68 C50 Looongbed pickup build

[hugger6933]

You are doing great work and yes you are overthinking some things. That truck won't ever haul a fraction of what they designed it for. They do over engineer them more so now than back then but I think it is due to lawsuits and them being scared of them more so now than back then. People back then weren't looking for as quick for a unearned dollar then. That is just my opinion. once again great work

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by hugger6933

You are doing great work and yes you are overthinking some things. That truck won't ever haul a fraction of what they designed it for. They do over engineer them more so now than back then but I think it is due to lawsuits and them being scared of them more so now than back then. People back then weren't looking for as quick for a unearned dollar then. That is just my opinion. once again great work

Thanks for checking in hugger, I was amazed at how much heavier duty the frame and suspension components are on the 89.

When are you going to start your build?

-Richard

[rkn463]

Took time out last night see Blackberry Smoke in concert at House of Blues in Dallas. Awesome show, if any of you are in to classic southern rock I encourage you to check them out!

Now back to the truck, I hope to get the front sheet metal pulled today.

-Richard

[rkn463]

Another weekend with less accomplished than I had hoped. So when I had said several posts back that I had all of the rivets out that I could get to, prior to pulling the cab there were actually still 5 holding on the front shackles for the rear springs. Each shackle has two connectors coming in from the bottom, for some reason the one on the driver side had one rivet and one bolt. And then there was one on each side that the leaf spring was in the way of. I decided to go ahead and completely finish that end of the truck prior to pulling sheet metal. So I pulled out the big guns and lifted it up and set it down on some jack stands:

[rkn463]

I must say that drilling the rivets from underneath was most unpleasant, those metal shavings are really hot and it felt like I was trying to bench press the truck! Anyway, I finally got them out and went ahead and bolted everything back together with grade-8 bolts and took it for one last drive as an 89.

[rkn463]

So I'm finally ready to start removing the body. I got it backed in the shop, I pulled the hood, bumper and grill. Then I drained the radiator and called it a day. This was Saturday (night). Sunday started with another 3.5 hours of "recreational mowing" and then I got some time to get back on the truck, not much happened, I pulled several bolts holding the fenders on and got the wheel wells pulled and the front wiring removed from the wiring block. I forgot to take a picture of that, it is pretty cool. I'll try to get a shot of it next weekend. If I'm really lucky I will get the rest of the front clip off next weekend and start removing the cab.

I'm absolutely horrified at the amount of smog crap they put on this truck, you can't even see the motor. Once it is back together as a 68 I will have remedied that.

Thanks for checking in!

[Obsolete]

That's quite the hydraulic jack you've got there, I'm a little jealous.

Looks like you've got a nice clean truck to work with though. I was doing some maintenance on an 87 1 ton that I plow snow with today. Started poking around underneath, I think there are places where I could stick a screwdriver right through the frame. The great white north, they call it. Not because of the snow, but because of the salt.

[Advanced Design]

This is a cool build and I will be tagging along.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Obsolete

That's quite the hydraulic jack you've got there, I'm a little jealous.

LOL, when I tell the guys at work I had to jump-start the jack I just get blank stares

Looks like you've got a nice clean truck to work with though. I was doing some maintenance on an 87 1 ton that I plow snow with today. Started poking around underneath, I think there are places where I could stick a screwdriver right through the frame. The great white north, they call it. Not because of the snow, but because of the salt.

Man I hate salt! We get our fair share of body rust given time and neglect but frame rust and rusted out brake lines just don't happen here, at least not that I have seen.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

This is a cool build and I will be tagging along.

Thanks Doug. I saw the links in your signature and started reading your 48 Burb build, I'm on page 4, can't wait to see how it turns (turned) out!

-Richard

[rkn463]

OK, quick update:

Last week at work was incredibly stressful and it left me lacking motivation so I did not get started very early Saturday. I continued working on removing the front clip from the 89. I had a hell of a time getting the radiator out, it has an oil cooler and the lines did not want to come out of the radiator. I literally spent over an hour on one line and ultimately ended up cutting it so now I have to replace the cooler lines. Once the rad was out I could see that it has been leaking. I hate to think how much it will cost to re-core it, it's huge! Anyway with the radiator out I got my brother to help set the front end off the truck. By this time Saturday was done.

Sunday AM and back to my weekly recreational mowing - 2 hours worth. Once that was done it was back to the truck. I ripped off a bit of the tubes going to the smog pumps (that's right, two of them!) and then started on the cab. I got the 4 cab mount bolts removed, cab to frame ground strap removed and the speedometer cable disconnected. I pulled out the factory service manual and made a list of their cab removal procedure and marked off 5 of the 20 items they had listed. Here is a pic with the front clip off and my list of things to do next week.

[rkn463]

A few more random notes:

No one has mentioned it but the 89 is a really solid truck and it seems a shame to kill it, however the entire truck will be used. The 16 foot box is now storage and may become an enclosed trailer at some point. The frame and complete drive-train is going to the 68 and the cab and sheet metal will end up replacing the trashed cab and sheet metal on my brother's 73 c65 dump truck. So while its present incarnation has drawn to an end I will not be wasting anything.

Back to my earlier post (# 21) about shortening the frame my original desire to cut in area "B" was to preserve the driveline angle in the "A" area which already has a considerable angle compared to "B". Still mulling that over...

Last weekend I had mentioned the wiring junction that I think is a really cool idea, included a picture below.

Finally a reference back to post # 14, when I was drilling the steering linkage to move the steering stops I broke off a drill bit while drilling the pilot hole in the second part. The remains were stuck tight and I spent a few minutes freaking out followed by a lot of foul language. I went back to something I'd had some success with in the past: drill a hole in a washer, place over the bit and hit it with a spot weld. On the second try I managed to get it to stick and was able to pull the piece of the broken bit out, pictures below.

