1967 c40 car hauler project (build thread)

[Lblevins]

Well it started with my Nova I looked at airbag trailers and rollbacks and decided I want the best of it all.. I decided a 1967 C40 with a 1ton chassis and air ride was what I needed. I had the 1ton 4dr dually chassis that my dad had bought new and was very well maintained up until the 6.2 let go. I searched craigslist for months until I found the right deal which was the 67 c40. Farmer had it hours away and it hadn't been run in 20years but he said it did run. A friend and I drove over and it had a brake fluid leak tires were rotten and had no fluid in the trans at all but it did run. We filled the brake fluid up and bled them a little and made a 40mph trip which took numerous stops to check brake fluid and look over bearings etc and drove it home with luck on our side. It took a little effort talking another buddy into stopping work at his shop long enough for us to pull and slap the cab onto the 1ton chassis but surprising enough we had to do very little cutting on inner fenders and very front nose of frame and cab sat perfect we put some 4.5" blocks in rear inbetween frame and cab and it sat perfect. Steering column slide right into place and bolted right up. Then the next morning we brought it home. This is the point I am at now. I still need to stretch the frame, build custom 3 link for rearend and get air bags in it, 2600's in front and 4400's in rear. it wont have leafsprings in the rear anymore so it'll be a true air ride and will lay the back low enough small ramps will slide out to load car with. Truck is getting a 5.3 with single s366 ls9 cam kit and th400 and I will be switching to a factory 3.27 rear gear which was offered for this year truck. I wanted 24.5's milled down but after a lot of thought i'm planning to run 22.5's milled to 22's with a little more tire under it so I will have less worry on sidewall problems. Anyway, here it goes.

[Ken B]

The truck is gonna look awesome when done! really digging the Nova and the 70 Chevelle. Here is a pic of my 69..

[sweetk30]

nice build .

p.s. your pics are crazy fuzzy . what ever camera was used needs the lens cleaned or replaced.

[Lblevins]

Originally Posted by Ken B

The truck is gonna look awesome when done! really digging the Nova and the 70 Chevelle. Here is a pic of my 69..

Very nice Chevelle! Yeah I have a lot of classic muscle cars. The gold Nova is my baby though.

[Lblevins]

Originally Posted by sweetk30

nice build .

p.s. your pics are crazy fuzzy . what ever camera was used needs the lens cleaned or replaced.

Yeah the camera on my phone is shot. I have a new phone but its like twice the size of my old one and can't stand having to carry a phone around that doesn't fit in my pocket. lol

[sweetk30]

prob NOT the camera . just the plastic stickon factory face plate . they can be had new cheep off evilbay and such .

mine was that way and I got a new one and its a pop off and stick on swap .

cant wait to see more progress pics tho . big fenders on a little truck look is going to be cool .

[Lblevins]

Ok don't make fun of my crappy windows paint skills.. hahaha This is what I plan to do instead of stretching the frame. go to a solid 63" long rear control arm with 4400 bags over axle and 2600 bags inside of frame as helpers. This moves the rearend 40" further back for my car hauler bed which after the rear wheels will become a dove tail slant on bed.

[Lblevins]

Little update. went with 22.5's and picked them up today.

[Lblevins]

Got the steel and fabbed up the rear control arms. 1.5"x 2.5" 1/4" wall steel. They will bolt up with all the oem stuff minus using a 2"od front bushing. 66" long overall and moves rearend back to make the truck a 203" wheelbase and put the rearend directly under where the rear leaf spring bolts up. Probably going to move the bags to on top of the axle centered in between the frame rails. What do you guys think? I asked several guys and they said the steel will be plenty strong for what i'm doing.

[drew1910]

Looks like a great project. I'm excited to watch this one!

[sweetk30]

maybe add in a stiffener strip on the bottom side of each to help control flex . otherwise its not much different than gm did way back .

are you going to reuse that swaybar stuff in the rear ? if not let me know.

[Lblevins]

Originally Posted by sweetk30

maybe add in a stiffener strip on the bottom side of each to help control flex . otherwise its not much different than gm did way back .

are you going to reuse that swaybar stuff in the rear ? if not let me know.

Yes reusing the sway bar stuff. My original plan was to use a 1x1" piece of angle along the bottom and weld is all the way down but my buddy has this same size steel on his car hauler 1ton he uses for dirt track and he has over 1million miles on them with no problems so far.

[sweetk30]

o.k. if his works then yours should also .

darn it . . .my k30 build could use a sway bar rear . . . . oh well .

[Phillip Pennartz]

Any updates?