71 C30 dually restoration

[UncleMatt]

mocked up.


welded in.


ground down and smoothed.

Tomorrow I'm working on turning some 3"x5" rectangular tubing into a step notch. Pics to some soon.

[Rusbuilt]

Looking good sir! I'm building a C-30 also, I'll be following your progress.

[Moline_Puller]

Hey,

Truck is looking good! Way to think 'outside the box'! Good luck in using the frame as an air tank! I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together!

I'm thinking my future will have a C30 with a Cummins in it. I have a '72 Peterbilt that I have been tinkering with for a tractor-hauler...but everything is just crazy expensive for the big trucks! Heck, I could build a C30 with a Cummins in it for half what I would have in the Pete...and still have a very cool truck!

For now, I'll just be tinkering with my '72 LWB. Plans for that are to switch it over to LP gas, and probably put a Hydrogen generator on it too...I like thinking 'outside the box' too!

Good luck with the truck!


Chris

[mr mike]

that's a pretty low and bad ass s10 you got in the background

[MrBeast]

Any more updates on this thing?

[502ms]

Very nice....do you have a visual mockup of what she should look like when all said and done?
Posted via Mobile Device

[mr mike]

Hear is a teaser but he will post more later.

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[502ms]

Cannot wait to see the finished product

[502ms]

Beautiful!
Laying frame?
Posted via Mobile Device

[UncleMatt]

Ok here comes another update. I've been working on the 4 link the last few weeks and I've finally got it all together and bags one. I still have a few things to tidy up but I'm leaving for vacation Sunday and thought I'd do an update before I go. Here's the lowdown.

I built my notch out of 3x5 3/16" thick rectangular steel. Here are the first two pieces tacked up.


The top pieces had to angle in for me to be able to fit my bags between the frame and the tire. The 1/2 ton trucks have the bend in the frame from factory but my 1 ton is straight.


I ordered a 4 link kit from Welder Series and was super excited about it. Until it arrived and I saw how puny it was. Don't get me wrong. It's a nice piece and wil work great on my '51 when I get around to building it. But it's nowhere near big enough for this beast. I'm attempting to build the heaviest duty four link I can. Here you can see my new redesigned bag perch compared to the one I ordered from Welder Series.


And here's one of the frame mounts for the 4 link bars beside the kit version. I made the new ones from 1/4" plate and the bent piece in the middle are 3/8" thick.


Top pieces of the notch tacked up. It took forever to cut the angles in these. Notice the lip on the angled pieces. I didn't consider that turning in toward the center would make the rail wider when I first designed it. But I'm happy because it gave me a little bit more metal to weld too.

[UncleMatt]

The notch is coming together






The rest of the old frame cut away


I recreated the back section as well. The frame rails were different widths anyway so I couldn't see trying to make it tie back into the original frame.

[UncleMatt]

I wanted super heavy duty 4 link bars so I chose these parts for my rod ends. It took a bit of trial and error to find what I wanted but it was worth it.


Ready to weld. The poly bushings I got from Barnes4wd. You can't see in the pic but the centers were thick enough for me to drill them out to 5/8' and still have plenty of metal there. So I can run 5/8" bolts for my bars instead of 1/2". The bungs are made to fit 2inch 1/4" wall square tubing. Supplied by RuffStuff Specialties. The threads are a whopping 1 1/4inch thick. It took me forever to find a supplier for the threaded rod to make them work. Finally I got hooked up with Poly Performance and they shipped them to me super fast. Unfortunately they didn't come with jam nuts so I ended up getting some from my local farm store. They were a salty $13 a piece. I think I'm gonna need a few truck loads of cash before this things gets finished!


Bushings welded to the rod and ready to wend in the bungs to the tubing.


Welded up and ready


I'm pretty happy with my welding lately. I've only been doing it for about 3 months now.

[UncleMatt]

Bag plates tacked up.


Front mounts tacked in. I re-drilled the upper holes in order to angle my top bars down. I had them parallel and after some reading about instant center decided to make the change. I won't really know until I can drive 'er down the road


Upper plates fabbed and bags installed. These are 3500# rolling lobe bags from Ride Tech. Those guys are great and very helpful on the phone.




All together and working!! I still need to finish up welding the frame but the 4 link and bags are in.

[UncleMatt]

Today I rolled her out of the shop for some pics. It was a bit muddy but totally worth it. I'm super happy with how it looks. This is ride height. Once I bag the front I'll be able to sit 'er down another 4-6 inches. And moving the axel back a foot made a huge difference!


