'77 3+3 C30 Dually - "The "Sled"

[JCampbell]

Been pluggin away...slowly.

Pulled the frame in the garage and started stripping it down. Lopped off a bunch of misc bracketry like overload perches, spare tire hangers, etc. Getting ready for paint. Snapped a few pics along the way.





The rear suspension will be pulled as an assembly (I'll just unbolt it from the frame at the hangers/shackles). think I'm gonna pull the front x-member the same way-might be easier than trying to break down the entire front suspension. Still have to remove the brake and fuel lines, but it's getting close.

[ghettoluxury]

Nice to see your still at it campy!

[SCOTI]

I've read your thread on DS (I just lurk over there). I believe you went w/the Western Chassis flip kit? Did the rear pumpkin hit the bed floor?

[JCampbell]

Well, yes and no.

In addition to the WC flip, I also ran drop shackles. When I initially set up the rear suspension, I bolted the leafs up through the upper (2" drop?) hole and the pumpkin did bang on the bed floor. It drove me nuts, so when I swapped beds, I raised the rear up a touch by reinstalling the leafs using the lower (1" drop) hole. No more banging.

So I would say if you just ran a flip kit, you shouldn't have any pumpkin to bed contact.

[JCampbell]

Stripped down to nothing but two frame rails and a few x-members. Gonna haul her down the the yard and have one of the Welders weld in the bolt-in notch.

After that, I'm going to try to strike a deal with one of our coating contractors to see if I can get them to sandblast it and throw a coat of black paint on her.

[justpball]

Love it bro, keep up the good work!

[BrooKLyn]

Updates?

[my4by2]

Love it man - hoping to see some more updates soon!!!

[JCampbell]

Making some progress now that the weather is cooling off.

Got the frame back from sandblast a while back. One of the Welders at work burned in the bolt in notch for me...I've seen too many bolt in notches holding together cracked frames. Needs a little more detail work and it'll be ready to paint.



Decided to blow apart the front suspension so I could take it to work and hot tank/bead blast it all off.





Ordered up new ball joints, tie rod ends, sway bar bushings, blah, blah, blah. Gonna get some paint on this stuff and start putting it all back together.

Which brings me to my next step...shocks. I never did find the right shocks to run on this truck. The stockers didn't last very long. Looking to pick up all four, but I'm not sure which ones will work in this application, and short of going to Napa and looking through the book, I'm out of ideas. Anyone got any part numbers they can toss my way?

[SCOTI]

It ultimately depends on the total amount of drop & how it was accomplished but I'm using Bilsteins w/a ~5/7 drop & got them through Summit.

[JCampbell]

What is the collapsed/extended length? Do you know? That's ultimately what I really need.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by JCampbell

What is the collapsed/extended length? Do you know? That's ultimately what I really need.

I can check. They should be the same as stock length shocks though.

I may make a different upper mount for the fronts if necessary as I had to on my 74 to get more (optimized) travel. I don't have full weight on the front so I can't determine anything yet.

The rears will definitely get 'custom' mounts to optimize travel.

[JCampbell]

Slung some paint this morning. I was a little nervous about it, but have a buddy at work who builds and paints race cars on the side, so he came over and gave me a hand. Turns out I was *way* over-thinking it.





Looking forward to putting this thing back together.

[luifer76]

nice very nice.....

[JCampbell]

A few shots of the bolt-in notch all welded up...in case anyone cares.

[volleyballer13]

Build is looking great!!

[JCampbell]

Haven't updated in a while, but I've been plugging away. Slowly but surely.

Before I painted everything, I added some smaller bumpstops to the lower control arms. I hope they'll keep me off the inner fenders when I hit a dip. I guess we'll see.



Got the old fuel tanks painted, but I'm going to change them out for baffled TBI units. #wasteofpaintfacepalm



Got the front suspension pretty much wrapped up. I still need to finish up the hubs/brake assemblies, but you get the idea.





Also picked up a set of Eagle Alloys off of Craigslist for $300 bucks. They need to be polished, but other than that, appear to be in good shape.



I'm particularly excited about another ad on Craigslist I ran across. TBI 454 with a 4L80E out of a '93 C3500 with all the accessories, harness and computer. I'm trying to work a deal with the guy right now. Buying it all as a package would make life so much easier for me. Hopefully I'll have some new pics in the next few days.

[Conundrum]

It's looking good man!
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[JCampbell]

Thanks.

...and a deal has been struck on the engine & trans. Just need to finalize the details. #score

[Devillusion]

Very nice........look alot like my Alcoas I'm getting rid of. To bad you weren't closer!! Love what you have done with the frame...looks great!!!

[Can't kech me]

glad you went with a tbi/4l80e combo! make sure snap some pics for us!

[JCampbell]

Yeah, I'm really jazzed about having fuel injection and overdrive. It'll be a nice driver when it's done.

[JCampbell]

Deal fell through on the engine and trans. Well, actually, I pulled the plug on the deal. Went to take a look at it last night and it was in a million pieces, accessories were scattered all over the place, no acc. brackets, no emissions equipment (big no-no with the engine swaps in CA), harness was junk, and on top of all that, it was pulled out of an HD (another big no-no with the engine swaps in CA - can’t use a commercial engine in a light-duty application). On top of all that, I just didn’t exactly get the warm fuzzies from the seller. My gut told me something was wrong, so I walked.

Kinda bummed, but there will be others.

[96twodoor]

frame looks great, gonna be a nice truck once its back together

[Jonboy]

If the 454 fell through, how about a 6.0/4L80E swap?