NAPCO C-50 Chevy restoration

[sweetk30]

i am betting ford superduty trucks .

[Dannny B]

I think that you're right. They seem to have about the right amount of "roll" at the bottom. It looks like the OEM flares are just too narrow and wimpy. The extra wide flares only have 2.25 inches of tire coverage so, OEM don't seem like they would work.
http://www.sfxperformance.com/parts/PFFEX314TB.htm
I don't want textured because I'm going to paint them and they would look funny.
I think that I can only get wide ones in "pocket bolt" style. I'm going to use tiny screws so that i don't destroy my bed if I hook a tree. they won't match the front but, I guess that I have to live with that.

[3757chevy]

Looking Good,rear flares to imitate the fronts would look good. I tried to freehand something like what I had in mind. Of coarse drawing something and actually building is not something I can do. I was not able to draw any depth as to how wide they are.

[Dannny B]

Thanks for the illustration. The Chevy bed has kinda straight lines at the rear wheel opening. The Ford flares have a rounded opening.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/06...g?v=1513325976
I need flares that have some roll inwards in the lower part of the bed.
The Jeep Gladiator seems to have the right shape but, they are all steel.
https://di-uploads-pod4.dealerinspir...p_lft_frnt.jpg
I can't get excited about using strong flares for a truck that will see the bush. Remember when the dually chevys came out? Everybody ripped off the rear fenders.

[350TacoZilla]

The other c50's you showed are using standard bushwacker 67-72 cut out fenders which are no longer made I believe (maybe custom order?). The 60-66 trucks have a odd shape to fender opening, that why I had said about trying to cut down or mold the stock front ones. I also thought about the rear flares from a wrangler but havent gotten to measure a set of TJ or JK ones yet which I think would be best bet. Early broncos also have nice fender opening shape when cut for flares but non of them around my parts to look at.


If you are worried about steel fenders I wouldn't think about using something like the bushwackers, they are $$ per pair and break when smacked off trees pretty quickly.

I used boat trailer fenders on my samurai build and while its true a good smack will bend them they can be bent back unlike the stock abs style ones that crack into pieces. The chevy next to it has bushwacker cut outs for the rear of a 73-87 chevy all around. Oh and a better pic of just samurai flares.

[elpound]

Originally Posted by sweetk30

post up the real ebay link please . . .

do you need new stickers ? I have some extra from the ones I had made for the truck I am doing .

and I cant ever get your photo bucket album to open up for me . . .

Hey SweetK30, do your stickers look like this?
I was looking for a replacement for mine. I have a ford N600 Napco conversion.

[sweetk30]

yep . but i had them remove the pto portion of it since we didnt have one .

if need be the guy i had make them can do a few in the full redo with the pto part.

i still have some . and the warn hub stickers.

[elpound]

I would like to buy a set of those stickers. My transfer case does not have the pto either so your version would work great. I also have the warn hubs on my Napco axle.

[sweetk30]

pm sent . trying not to sidetrack this thread .

[Dannny B]

I started this thread under "Heavy haulers",,, Seemed logical. I didn't know that there was anothr thread http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=510114
The third picture on the first post shows my parking brake,,,, that I don't have. I'm still looking. Hint to 63KC50NAPCO4X4
Well, progress on the c-50 is going a bit slow. I really don't have much more to do. I need to put a floor in the bed. Plan to use galvanized sheet.
I cut out a 1" plate to go ontop of the spring and U-bolts. That gave me a STRONG base for my track bar. I welded a heavy plate onto the frame and engine mount. That gave me the other plate. I built a track bar out of 3/4 in. Heim joints.
It is attcahed with 3/4 aircraft bolts.
I went out for a drive. The death wobble comes in a bit sooner now. Since I have no weight on the back axle, it rides high on the leaf springs. I suspect that the existing caster shims just aren't enough to compensate for the high rear end.
It started shaking at about 35 mph this time. Went out of control and hooked left. I locked it up and ended just as before,,, crosswise in the center of the street.
I plan to kick up the caster but, that will make it harder to turn. Does anybody have a power steering pump and mounts for a 292?

