Crew Cab GMC Help-cheap buy

[sav300]

Ok I'm in search of some help here.....found a pickup I want, want real bad. Not 100% on the year, 73-80, but its in pretty good shape (for the most part).
Here is the low down:
Crew cab
Needs new pas. side doors due to dents
Needs new hood
Interior in good shape
Typical cracked dash and weather door panels
AC
Tilt wheel
Manual window and locks
4 speed standard
350SB stock
4wd
1 ton
14 bolt rear
Not sure on the front end
Runs, supposedly
Needs new windshield
NO rust
No bed
Been sittin for years, drove it to the location and parked it.

Whats it going to cost to fix it up? And is it worth $1000? I'm debating making the drive and buying it. What ya think???

[v30crewcab]

depending on the year it could have a d44 or a d60 front. being 4wd if its not a rust bucket its def worth $1000 to me.

[sav300]

Originally Posted by v30crewcab

depending on the year it could have a d44 or a d60 front. being 4wd if its not a rust bucket its def worth $1000 to me.

I thought that was a steal! Easy way to tell the year?

[v30crewcab]

vin# will tell the year. balljoints equals d44, kinpins equal d60 front. easiest way to tell. d60 has 4bolts on the top and bottom of kingpins.

[mattybilt79]

I think 78 was the first year for the 60 front without doing research. With a 465 should have a 205 transfer case which is a plus in my book, love the granny trans. If you do go look at it check for king pins on front axle as mentioned. Get under it and check the trans to t case adapter and make sure its not cracked or broken. I have not heard a lot of complaints of broken adapters but I got a blazer a few years ago with one broken in half. Happens with bad motor and trans mounts. Anything on that truck can be replaced and 4wd crews will always be cool so why not get it if you have the means to. Offer them 800 and see what they say. I looked at a beat 80 4wd srw cc down here in az that needed pretty much everything done and he wouldn't budge off 4k asking price because he saw what they go for in good shape.

[sav300]

I'll make sure to crawl under and look. And thanks V30crewcab, I'll check it out . It would be nice to have the 60 but I could care less until later down the road. Thanks for the input and I'll see what he will take. I'd love to grab up one before they are gone!

[andrewmp6]

With it being no bed make sure its a pickup frame not a cab and chassis.But even at that price if the cab is rust free you could always shorten the frame if its a cab and chassis frame.

[v30crewcab]

no such thing as a cab and chassis in crewcab form. they are either 2wd or 4wd. all the same wheelbase.

[Your41Plague12]

'77 was the first year for a K30. All of the K30's originally came with a D60 front end, however, I've seen plenty that people have swapped for D44's and GM 10 bolts out of a 3/4 ton truck, for some reason. Easiest way to check is the U-bolts. A true D60 will have three U bolts and two studs that go through the top plate, rather than 4 regular U-bolts. As also mentioned, kingpins as opposed to balljoints. If it's really a rust free 1 ton crew cab 4x4, it's worth well more than $1k.

[swissarmychainsaw]

The good news is that parts are cheap. The bad news is that it's easy to burn through a grand just making yer ol truck drivable.

Pics are good! If it's blue or red, you should do it.

[Cabnchassis]

If it's a cab and chassis it should be pretty easy to spot but it isn't true that the frame is a different length. That is only the case on crew cabs, single cabs are 60" and 110" cab to axle. Crew cab C&Cs are 56" same as a long bed.

On Crew cab cab & chassis trucks a standard 8 foot fleet side bed fits like it was made to. I had a bunch of people tell me it wouldn't work but my daily driver would beg to differ. If it's a new enough cab and chassis the frame will even have all the proper mounting holes punched for the bed already. If you search 3+3 cab and chassis or look under my threads you'll see my "build" thread with about two weeks of people telling me that it'll never fit.

If it is a cab and chassis it's easy to tell. If it is a dually, the wheels will only have appx 44" between them. Meaning the wheels won't stick out very far past the side of the cab. The frame rails from under the cab and going back about halfway to the the rear wheels will be like 9.25" tall top to bottom or something crazy like that. Standard trucks the frames are closer to 6" deep and I think its actually less. There will also be 9 springs plus an overload spring in the rear wheel leaf spring pack. Standard one tons have a few less.

If it is a dual rear wheel 14FF then you'll have to tub the wheel wells to get clearance on the inside and you will no longer be able to fit a pallet between the fender wells in the bed. Or 4 foot wide sheets of anything. Depending on how you cut the tubs you end up with about 42" between the wheel wells when you finish OR in your case since it's 4x4 you can just lift the truck and not tub the wheels. You wouldn't be able to capitalize on the 14K gvwr though. You'd probably be right around 10K gross that way though.

The fuel tanks may also be in an inconvenient location in relation to the frame. Mine won't accept diesel through the filler because its a short run with a couple turns in it and just foams up. Might not be a problem with a gasser. The truck I took the bed from the saddle tanks were much farther forward on the frame.

The only other issue you'll run into is if it is a cab and chassis model is if you plan on putting a Flat Bed on it that fits more than 2 pallets. If so you have some BS to deal with.

