1979 Chevrolet C70 Conversion to OEM Air Conditioning

[Katrina/10]

The truck looks great, and now it has a useful function again! Did you solve the wheel balance problem?

[Airdirect]

Have not solved the wheel wobble problem. I talked with a local shop familiar with these Dayton wheels, going to have them align the rims. Also going to change the rear rim spacers to 3.75. It has 4.0 now. The narrow spacer will get the wedges closer to the hub which will help with the wobble.

[Katrina/10]

I'm sure you'll get it figured out. Hopefully get some highway use!

[Airdirect]

Had to use the truck today to recover my Suburban. My son Seth called and the burb had quit on him. It appears to be an electrical problem. Given the location where it was parked, we just pulled in on the bed backwards (it was raining). Weight distribution would have been better to load it going forward. The truck did not seem to care about the distribution, it handled the load well.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

It's nice to have a Roll Back in the family.

Especially a nice one like that with a great engine to boot.

[jumpsoffrock]

I know this may sound elementary, but I had a set of ultramega OLD tires on my truck and it wobbled pretty bad and was worried about something serious. My wheels were at the time normal hub widowmakers.

Got new tire on modern tubeless rims and the truck is fine.




I have also found that when using a 9k lbs truck to pull your friends 5k lbs van, it does not care that he steps on brakes or hits a curb.......lol.......it pulls the damn thing come hell or high water.
The weight distribution hardly matters with as much as that truck probably weighs...

[Airdirect]

Did you convert from Dayton style to Budd wheels? I have new tubeless 11:00 22.5 rims and radial tires. My old rims and tires did not wobble (bias ply), however they had flat spots from sitting for 20 years. I spoke with a tire shop and they seem pretty confident they can install 3.75 rim spacers and align my tires which will fix the wobble problem. I did not plan to use the truck before getting this done. This was an unplanned deployment of the truck.

[jumpsoffrock]

No, it had conventional bolt on wheels, and still does today. I really hope it works out to be easy, but it sounds like you already changed your wheels and tires, so I'm no more help...

[Airdirect]

Unloading our Suburban. The rollback works very slick, an amazing tool! The Suburban rolled all the way off the bed using the winch to regulate the speed. Once on the ground I set the parking brake on the Suburban and then retracted the bed out from under it. Once it was clear, I lowered the bed and rolled it forward onto the bed locks. Way too easy. Turns out the alternator had failed, made a trip to O'reilly Auto Parts and it is back on the road again.

[Airdirect]

Micah, my son at the controls.

[Airdirect]

I never realized how handy a rollback truck is. Great having one in the family. My oldest Son's car developed transmission problems. It is a 2013 Nissan Sentra with 91,000 on the clock. It has a CVT automatic transmission. This is the fourth time to be worked on. Friends don't let friends buy Nissan vehicles with CVT transmissions!

Yes, I know the truck needs washing. Our road is under construction and is a muddy mess.

[Airdirect]

Update on my tire wobble problems:

I drove the truck to Southern Tire Mart on Saturday. They were able to correct the installation of my front rims and got them running true. On the rear I had a 4 inch Band Spacer between the rims. This caused the wedges to not be in close proximity to the Dayton hubs. This was the culprit causing the rear wheels to not run true. After measuring they determined I needed a 3.25 Spacer. Once installed it did not allow the wedges to apply enough clamp to hold the rims tight. In the end they installed 3.5 inch Spacers which appear to work perfect. Now I am ready to haul and pull heavy loads.

[83GMCK2500]

Originally Posted by Airdirect

Update on my tire wobble problems:

I drove the truck to Southern Tire Mart on Saturday. They were able to correct the installation of my front rims and got them running true. On the rear I had a 4 inch Band Spacer between the rims. This caused the wedges to not be in close proximity to the Dayton hubs. This was the culprit causing the rear wheels to not run true. After measuring they determined I needed a 3.25 Spacer. Once installed it did not allow the wedges to apply enough clamp to hold the rims tight. In the end they installed 3.5 inch Spacers which appear to work perfect. Now I am ready to haul and pull heavy loads.

Great news that you have that worked out. Definitely must give some peace of mind to have those issues corrected.

