Re: here's my truck 65 c20 UPDATE 9/12/11
 

This weekend i finaly got a c20 1990 rear axle, i cut and welded the new spring pocket to the new axle and placed it into the truck. Here is a photo of that, now it out and going to the powder coaters.

Re: here's my truck 65 c20 UPDATE 9/12/11
 

Great Job - Panhard bar and all.

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Nice job, looking great !!

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Interesting.......I've not seen a Dana 60 in a 3/4 ton truck in that year range. That didn't come out of a G20 van did it?

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

I was told that it is a Dana 70 and it came out of a 1990 1 ton truck.

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Im looking for some bumber horns to put on my truck can anyone tell me where I should look for them? like the ones in this drawing or something like them.:chevy:

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Oh ok, the Dana 60 and Dana 70 covers are the same. I was thinking it was a Dana 60 because you said it was from a C20.



I believe those bumper guards are available from most of the truck restoration suppliers, such as Classic Parts.

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

to be honest Im not sure what axle it is, this is what the cl add said,

Dana 70 rear end differential, complete drum to drum, 3.73 gears
came out of a 1990 GMC 1 ton truck, single rear wheel, 8 lug

so I must believe that it is what he said it was. I have looked it up on line and it appears to be a dana 70, the great thing is there are disk brakes for it so I will be upgrading them too at a later date.


here is the artical I found on how to convert the axle to disc brakes. has anyone done this before? is a easy as it looks?


Really Good Read Here!

Publish date: Mar 1, 2005
By: David Dennehey
Source: Toyota at Off-Road.com
Dana 70 Disc Brake Swap - Trucks 4x4 @ Off-Road.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First lets ask the question, why a Dana 70? What about the more commonly available and cheaper 14 Bolt rear end? Well, in my case, the price was right, it was rebuilt, had the right gears and was the right width. On first glance, many would not be able to tell the difference between a 14 Bolt and a Dana 70. Same size ring gear, generally around the same width, come under heavy duty trucks, and so on. But there is more than meets the eye.

Some Specifications and Facts on the 14 Bolt:
• Max gearing is 5.13:1
• Very limited locker selection
• 1.5 30 Spline Shafts
• Max Torque Rating: 6242 Lb-Ft of Torque
• Cast Iron Housing
Some Specifications on the Dana 70:
• Max gearing is a massive 7.17:1
• Excellent Locker Selection
• 1.5” 35 Spline Shafts
• Max Torque Rating: 8,000 lb-ft or 8,800 lb-ft for the HD
• Nodular Iron Housing
The two most significant of those are the gearing and torque ratings. You can gear a Dana 70 45% higher, and it is about 30% stronger than a 14 Bolt. Also to be noted is the different housings, nodular iron is much stronger (Ford fans know of the famed N marking on a 9” housing). It is also easier to weld to if you are doing an upper 4 link mount on the housing.

As for cost; a 14 Bolt is generally dirt cheap due to its availability. I picked up my Dana 70, rebuilt, in great shape, no rust, grease marks still on the gears, and shipped from Texas to CA for 300$. Not bad.

The drums on a Dana 70 are massive. I asked the seller to remove them so shipping costs would be cheaper (FYI; Final shipping weight was 298 pounds). With the drums gone I decided to do a disk brake swap.

First you’ll have to remove the axle shaft. Simply take off the bolts that go into the hub and slide out the shaft. These are torqued VERY tightly, if it’s not on a vehicle, you will have to rig up a way to hold the pinion down, or get a heavy friend to help. (Some of my studs were already removed a while back when I was planning this)

Next you’ll have to pull off the hub from the axle. Do this by using your fancy hub tool to take off the nut. Or, just use a chisel (When tightening it back down, I recommend getting the tool to set proper preload).

I picked up some disk brake brackets from Great Lake Off road for about 55$ shipped. Upon getting them and all the other parts I learned I needed some spacers to position the caliper correctly.


Next came the expensive part. All Rotors and calipers came off a 1977 K20 front axle. They are commonly available at any auto parts store. I highly suggest just getting a set of loaded calipers. I got mine for $44, and you’ll have to eat the 20$ core charge. They come with the caliper pins (which run about 8$ a pop!) pads and the caliper itself. This is much cheaper than piecing it together. Brake Rotors ran me $45 each (No core charge). Total was somewhere around $220. Now came the fun!

First was the job of painstakingly pounding out all the studs.



Next, put the rotor on the back of the hub, and pound the studs back through. This is not as easy as removing them since the holes on the rotor are not splined like the studs and hub.



When you are done; it will look like this



Now reinstall the hub and rotor back onto the axle; Using your 35$ socket. Or not (I chose not since this will not be run for a long while)



Here is the caliper, out of the box and ready to go with all required parts



Now remove the pins from the caliper, slide it over the rotor, line up with the holes on your bracket, and bolt it up. Hopefully you’ve gotten any necessary spacers, and everything lines up well, like this.



Now repeat for the other side, and you have a disk brake equipped Dana 70 axle. Disk brakes are lighter, more compact, easier to maintain and actually work when wet. This is no doubt an excellent upgrade.

Before I called it a day, I had to make sure my wheels of choice fit on it (Of course I was pretty sure, but nothing beats seeing it on there!)



What you see is a stock Hummer rim, 16.5” wheel with 7” of Backspacing, with plenty of clearance. A 16” wheel would also probably be fine. 15” wheels have been run, but you would likely have to grind down the outside of the caliper, which seems like a poor idea to me.