Also, I ran into another Heavy Hauler. Only problem is, it's a F**d Big Job F-900 Marmon Herrington dump truck. It's 4 wd with a 317 V-8 and air brakes. 1956 for 2 grand. Would YOU pass up on a deal like that?

[Dannny B]

I finally found my parking brake lever from a very helpful guy. I got the floor in the bed. Got some cheap flares. Got mud flaps. got everything working on the hydraulic bed hoist.
Have you noticed tall 4 wds that have a slide in hitch with 2 feet of drop? It looks kinda dumb and, it hangs up when you drive off of a bank. I bolted in a big steel plate across the chassis that has to HEAVY pieces of tubing. The tongue of the hitch also has a piece of heavy tubing.
There is a solid 2 inch round bar that goes through the three pieces.
The tongue of the hitch just hangs there and can deflect when I drive off of a bank.
I have to explain this or, everyone would ask what the heck it is.

[5Tractorguy]

Boy I can't get enough of this truck. Came out great! As I said before, of all the pickup conversions I see, you hit the nail with this one...

[Dannny B]

Originally Posted by 5Tractorguy

Boy I can't get enough of this truck. Came out great! As I said before, of all the pickup conversions I see, you hit the nail with this one...

Thanks, I think that I found the source of my death wobble. The brand new front tires have quite a bit of runout. Also, without a heavy weight on the bed area, the back of the truck sits up a bit higher. This seems to have cancelled out my caster. It had 3 degree shims which I changed to 6 degree.
The truck is on a non-op so, I don't drive it much. I'm going to put a couple of the old worn tires back on the front and see if it acts better.

Has anyone put power steering on one of these? I'm looking at Japanese steering boxes. The Mitsubishi FH series looks good for mounting. I found a UD box for cheap.

I have a 1970 D***e Power Wagon that I modified. I took out the manual box that was inside the frame and behind the axle. I put in a C***y box, outside the frame and, in front of the axle. It's a D-300 with a utility bed and camper. Also, has a cummins. It weighs in at 10,000 so, I need power steering.

[rkn463]

Looking great!

[sweepleader]

Love your truck, very nice.

I have a 1962 K10 that I put power steering on. I used a later pickup steering box and had to cut and weld the pitman arm and the steering arm on the Spicer 44 front axle. I know there is a lot of difference between mine and yours but it might still work. Its been about 30 years since I did it so I don't remember all the details right off. Mine has a V8 to so I cannot help with the 6 cyl pump.

[Dannny B]

Thanks, Swepleader.
I have a 1970 D***e Power Wagon that I changed to power steering. I used a Saginaw box from a P.U. truck. It was too fast of a ratio and it turned to quickly. The power wagon has a cummins and a 9.5 ft. utility bed. On top of that, it has a cabover camper. It weighs 10,000 and I had to get a slower box to get good control. While creeping out of the mountains on a deeply rutted dirt track pulling a trailer, the forces on the box were so high that it broke the aluminum cap on the box. Fortunately, it didn't completely brake off. I get nervous when I lose my steering.

My current project is a F-900 Marmon Herrrington with air brakes. There are 2 basic types of power steering. Standard box with an assist ram,,,, and a P.S. box.
The F-900 has the assist ram. The best brand seems to be Garrison. I had thought of using the Garrison but, would rather ave the P.S. box.
The c-50 has a box that is twice as big as the P.U. box.

[sweepleader]

With the talk of steering boxes, I forgot that my fire truck has factory linkage type PS on it, its a 1969 T50 Tilt Cab Chevrolet chassis. Somewhere around here I have some original sales literature with actual glossy original photos of the Chevrolet promotion of the Napco conversions. The Napco parts were made just a few miles from here, in Hopkins MN. The factory building has since been used by other companies but Napco is just down the street from there. I don't know what they do these days. I will look around and see if I can find that stuff, it has pictures of a Chevrolet "Mountain Goat" climbing hills with sales people looking on and details of the equipment specs. Good stuff.

[sakohntr]

What a rare beast. Nice to see you doing it right and driving it. Did you get your death wobble sorted out? I appreciate the part #'s you listed as I will also utilize them. Keep up the progress.

[sakohntr]

Slightly older.