Custom 1987 GMC Crew Cab Short Bed

[mrhino]

looks nice and clean, great job!

[oldblue1968chevy]

Woah, found my dream truck! Thats AWESOME

[savatreatabvr]

Nice truck, cool video and *****en song!

Originally Posted by OYMC

Me too, to both statements...

I have a few ideas and will share them as they materialize. One thing is for sure, I cannot use the rear seat frame. My wife sat in the seat and she had about 6" of head clearance.
She told me that, "Oh well this will work".
I responded by telling her that not everyone is only 5 feet tall, and I'd have to lower the seat down a minimum of 3-4 inches.

All in all I'm excited to get back to work on this beast!

Here is a link to the first custom built turbo charged diesel land cruiser my shop has produced, and my main reason for not having time to work on my crew cab:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AeiC2PrxHI

STAY TUNED!

[OYMC]

This is a little off topic but the roller axles that were under the crew cab: Dana 44 8 lug front, and corp 14 FF rear are going under my 55' GMC..

When I bought the 55' GMC the guy who owned it tried to do a 4X4 conversion and failed miserably.... The front wheels were hitting the trailing edge of the front fenders when bought wheels were facing forward, the engine was installed about 6" to far forward on the frame rails which caused him to cut and twist his radiator core support forward to make clearance for the fan, and lastly there were 12" Sub speaker holes cut in each door panel!

Don't get me wrong, I encourage wannabe fabricators to get in there a get your hands dirty! On the other hand, please do not attempt to fabricate safety related tasks such as chassis, suspension, or drive train alterations! I've got a family and if your lack of ability causes harm to them your a$$ is Grass!

Anyway... Here are a few photos of my repaired front suspension 55' with the dana 44 front axle just installed.... Plans for a cummins and NV4500 are in store for the 55'... Will post build thread after crew cab is built..

[OYMC]

In for lunch and figured I show a few progress photos of the rear axle..

Axle housing stripped and ready for new perches. I tend to metal finish the casing of the third member and brake calipers. This does absolutely nothing but give the axle a nice clean finished look.

[1985-GMC]

Everything looks great! That 55 gmc is sweet also, Id like to build a 55-57 long bed 4x4 someday.

[hick]

OYMC and Mr. Hino... Nice jobs on the seats, i'll be watching this VERY closely

In your guys opinion, do you think you could install the same bucket seats from the front in the back? Kind of like King Ranch package you could get in the fords?

Would there be enough leg room and such? Granted the seats wouldn't have reclining abilities but I would prefer bucket back there... Just don't want to spend the money on seats to find out they don't work...

The back seat though looks A LOT better then i thought it would be... Nice job

[OYMC]

The day is done... I snapped a few more photos that I thought you guys / gals might like to see...

I do not have a lift but I do have the next best thing... A FORK LIFT BABY!
Where would I be with out her?

I decided not to build my rear spring perches until I put the motor in. I want to be sure that the rear sits exactly where I want it after the front end drops from the weight of the engine.

Back to work on cruisers tomorrow but hope to be back on the crew cab next weekend... Enjoy your week everyone!

[OYMC]

Originally Posted by hick

OYMC and Mr. Hino... Nice jobs on the seats, i'll be watching this VERY closely

In your guys opinion, do you think you could install the same bucket seats from the front in the back? Kind of like King Ranch package you could get in the fords?

Would there be enough leg room and such? Granted the seats wouldn't have reclining abilities but I would prefer bucket back there... Just don't want to spend the money on seats to find out they don't work...

The back seat though looks A LOT better then i thought it would be... Nice job

Hick,
The main issue that you will run into is head room. The later model buckets sit a lot higher do to all the mechanics of the power adjustments under the seat. I have not set up my front seat mounts yet, but to do so I am going to cut out the bulge in the floor so that the seats will sit low enough.

For the rear to work you will have to drop the floor down but if you have saddle tanks which is why the floor sits so high to begin with you will have to remove the saddle tanks and replace with an alternative fuel cell....

I love the idea, but it's going to take some work to make it happen... FAB ON!

[hick]

Urgh... Thats not what i wanted to hear... But thank you. I will settle for the bench in the back then

[Dustinmk4]

Just found this thread nice work. You freaking WyoTech guys think you can do anything don't you ha ha I know I am one graduated in 2005. Unlike yourself I hate doing what I went to school for as a job so it's just a hobby now. I'm doing a build a lot like yours but this country boy likes the long bed. Keep up the good work!

[OYMC]

hi

[LOW DOUGH]

Cool project!
Posted via Mobile Device

[oldblue1968chevy]

awesomeness

[Gordonr1973]

First time I saw your thread....very cool w/ lots of info!!

[OYMC]

Well, I bought a set of wheels today. The guy who I was going to buy the 18X12 welds feel through so I ended up in Redding, CA where I bought (4) 17X9 4.5" back space CenterLine Vectors. They are pretty clean and the price was right.

I plan on running a 35X12.50 to 35X14.50 M/T style tire. I like to old BFG M/T tires with the white lettering. They give it that vintage 80's look...

The tires that are pictured are 32" tall X 10.50 wide. They are BFG A/T tires and they're extremely bald....

What do you think?

[Your41Plague12]

With that much lift I'd run 37's, other than that I say go for it! I agree on the white letters, I like the period correct look. I thought about getting a white paint pen and making the letters on my tires white.

[ghettoluxury]

They give it that classic look.

[OYMC]

Originally Posted by Your41Plague12

With that much lift I'd run 37's, other than that I say go for it! I agree on the white letters, I like the period correct look. I thought about getting a white paint pen and making the letters on my tires white.

You have to keep in mind that I haven't installed the Cummins yet. I'm not sure how much it's going to drop but I'll bet at least 2"-4". I think 35's will give me plenty of clearance in the wheel well yet fill it well enough to not give it that pizza cutter look. I'd really like to run 38's or bigger but I've have two little boys and a wife to consider...

[cochino12]

I like the wheels

[1985-GMC]

The wheels aren't half bad but i still like my wide steel wheels & caps. Id have to agree though about the 37" or bigger tires. And I'll bet ya its only going to drop about 2" with the cummins, unless those are ez ride springs?

[OYMC]

I came across this truck a while back which is along the lines of how I envision the Crew Cabs ride height.... This trucks tires look like 35 BFG's which looks pretty good...

[1985-GMC]

Yeah that looks sweet, my gmc will be going back with the original paint scheme just like that but the original dark blue (see my build thread), and my new to me today CC dually (to be 4x4 dually cummins) will be the same also.

[1774btcrew]

Originally Posted by hick

Urgh... Thats not what i wanted to hear... But thank you. I will settle for the bench in the back then

You don't actually have to use the Chevy truck or Tahoe buckets if you want that style rear buckets. The mid 1990s Cadillacs have seat that look almost the same and they sit much lower. That is actually what I am in the process of installing in the front of my crewcab. Just a thought

[STOCKISH]

Originally Posted by 1774btcrew

You don't actually have to use the Chevy truck or Tahoe buckets if you want that style rear buckets. The mid 1990s Cadillacs have seat that look almost the same and they sit much lower. That is actually what I am in the process of installing in the front of my crewcab. Just a thought

Any pics of these seats you are installing? Progress on the install?