1964 c10 long narrow/step bed

[88k5jimmy]

I have been wanting a 64-66 c10 for years with full air ride and to lay frame. I started my search strictly for a short bed but was open to either bed style. Years of searching only revealed "I'm going to fix that one day" or overpriced swiss cheese paperweights. I knew I was not going to use 90% of the c10 I purchased, so I did not want to spend a lot of money on something I was going to junk anyway. Since I knew I was going to go full air ride and lay frame, I knew I needed to find a high hump transmission cab if at all possible. A random day on Craigslist found a 1964 c10 long narrow/step bed. This combination was not my first choice but it had the high hump transmission cover and the price was too good to pass up. On top of that, when I tell people my project, they automatically assume a short wide but they question the existence of a long narrow/step with "I don't think I've ever seen one of those". To which I reply.."exactly". The day I brought the c10 home:




The tear down began, stripping everything and tossing what I wasn't going to use:



Typical rust:


The frame was junk slowe made a cab dolly out of the old frame and proceeded to use a different frame (also pictured is a cab lift jig I made from a thread on here):



Some pics of the extent of the rust. I've ordered all new patch panels and ran braces to the factory hinge/jam to keep the cab straight (hopefully):

[88k5jimmy]

Since I cannot weld, I was either forced to utilize all bolt on suspension components or have someone build my chassis for me. I wanted to be the builder of my own project, so I went with GSI front suspension and Porterbuilt rear suspension. The GSI front suspension went together relatively pain free, just the minor tweaks here and there. The rear suspension has been a little more difficult and time consuming due to one issue coming up from solving another. The rear is for the most part mocked up. I have been in contact with Nate over at Porterbuilt with the issues that have arose. To his knowledge, I'm the first that is bagging a long narrow/step bed and there will be some issues that come up because of that.

Rear suspension fully mocked, just need some tweaks once I get the bed panels on:



Front suspension mocked up:



I did have a mock up 5.3 and 4l60e in the frame rails for the front suspension mock up. Just like the Porterbuilt front dropmember, the GSI utilizes a rack and pinion steering with a couple joints to get from the rack to the steering column output shaft.

[88k5jimmy]

It's been difficult to determine the maximum overall tire diameter the step bed will allow but I've read it's 28". I was able to find some original 6 lug 15" steel wheels from the 60's, however after I converted the front to 6 lug disk, the backspacing would not allow the wheel to clear the front caliper. From there I found some 70's 6 lug 15" steel wheels and they clear the caliper. I am using a 215/75/r15 tire for mock up (they were on the wheels already) and that tire with the weight on the truck equals to about 26.5", which does not allow my rear suspension to have enough up travel because it's designed for a 30" tall tire. I also needed to see if the bed sides were going to need to be clearanced for possible tire interference. I attempted to utilize my stock bedsides but after removal of the rusted angle strips, there were pin holes and swiss cheese all behind where the angle strips were. I put the numbers to fixing the rust and straightening out the stock bedsides and I was going to be money ahead to buy new bedsides from Mar-K and since they are located an hour and half away from me, it was a pretty clear decision. The entire bed will be all new sheet metal minus the cross sills I will still be able to use, which is three, possibly four. I got the bed mocked up and on the frame, all to cycle the rear suspension. When trying to lay out the rear suspension, the bed side contacted the axle tube before the frame was on the ground. I wanted to make a nice clean clearance around the axle tube so I drew up this template in ACAD at my second job and was able to use a grinder with a cut off wheel and hack saw blade in order to made the radiased cut around the axle tube:

[88k5jimmy]

Ordered the 63-72 c10 fuel tank from Boyd Welding on their black Friday sale. I knew I was going to remove the factory crossmember somebody had torched to fit a receiver hitch, so I got a GSI rear crossmember to replace it at the end of the frame. Removed the old crossmember and dropped the fuel tank in between the frame rails to get an idea of what it would look like. I also had to remove the cross sill closest to the back of the notch. I would like to keep that cross sill, so I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do there:





With the bed mods done and the wheels and tires on for mock up, I was finally able to cycle the suspension as a whole. This is with the frame fully laid out:

[Grizz1963]

Nice.

That's a lot of work.

Look forward to loads of reports and pics.

[ryanv70c10]

Nice looking build. The long bed will make it appear lower. Why was the frame junk?

[mehoff400]

following!!

[88k5jimmy]

Originally Posted by ryanv70c10

Nice looking build. The long bed will make it appear lower. Why was the frame junk?

The front frame horns had been cut off and there were several other previous owner modifications.

[88k5jimmy]

Very minor/major update depending on how you look at it. For mock up wheels and tires I'm using a 215/75R15 tire on a factory GM 15x6 steel wheel. They've worked out so far in order to cycle the suspension and let me work out some bugs there. I've all along wanted to go with the 20" Detroit steel wheels. However, as stated in my first post it's been difficult to determine exactly how tall of a tire I can use and still keep the tire inside the step fender, without having to mini tub the inner bed panel because I just don't want to mini tub. I've been told a 28" tall tire will fit when laid out and not perform any inner bed panel mods. I received some specs from Detroit steel wheels and they stated the 20x8 wheel I want, is 8" from bead mount to bead mount and 9" overall lip to lip. So I planned for a 28" tall tire (because that's what I've been told fits) and a tire with a tread section of 9.6", which is the width that equated to a 28" tall tire. The 215/75R15 equates to 26.5" with the weight of the truck and tread section of 8.5" Therefore I made a mock up 28" tall x 9.6" wide tire and stuck them in the fender and then laid the suspension out. I cut a piece of plywood 28" in diameter and then used chip board at 9.6" to make the tire/where sidewall meets the tread. The smaller the sidewall, the more square the tire is where the tread meets the sidewall. The more sidewall, the sidewall angles/rounds where the tread meets the sidewall. With the truck laid out, I did not have any clearance issues with the tire contacting the inner bed panel or the lip of the fender but 28" was too tall. The chip board was folded down/contacting the inner fender at the top of the tire. So my next step is to see if a 27" tall tire will clear when laid out.

