Funny things you found out about your truck after you bought it....

[Zone47]

Can I go first?


Well, first of all, backing out of the garage the ignition switch started smoking and so I had to fly out of the truck, grab a wrench and rip the battery cable off. Lucky thing I wasn't out somewhere else, I might have seen the thing go up in flames.

The next thing; after replacing the switch, doing a bunch of work on the exhaust, fixing a transmission leak and installing a proper crossmember, I took it out for a test drive and then the horn decided to come on full blast and keep on beeping regardless of pounding on the button. Yeah Beotches, get outta my way!!!

So I had to pull over and rip the horn wire off. I can't wait to see what happens next. I hope it's nothing to do with the brakes.


ok, I'm done, someone else go ..... and make it good!

[custom10nut]

From the old receipts I found in the truck, I saw that The second owner had the engine rebuilt at 109k miles. Do to dropping two lock washers down the intake, I rebuilt the engine at 159k. The machinist asked me to bring the old bearings to determine a starting point for boring.
When I handed to him, he had this puzzled look on his face. They were factory bearings! Then he checked the cylinders, and they were between .010 and .028 over. I just said wow. Then I showed him the receipt for $2800, that it cost for the "rebuild".
I was fortunate to have an old Drag Racer guide me through my complete rebuild.

[KQQL IT]

The complete hodge podge of 1/2t and 3/4t parts and an unknown dana 60.
Rusty cab, perfect bed.

[weim55]

Five hundred dollars in cash neatly tucked in an envelope and sandwiched in the seat springs. Looked like it had been there for many decades and the old bills proved it.........

Steve weim55 Colorado

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by custom10nut

From the old receipts I found in the truck, I saw that The second owner had the engine rebuilt at 109k miles. Do to dropping two lock washers down the intake, I rebuilt the engine at 159k. The machinist asked me to bring the old bearings to determine a starting point for boring.
When I handed to him, he had this puzzled look on his face. They were factory bearings! Then he checked the cylinders, and they were between .010 and .028 over. I just said wow. Then I showed him the receipt for $2800, that it cost for the "rebuild".
I was fortunate to have an old Drag Racer guide me through my complete rebuild.

That guy got hosed. Though it is common for a dealer's service department to only overbore the affected cylinders, I've seen that before, if it is under warranty. The "rebuilder" of that engine should be taken out and flogged. As a matter of fact, in the state of California, if you are charged for parts that are not installed, you get the entire repair cost refunded. A guy came into a shop I worked at with a transmission oil leak, and a misfire. I repaired the trans cooler lines where the rebuild shop had them rubbing on the frame to where they wore through, and replaced the plugs (which were obviously worn, not recently replaced- the guy had only a few hundred miles on the rebuilt engine). The court looked at the plugs and awarded the guy the cost of the entire rebuild, not just the cost of the plugs. Could have been a billing mistake or a misunderstanding between the mechanic and the person who wrote the repair order, but it ended up pretty painfully for the shop.

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by weim55

Five hundred dollars in cash neatly tucked in an envelope and sandwiched in the seat springs. Looked like it had been there for many decades and the old bills proved it.........

Steve weim55 Colorado

Dam Dude, thats a score!

Funny things on mine, there were a ton. The stupid carpets glued to the vent sheet metal should have given me a sign. Glad I ripped those soaking wet things out immediately.

[Ironangel]

Originally Posted by weim55

Five hundred dollars in cash neatly tucked in an envelope and sandwiched in the seat springs. Looked like it had been there for many decades and the old bills proved it.........

Steve weim55 Colorado

Wow! Bet theres a doozy of a story behind that envelope! It always fascinated me that my 72's have fibre optic lighting for the gear selector window. "Mini-Heads-Up display" Cutting edge technology in 1972! I also like the straight forward thinking behind one key, cant lock them in the truck, give that engineer a star!

[GR8-68]

I bought mine at night and after getting it home in the daylight I realized under the pretty orange shag carpet was a fiberglass floor and rockers

[Ken B]

Sounds simple enough but it was only a week after I bought my truck that I had to replace the ignition switch. Now, for whatever silly stupid reason I took the one and only original ignition key that was in this little leather snap pouch and chucked it into the wood pile about 100 feet from where I was working.. It was months later while reading my owners manual that I learned the ignition key also opens and locks the doors! I said to myself you stupid mother@&*%^*&)*! I actually went out in my garage and started looking everywhere for that key forgetting I chucked it into the woods. Well, wouldn't you know it that about a year later while getting some wood for the stove with a foot of snow on the ground I come across this little leather snap pouch with one GM key inside! Long story short, I can now lock my doors!

[flykelley]

The lady I bought it from had a dash plaque with her nickname. Chubs69!
I still laugh about that one.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Ironangel

Wow! Bet theres a doozy of a story behind that envelope! It always fascinated me that my 72's have fibre optic lighting for the gear selector window. "Mini-Heads-Up display" Cutting edge technology in 1972! I also like the straight forward thinking behind one key, cant lock them in the truck, give that engineer a star!

I didn't find out about the single key until several months after I bought the truck. When I bought it I asked, Do you have the door key? He said, No I must have lost it. Funny thing is, I bought my truck from a guy who has been flipping C10s for many years, so he apparently didn't know about the single key either!

[joecaruso]

The engine in my truck always had a "tick" since I bought it. Last summer I finally pulled the valve covers to check the valve adjustment and I find a socket extension under the valve cover. Removed it and the "tick" was gone. It did not appear to do any damage and I can only guess how long it spent under there.

