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West's C30 tow rig build 454/465/14bff

WESTOF7

Fueled by hate and boric acid
Joined
Aug 6, 2020
Member Number
2422
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220
Loc
Frozen Wasteland
Bought a 81 c30 454/465/14bff with 4:56 gears and a decent flatbed for a fair price. Originally bought it to use the engine but decided I wanted a tow rig with a big block with gas prices being so low :flipoff2:

Has 65,000km on the odometer and I somewhat think it might be accurate. Got it running at 1/4 throttle then proceeded to drive it a hour away to my buddies house with a bit of brakes on one wheel and dryrotted to shit tires :laughing: . Blew the belts off it halfway said fuck it and kept going. Made it a few hundred feet from the driveway before it ran out of fuel.

I couldn't find any fuel at his place and was too tired from the drive to go grab any. I ended up grabbing a can of ether and the pipe from a leafblower then fired it on ether all the way in front of his garage :laughing:

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I really don't like the rake it has. Haven't decided what I want to do about it yet.

Has smaller tires on the front and the front springs seem weak so maybe I'll get some 265/75/16 bfg commercial t/a tires all around, powdercoat the wheels black,buy some stainless wheel simulators and get some heavier rated springs. Would be nice to do some 19.5 p30 wheels with the 8x6.5 pattern and 4.56" centers but I got a quote of over $700 each for alcoas :barf: and $400 for steel accuride wheels :barf: doubt I'll find used.
 
I'd convert to 4wd to get rid of the rake. :flipoff2:

Ignore the body. The frame is a 1985 high GVW Chevy C35. Engine's a Duramax...
 

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Put 1-2tons payload on there at see what the rake does :flipoff2:

A 255/85R16 (33") on the front will help take some rake away. Trim the fender corners if they catch.

There are some guys adapting 88-98 lift spindles... but I'd chase any SFA solution before paying full retail for those.
 
I want to keep it 2wd for now for simplicity. I'll probably casually look for a front dually 60 but I'm in no rush.

It sucks that most aftermarket parts are no longer available for these. Wouldn't mind something like a 2" lift spindle for the front. I'm going to look into adapting a 88-98 spindle.

Want to run 265/75/16 on all four corners until I find a set of 19.5s.
 
Want to run 265/75/16 on all four corners until I find a set of 19.5s.
FWIW, the extra width of the 265 seems counter-productive for the duals; wheels are only 6" wide. 235/85 is just as tall.

Edit: and the inner dually tire is already super close to the leaf spring.
 
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Decided to convert it to 4wd. 2wd is useless around here :laughing:

I've got a spare Dodge KP 60 I want to convert to DRW and a matching 8274/warn winch bumper that's diamondplate and matches the flatbed.

I'm probably just going to convert the 2wd 465 to 4wd and find a NP205 but a doubler would be nice.

Starting to get a parts list together today.

I'm eventually going to get a set of wheels widened so I can run some big tires while keeping it drw.
 
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I upgraded the lights to Led all the way around in summer.

JW speaker 5x7 headlights, UP mirage lights in the back(went with clear but going to convert to red. The clear looks lame during the day.) Some stainless lic plate light peterbilt had in stock and then trux conversion bulbs for everything else.
 
Went to fire the old whore up and it didn't want to go.

Think I'm going to ditch the mechanical pump and install a carter 4070 without a regulator.

Should be enough for a mild 454. 4-6 psi 72 gph
 
Planning on ordering the following from ORD



  • Main Eye Hangers :
    1 x 2WD to 4WD Main Eye Conversion Brackets for '81-87 ('91) GM Trucks, Pair


    Price : $195
  • Front spring rear shackle hanger :
    1 x '73-91 GM Front Upper Shackle Hanger w/ Greasable Bushing Assembly - Kevlar


    Price : $175
  • Shackle Plates:
    1 x 4.5" Front Shackle Plates for FUSH Only (set of 4 / zinc plated)


    Price : $55
  • Engine crossmember (does need modification to work in 2wd frame see details):
    1 x 73-87 GM 4WD High Clearance Engine Crossmember for Big Block, 6.2L Diesel and Gen III/IV GM V8 Applications


    Price : $225
  • Rear spring main eye hanger (C30 only):
    1 x '81-91 K30 Rear Suspension Main Eye Hanger


    Price : $195
  • Steering Box Brace:
    1 x Bolt In Steering Box Brace for '73-91 GM 2WD Trucks


    Price : $125
 
What springs are you wanting to use?
If youre going to run 52"s and put the shackle hangers in the right spot youre going to want 6-7" shackles.
 
