71 C30 dually restoration

[UncleMatt]

Hi all,

New to the forum and loving all the great posts and helpful information!

I just picked up a 71 C30 dually tow truck. I'm convirting it to a flat bed daily driver. Some of my plans include an 8-10 lug big rig conversion with air ride. A cummins 12valve with stacks and NV4500 5 speed.

I'm looking at using American force adapters for the big rig convirsion but they only offer them from '73 on. Is the 8x6.5 lug pattern on my truck different from the 73-87 1 ton trucks? I can change hubs and rear axels but would rather not if it's unnecessary. Thanks in advance for any help
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[Palf70Step]

Glad to have you on board and would love to see pictures of your truck.

[Shaun1162]

Glad to see another C30 Build, and yes be sure to post some pictures!

As for the wheel question, I put rims off of a late 70's Chevy dually onto my '69 C30 and had no issue at all, so the adapters should work fine.

[UncleMatt]

Thanks Shaun,

I ended up getting the adapters and from everything i've found online the bolt patters are the same. I'm still locating some tires so I haven't tried fitting them yet. I'll definitely post some results though once I do.

Right now though i'm going to attempt to upload some pictures.

[71swb4x4]

The bolt pattern is the same. 1973 and up used 9/16" wheel studs and 72 and down used 1/2" wheel studs, other than that they are the same.

[UncleMatt]

Ok, here are some pics of my ride. Sorry for the bad quality iPhone pics. I'll take some good ones later with a real camera I promise.

The left rear wheel was totally locked up from sitting for 5 years. I got it home on the roll back and went to work right away. I had a buyer for the Holmes 440 wrecker bed but had to be able to drive it to him. So I was pretty motivated to get her street worthy. I rebuilt the rear brakes. Getting that drum unstuck was a real chore! I then woke the 327... Some wiring and fresh fluids, plugs etc and she fired right up and purrs like a kitten

So I'm driving to the guy who was buying the bed from me. Things are going well, trucks running good and I'm blowing all kinds of junk out of every rust hole there is. Every time I hit a bump I get a nice coating of rust from the ceiling. About an hr away from home dude calls and says he changed his mind and doesn't want to buy the bed anymore. I was less than happy in the moment but oh well, what can you do.

I eventually found another buyer and this guy took the bed off for me, had a trans cover plate for the PTO and paid full price. So it worked out better in the end anyway.

[Tinkermc]

welcome aboard, truck looks like it's been parked awhile but should be a great porject

[UncleMatt]

And some more pics

I'm going with 22.5 in Alcoa big rig wheels. I found this set of brand new front wheels for $650 on Criagslist. They go for about $500 a piece new so I was pretty happy about that.

Here are my American Force Adapters. I can't wait to put these on!! They showed up on my doorstep a few days ago and I can't get over how heavy duty these things are. I was a little skeptical of the $850 price tag but man they are quality.

The deal of the year happened to me yesterday though. I've been looking to run super singles on the back. it's a 14" wide wheel that replaces the duals with one super wide wheel and tire. Only problem is the tires are made of gold. Or at least they must be at $1200 a piece!! So yesterday I'm driving home and see a sign at this place that says they specialize in truck tires. So I pull in the drive before I can even see what the place really is. I start chatting to the guy there about what I'm trying to do and he says that they don't sell tires. All they do is send out the skins to get retreaded. They don't even sell to the public. I start describing the truck and what I'm doing and the guy beside him says "Hey we've got some big tires up in the shed that are used" So he takes me to the shed. Shed = massive warehouse filled with truck tires. He pulls these two brand new retreaded tires out and says. I don't really need these. How's $100 each sound.... Um yes!!! I was back in an hr with my buddies mini vane to pick up these beasts. They are Michiellin 445/50R22.5's

Now I just need to get my front wheels milled down to 22 so I can run a regular radial and pick up a set of rear rims and i'm ready to see how this thing sits. Can't wait to post those pics.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1339730181

[UncleMatt]

Originally Posted by Tinkermc

welcome aboard, truck looks like it's been parked awhile but should be a great porject

Yea, it sat for 5 years. The guy I bought it from was planning to use it to tow his cars around his property but never did.

[cubcadet]

i like

[pickup67man]

Those are tall tires for a 1 ton (around 40" tall). Are you going to have a lot of rake or are you lifting it up to sit level on the tall tires. Easy to fit in the back with a flat bed but a little tight in the front.

[UncleMatt]

Originally Posted by pickup67man

Those are tall tires for a 1 ton (around 40" tall). Are you going to have a lot of rake or are you lifting it up to sit level on the tall tires. Easy to fit in the back with a flat bed but a little tight in the front.

