57 Chevy 6400 2 wheel to 4 wheel drive

[elpound]

I found this nice 57 truck in North Dakota. I decided to make it a 4x4 since I travel from North Dakota and Washington State often. Installed a 454 with a sm465 4 speed, atlas torque splitter overdrive. Has Dana 70HD rear axle and Dana 60 front. My plan was to emulate a Napco. I have always liked Taskforce Napco's It is now at the shop awaiting wiring and brake lines.

[elpound]

A few more pics

[Katrina/10]

Very cool idea, and I see you found some of those rare 22.5 wheels for tubeless tires. What are your plans for the exhaust manifold on the driver's side?

[elpound]

I was able to use a corvette style big block exhaust manifold for the passenger side and put it on the driver side. It's tight but will work. Otherwise I was looking at Sanderson cast big block hugger headers.

[sweetk30]

also c-60 med duty big block manifolds are center style dump .


LOVE the direction this build is going .

only thing i might have done was 19.5 p-30 bread truck 8lug drw rims and tires .

but the truck still looks killer with your tire/wheel combo .

[elpound]

I found a nice seat out of an 88-89 Chevy truck to replace the one destroyed by mice and many hard miles. I wasn't a fan of the extra wood butt support either. I also picked up an instrument cluster from Dakota Digital. It will be easier to adjust the speedometer with electronic unit.

[elpound]

Originally Posted by sweetk30

also c-60 med duty big block manifolds are center style dump .


LOVE the direction this build is going .

only thing i might have done was 19.5 p-30 bread truck 8lug drw rims and tires .

but the truck still looks killer with your tire/wheel combo .

Thanks SweetK30!

I wish I had known about the C-60 manifolds. It took me a while to find one that would work. The factory steering box was a hassle.
I did have a set of 19.5s that were 10 lug on the rear. I just wanted to keep the rubber height around 37" like It had on it. Believe it or not the front wheels on this truck were 22.5-8's. I put them back on with 9r's. They are about an inch taller. This is the second chevy of this vintage where I have found 22.5's. The other was a 56. Riveted together tubeless wheels. I did some research and found Chevy started offering them in 1956. I put those wheels on my 68 ford N600. Same bolt pattern. Crazy....

[Katrina/10]

That was a very creative idea on the exhaust manifold! Should be no problem with the steering box with that.

[CrewCab59]

Any pics of the wheel adapter ? Looks good.

Thanks

[elpound]

I have pics of them them in the production process and an example of them for another application. Got so excited that I forgot to take some for myself. They were made by Motorsport Tech in Sparks NV. They were made from high grade billet aluminum. 130lbs total weight.

[elpound]

Another pic.

[l_alvis]

Really cool build! That's a helluva lot of aluminum. I'd love to build a medium duty truck one day.

[elpound]

I will take some more pics as things progress.

[elpound]

I found a 1955 2nd 4400 truck with the cool factory grill guard. Pretty nice truck. It has the extra stainless trim on the cab. I am going to swap bumpers and put the guard on my green truck. I'm not to sure how common these are for the larger trucks. I have seen some for pickups on eBay. I'm pretty sure the guards on the larger trucks are wider because of the wider fenders. I tried to buy the grill guard separately but they wanted to sell the truck complete. Oh well, I sure I will make use of it.

[FoxCustom]

This project is SO COOL!!! You're doing an excellent job of emulating the NAPCO feel and staying true to the wheel/tire combo and ride height. Looks so tough!

And score on that grille guard / parts 4400 series truck!

Any current photos of the truck you could share??

[elpound]

I don't as of yet. The truck finally made it into the shop where they are going to finish the brakes and wiring for me. They are a smaller operation and my buddies 50 Willys Wagon was first in line. I have not seen it in over a year.My buddy has, and says they are working on it. If I wasn't working all the time I could do it, but in the end, I save money letting them do it. I'm hoping in a couple months they'll have it done. It's a pretty straightforward job compared to what he had done.

[FoxCustom]

Originally Posted by elpound

I don't as of yet. The truck finally made it into the shop where they are going to finish the brakes and wiring for me. They are a smaller operation and my buddies 50 Willys Wagon was first in line. I have not seen it in over a year.My buddy has, and says they are working on it. If I wasn't working all the time I could do it, but in the end, I save money letting them do it. I'm hoping in a couple months they'll have it done. It's a pretty straightforward job compared to what he had done.

Cool! Well that sounds like it'll be a quick, straight forward step and you'll be ready to cruise it. Good luck and keep us posted. The truck is too cool!

Really got my mind going on a bigger truck platform for a Napco-style build as I was originally thinking 3/4-1 ton.

[Airdirect]

Very nice build, love the original style wheels and adapters.

[OlySezHey]

That truck could be my sister 😮

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by OlySezHey

That truck could be my sister 😮

Please keep it stock

[elpound]

Originally Posted by OlySezHey

That truck could be my sister 😮

Your truck sure looks a lot like it. Looks like it's in great condition too.

[Gargoyle]

Great truck! I keep coming back to this thread looking for the next update but it must still be in the shop.

[CrewCab59]

Any updates on the truck?

[special-K]

All I can say is how'd I miss it? Very cool. I like the who thing top to bottom

[elpound]

Originally Posted by CrewCab59

Any updates on the truck?

I did call down to the shop that's been working on it a month ago. They are still plugging away on it. They build a lot of race engines for mud bogging. My truck is sort of a fill in for them. I'm hoping they can turn on it faster with winter coming in ND. Big things that needed done were the electrical, the fuel, and the brakes. Its been a long time.