'72 C3500 GMC flatbed project

[7dee2]

You are flying through this, great job, very impressive! A ton of work but all worth it in my book!

[JJorgensen52]

Photos should be up tomorrow, but I've got the cab back on and she'll be ready to fire in the morning!

Let me tell you something, this truck looks MEAN with the lift

[BLAZERMAN]

Can't wait to see this Beast all together.

[JJorgensen52]

As is often the case with these sorts of projects, what should have been easy...

Anyway, I have run into a few issues today:

1. Body alignment - the core support is slightly higher and slightly further forward than it used to be, so I'm having to add some shims here and there, and monkeying with the cab takes time, to get the fenders to hang straight

2. Brakes. My driver's side caliper (which is a new Delco Durastop unit, premium part...) decided to start leaking everywhere. I'm going out to R&R it here in a minute to see if I can't fix it; if not, NAPA trip in the AM

3. P/S - it took me FOREVER to bleed the brakes, getting to the bleed screws on a narrow 14FF is very difficult. The hydroboost unit is working great, but I may have run into a capacity issue with my reservoir - that is to say, when the truck is running I don't quite have enough fluid, and when I shut it off it's filled to the absolute top of the reservoir. I guess this is why the later pumps have a larger capacity reservoir. D'oh!

However, I cranked it over briefly to prime the oil and when I hooked up the coil, it fired on the first turn . I did have to R&R the clutch dust shield, it was bent just enough to touch the flywheel and making a bunch of racket.

That said, it's almost a truck again!

[whitels1]

Looks bad ass man!

[JJorgensen52]

So, my C3500 is now officially a K3500!

Been driving it around on errands today, worked out most of the bugs in the alignment - let me tell you, it's like driving a new truck! I've had a cheesy grin on my face all afternoon.

Unfortunately, I'm moving right now so in the shuffle my camera has gotten misplaced somewhere, I should have better pics later in week:

[whitels1]

Good stuff man!

[rs74]

You definately don't waste any time.

What all did you have to do to shim the fenders and core support. Any pics of that stuff.

[67chevy1series]

Wow you hauled azz! That was fast man. Truck looks cool!

[JJorgensen52]

Thanks for the kudos, guys!

Originally Posted by rs74

You definately don't waste any time.

What all did you have to do to shim the fenders and core support. Any pics of that stuff.

It turned out I had two separate problems. When I installed the later truck's core support mounts, they ended up at a slight angle. I was able to compensate for that by adjusting the mounts a bit and not tightening it down until it was attached via the fenders (and thus in alignment).

The second was the height - I used what Lowes calls "bearing plates" - they're a 3" square galvanized washer, which is normally used to attach sill plates to a foundation. They're about 3/32" thick, and I ended up adding three on each side of the cab at the front to get everything aligned.

[rs74]

Makes me want to sell my 85 K30 and pull out the 67 GMC C30 and do this so bad.

[rs74]

Looking forward to pics and how the truck is doing since the conversion.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by rs74

Looking forward to pics and how the truck is doing since the conversion.

So a little back story - The green dump truck which I parted out last year in this thread came from a friend of mine who owns a farm; the way it worked out is I took the truck as a commission to build them a new farm truck; hence this project.

The truck has gone to its new home, now, but the new owner I believe is joining the forum and hopefully will be chiming in with pictures soon! I can tell you that Big Red is already getting put to work.

[rs74]

I guess for some reason I thought that you was painting it too. It looks like a beast from what I have seen of it. Definately a pretty cool truck. Nice job on the build.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by rs74

I guess for some reason I thought that you was painting it too. It looks like a beast from what I have seen of it. Definately a pretty cool truck. Nice job on the build.

Originally that was part of the plan, but despite my best efforts , I ran out of time. I'm military and I had a hard date to transfer, so unfortunately I didn't get to it. The truck will be getting paint, as well as rocker shells and cab corners.

[JJorgensen52]

Red is getting pampered at his new home. New taillights and new flooring:

[redryder]

I should stop texting you pics so I can update this thread myself. Some more exciting updates for red soon. Sold my FORD turbo diesel today the went shopping for more truck parts. I also need to get around to addressing the little bit of metal work that needs to be done on the cab.

Any suggestions on a dash pad? Mine is looking sad. I'm okay with a plastic cap but read acouple thread about poor quality (lump noodle) replacement pads.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by redryder

I should stop texting you pics so I can update this thread myself. Some more exciting updates for red soon. Sold my FORD turbo diesel today the went shopping for more truck parts. I also need to get around to addressing the little bit of metal work that needs to be done on the cab.

Any suggestions on a dash pad? Mine is looking sad. I'm okay with a plastic cap but read acouple thread about poor quality (lump noodle) replacement pads.

Good to see you finally stopped lurking

As far as the dash pads go, the best units I've heard of are the ones from Classic Parts. I'm still in favor of just pulling the OE pad and having it re-wrapped, it's all there. Talk to the upholstery guy and see what he thinks.

[redryder]

Small update:

Seat reupholstered in heavy duty vinyl. New tail lights, new floor vinyl, and new PTO controls. Also added a tach to the stock cluster.

Been driving this thing everywhere!

[redryder]

...

[redryder]

More

[redryder]

Dumper in action...does that sound weird?

[whitels1]

Diggin this truck man!

[7dee2]

X2!

[redryder]

Thanks guys. The truck will be a driver for the next couple weeks to get some work done around here. I hope to get some more work done soon though.

Rockers and cab corners
Headlight upgrade
Mount and plumb remote reservoir for hydrolics
Rebuild seals on hydrolic pump
Find and mount a plow