68 C50 crew cab daily driver (capable)

[Madkidd007]

After 20 years I’ve sold my cummins powered K20, the new owner has wanted it for 15 years and will be here to pick it up 2 weekends from now. He even paid already so I had to get to work on finding a replacement.

Over the last month I’ve found a truck(small block hydraulic brakes, and working dump), acquired a ton of parts, made big plans, and have started work.
This is basically a catch me up as I’m just going to be short on descriptions and include pictures to get this current.


Pictured below is my general idea but sitting l at the height I have now and obviously a larger cab.

[Madkidd007]

These are actually the pictures I took and sent to a friend in December of 2024 after passing by it for months. So kinda crazy after knowing about it over half a year I ended up with it.

[Madkidd007]

The day I got it home. Didn’t even try to use the fuel that has been sitting in it. Went Vise Grip garage style with an electric pump and drove it home. Quite slow and carefully might I add.

I didn’t get a picture with the bed all the way up to show how high it goes. But let me say these 3 stage cylinders are beasts!

[Madkidd007]

Then the parts collecting began, pulled this off a farm it had been sitting at for 8 years. Brought it home, new battery cables, battery, and a jumper wire and runs perfect with no smoke.

[Madkidd007]

Found a steer axle from a 2010 international 4400 with hydraulic disc brakes. Had my welder buddy take 5” out of it and then redrilled the mounting holes for the leafs.
Oh yeah I had since acquired some wheels and tires.

[Madkidd007]

In the meantime I pillaged a c60 that’s been at a local yard for as long as I can remember. I figure any patches I need to make will be easier with donor parts.
Also it was a 366 truck so I got the complete intake and hood vent which I’ll turn into a fresh air intake.

[Madkidd007]

And then I massacared my 1st of two burbs I acquired. This one was so bad I didn’t make any cuts at the floor and still got all the panels off.

Saved the B-pillar, doors, and the chassis as it’ll be my jig to build the crew cab body off the C50 so I have minimal downtime.

[Madkidd007]

And let’s see, hit a top kick gear box to eliminate the slave cylinder type power steering the truck had from the factory.
Built an adapter to run an F-600 master cylinder 1.75” bore master with a square body hydroboost. Same hydroboost I run on my K20 so I know how it works already with the pedal travel.

Picked up some stepside fenders to add to the bedsides I already have.

[Madkidd007]

Cut down the cab donor. Trying to keep all the pieces I won’t need cleaned up. Don’t want piles of chopped up parts laying around.

My adapters for the rear showed up, and mounted all the rear wheels and tires.

[Madkidd007]

Front drums are no more at that point, width couldn’t have been any better.
And after way too much research I found a dragline from a Chevrolet workhorse works perfect combining the semi size tie rod at the steer arm to the smaller gearbox tie rod opening.

Funny thing, the international brake hoses I mounted in the factory holes on the frame and the hardline is the same size so they hooked right up with Zero modifications

[Madkidd007]

And up to date as of tonight. Old rear end out and new one slid under to verify I didn’t weld my spring perches on wrong.
Made some 6X6 cribbing due to not having big truck sized jackstands but they are still 3 ton.

Pulling two of the smallest supporting leafs to soften the ride and lower it ever so slightly. I prefer air bags instead of overload springs so I’m not too concerned about payload capacity

As for the rear axle it’s an 11.5@ AAM 3.73 ratio from a Duramax. Combine that with the 36” tall tires and cummins with overdrive. Should make for a good driver.

[Madkidd007]

And rear axle swap done

[Madkidd007]

Drove it to work today, drives great with 1 finger on the wheel.

Anything over 55 MPH isn’t happening, the cummins will be going in sometime this month coming.
My center caps came in for the rear, between that and cutting down the stake sides it’s looking so much better. Plus it’s easier to back into the lean to now also.

Lastly, ADMIN can y’all move this to the regular 67-72 truck board please

[CarolinaHD]

Looks great, I’m jealous of how quickly you’re progressing.
I alerted another mod to move this thread

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by CarolinaHD

Looks great, I’m jealous of how quickly you’re progressing.
I alerted another mod to move this thread

Thank you.
And the truck progress is going quickly due to almost necessity. I think next weekend the K20 will be getting picked up so I’ll have to use the envoy and trailer for anything truck related till I get it where I want.

I have to say I was surprised with the brakes. Even with the so k master of less than a 1” bore it stopped so hard everything in the bed was moved to the front when I checked them hard.

Tomorrow I’ll probably rip into the cummins donor and possibly get the clip off the C50. The swap won’t be done by the time I lose my old truck, but I’ll have it mobile I hope.

[Palf70Step]

neat looking ride. Looking forward to the updates

[Madkidd007]

So today I needed to get the junkyard clip out of the back so I could load up the old front and rear axles.
I figured he’ll why not bolt it to the burb body to get it out of the way and get a laugh.
It’s funny because you can see how much further back the front wheels sit on a C40-70.
I did take my third set of running boards and lined them up. Once I cut them and weld them together I’ll have full length boards


Then I decided to start ripping the dodge apart, or atleast getting it ready to pull into the shop and pull the motor.

I hope I’m in a good mood after work tomorrow and come home to get the drivetrain out.

[SCOTI]

I'm diggin' this one!
I love the C40 & up truck bodies getting updated chassis & drivelines. I'll keep watching for your progress.

[Madkidd007]

Well the donor is now dead

[Madkidd007]

Go figure, I bought a 2 Wheel Dr. transmission because the truck will be 2Wheel Dr. After figuring out the only way to keep the PTO engine driven was to use a four-wheel-drive set up with a transfer case that has the PTO provision.
Not so easy to find a correct 4wd overdrive housing but hey it’s ready now. This weekend maybe, by next weekend for sure I’ll be swapping the gas burner out.

[Madkidd007]

No idea if or when I will use them. But I strip the front end of a bus today.
Definitely going to use the GMC grill

[CG]

The black example truck you posted is a nice looking rig. Wonder if anyone has ever done up a suburban like that. I think it would be a neat look.

[3drburb]

Originally Posted by Madkidd007

No idea if or when I will use them. But I strip the front end of a bus today.
Definitely going to use the GMC grill

Badass project!!
Those front fenders should make a nice bed outer wheel cover if you add a bed, for a better flow front to back.

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by 3drburb

Badass project!!
Those front fenders should make a nice bed outer wheel cover if you add a bed, for a better flow front to back.

That’s a negative. The wide front fenders are harder to come and I may use them up front when I do the crew cab conversion.
I’m going to run a true dually style bed and do full length running board/steps from the front to back

[Madkidd007]

I’m only $100 into the bus front end, I would have paid that just for the GMC center which is why I really wanted it.
For the hell of it I loosely put the wide fender front end together for a direct comparison. No difference in height or fender opening. Quite literally only the width which in turn gives a flatter arch. I’ll ponder on it and make a decision after I build the crew body for it.