How to: Ruin a perfectly good C10

[VA72C10]

Love it! Ruined it good

Thanks for the interesting write-up and pictures. Now get back out there and ruin it some more

[72BlckButy]

What did you use to mount the bedsides to the raised bed floor?

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Love it! Ruined it good

Thanks for the interesting write-up and pictures. Now get back out there and ruin it some more

Haha- you're welcome! It's cooooold out there, hence the reason I'm in here

Originally Posted by 72BlckButy

What did you use to mount the bedsides to the raised bed floor?

I did it the 'permanent' way.

With the bedsides removed, I cut the inner bedside floor mounting flanges off about 1.5" up from the bend, drilled holes through them at evenly spaced intervals, then plug welded them to the opposite bedside in the same position, just flipped 180*, and 3" higher than stock. I used the right side pieces on the left and vice-versa. Same process with the header panel. I also had to take 3" out of the rear stake pockets where they mount to the floor and moved the spot-welded 'L' brackets up.

This way, the floor stays whole and you still have all of the rear cross-sill mounting bolts securing the bedsides. I've seen where people cut the floor at the rear corners and leave the stake pockets intact, but I didn't like the idea of the bedsides flexing or bowing outwards causing tailgate alignment issues since these trucks tend to do that in a stock configuration, not to mention modified.

I still need to pull it apart again to finalize some things; when I do, I will try to remember to take some pictures. This is not for the faint of heart, as you are hacking up perfectly good bedsides, so you'd better be committed. Some think I should be committed

I think it looks stock enough that most don't catch it and I don't lose any noticeable capacity. Many ways to skin this cat, but I think 3" is a good height since the tubs come to just under the upper body line of the inner bedside; any more than this is doable, but would turn into a lot of sheetmetal work. I have hauled a ton of crap in this bed and it stands up to the abuse- no worries about using this truck as a truck- even with the raised floor...

[Slick67]

That bed looks stock! Do we get to see a pic with the tailgate down also???? I enjoy watching you ruin stuff.

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by Slick67

That bed looks stock! Do we get to see a pic with the tailgate down also???? I enjoy watching you ruin stuff.

Wish I'd known you wanted one, I pulled the gate off today. There is a 3" step from the gate to the floor.

[gringoloco]

Baby steps today...

Once I raised the bed floor, the wheel tubs would not sit flush against the inner bedsides since they are 3" above the stock cutout. There is a lip on the tubs that keeps them from fitting all the way to the bed.

After removing the tubs (what a pain, these fasteners rust quickly), I proceeded to remove the offending metal with my trusty angle grinder/cutoff wheel.

[Orangetonicclicc]

I'm ruining a perfectly good one myself!!!!!! But I think I'm doing what should be done!!!!!! Plus it's mine!!!!!! I love the mods!!!!!! i'm glad you changed that bed back I must admit!!!!!!

[gringoloco]

Also had to create a little notch where the body line was preventing the bottom of the tubs from sitting flush. Note the placement of the new mounting holes 3" higher than stock. They fit MUCH better now

My Blazer tank parts did not come in today as scheduled due to inclement weather...

[VA72C10]

Nice work!

[SCOTI]

Hey, I like that bed lift idea. Seems like it worked well .

[usmcchevy]

Awesome work, subscribing.

[RCbowtie69]

keep pictures coming

[67cheby]

Nice work

[dougminton]

subscribed, keep on ruining it.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Painter D]

Just watching

[Solego]

You make it look so easy! I hate you!

[mooseknuckles]

awesome job on the rasied floor bed! .....thanks for not ruining it by putting that other box back on!!

[trevrolet65]

Great work! That raised bed looks factory.

[franky69c10]

Nice work
Posted via Mobile Device

[gringoloco]

Thanks to all who have posted- you guys keep me motivated It's hard sometimes to keep the vision- it occasionally just looks like a directionless pile of junk to me. I think if I could stay off these forums, I could maybe finish this little project- there are just too many great ideas floating around here. There has been ZERO physical progress since my last tiny update due to being out on business for a bit, but I plan to get back to it with a vengeance and make up for lost time ASAP, which leads to the next revelation...

Any of you following my '72 Blazer build know that I parted ways with it, not necessarily by choice, but for good reason. It was like pulling off a band-aid, you don't really want to, but you know you have to, so the wound will properly heal... Between that time and now, I have managed to piece my life back together and am stable and headed in a new direction, which gives me an opportunity to think about playing in the garage again Boosting this newfound(re-found?) interest is a recent conversation I had with my soon-to-be wife about the truck. She thinks that it will be cool to make the truck a part of the coming wedding celebration (how awesome is that?!) She would like to see it in a semi-completed state so we can have it on-site for photo ops and be used for hauling some of the props, decorations, etc and to be used as something for the guys to paint with shoe polish and hang cans off the bumper... She also knows that working on this old junk keeps me happy and relaxed, which is a good thing

The snag is, it can't just get painted and appear complete, it must be road-worthy, capable of some fairly long distance interstate travel while also being reliable and semi-comfortable. We are to be married in June, so that leaves a small window to get everything done in, and necessitates the installation of the Classic Auto Air kit I have sitting on a shelf... I have started putting together a punch list of items that need to be completed to make it happen. The hard part is finding the balance between what needs to be done and what I want to do, and without cutting corners. Luckily, I have most of the parts already and the required funds for completion are being added to the wedding budget , finding the time may prove to be the hard part.


Sorry for the long, drawn-out, lack-of-update post. I wanted to put this out there, so hopefully you guys can hold me accountable


...and yes, I am one lucky guy. I am very blessed to have found such a wonderful woman who wants to integrate the things I like into our life together. Another upside is that since the truck will now be 'a part of the family', she won't ever ask me to sell it

[VA72C10]

I'll be here to remind you whever you are slacking!

Congrats on the upcoming marriage!!!!

[sourkraut]

nice build, will be watching

[yukon ratrod]

very nice project! was going to build a daily driver, but somewhere got sucked in to going the full mile. keep up the progress.

[gringoloco]

Managed a half a day off work today so I decided to spend some time rebuilding the front suspension. It was filthy from a trip to the metal scrap yard on a rainy day- I will NEVER make that mistake again. The majority of my time was spent cleaning and painting everything; if it wasn't so disgusting, the job would have gone much faster.

The first couple of pics show the state of the front end when I started. Also some pics of the carnage. The lower arms are actually the ones that were removed from my old Blazer when the DM went in. I used them on the truck after I 'accidentally' bent the right side doing a little off-roading. This truck has been neglected for entirely too long...

[gringoloco]

Here's a few more of the progress, including a crappy cell phone pic of the truck on stands that I sent to my fiance when she asked what I was doing today

The 'new' parts were cleaned, painted with rust encapsulator and chassis black, and rebuilt today. The lowers are a set I picked up a while back which got new balljoints; the uppers are actually the same ones from the previous post that I removed earlier today, just cleaned, painted and with new Moog offset cross-shafts and balljoints. The 1.25" anti-sway bar, poly bushings, and ECE lowered mounts are more hand-me-downs from the Blazer that have been sitting on the shelf for a while.

The springs are new Moog 6102s that I picked up on Amazon for $40! I love me some free super saver shipping! They will be losing a full round tomorrow before installation Don't mind the rusty calipers, they will be getting the treatment tomorrow along with the spindles and rotors. Time to flip the lever on the ratchet the other way and start installing some of this stuff...