84 dooley setbacks

[misterchevy]

Hi Guys
Im building a reg cab dually but have learned some valuable lessons.

Ihave an 8 foot bed to use but although i have a duallie axel it is around 10 inches too narrow.

Has anyone had this problem as i have little chance of finding a full width axel over here.
Many thanks.

Merry xmas.

[DetroitDan]

whats too narrow, the bed or the axle? If its the axle, just put it under the bed, may have to trim the bed floor to clear the tires when loaded, if you dont have enough spring. That would be a cab & chassis axle, not a dually pickup axle. It's the way my truck is done. Ohhh, wait a second..you cant if it's a regular cab. Mines a crew, and the chassis' are the same. Reg cabs are different.
If you're talking about the bed, you can buy aftermarket dually fenders to bolt on. Used to be able to find good used ones but theyre getting scarce.

Re-reading your post, it sounds like you have a narrow axle, rather than bed. The narrow axle is a corporate 14 bolt, many of the duallies used Dana 70s, some years it was also a C14 but wider.
While you've got your ruler out, measure the length of the rear chassis where the bed will go. If your truck was originally a cab & chassis regular cab, by which I mean it was made to have a dump body, or a utility box, what you are going to find is that your 8 foot bed will be about 4 inches too short. So you will have a gap of over 6 inches between the back of the cab and the front of the bed. Will look bad. If it was originally a pickup truck, and someone swapped the narrow axle in, you should be all set.
How wide is your dually rear? Just a rough measurement of outside tire to outside tire. Any chance you could put up a picture?

[donut]

To me it sound like you have a cab and chassis truck. IIRC, they did have a narrower rear as they were intended for an aftermarket bed. (utility, box, flat, dump, etc.)

Which would be easier, finding a rear or changing the bed?

(edit) Ah -Ha, I knew I'd seen reg bed on CC trucks.

[DetroitDan]

Or, do you mean you have a good dually bed but the axle is too narrow for it? Same situation, that 8 foot bed is going to be quite a bit too short for a regular cab, cab & chassis truck.

[GM72K10]

This is how a pickup dually (dana 70) looks with only the inner wheels and a non dually pickup bed. Sounds like you have the cab and chassis rear which is probably a 14FF.

[misterchevy]

Hi guys
Thanks for the replies, sorry for the delay put it down to time difference. Will put up some pics when i can but heres what i have.

Its a reg cab on a c+c chassis but the bed is from a full size [8 foot] and it had a dually rear end and axel. Im basically building it from parts freinds had laying around. Its gonna have a 6.2 diesel with a 4 speed manual trans.
Ithink the chassis was a recovery truck originally but weve welded the rear section back on the frame.
Didnt realise that the bed was gonna be short i can see it ending up a flatbed. Over here parts are hard to find so ive really gotta work with what weve got.
As well as this ive got a v8s10 that im building which is around 80% done.
Thanks for your help keep it coming.
Mark

[DetroitDan]

yeah, that was another thing I forgot, usually cab & chassis' have the rear of the framerails chopped off, and they have to be re-attached. Mine had new sections made out of angle Iron, was quite a job trying to put a new receiver hitch on. Nothing I had would drill though it, had to take it to a welding/fabrication shop.

You could always cut a small section out of the middle of the frame. Not sure about over there, I think here legally it has to be done by a certified welder, and there's special methods of doing it to make it stronger, like a Z shaped cut or something iirc. But you're talking some additional labor and expense, and you'll need to shorten the drivesahft and redo all the brake and fuel lines. Flatbeds are ugly but nothing beats them if you're using it for work.

Check that frame real good for cracks and other problems. I've seen awful things done to 1 ton recovery trucks.

Good luck to you sir!

[DetroitDan]

On the plus side, you know own an 8 foot dually bed that is probably worth a pretty penny to the right person.

[jitteryguy]

be sure to post picture's of the S10 in the S10 section as well, we'd love you to it .

[misterchevy]

Not too worried about shortening the chassis as my freind is a good welder but shortening the driveshaft is a PITA, like you say it will be worth it.
Ive also got a 96 silverado with a 8 foot bed and a ext cab but to be honest i try to hang on to things as long as i can.
Gotta agree flatbeds are fugly and if i can retain the 8 foot bed weve got a canopy for it.

