Love me some 3,900 lb.-rate springs

[Alex V.]

Loaded my '85 C3500 up with sawmill ends today and stopped at a scale on the way home - 2,600 lbs. payload and it wasn't down on the overloads yet. Heaviest load I'd had in the bed yet and it wasn't even sitting perfectly level yet. Springs are 3,900 pounders from General Spring of KC, about 2 years old. Since there's no item on the SPID I assume what I took off were the 3,500 lb. std. equipment.

[TwoFiftyShifter]

Very cool indeed. Tough truck!

[Big Port Jimmy 6]

Do you do anything interesting with the ends or are they firewood? Jay

[flashed]

That is a nice looking truck ,tell and show us more about it .

[Alex V.]

Nope, just firewood. This is the first load of them I've gotten, but they're green so cut/stack is going to be necessary before they burn real well. For $10 a truckload it's cheap enough I'll stack some up and dry it!

Thanks flashed. My dad bought it for me from a friend for $2,000 when I was 17 - it had 77,000 mi. then and was in exceptional cosmetic condition, having come from AZ. Now it has 123K on and needs repainted + minimal rust repair, but it's obviously very effective at hauling. 454/TH400 with a FF 14-bolt (4.10's), hydroboost brakes, power steering/windows/locks, A/C, and AM/FM. White on blue. Because I haul bulk goods or tow a car, etc. at least a few times a year, it has a solid place in my stable purely because of my history with it and what I'd have to spend to replace it with anything better.

Not long after I got it:


Moving from MO to KY 2 yrs. ago - approx. 9,000 lbs. of trailer and cargo, got between 9.5 and 10 MPG.

The heaviest I've ever had it with a trailer was about 17.5K with gravel, but the toughest pull by far was bringing home our 31' camper. Booger only weighs about 6,500 but aerodynamics are something else:

[tucsonjwt]

Looks good. I have a 83 C20 and have maxed out the payload at about 3,000 lbs. (8600 GVWR - 5600 empty weight) but I just have the stock springs and shocks. It was a little low in back but not much. I have a dump conversion on mine, but I can only dump 2,000 lbs., so that is the most I usually carry.

[Pano]

How does it ride empty with those springs? I installed the General spring 2600# springs on my 87 v2500 a couple years ago. They are great but I wonder if I should have put the 1 tons on.


http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=599593

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Pano

How does it ride empty with those springs?

Thats what I was thinking, and why I've always chosen to go helper airbags instead.

[Alex V.]

Tucsonjwt, is it a dump bed conversion or does it utilize the fleetside bed?

The original 3,500's were pretty flat ever since I had it so I can't speak to an accurate comparison, but it's pretty stiff - I dare say my shocks don't do much. The OEM replacement shocks are nearly topped out with these springs so they may have a higher arch than the originals ever did. Not quite like an empty dump truck, but stiffer than any 1/2 or 3/4 ton I've ever ridden in - 300 lbs. is barely detectable, 500 starts to smooth it out, and with that 2,600 in the bed the front suspension is actually a little harsher than the rear, but none of that disconcerting "nose in the air" sway or bob. Bare scale weight (just 160 lb. me and a half tank of gas) was 5,320? and it evened out at 7,900 or 7,920 with the wood, so I have over another 1,000 lbs. before I meet my 9,000 lb. GVW. Braking requires some more effort but is still plenty responsive, and hill climbing requires more throttle input but not as much as towing a full-size car on a 16 ft. trailer. By my volume calculations the wood is right at 2 ranks - with a rack I'm sure a third rank wouldn't put handling and braking down to an uncomfortable level, but I'd stop there for any length trip.

Yeah, it rides stiff and the rear frame/bed flexes as much as the suspension does when it's unloaded, but I can hook up to the heaviest bumper hitch trailer I can find or set anything that'll fit in the bed and not worry about handling or tail-dragging.

[tucsonjwt]

It is a Pierce Wrecker conversion using the stock fleetside bed - it just lifts the bed up and dumps it. The stock bed is welded to the lift cylinder frame. 2000# is all you would want to lift with the stock box - it is just thin sheet metal.

[Alex V.]

Cool! Never seen one. Yes, I've taken care with mine since day one - it looked like all that had ever resided in it was the spare, and I want to have as good a starting point as possible when I go to repaint/restore it.

[tucsonjwt]

There are two suppliers for the dump conversion on the stock bed: Pierce Wrecker and Venco. The Venco is a much better product - heavier duty and has extra reinforcement and a saftey prop tube. The Venco is much more expensive - about $2400, last time I checked, but I think it is also power up/power down. The Pierce one is power up/gravity down and it tends to spit hydraulic fluid out of the air vent on top of the cylinder if you run the cylinder up to the maximum extension - if you keep it a couple of inches shy of full lift it won't spit up.

The Pierce unit is all over Ebay, and is also sold directly from the Pierce facility in Texas. It runs $1400 - $1600 depending on where and when you buy it.

The best dump is a 3500 dually with a purpose fitted heavy metal dump bed - just like a bigger dump truck. That configuration would probably dump 4000# easy, but the bed sides are always short to limit overloading the box (though most I see have wood sideboards added.)

For a serious dump conversion, a slide in dump bed(insert) is best. They have a beefy frame which bolts through the existing bed and operates off a power cord run through the cab and lays on the floor by the driver's seat. Some are low profile so you don't notice you have a dump insert. Truck Craft makes an all aluminum unit which only weighs about 500#. You can add a debris cover and even a salt spreader if you live in the rust belt. I think these are about $6000+, so I have only seen them in municipal fleets (for taking care of small parking lot plowing/salting etc., or for parks departments. You can move an insert from truck to truck, so that is a plus.

The cheap Pierce unit will still lift and dump all of the normal stuff you might load, but will only lift 2000#, so that is only about 1/2 of the total capacity of the box if you are dumping sand, dirt, stone, etc. I have loaded brush, household trash, etc. up to the top of the cab and dumped it no problem. I coated my old bed with Iron Armor from Harbor Freight and then put a drop in Pendaliner over that.