy interior. I don't have any pics of when I first bought it so I'll show a few things I've done and go from there. the first pic is the way it's looked for the past year or so but is now being freshened up a bit.

[flashed]

Very nice looking truck .

[rwhit57]

When I first got the truck it had a truck bumper welded to the rear. So first order of business was to remove that and build a decent hitch with a tag mount.
I built the hitch out of 2"x 4" rectangle steel and added gussets so it could pull about anything. I then sandblasted and painted the bed.

[flashed]

Love the bed ,wish my 72 Dually had one that nice .

[rwhit57]

The bed came out pretty nice but will get a new coat of paint when I paint the cab. Made some wood rails to give it an old look.

[rwhit57]

The next thing was the cab. I put in a bunch of hours straightening years of dents and dings and now it's about ready for paint. I had a couple of bad spots on the bed so I did it again on the sides. This is where it's at now. I decided it was time to freshen the motor a bit before continuing with the body.

[rwhit57]

Originally Posted by flashed

Very nice looking truck .

Thanks. It gets a few compliments as is, can't wait to get it painted.

[mongocanfly]

Nice truck..here's mine ..it started out life as a fire truck at a local dept..I had to cut 5ft out of the frame and built the bed for it..added a driveway paint job, a 6.0LS ,and a nv4500 and here's what I got

[rwhit57]

Originally Posted by flashed

Love the bed ,wish my 72 Dually had one that nice .

Thanks. I have no idea if it was a factory made bed or the work of a pretty talented welder. It is heavy duty, the sides are 1/4" plate. The headache rack vibrated terribly so I added a couple of gussets and cured that and welded a couple of D rings inside them for tiedowns.

[rwhit57]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Nice truck..here's mine ..it started out life as a fire truck at a local dept..I had to cut 5ft out of the frame and built the bed for it..added a driveway paint job, a 6.0LS ,and a nv4500 and here's what I got

I saw your truck on here the other day. It looks so good it motivated me to post mine and get back on the project. The LS is huge upgrade. Good job!

[cochino12]

Love the truck, flatbed like that is next on my list.

[mongocanfly]

Yep..gotta love the LS..I considered a d-max but I couldnt get past the 8gs asking price

[rwhit57]

Made some progress tonight. Working on the motor, now understand I'm not restoring the motor compartment, just freshening and cleaning it up to make it more functional. I've cleaned up all the brackets, installed new intake, carb, water pump, and distributor, and straightened up the wires.Still have a few things to do but it's getting closer. It was a mess, ran ok hopefully it will run a lot better.

[smokepole]

Man, that truck is nice. The 30 series cab/chassis are the best kept secret out there. A lot of them were fire dept , municipal, or school district vehicles. Most have lots of hours idling but few miles on them. I've got a '89 GMC R3500 that was a fire dept spotlight truck with a boom and 20K onan genset. I need to learn how to post pics soon.

[rwhit57]

This is the truck I drove for about 8 years.

[rwhit57]

Made a little progress on getting it to run again. Installed a new throttle cable and found the old bracket wouldn't clear the bowl on the Holley. I modified it by cutting it off to clear, then made a cut and bent down the tab to secure it. Trying to get a little done each day with limited time and money. I saw a deal on a grille the other night on Ebay and it arrived today. Motivation to get this thing running and back to the shop for paint.

[rwhit57]

Got a few more things done, carb linkage, vacuum lines, and rechecking everything. Still need plugs, wires, hoses, oil and filter, antifreeze. Man the dollars add up fast. I'll have close to $800 in this before finished, but it should run a lot better.

[rwhit57]

Getting real close on finishing up the motor on the old truck. My plug wires arrived and Moroso shipped me 7 instead of 8 so I made the coil wire into the 8th one. Tomorrow I'll change fluids and get ready to fire it up. I needed something to do so I cleaned up and mounted the spare to the headache rack. Now it officially looks like a farm truck. I guess it looks better there than on the roof.

[Hiluxxulih]

An 80s flatbed 4x4 down the street from where I work .

[farmall]

Here is mine.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=643974

[rwhit57]

Originally Posted by farmall

Here is mine.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=643974

Man good work on the suspension. Anymore progress or are you just working it? I rebuilt all the frontend on mine about a year ago, new rotors, bearings, seals, bushings, and shocks and what a difference. I wish mine had a wood floor, the metal bed scratches too easy. I guess someday I may put bedliner on it. Thanks for sharing.

[rwhit57]

Well she fired up and sounds good. Seems a lot more responsive than before. Still have to change a leaky trans. pan gasket then drive it a bit. Then it's headed back to our shop to finish a little body work and paint. As soon as I start on the body I'll post some more pics.