The 65 C30 Farm Truck

[69 C10 LWB]

Like most of our projects progress has been slow. I made some room in the garage so I can move and work. Now that work is closed on weekends it is harder to go up there to work on the truck. Work at home is slowed by a lack of tools and equipment. I got everything ready to roll the axle out this weekend and hopefully tomorrow I will get the 14 bolt rolled into place. With Thanksgiving coming up things have slowed at work so I am taking a day off this week to travel and it will give me a chance to stop and get some new u bolts made. I already have the welder we use at work set up to come over some time in the next week or 2 to weld the perches on for me. I was pleasantly surprised this afternoon when I started taking the u bolts loose. I was able to get the first one off with out too much work and I didnt have to cut it.

[69 C10 LWB]

This truck continues to surprise me. I pulled the drive shaft before I rolled the axle out and noticed that one of the clips on the front drive shaft was missing and the cup wasnt fully seated. I managed to get 3 of the u bolts off with a ratchet and only had to cut one of them. I rolled the old axle out and rolled the new one in. Now if I can just get u bolts this week I will be set. Im also going to get a new master cylinder this week so I can do the brakes since I know a couple of the lines will break while Im working on them. Does anyone know If I can bolt a normal dual master to the firewall? The bolts on mine are at an angle and most of them are straight across.

[Captainfab]

You can bolt on a dual reservoir manual master cylinder using the 2 bolts on either side of your original master cylinder. Since you still have drums all around you will want one for a '67-70 C20 or C30.

[69 C10 LWB]

Some days just don't go as planned. This weeks work started last weekend. I ordered new u joints and a carrier bearing and a master cylinder. I usually go to Oreillys for all my parts because they are close to the house and the guys that worked there were always helpful. Noticed I said worked, because the guys that work there now have a hard time finding the front door.

I tell the guy behind the counter I need 3 u joints and a carrier bearing for my truck along with a master cylinder for a 67(converting to dual reservoir). They only have 2 u joints in stock, they will have to order one, no big deal Im in no big rush. He goes to get those 2 from the shelf and comes back with 3. I pay for and take the 3 u joints. That was last saturday. Go back monday for carrier bearing and master cylinder. Master cylinder didnt show up, no big deal Im in no rush and its close to the house. I go back tuesday and everything is there, except the master cylinder is a reman( I ordered new) and the carrier bearing is just the bearing not the assembly(and it was the wrong size). They check part numbers and like magic the bearing I need is in stock(yellow box). They reorder the master cylinder. I come back thursday, they finally have the master cylinder. He comes back and the carrier bearing is in a white box now with a different part number. I try to pay and his cash drawer is empty, so he tells me it will be 10 min atleast before I can pay with cash. Ok I can put it on a card, so not a big deal. He returns all the parts and restarts the transaction except my $5 off coupon was a one time use only so now he has to ask grumpy the other guy at the counter how to do it. Grumpy and grumpy start in on how theyd be better off if they got fired and how their wives dont give it up anymore so they dont care if the wives get mad when they get fired. WTF???? I take the parts and head home. Fast forward to today. I install the first u joint. I get ready to install the 2nd cap on the first u joint and it is missing a bearing. I look all over the bench and it is not there. I try to take the first cap back out and I cant because the cross is bigger than the old ones I took out. I destroy the first u joint trying to take it back out. I go to check the 2nd one and the clips that hold the caps on are missing. I load up all the parts I got and head back to oreillys. I returned everything and the guy asks why. I told him the u joins didnt fit and the service has been the worst I have ever had anywhere.

I go 1/2 mile down the road to Car Quest and try my luck there. The guys behind the counter welcome me as I walk in and and seem happy to be there. They look up all my parts and they have most of it. I get Spicer U joints(instead of the cheap $h!t oreilly brand) and a National carrier bearing(again not a cheapo oreilly). I still have to order the master and a couple brake hoses. He has the master cylinder at another store but wont have the brake hose until tuesday because its not a common part. I tell him I will be back tuesday and he is able to ring everything up at once and I was able to pay cash.

Yesterday I sold the rear end from this truck to someone else for use in a 62 C30. He thinks the 5.14 gears will be better because he has an 80s 1 Ton rear end and his truck wont pull itself in 4th so it must have 3.50 or 3.73 gears. I think he needs to do a little tuning but I just need the room in the garage so off it goes. This weekends adventure ends with a couple new u joints installed and a master cylinder removed and a little more room in the garage. The old u joints look like they havent seen grease in a while. I still have the one u joint I messed up since I should have checked it better before I tried to install it. If you notice on the bottom of the boxes there is a dead give away which u joint is better.