[rkn463]

"Weekend" update. Actually I took a day off Friday and did this. The rest of the weekend was mowing, fencing, etc.

Got a late start on Friday, about 11:00 AM. A couple of hours later I was a bit farther with my list (heavy lines are new). After lunch I got the rest of the list taken care of and was ready to pull the cab by about 6:00 PM. Unfortunately I found that the hydroboost unit is leaking so I have to find parts. Attached are photos of the engine with the smog pumps and hoses removed, master cylinder removed and secured and the trans tunnel removed so that the cab can lift off over the shifter. The only thing I left connected was the steering column so that I could steer it when I moved it outside to pull the cab.

[rkn463]

I would have used my brother's lift to pull the cab but the side tanks were still mounted which means no access to swing the arms under the cab. In the end the big orange monster worked out easier anyway. Progress pictures below.

-Richard

[rkn463]

The only thing I did after Friday was to cut a piece of plywood to cover the shifter hole and the hole in the firewall where the brake booster mounted, this to keep rodents out until we use the cab. I screwed the wood blocks on and put the trans cover back on. Did not get a photo of the cover over the brake hole.

-Richard

[rkn463]

Next steps:

• Remove fuel tanks
• Finish drilling rivets from the frame (some where between 6 and 10 per side)
• Remove frame reinforcing plate
• Shorten frame
• reinstall reinforcing plate (shortened)
• Have driveshaft cut down
• shorten brake line
• Clean goo from motor and trans
• paint motor - were the 366 Chevrolet orange in 68?
• paint frame
• address leaky hydroboost unit
• address leaky trans rear seal
• address leaky power steering box (see the theme?)
• replace all power steering/hydroboost hydraulic hoses
• replace oil cooler lines
• replace front brake lines

Then I'll be ready to take the body off the 68 and mount it to this frame. I was looking at the 68 frame the other day and the very front where the bumper mounts is a bit different between the 68 and 89 so I will have to do some alterations there.

Just when I thought I could see light at the end of the tunnel I'm suddenly very concerned by how far I still have to go on this project. Oh well, at least it is moving!

-Richard

[Advanced Design]

Richard, you are moving right along. With a tele-handler and Bobcat you don't need no wimpy lift to help out...sounds like the 89 will be put to good use.

Appreciate you checking in on the Burb build!

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Richard, you are moving right along. With a tele-handler and Bobcat you don't need no wimpy lift to help out...sounds like the 89 will be put to good use.

Appreciate you checking in on the Burb build!

Thanks for the props Doug, the exhaust on your burb is looking good. I like the jig you built to hold things up. Sometimes figuring out how to do stuff by yourself is half the fun!

-Richard

[rkn463]

I had several weekends where I either did not get to work on the truck or so little progress was made that it wasn't worth posting. So here is where it stands now. The next step after removing the cab was to remove the gas tanks so that I could get the rest of the rivets out. There was a shocking amount of hoses and wiring. I finally got all of that out of the way and drained the remaining fuel using an electric fuel pump:

[rkn463]

next I dragged it outside and hit it with the power washer, I like the Chevy orange transmission.

[rkn463]

So now on to last weekend, I came equipped with degreaser and paint, washed it again and then got on to the last twelve rivets!

[rkn463]

I finally cut the frame weekend before last. I had planned on an angle cut but I had two engineers on hand that advised to go with the straight cut. Keep in mind that the reinforcing plates will be reinstalled and I'll fish-plate it on the inside of the channels.

I like really straight cuts so I started by clamping a square onto the frame with vice grips and then tapped it until it was perfectly flush with the frame, then I used wide tape against the square and wrapped it down. Then I moved the square 18 inches down and repeated. I measured a couple of places down the side to make sure my tape lines were perfectly parallel. Then I went back and added some "control" markers at 48 inches so that I can measure them on each side to make sure that I'm welding it back together straight. Finally with all of the tape in place and the measurements all verified to be within 1/32 accuracy I braced it up to make the cuts. We have a chain-hoist that I used to hold up the front half (used a rock bar to span the two sides to hook it to) and I used a floor jack for now on the back. I removed the front half of the driveshaft, the rear wiring harness and the brake line and commenced to cutting. I used my DeWalt 4.5" angle grinder with 1/8" cutoff wheel and got started. The sparks flying off those cutoff wheels was burning the hair on my left arm and it smelled terrible! It cut fairly easy and I made all four cuts and only used up 4 cutting wheels, actually just a bit less.

Here are some pictures:

[rkn463]

A few more pictures of the cuts:

[rkn463]

So this last weekend I did not get to work on the truck at all. We were hauling hay during which time my 2005 Duramax decided to go in to limp home mode (nothing over 2k RPM) and then after shutting it down wouldn't start at all. I can't tell you how frustrated I was. We tried bleeding the filter and got a couple of air bubbles and then clean fuel. The Monday my brother tried it again and it started and is running fine now. The worst part is it did not set any codes in the computer so there is noting to go diagnose except symptoms and I don't trust it anymore.

Anyway, I hope to get the frame welded back together this coming weekend. The driveshaft shop called today to let me know they had finished shortening it and that it was ready to pick up. If I get the frame welded back together then I can start on reattaching the reinforcing plates, then I have a lot of gaskets and seals to replace before I put the 68 body on. Stay tuned...

-Richard

PS a nice picture of hay in the barn:

[Advanced Design]

Richard, that was some nice progress on the frame. I wonder why the engineers suggested a straight cut. I've read straight cut is good and others strongly suggest a z cut. And I know we shortened frames on big trucks with a straight cut for oil field / construction work. They held up for years of heavy use. I was just a kid then helping Pop.

Good looking hay collection. We use to put up the small round bales that needed hay hooks for handling. Tough work.