[fredhlynch2]

Here is my stepside with 20" Detroit Steel Wheels. Nine (9)" wide rear with max offset. They just barely fit and I did have to cut the inner bed (radius) and carefully roll the inner fender lip a 1/2" but they fit. I'm trying to figure out if I want a 1/2 inch mini-tub. I measured and then measured again and again before ordering. I should have used 8" front and rear and I would have been good.

Sorry for the poor quality pic.

[88k5jimmy]

Originally Posted by fredhlynch2

Here is my stepside with 20" Detroit Steel Wheels. Nine (9)" wide rear with max offset. They just barely fit and I did have to cut the inner bed (radius) and carefully roll the inner fender lip a 1/2" but they fit. I'm trying to figure out if I want a 1/2 inch mini-tub. I measured and then measured again and again before ordering. I should have used 8" front and rear and I would have been good.

Sorry for the poor quality pic.

Thanks. What is your tire size though? I didn't have a problem fitting the 8" (bead to bead) 9" overall mock up template, it's the overall tire height and section width of the tire that was contacting the step fender when laid out. That was also with the wheel in between the inner bed panel and the step fender lip, without clearancing the inner bed panel. You also clearanced the inner bed panel to allow the wheel to stick through the bed panel and I don't want to do that.

Also, this may be a dumb question but does your rear suspension have enough lift in order to remove the rear tire/wheel since the step fender opening is pretty low? I still have to fine tune my suspension but something I noticed while doing my mock up.

[88k5jimmy]

Minor update. After researching everyplace I could find online for replacement long steps, Classic Industries had them on their website and they were even running a good special so I bought both steps (mine have major rust pitting and the drivers is tweaked), step support brackets and cab splash guards. Pulled the new drivers step out of the box and already knew they weren't long enough. Called Classic and they stated they have ran into that problem before. Apparently there are two lengths of long steps. I always assumed I would have to by two short steps and make a long out of both and looks like I'll have to do the same with these. Still waiting for a call back from Classic regarding if they have the longer steps. Moved onto the Boyd Welding fuel tank for install mockup. Got it installed but had to remove one of the cross sills. Think I have a solution for that in the works still using a factory cross sill.

[tinydb84]

Looks good. I am not usually a fan of step sides but when they are laid out I love them.

[88k5jimmy]

Realized it's been a while since I've posted. I got my steering shaft support tab welded up to the control arm/upper bag mount. Also spent a little more time figuring out the best wheel/tire combo for the front and rear. Planning on 18x8 Mobsteel wheels with a 225/55r18 tire. That size tire should keep me from having to mini tub the rear and still provide adequate articulation at ride height before contacting the inner bed panel.

[mehoff400]

dig the build.... following!

[88k5jimmy]

My 64 long step had a factory spare carrier between the cab and fender. I was beginning to wonder if mine was factory because all I saw was the spare tire in the fender cut out, even on the long step, however I have been seeing a few lately in the same location as mine. Mine was pretty mangled so I had a local shop make an exact replica, only offset from the fender a little more to accommodate the extra backspacing of the wheels I'm going to run. Hopefully I measured right.

[Hop]

Originally Posted by 88k5jimmy

My 64 long step had a factory spare carrier between the cab and fender. I was beginning to wonder if mine was factory because all I saw was the spare tire in the fender cut out, even on the long step, however I have been seeing a few lately in the same location as mine. Mine was pretty mangled so I had a local shop make an exact replica, only offset from the fender a little more to accommodate the extra backspacing of the wheels I'm going to run. Hopefully I measured right.

Impressive. Can't wait to see the final product

[88k5jimmy]

Picked up this beauty the other day. It's in better shape than the two 63-66 hoods I have and has no through rust.

[88k5jimmy]

I got the wood cut, a couple gas struts and a bunch of mounting hardware and decided to give it a shot. This what I've got so far. The gas struts are rated at 50lb force each. I took an old cotton scale and held the tilt portion of the bed up at the desired angle and took a reading. It said 80lbs so I figured 100lbs total should lift it up. When the floor is closed the gas struts are horizontal.

When I try to open, its very hard and no assistance is provided by the struts. Once the floor gets going vertically, the struts take over and help raise the floor to the extended length. I'm wondering if I need to mount the struts at an angle when it is closed in order for the struts to assist in lifting from the very beginning? Maybe I need a higher rated force strut?

[88k5jimmy]

It's been a little since i posted but I ended up re-configuring the location of the gas struts. I turned them the other direction to more mimic a tonneau cover and also got a little stronger rated gas strut. With those two changes the cover opens and closes with ease. I also mounted the spare tire carrier to the bedside. I still need to fab a support on the inside of the bed panel for extra support but that shouldn't be too difficult.

[allytle]

The drool is heavy on this one.

[88k5jimmy]

Sorry it's been a while since I posted but I've been busy with roof/cab repairs which included finding another cab because after I pulled the outer roof skin on mine, I confirmed what I suspected. Rust in the a-pillars, door frame pieces above the door and inner roof skin/headliner. So the cab hunt began but luckily I found one local. Ironically it had better roof pieces but the floor was in way worse shape than mine so the dismantling of the a-pillars and inner roof pieces began. After removal, I had them blasted and did the required rust repair.