[jdl71]

My thoughts on Oreillys is its the wal mart of auto parts. They might as well just open the back room up for self service, if you know exactly what you need and want it cheap they're fine. If you want something of quality, need someone to cross a part number, or heaven forbid open a paper catalog, forget it. Fortunately I have a locally owned NAPA here in town where most of the parts guys have been there 20+ years and know what they are doing, don't mind getting the paper books out or opening packages if needed. Unfortunately though, I see way too much Chinesium in napa packaging.

[69 C10 LWB]

I have high hopes for Carquest. All the parts I bought say made in USA and as the guy behind the counter was getting my parts I noticed they have a counter covered in parts books. I’m not talking about random catalogs of cheap tools either, the one that was closed on the end was for Walker exhaust parts. I couldn’t make out any others but they looked pretty well used. The shelves I could see were stocked with Moog parts and the counter with the books is built on top of Dorman cabinets.

Worst case scenario I still have a small locally owned parts store close to work that will look up( in books) and special order parts. When I was looking for exhaust parts and radiator hoses the guy we usually work with pointed to the back and said go find what you need.

[69 C10 LWB]

This weekends fun consisted of bending brake lines. I got a stack of brake lines from Car Quest and got to work. I cut the front brake lines so I could slide a socket on and unbolt them from the wheel cylinders and t fittings. I also removed the line that runs to the rear and moved it to the driver side of the frame. Surprisingly there was only one fitting that I couldnt get loose, the steel line that goes into the rear brake hose. I still need to make a bracket to hold the rear t fitting on the axle and some support for the front lines to keep them away from the headers and make the front brake line that runs to the passenger side.

[jdl71]

Are you doing your own flaring or using sticks with the ends already on? Looks like a little of both in your pic. I just replaced every steel line on mine, bought a 25' roll of 1/4in tubing and a handful of nuts. I'm curious how yours turn out, hopefully better than mine did. Multiple leaks.

[69 C10 LWB]

jdl71 -
I am using sticks but I flared one end of most of them. I got the closest length and then trimmed one end. I noticed a couple of the original ends looked a little off so I hope I don’t have any leaks. I have a cheap flaring tool and I am using Nicop? lines from car quest. It is all they had in stock and it is some kind of nickel copper mix that is somewhat soft. It flares and bends easy so hopefully any imperfections will seal with enough torque. If there are any issues I am going to buy a decent flaring kit off one of the trucks and redo them.

[69 C10 LWB]

I spent a good portion of yesterday trying to bleed the brakes on the truck only to realize I am an idiot. Hopefully someone can tell me where the problem is but I managed to find a good solution. I used a vacuum bleeder to get fluid to all the wheel cylinders but I still had no pedal. The last 3/4 to 1 inch of travel at the pedal would start to do something but not much. I pulled the master back off and plugged it to bench bleed it a second time and it seemed fine. That is when I saw the problem. The pushrod only sticks through the firewall about 1/4 inch. The master I got has about a 1 inch counterbore in the piston. The pushrod wasnt actually touching the piston until the pedal was almost on the floor. There werent enough threads to just adjust the pushrod out so I ran up to the hardware store and bought a coupling nut, a fine thread bolt and a tap. Trying to find a fine thread coupling nut late on a saturday afternoon the weekend before christmas is like trying to find gold. I bought a 3/8 nut and drilled it out and retapped it with the correct 7/16-20 threads for the pushrod. Then I cut the head off a bolt and threaded that into one end. I installed my new pushrod and I now have brakes.

Now for the question. When I did this on my 64 I just installed the new master cylinder. No work other than adding another brake line to the rear.

Is there a difference between the round and the square single master cylinder?
Is there something wrong with the new master cylinder I got? Is the piston supposed to be flush with the end of the bore? 67 C30 master cylinder.

[RDrancher]

Well at least you got it figured out so when it happens to me I'll know what I'm dealing with.

For your 14 bolt swap you may want to consider a swap kit from Barnes, or fab one up like it. The perches and top plates are predrilled for scooting the axle forwards or backwards. Might save you from having to make a new driveshaft for the axle snout difference. https://www.barnes4wd.com/14-Bolt-Ax...mbo_p_127.html

[jdl71]

I can't see a reason why the piston wouldn't be flush with the end of the bore.

[69 C10 LWB]

I have been looking around and it looks like there is a big difference between the round and square master cylinders. I didnt take a pic of the old one after I took it off either truck but I found a few online. Looks like the square master actually extends through the firewall and the round one sits flush.

The piston on my new master cylinder sits flush with the end of the body but it has a hole bored in the piston and the pushrod sits inside the piston about 1 in.