[DetroitDan]

I know a guy who builds a lot of GM trucks, everything he has is pre 88 1 ton 454 autos. He is a wealth of informations. He told me he builds his own driveshafts when he needs to, and has never had to balance one. He said as long as you make the cuts straight (bandsaw), and weld it right, it's going to be just as straight as what you started with.
Shortening the shaft and lines along with the frame would definitely be easier than adding length. If you really want an 8 foot fleetside bed it may just be worth it to do. Of course, your dually bed with fiberglas fenders is still not going to work, but maybe you could sell it to buy a regular fleetside bed. I've seen two trucks locally that have C&C axles under them with 8 foot beds and regular cabs, it looks really cool. I know for a fact one was a K20, the other one was probably a pickup too, and they just swapped in the narrow rear. Easier than shortening a C&C.

[DetroitDan]

If I didnt mention, you'll have to make room for the tires, my first bed was tubbed out to clear the inner duals. When I swapped in a new bed I was going to move the tubs to my new bed, but I decided not to as I knew I would be lifting it and the bed floor would never be anywhere near the tires. Just another thing to consider.

[GM72K10]

Dually cab and chassis witha regular pickup bed, worked for this guy (not mine)

[DetroitDan]

almost looks like he only has outers on, since the inners would hit the bed floor without some modification. I see a lot of daylight thru the hand hole on that rear wheel.
you can see the gap between the cab & bed. from certain angles, like straight on, it looks a lot worse. OK for a farm/work truck, if you can live with it looking like that. But if I wanteda nice looking truck I couldn't stand it. And if Iwanted a work-only truck I wouldnt want a fleetside bed anyway, flatbeds are much better to work from.

THeres another similar pic around here, I'll see if I can find it.

[Goldfinger]

I like the chassis cab dually all the gawr of dual wheels without huge fender flares

[BigBlocksRule]

The guys looking to lay frame and run semi-truck wheels want the rearend you have - see if there are any around that will swap with you. The C&C rearend is narrower, they don't have to do as much body work with the C&C axle as with a conventional dually axle. They should even give you a little cash to boot since you're saving them a lot of time and money.
I bought a C&C dually a few years back for $400. I'm using the frame on a prostreet project, sold the rearend by itself for $500. Got really lucky on that deal as it was a '94 with a 1-year super low 1st gear manual, got another $500 for that. Then scrapped what was left for another Franklin.
I'm a poor tightwad, I gotta make 'em pay for themselves if I'm gonna get to build one

[DetroitDan]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...6079here's one thread that goes into detail about it.

[misterchevy]

This is an education for me, you guys know your trucks.
Im gonna stick with the narrow dually axel as a wide one could give me problems when registering over here in the UK. Finding parts over here is not easy. To give you an idea ive been waiting for a set of rear lights for the s10 to come up on ebay for weeks.
Thanks to you guys i think i know where im going with this. will post some pics up. what have i let myself in for.

[1tonchevy]

Originally Posted by Goldfinger

I like the chassis cab dually all the gawr of dual wheels without huge fender flares

a dually isnt a dually with out those big sexy hips!!

[DetroitDan]

Originally Posted by 1tonchevy

a dually isnt a dually with out those big sexy hips!!

Those big sexy hips stick out and create an inviting target for people. I hit the right one twice while backing up plowing with my 97 dually, other people hit my left one three times over ten years. Those fenders arent easy to find. Truck was wrecked when a tree fell on it, replacing the bed took me months of searching for a usable dually bed. When I got this fleetside with a rotted bed, took me about ten minutes to find a nice replacement bed.

And my tucked dually gets more second glances. Im always seeing people do a double take when they notice the dual wheels.

[GM72K10]

Originally Posted by DetroitDan

almost looks like he only has outers on, since the inners would hit the bed floor without some modification. I see a lot of daylight thru the hand hole on that rear wheel.
you can see the gap between the cab & bed. from certain angles, like straight on, it looks a lot worse. OK for a farm/work truck, if you can live with it looking like that. But if I wanteda nice looking truck I couldn't stand it. And if Iwanted a work-only truck I wouldnt want a fleetside bed anyway, flatbeds are much better to work from.

THeres another similar pic around here, I'll see if I can find it.

That pic was taken at the local truck salvage yard. As you can see I've got a dually or two and they're all work trucks, My dump is my favorite right now,
a true C & C.

[Goldfinger]

What Detroitdan said its just a big target for idiots.