[Airdirect]

Noah, my son giving the C70 a much needed bath. I don't get to drive it much as all my sons, (Noah, Micah, & Seth) just love driving it. Micah (my youngest) was planning on taking his driver license test in it. The backup light burned out before the test so he had to use a car. It is fun to drive and reminds me of a time when I was much younger.

[Airdirect]

Another rescue for the C70 rollback! This is my son Noah's VW beetle which he restored many years ago. He thinks either the fuel pump quit or the fuel tank strainer is plugged. This is a link to his 1972 VW Standard Beetle restoration thread:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/vi...c.php?t=439103

Amazing how handy a rollback truck is, every family needs one!

[Airdirect]

Installed the PTO control and monitor along with light switch for the work lights. The work light switch is guarded and illuminated when on.

When drilling holes for the PTO monitor light, my drill slipped and caused the hole to be offset. That is why the plate is crooked.

[Airdirect]

First tractor show of the year that I could attend. Took a couple of my tractors to the Pawnee Oklahoma show. It was a mud fest due to several days of heavy rain. Still had a good time. Truck ran perfect with no issues. Averaged 8.17 MPG with a gross weight of 33,640 Lbs.

My sons, Left to Right: Noah Jones, Micah Jones

[sweetk30]

add's a bit of custom with it off square .

to bad we wern't closer . i would show you how to WORK that rollback and show you lots of trick to make life easy . i have over 5 years full time and few more part time in a rollback .

i got this new 2,650lb 2 post bend pack lift off the side of the flatbed trailer last week with no forklift or other tools . had it square on the bed when i stopped winching . little forgin guy truck driver kept saying forklift . . i told him its broken thats why i am here . his eye's were huge after he saw me unload that off his truck that fast and easy .

on the flatbed / slid off in my buddys shop / installed and 1st car on it .

[Airdirect]

Having operated the rollback for just a couple of months, I have decided it is right up with sliced bread. I am amazed at how handy this thing is. The bed and winch make loading anything a snap. I even loaded the rear trailer without using ramps. I just raised the car lift to its maximum height which lowered the rear of the trailer to the ground. Hooked the winch to the tractor and pulled it onto the trailer. Lowered the trailer to normal highway height and we were set to go.

[sweetk30]

most i can tell you from here is if you can think it try it . lots of the tricks were from guys trying something stupid and it worked so easy or different than he was thinking it would .

i use to walk my rollback under vehicles with blown ball joints and do ZERO extra damage on/off the bed .

also grab some cans of p.b.blaster for the times a tire or something wont slide / roll . its like a hot knife in butter . but after driving 10 min or so the wind dry's the p.b.blaster off the bed . w.d.40 works better but must be washed off .

so many cool tricks and tips to be had . stay safe and always LISTEN to the winch and cable under heavy load . it will tell you before it pops a cable by the wound .

[jumpsoffrock]

Man I'm actually kinda mad right now that you got 8mpg at 33k lbs.

[Airdirect]

Originally Posted by sweetk30

most i can tell you from here is if you can think it try it . lots of the tricks were from guys trying something stupid and it worked so easy or different than he was thinking it would .

i use to walk my rollback under vehicles with blown ball joints and do ZERO extra damage on/off the bed .

also grab some cans of p.b.blaster for the times a tire or something wont slide / roll . its like a hot knife in butter . but after driving 10 min or so the wind dry's the p.b.blaster off the bed . w.d.40 works better but must be washed off .

so many cool tricks and tips to be had . stay safe and always LISTEN to the winch and cable under heavy load . it will tell you before it pops a cable by the wound .

P. B. Blaster, that is a neat trick. I will get some, thanks!

[Airdirect]

Here is a picture of a 1981 Top Kick which I purchased new. It had a Cummins VT225 with 10 speed Fuller transmission. The first engine lasted 50K and was warrantied by Cummins. After a full rebuild it made it another 50K and failed again. Sold the truck with a bad engine.

[jumpsoffrock]

Any idea on the causes of your premature failures? Thats a damn shame...

[Airdirect]

I think it was a bad design. Its predecessor the 555 was a poor engine as well. The VT-225 was a improved design that was promised to have the problems of the earlier version fixed. Sadly, it was no better. The compression rings would fail the engine would get hard starting with smokey exhaust and high oil consumption. The good news was it had sleeves, the bad was parts were gold plated.