The difference in pushrod length was only about 1/2-3/4 in even though it looks longer with the extension I made. Most of the extension is threaded onto the old pushrod.

[Captainfab]

All of the '67-'70 truck master cylinders have the deep bore in the back of the piston. They are also designed to be used on a drum/drum braking system.

[69 C10 LWB]

Thanks for the reply captainfab. Is there a difference in the round vs the square master cylinders? When I did this swap on my 64 with the round master I didnt have to do anything other than bolt on the new 67 master cylinder.

[Captainfab]

I have never compared the two masters as far as direct interchangeability. But based on your experience here, they are apparently a little different.

[69 C10 LWB]

I havent had much time to work on the truck lately. I did score a set of slightly used Flowmaster mufflers for $25 each. One of them had a plastic bag melted to it and 15 min with a wire wheel made it look like new. I also started cleaning up the used M/T valve covers I found. They are soaking in some degreaser since I can barely scrape the burned oil out of the inside.

[straight6chevyguy]

Cool truck.
Cool thread.

[69 C10 LWB]

Decided today was a good day to get the old rear brake line pulled off the frame. I ran the new line down the driver side frame rail since it doesnt split off the front line anymore. The old lines were pretty rusty but surprisingly they still held pressure. I finished cleaning the oil out of the valve covers today. I started scraping the oil out, then let them sit with some degreaser on the oil. Whatever engine they were on before obviously wasnt very well maintained. I filled a 5 gal bucket with hot water and dish soap (because my wife would have killed me for using the tub or the kitchen sink) and scrubbed them with a scotch brite pad. After about an hour of scrubbing this is the result. Now I just need to finish cleaning out between the fins and I think Im going to paint them chevy orange and leave the fins bare aluminum.

[69 C10 LWB]

I was finally able to make some progress on the truck today. With temps in the 60s yesterday and almost 70 today I had to spend some time out in the garage. I spent most of yesterday at the local junkyards searching for some dually rims. I walked the 3 biggest yards looking for some usable rims only to come up empty. I found a couple trucks that would have been good candidates but every one of them had rims that were dented or rusted. I did snag the retainer rings I will need and most of the lug nuts to convert to 9/16. I also put the final coat of paint on my valve covers.

I spent today trying to get the front tires off. The right front goes flat every couple hours so I wanted to swap it out with one of the spare tires I had. Should be easy right? Wrong!!! I had to pull the drums off with the wheels. The driver side came off pretty easy with a few well placed blows from a BFH and lots of penetrating oil. The passenger side was a different story. I beat the $h!t out of the hub and it didnt budge. I ended up cutting the rim in half so I could get it off. I need to order new bearings and seals but atleast for now I know the tires will come off when I get my non split replacement rims.

[straight6chevyguy]

Those valve covers look great!

[69 C10 LWB]

Thanks. They don’t look quite as good in person, they are kinda beat up. I cleaned them up best I could but there is still a little pitting I couldn’t get rid of. This isn’t going to be a factory resto just a fun toy so that’s good enough for me. I’ve got about $45 in them now so I’m happy with the results.

[jdl71]

Originally Posted by straight6chevyguy

those valve covers look great!

x2!

[69 C10 LWB]

1 step forward and 2 or 3 or maybe even 4 back. It started out as a good weekend. I found a set of tires and rims for pretty cheap. They are all chevy steel rims with decent rubber. I mounted up one front tire and everything was good. Tried to mount the rear tires and ran into an unexpected problem. Ive been reading up on rims for weeks trying to make sure I find the best ones for what I am doing. The most common thing I found was to check center bore of the rims. The offset with the single rear wheel hubs on my axle will make the truck 4 inches wider but that doesnt bother me. The problem I never saw any mention of was the fact that dually rims wont seat on single wheel hubs. There is a raised ledge at the flange that is just slightly bigger. Now I need to pull the axles and drums and split the drum from the hub so I can get the hub turned down about .08 in. No big deal, my boss has a lathe, just some extra work.

I decided to install my valve covers so I could say I accomplished something this weekend. Problem number 2. Turns out the breather is too far back on the passenger side and it hits the firewall, so I need to mount it in the oil fill hole in the front and plug the rear hole.

Working on some equipment today and found out that the welder we use it work is out of town for a month or so. Weather and scheduling have prevented any welding to the spring perches so looks like I will have to find a way to bring a service truck home so I can finally get the axle mounted up.

[LT7A]

Cool truck. Good project and nice valve covers.

I've only had Squarebodies and newer trucks. I knew you guys deal with something called split rims but I never imagined...