In hindsight I would recommend painting the caliper. I thought it just had a gunmetal finish, but it was bare metal and now needs some wire wheel action.

So there you have it, under 300$ for some high quality disk brakes! It will surely have no problem stopping any size tire the Dana 70 can hold onto.

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Also I would like to crimp the drip edge on the top of my cab, here are some photos I found on this web site, has anyone done this and is there anything I should look out for when I do it too mine?

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

My concern with a 1990 vintage rear end would be it being too wide for these older trucks. I do know that the '88-'98 pickup 1/2 ton rear ends are about 4" wider than the '63-'70 1/2 ton rear ends. I assume you did check that out? The Dana rear ends have the series number in the casting at the lower left or right of the cover.

Yes upgrading the full floater rear ends to disc brakes is very common among the off road crowd. There are a few places to purchase the caliper brackets for doing so. Keep in mind that your master cylinder and proportioning valve will need to be changed when converting from disc/drums to disc/disc's

Shaving the drip rail has been done by a few members here. The cab in those pics is Strodders, cab. If I remember correctly he showed some step by step pics in his build thread. That is located in the 'Projects and Builds' section here....http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboa...d.php?t=327644

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

[QUOTE=Captainfab;4903514]My concern with a 1990 vintage rear end would be it being too wide for these older trucks. I do know that the '88-'98 pickup 1/2 ton rear ends are about 4" wider than the '63-'70 1/2 ton rear ends. I assume you did check that out? The Dana rear ends have the series number in the casting at the lower left or right of the cover.

Yes upgrading the full floater rear ends to disc brakes is very common among the off road crowd. There are a few places to purchase the caliper brackets for doing so. Keep in mind that your master cylinder and proportioning valve will need to be changed when converting from disc/drums to disc/disc's

Shaving the drip rail has been done by a few members here. The cab in those pics is Strodders, cab. If I remember correctly he showed some step by step pics in his build thread. That is located in the 'Projects and Builds' section here....http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboa...d.php?t=327644[/QUOTE

Thank you for the help I will check that out.
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Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Does anyone have assemblies drawings for the a arms.
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Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

I've got a quick question for you Cap.,
I'm swappin my BB V-6 (305E) for another one...(351E)....and also losing the SM420 for a TH400.
In my case, I'm working on a K1000 instead of a C series.
I'll be sliding the engine & tranny into it tomorrow....I think.
I have a good auto tranny cross member and it looks like everything will clear the manual cross member, albeit close.
It looks like in my case....(rear of the front leaf spring hangers) the original cross member is a lot more important structurally.
I was thinkin I'd leave it.......as I can't tell for sure if there are any clearance issues 'till I actually get her in there.
Your thoughts.....?

PS: If you have no thoughts on this one.....I'll let you know how it goes after I find out myself.

BTW....Budman.....
That thing just sparkles....I love it.

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

I agree with your thinking that the bellhousing crossmember adds support to the rear/front spring hangers. While this certainly sounds like a good thing, the later model K series trucks that came from the factory with an auto trans did not have that crossmember, which did not seem to have any adverse affects. When I get around to building my 4x4 Suburban, I will not have that crossmember in there. IMO it is just in the way for access to bolting up the torque converter, and running the exhaust.

Re: here's my truck 65 c20 Update 9/18/11
 

Finally got my baby to a roller, got my front disc brake kit install and the rear axle powder coated and installed. Im just a little closer to having her running..

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

That is going to be a really cool 8-Lugger.
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Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

what the later 4 x 4's had in place was a complete crossmember that went under where the eng mounts go. as I pulled my detroit out I needed to find v8 eng perches for a 4 x 4. not easy to find so I went to a 67 setup
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/2682/dscn1706.jpg
By rondavid at 2009-03-04
when you remove that b/housing crossmember.in the 63-66 4 x 4 you have nothing between the trans rear crossmember and the frt bumper except for that little one for the bottom rad mount. not much is there. your just asking for a cracked frame at the steering box esp if you are running wide tires there.
ron

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Wouldn't a '63 GMC K1000 have that formed pipe crossmember just forward of the motor mounts?

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

the early gmc's had that , but I believe that it went under the frt pulley area ,mount was either forward or rearward depending I6 or v6. think that they were also welded in. the one that I showed just bolts in
ron

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Budman....
I apologize for gettin' so far off track....I'll respond one more time on your thread....then take this mess over to my thread.
BTW....I haven't seen a " re-assembly " look as wonderful as your rig.
I've never even seen a " Revell " model build that looks that good.....

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Ok, fellers....
Here is a few pic's of my frame ....
The way it looks to me is like I should find a way to keep the cross-member....as that is the only cross member between the trsfr case c/m and the radiator mount.
I hope these pic's show what I'm babbling about.
If you don't mind....could you answer me on my thread...?
Sorry 'bout that Budman.

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

I have no problem with you posting here. This it the way I learn new things.who knows I might want to do a truck like yours some day.
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Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Les I would make it so that it is removable; bolts instead of rivets. makes a lot easier than to remove the a/trans if you ever have to. it should clear on the bottom ok and you have no need for any insulators there
.you will have to remove it for the installation anyway as it won't fit(a/t) through there without one hell of a battle
ron

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Update

here is what i was able to accomplish over the thanks giving weekend, had cab sand blasted, primered cab, install front clip, started installation of wire harness.

Re: here's my truck 65 c20
 

Here are more photos