You'll be required to stop at the scales and if you don't have a CA number here in California you'll get to have a one on one chat with the Hi Po running the inspection station at the scales every scale you drive by every time the lights are on. If you aren't used to big commercial rules and dealing with the scales it does open you up to more scrutiny. All your lights must function even decorative ones, no built up mud allowed between the duals, possibly getting weighed on the roadside by the cop since these trucks will sit on the "overload springs" or "helper pads" when heavily loaded, getting check for farm grade if your in a diesel, having your tire pressure checked, being required to have mudflaps, and any other violation that would constitute as a fix it ticket on a normal vehicle. Basically it's a convenient way to spend a lot of time you weren't planning to with the highway patrol inspector and get a lot of fix it tickets because they will write you up for every one just because they are bored. All joking aside though if violations are severe enough they can have your truck towed on the spot and at least in CA there are some situations where they can impose a mandatory 30 day impound.

So just beware that if it is a cab and chassis dually you'll end up with either a flat/utility bed or a fleetside dually or a lifted fleetside dually with a one ton spec weigh capacity.

I don't find it to be too much of a headache to work out of not fitting plywood sheets or pallets and I work out of mine daily, but if I need to pick up a pallet or sheetrock I have to switch trucks and that can sometimes be inconvenient. The big plus for me having a fleetside c&c is that if I don't have my tool boxes onboard I can load up to 7K pounds in the bed. Obviously if you didn't tub the wheels you would have some clearance issues if you tried carrying that much weight. There is a member here DetroitDan who has a lifted 4x4 crew cab C&C fleetside and there are some pics of it somewhere around this site, on one thread he said he's loaded up to normal one ton capacity without any fear of clearance issues.

Really the only bummer about this truck is the 350, at least for me. If you have to smog it and will be required to keep the 350 close to stock you might want to think twice about it depending on how far you want to take it and how much power you like. My K2500 is a 92 and is TBI 350 and has a one ton tow haul rating. Came factory with only 200HP and gets a whopping 9 mpg city and about 14 hwy with no load. And that's with mechanical fuel injection it might be worse with a carbed motor depending on specifics. My Cab and Chassis has a detroit and is around 14/19mpg empty. If your driving a big truck with low HP it sucks to also be getting terrible mileage. There are a lot of good things that can be said about the 350 but stock in a truck they tend to be dogs on gas for what they give in you power. Especially in these bigger trucks which usually have gears somewhere tween 3.73 and 4.88.

Personally although a lot of that wind bagging may sound like I'm trying to talk you out of it, i'd jump on it if I were looking for a truck project and the 350 isn't a deal breaker for you. These crew cabs ride extremely nice down the road and you'll never have to look far or break the bank for parts. If it is a C&C I wouldn't let it slip away from me, but I may also be overly partial to them. No to mention it's getting harder and harder to find any crew cabs for sale.

Here's a pic of mine since I talk about her so much and a pic of the wheel tubs.



http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/...pse66e96fe.jpg

[Cabnchassis]

Originally Posted by v30crewcab

no such thing as a cab and chassis in crewcab form. they are either 2wd or 4wd. all the same wheelbase.

My registration and title and even the truck itself would all beg to differ. I'm the second owner and the only one who modified the truck, it was previously owned by a bio diesel company who hauled diesel tanks around with it. Look at the vin card for the cab and chassis trucks, you'll see 4 door right there on it. There are a ton of Crew Cab Cab and Chassis GM trucks out there just most of them aren't out in plain sight or you don't realize the truck you're looking at is an R model C&C.

And just in case I wasn't sure there is a flat bed crew cab C&C running around my area I see almost daily cause he's a wrecker. Big ol 14k GVWR stickers right there on the doors, the other day he had a RCLB F250 4x4 on the back, and you aint doin anything like that with a regular one ton frame and a dana axle, that's a 6000lb truck. If it's a Crew cab cab and chassis and it's a dually it's easy to spot because they all run the corporate 14 under them and it's like 18" narrower than the dana. Every example I've seen to date was 56" cab to axle though they didn't make any C&C crew cabs with a longer wheel base than that.

[v30crewcab]

Originally Posted by Cabnchassis

My registration and title and even the truck itself would all beg to differ. I'm the second owner and the only one who modified the truck, it was previously owned by a bio diesel company who hauled diesel tanks around with it. Look at the vin card for the cab and chassis trucks, you'll see 4 door right there on it. There are a ton of Crew Cab Cab and Chassis GM trucks out there just most of them aren't out in plain sight or you don't realize the truck you're looking at is an R model C&C.

And just in case I wasn't sure there is a flat bed crew cab C&C running around my area I see almost daily cause he's a wrecker. Big ol 14k GVWR stickers right there on the doors, the other day he had a RCLB F250 4x4 on the back, and you aint doin anything like that with a regular one ton frame and a dana axle, that's a 6000lb truck. If it's a Crew cab cab and chassis and it's a dually it's easy to spot because they all run the corporate 14 under them and it's like 18" narrower than the dana. Every example I've seen to date was 56" cab to axle though they didn't make any C&C crew cabs with a longer wheel base than that.

OK what I meant was there was no difference in frame lengths, just to verify.

[Cabnchassis]

Originally Posted by v30crewcab

OK what I meant was there was no difference in frame lengths, just to verify.

You are dead on there, and as an afterthought I realized what your point was. If you get a new enough crew cab it'll even have all the proper holes punched in the frame to mount the standard fleetside bed and rear bumpers.