[ohboy321]

After purchasing my "67" SB K10 stepside, I discovered that the engine is a 66, the frame/drive train is 70, and the fenders are 68.

Thanks to this forum I now know all the necessary details about all of those parts, but at the time of purchase I had no idea. What a difference a year makes.

[Swar]

This thread is great... where do I begin?

My '71 came with all the original paperwork. It was purchased new in Monticello, NY by a Ruth DeGroot. lol
Original short bed, but the frame was cut behind the second bed mounts and a new? frame welded back on.
Bondo literally everywhere. Inside the engine compartment, inside the cab, inside the bed. wtf?
Cab mounts were shot. In fact, the rad support was not even attached to the frame. Took me quite awhile to realize lol I was 16 and it was my first car.

[OregonNed]

I bought mine from a 91 year old gentleman and wondered why there was an explicit rap type CD in the stereo.

[BILT4ME]

Our 70 GMC K2500 Had hundreds of whole walnut shells in the front fender wells, inside the heater core, in the cab, on the intake manifold, and in every nook and cranny they would fit. This truck lived under a walnut tree for 25-ish years and the squirrels were hiding things away for those cold days..........

The nut meat and hulls were all gone from all of them, so not much left to rot (fortunately!)

[leftybass209]

The bearing races on the passengers front wheel drum were welded to the spindle from heat. Nothing was holding that front wheel on except for the weight of the truck and friction from a few components. The spindle nut wasn't really holding anything together. It's a miracle the guy didn't kill himself or lose a wheel at speed.

Other fun things.... cylinder heads had 2 cracks each, all 8 cylinders were leaking oil, 5 cylinders didn't have seals on the valves. Opened it up, and the cylinders still had prominent cross-hatching, and there was no detectable lip on any cylinder.

Oh, and the brake fluid was jelly. This was the guys "daily driver".

[LS short box]

This was the bed floor in my truck when I purchased it.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I've been lucky. My C10 was all original (including paint) with the interior hacked up for stereo & speakers. It had been in a minor wreck before (probably a deer as there was zero frame damage) and had a multi colored front clip on it when I bought it.

I guess the only "funny" thing was that it had one of those huge steel dealer bumpers on the back that said "Brownsville, TX" stamped on it (my last name is Brown). Wish I would have kept it. It's probably a Kia or toaster. I googled it and there is still a Chevrolet dealership there. Not sure if that's where my truck actually came from or not, but pretty cool.

My only other experience was with a 65 mustang and it has been nothing but a pleasant surprise. Someone spent A LOT of money to keep it as original as possible so I could modify the hell out of it

[dfwright]

Not very exciting perhaps, but I was surprised to find that my grandfather had apparently crunched up the passenger rear bedside at some point. None of the rest of the family had any idea.

The body shop he took it to really laid the bondo on.

[demian5]

Intake gasket cross over section was blown, leaking exhaust into the engine. - Replaced gaskets.
Header collectors were cracked. - New headers
Heater core leaked. - New heater core
Motor mounts were cracked. - replaced when headers were out.
Tach was there but wires were never ran. - Ran wires
Dash was covered in padded material, removed material to find two 4x6 speakers holes were cut into the dash and covered with aluminum can. - Covered again but looks much better.
Windshield leaked at passenger upper corner (seal was recently replaced). - Sealed up.
Carrier bearing broken from frame - replaced

The icing on the cake. - I bought a GMC, but on the title says Chevrolet.

[weq92f]

Took the PO to the bank and got him a Money Order for the cash and we swapped check for truck + title and I wrote a bill of sale we both signed.


10 minutes after that I headed home in the truck ( 9 hour drive starting at just before dusk in new mexico, headed to Dallas ).

In order of discovery...

A/C works really good
head lights work
dash lights work
heater works, but not hot enough!
Fuel gauge appears to work
gas guzzler + small tank + long highway = be careful not to run out
gas pedal needs it's position adjusted/moved ( way too uncomfortable for long highway )
radio is useless at speed ( too much road/wind noise to hear much else! )
power, 1-piece windows are pretty much useless too.
Need to add cruise control so I don't have to mess with the pedal on long highway.


next day discoveries after getting home:

A/C broke on long highway ( compressor pulley bearing failed which allowed the pulley to eat into coil and eventually cause the clutch and coil to fail, and also the shaft seal failed allowing R134a to escape ).
Lucky to have made it home the night before!

Had spare tire and jack but no way to remove lug nuts!
Didn't have any safety/survival gear and it was D@mn cold out there!
Lucky I didn't die in the desert!


-klb

[Doug's68SS]

My 68 LWB had a cheap repaint when I bought it and after driving it for several years it became apparent there was bondo on the passenger side bed. I decided to see what was up with it and started removing the bondo to find the truck had been shot with some Buckshot. no holes all the way through but it sure stretched the metal.
2. later it became a fun fact that I had only paid $350 for the truck when I got it. several years later when my daughters date for prom had his car break down she wanted to take my truck. so she did wearing a $650 dollar dress her grandmother had bought for her.

[AJC]

I found a piece of 1" key stock about 3" long just sitting between the transfer case and cross member. The edges are all cleaned up and have know idia what it was for. I do know that clunk noise is gone.

[DarkFlounder]

I've been daily driving her for over two years, only to find the front axle pinion oil seal was gone and the front axle was bone dry. Thankfully, never had to use the 4wd.