'72 C3500 GMC flatbed project

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by flashed

I love the bed ,I wish I could find one that size for my 72 0ne ton.

They're out there, it's a factory setup, about 90" wide and 110" long. I wish I could find a cleaner one here in New England to replace a couple of the cross supports!

Originally Posted by storm9c1

At one time, I never saw a HD belt-drive PTO either, but here it is:

http://www.munciepower.com/products/...&back=Products

Mine is an older 4-5 GPM PH series unit. Works great to operate the bed. I have a large hydraulic recovery tank, so there is plenty of extra fluid for the large rams on my setup. The bed setup is fairly new, but the 40 year-old hydraulic winch (possible original) is SOOOOO slow. I can't bring myself to replace it because it can pull a house.

Learn something new every day. That looks a lot like they took their standard small volume pump and mounted it to an A/C clutch.

I actually want to add a recovery tank to my setup, as right now I just have the ram itself as a reservoir and it doesn't work terribly well when it's cold because there isn't much gravity pressure to feed that cold fluid down to the pump.

[flashed]

I love the bed ,I wish I could find one that size for my 72 0ne ton.

[72MARIO]

I am looking foreword to seeing the 4 wd conversion !

[JJorgensen52]

A few donor photos - '87 Sierra V3500, more or less stock and supposedly 50k original miles. Not original engine, but has d60 front, 14 bolt FF rear, SM465 and NP205 combo. Works for me!






fabulous cab corner installation



Overall, should be a great parts source. And a good trailer test, I towed it home 110 miles with Red

[7dee2]

Very cool I'm in.

I can't wait to see it as a 4x4...

[JJorgensen52]

Warm weather is finally coming!

Got the cab off my parts truck this weekend. Next weekend I'm going to get the dump body and exhaust off, and pull spring hangars etc so I can blast and paint them. Getting close!

[rs74]

What is your plan of attack to put the D60 in? I have seen a couple of trucks converted but they never put up a thread on it. Looking forward to this. My father in law has a 67 GMC C35 that he bought new that I would love to do this to. I am trying to dwindle down some of the trucks at my house so I can try and get the 67 over here and have a place to keep it out of the weather.

[junksaver]

Nice work. Just wondering why you changed out the front spring hangers on the rear spring pack instead of just keeping the originals?

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by junksaver

Nice work. Just wondering why you changed out the front spring hangers on the rear spring pack instead of just keeping the originals?

Height. If I kept the original front hangers, the truck would sit slightly nose-up. The 4x4 hangers from the later trucks sit about 3" lower than the originals did.

My camera was MIA earlier, but I'm making progress. Rear axle is painted, frame is primed, and I'm hoping to have the axle and most of the frame reassembled tomorrow. If all goes to plan, I should have the cab back on Thursday.

[JJorgensen52]

Photo Dump!

Cleaned, painted and rebuilt spring packs (new bushings, new hardware on the center bolt and slide bolts and spacers)



Modified the '87 front spring hangar/body mount to accept the smaller diameter 67-72 core support mounts. '72 Mount is at the top, modified mount in the middle, unmodified (partially out of the picture) to the right. I found these conveniently sized flanges at tractor supply to weld in, quick and easy.


Frame and all the parts are fully painted and will be dry to assemble in the morning





Rebuilt rear brakes, including new drums and wheel seals. I painted the drums inside and out before assembling to prevent rust build-up.



And the axle ready to go back under the truck. I just need to install the axle shafts in the morning (wanted to double check my bearing preload torque spec was correct)



Wheels cleaned up and painted, and I straightened out the stainless caps and gave them a quick wash as well

[Tx Firefighter]

Herculean amount of work you're doing. I know for every picture there's hours of work behind the scene that you did to get to that point. Well done. I'm following closely.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Herculean amount of work you're doing. I know for every picture there's hours of work behind the scene that you did to get to that point. Well done. I'm following closely.

Truer words never spoken . I've kind of backed myself into a corner as far as timing on this project, so I'm racing the clock.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work

[BLAZERMAN]

Wow! Somehow I missed this build till now. Your making great progress and it should be one Tuff truck when your done. I've been gathering parts for a few years now to do a 4x4 conversion on a C/30 and hope to get started soon.
Will be watching this one from now on... Keep up the good work

[BLAZERMAN]

One question for ya, when you set up your engine crossmember did you set it in the same 2 wheel drive position or did you move it back to where it would be on a 4x4?

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by BLAZERMAN

One question for ya, when you set up your engine crossmember did you set it in the same 2 wheel drive position or did you move it back to where it would be on a 4x4?

I used the forward mounting holes. The square bodies have a slightly longer frame in front of the axle, so putting the mounts in that position keeps the geometry about the same for the wheel location.

I'm not 100% sure yet where the engine is actually going to land, because the motor mounts (later style) are entirely different, but I am trying to keep it forward so I don't have to mess with the cab floor.

[Tx Firefighter]

You're a hard worker. I can only imagine the sweat you invested in getting it all put together to roller status.

Significant investment in that high quality hardware there too unless you've got a hookup.

[whitels1]

Bad ass man, great work so far! Ill be watching this one.

[rs74]

Where did you get the brake lines? Inline tube? How was the overall fitment of them. May have to send my father-n-laws 67 GMC out for you to do the same to. Just Kidding. Would love to do the same to his. Everything looks great. Looking forward to more. Oh and what did you order the lines for. I was assuming the 87 just didn't know if so how the 87 lines fit up on the older frame.

[mx289]

You have done alot of work, in the past couple weeks.

Looks great.

[JJorgensen52]

Thanks for all the compliments, guys!

Originally Posted by rs74

Where did you get the brake lines? Inline tube? How was the overall fitment of them. May have to send my father-n-laws 67 GMC out for you to do the same to. Just Kidding. Would love to do the same to his. Everything looks great. Looking forward to more. Oh and what did you order the lines for. I was assuming the 87 just didn't know if so how the 87 lines fit up on the older frame.

I did order the lines from Inline tube, for the '87. The fit is okay in the older chassis, a little tweaking here and there but nothing major. The only real problem I had was with the rear axle, they don't have a pattern for the cab and chassis (narrow) rear end, so I had to reshape those lines a good bit to get them to fit.

I also ordered the PS lines for the '87, and so far it looks like everything will fit up very nicely, but I won't know for sure until I get the cab back on and can try and hook it up to the hydroboost unit.

[7dee2]

You are flying through this, great job, very impressive! A ton of work but all worth it in my book!

[JJorgensen52]

Photos should be up tomorrow, but I've got the cab back on and she'll be ready to fire in the morning!

Let me tell you something, this truck looks MEAN with the lift

[whitels1]

Looks bad ass man!

[JJorgensen52]

So, my C3500 is now officially a K3500!

Been driving it around on errands today, worked out most of the bugs in the alignment - let me tell you, it's like driving a new truck! I've had a cheesy grin on my face all afternoon.

Unfortunately, I'm moving right now so in the shuffle my camera has gotten misplaced somewhere, I should have better pics later in week:

[whitels1]

Good stuff man!