I'm going to put them on first and see how it sits. But I'm not a big fan of a huge rake. So i'm thinking I'll be C notching it and lowering the front a few inches to get nice and low and level. The flat bed I'm building will have cutouts for the rear wheels so It can go lower than a normal flat bed truck could and so I can mount it lower on the frame as well.

[RatRod68]

Scribing...

[Hduramax]

sounds like a nice build ,I'm in

[Dieselwrencher]

Sounds like a sweet build, keep gathering parts man!

[gwars1306]

Hey I'm doing almost the same build, do you have any more pics.
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[UncleMatt]

Ok time for an update. Tomorrow is the day i’ve been anxiously awaiting. I've a got a full day working on the truck and I "should" have all the parts needed to finally mount my wheels and see how this baby sits on my gigantor big rig alcoas.

Here are a few pics of whats been going since my last update.

I searched the country for a set of used super single rear wheels that would match my fronts and came up empty. Then broke down and spent the coin for brand new ones. Had a good laugh when I went to have them mounted when I was told it would be $260 to mount and balance my two wheels. I said what, are you on crack!? He said "well they're big heavy wheels! I went to the next place down the road from me and got them mounted for $30, LOL. Anyway here they are sitting next to the truck. I think they look awesome and can’t wait to see them bolted on!




I couldn't find anybody locally that would touch milling my 22.5” front wheels down to 22” Everyone is just so sew happy that they're all super worried about liability. So I UPS’ed them to Tennessee Wheel & Tire and they did it for me for $150 bucks a wheel. After getting them back I couldn't believe how little metal actually needs grinded off. I was tempted to show the machine shops that turned me down how minuscule an amount of material was removed but couldn't be bothered. The 275/45r22's fit right on and seated perfectly. Here they are sitting up next to the truck.



The only reason these wheels aren't mounted to the truck yet is that my adapters don't quite fit. They're made for '73 up and the center hole is just barely hitting the hubs on the rear. Only a really small area right near the seat. I got them turned down ever so slightly so the adapter now slide right on. With some new lugs those should be together tomorrow. The front rotors had the same problem with clearance so I ordered rotors for a '77 and mounted them. Not sure if they’re going to work though because the adapter still isn't fitting. Same issue as in the rear as well a clearance problem with my backing plate bolts. Gonna see if I can work it out tomorrow. I might have to get a new set of '71 rotors and have them machined to fit the adapters. Or I'll widen the hole slightly on the adapters so they fit. But I hate to do that to such an expensive adapter. We'll see what tomorrow brings... hopefully pictures of my truck sitting on all four wheels. I'll end with this pic of my front and rear tires side by side. Wish me luck tomorrow!

[gwars1306]

So to get the adapters to fit the hubs did you just have to machine the center of the adapters and not the lug holes?
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[gwars1306]

ok I just looked at your adapters and answered part of my question so it might take done machining on the hub, are the lug patterns the same?
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[no moa]

interesting choice for wheels and tires, can't wait to see the finished product.

[70c10stepside]

This is awesome!

[UncleMatt]

Originally Posted by gwars1306

So to get the adapters to fit the hubs did you just have to machine the center of the adapters and not the lug holes?
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I didn't have to machine the adapters at all. Just the hubs and a little bit of the front rotors. I'll post some pics so you can see where.

[UncleMatt]

Yesterday went pretty well. I finally got the adapters mounted and the truck sitting on all four wheels!! Here are the results. I have no brakes right now so you'll have to settle for a few in the shop pics right now.



Here you can see where I had to have the hub machined to fit the American Force 8 - 10 lug adapters. It's a very small bit of metal that needs removed. I had the same problem with the front but I was able to just remove the lugs and grind it down with my angle grinder. The rotor spun while grinding and gave me a nice consistent spin so I could keep the grinding even all the way around. I don't have any pics of the front yet because I ended up doing it to the wrong set of rotors. The ones I have are 1.5 inches thick and my calipers won't fit on with the pads. So now I'm having a bit of trouble finding the right rotors. Once I do I'll post pics.



These rotors are perfect for a 1 ton rear disk brake upgrade on these trucks! Front rotors from a '77 3/4 chevy 4x4 bolted right on. The lugs press right through where the drum was. Now I just need to fabricate some caliper brackets.

Finally sitting on the ground!



Next step is a 4 link and bag setup. I'd like this thing to sit a little lower yet. Can anyone recommend a good heavy duty 4 link that I can still tow with? I'm gonna notch the frame and build a cross member with a gooseneck attachment. This rig will be the one that tows all my buddies cars to the shows

[a_barth]

DIY4X.com and many other sell the rear caliper brackets. They are the same for a 14-bolt or an eaton and can be had for about $40-$60. Use cadillac eldo rear calipers to retain the rear parking brake.

[gwars1306]

what years caddy eldo and should i go with the caddy rotors as well?