I can't wait to get rid of that "poochie" on the front! Seriously.


Why yes, I do like big tires.

[UncleMatt]

Originally Posted by Moline_Puller

Hey,

Truck is looking good! Way to think 'outside the box'! Good luck in using the frame as an air tank! I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together!

I'm thinking my future will have a C30 with a Cummins in it. I have a '72 Peterbilt that I have been tinkering with for a tractor-hauler...but everything is just crazy expensive for the big trucks! Heck, I could build a C30 with a Cummins in it for half what I would have in the Pete...and still have a very cool truck!

For now, I'll just be tinkering with my '72 LWB. Plans for that are to switch it over to LP gas, and probably put a Hydrogen generator on it too...I like thinking 'outside the box' too!

Good luck with the truck!


Chris

Thanks Chris, That LWB on LP gas will be very cool. I lived in Australia for several years and LP gas is all over the place there.

[UncleMatt]

Originally Posted by 502ms

Very nice....do you have a visual mockup of what she should look like when all said and done?
Posted via Mobile Device

I don't really have a mock up. But I'd love to figure out how to do a rendering. It would be nice to hang in the shop as a visual of what I'm aiming for. It's gonna be as you see it but with a really low flat bed. I've got a few ideas but nothing set in stone yet.

[UncleMatt]

Originally Posted by 502ms

Beautiful!
Laying frame?
Posted via Mobile Device

Not laying frame. I'm not gonna get quite that low. Probably another 6 inches or so from my latest pics is where the lowest will be once I bag the front. That is until I see it down that low and decide I just have to go lower. Which is quite possible of course.

[Rusbuilt]

Looking good sir!

[ZUBZ]

Dino what welder are you using? tig/mig/co2

[RatRod68]

Are you going to build a rear track bar?

[Moline_Puller]

Hey Matt, That C30 is looking GREAT! What kind of body are you going to put on the back? A wrecker/utility body would look pretty cool.

Yeah, I don't understand why more people don't run LP...engines love it! Emissions are great, you don't have to worry about plugs that much. very cool.

Good luck with the rest of the build!



Chris

[UncleMatt]

Originally Posted by ZUBZ

Dino what welder are you using? tig/mig/co2

I'm using a Miller 180 amp mig with gas. It's a really nice welder. I own a smaller hobart that's great but just not hot enough for the thicker metal. So I borrowed a buddies Miller for this job.

[UncleMatt]

Originally Posted by Moline_Puller

Hey Matt, That C30 is looking GREAT! What kind of body are you going to put on the back? A wrecker/utility body would look pretty cool.

Yeah, I don't understand why more people don't run LP...engines love it! Emissions are great, you don't have to worry about plugs that much. very cool.

Good luck with the rest of the build!



Chris

Thanks Chris. It's fun making some progress! The plan is to put a flat bed on it. It's going to be low set without sides. Basically a platform sitting right on the frame rails to get it as low as possible. The notch and wheel wells will stick up through. I'm going to have a goosneck ball on top of the notch. And I plan on having nice wood bed rails. I'm also toying with the idea of making my wheel wells attach to the axel so when I air it out it the wheel gaps don't change. Not sure it that's possible yet or what but we'll see what I come up with.

[UncleMatt]

Originally Posted by RatRod68

Are you going to build a rear track bar?

That was the plan until I saw how much room I don't have for one. I could probably cut some frame away but I don't want to do that. And I don't particularly like the idea of my axel moving side to side with a panhard anyway. So I decided on a watts link.

I'm going to attempt to build a custom diff cover with a a ball joint mounted to it and use some poly bushings for rod ends. I have a few parts left over from the 4 link that I didn't end up using that I think will come in handy.

[RatRod68]

Originally Posted by UncleMatt

That was the plan until I saw how much room I don't have for one. I could probably cut some frame away but I don't want to do that. And I don't particularly like the idea of my axel moving side to side with a panhard anyway. So I decided on a watts link.

I'm going to attempt to build a custom diff cover with a a ball joint mounted to it and use some poly bushings for rod ends. I have a few parts left over from the 4 link that I didn't end up using that I think will come in handy.

cool. Looking forward to seeing it all fabbed up and sexy

edit: Just did some reading on a watts link. I had never heard of them before (i think this is due to being more involved in 4x4's rather than track/racing) and wow. What a cool setup. Now I am really interested to see how you build the center link.