What springs are you wanting to use?
If youre going to run 52"s and put the shackle hangers in the right spot youre going to want 6-7" shackles.
I thought with ORDs rear shackle hanger it dropped the Hangers down so I could use shorter shackles.

Probably 52s
 
I'd really like to get 17" steel direct mount wheels for this so I can run commonly available tires like 37x12.50x17s or maybe up to 40".

Getting the stock wheels rehooped and running 305/70/16s is a option but I don't think I'd be happy with 35s.

Kinda wanted to keep the dually setup because I plan on using this as a work truck. Don't really want to convert it to srw but I already have srw hubs I could throw on. The dana 60 I'm using is srw.

I'm going to keep the fifth wheel and tow with it. Thinking about building a skid with a engine drive welder, comp and reels etc on it.

Going to fab up some tool boxes that go under the existing flatbed. Might eventually build a custom flatbed but I actually like the one thats on there now
 
I would run singles.

37x13.5R17 have huge load capacity... 4300#.
That's not huge if I'm using this as my primary tow rig and work truck. I'm due for a replacement and there's no way I'm buying another new truck.

I own a machine shop and deal with heavy shit fairly often. Going to be using this to its capacity. I'm sure I could figure out how to make wheels. I want direct fit no adapters.

Easiest thing to do would be to get 37x12.50x16 interco ssr tires and rehoop the stock wheels but they're not going to work as good as a km3 and they're $$$

Going to have to do some research on what can be done.
 
How often are you really gonna be putting more than 8k on the rear axle and wanting to cruise real highway speeds at the same time? That thing doesn't have enough power to move itself uphill at 70 let alone itself plus thousands of pounds.

Either be a responsible adult, keep it 2wd, buy new tires in a stock-ish size and haul shit or 4wd swap it and make it into a toy. Quit with the womanly "I'm gonna make it into a toy project and I'm gonna use it for work" lying to yourself type BS.
 
H2 wheels are an idea for the tires I suggested. I don't know if they clear on a Chevy 60 though.
 
How often are you really gonna be putting more than 8k on the rear axle and wanting to cruise real highway speeds at the same time? That thing doesn't have enough power to move itself uphill at 70 let alone itself plus thousands of pounds.

Either be a responsible adult, keep it 2wd, buy new tires in a stock-ish size and haul shit or 4wd swap it and make it into a toy. Quit with the womanly "I'm gonna make it into a toy project and I'm gonna use it for work" lying to yourself type BS.
This is a work truck. I have a k5 on tons and 43" sx stickys for a toy

It happens on occasion. I own a machine shop, work on lots of heavy shit and sometimes I have to do sketchy shit. This will be replacing my 18 ram 3500. I'm not buying another new truck after that clusterfuck.

All my customers are within a hour of my shop. A diesel doesn't make sense for me for intermittent use.

It's getting a fresh 454 I have on a stand with around 10.25:1 compression 120931-12 howard cam, gasket matched performer rpm intake, longtubes and 781 heads with bigger stainless valves/some cleaning up. It moves itself just fine. Where I'm at it's all flat there's no hills.

There is a lot of swampy ground out here and I regularly have to go into soft job sites to get to heavy equipment for repairs.

Might put a cummins in eventually but I like the simplicity of the 454. The ram was also a heavy pig and I got sick of getting it stuck.
 
For a dually setup you can find some 17" dually wheels off of a 2003+ dodge dually then you can run some taller tires. Or, get 10 lug adapters and switch to 22.5 wheels and run truck tires. May not have as good off road performance though due to tire rigidity with the truck tires though.

If you want SRW and want to keep 16" steelies. There is the option of getting some 16x10 wheels off of wheel vintiques if you want to run factory hubcaps/look. Toyo makes a 38x15 for a 16 inch wheel if you don't want to run an interco tire.

I have seen guys run the 16" DRW arrangement and tall tires but me personally don't like using an Interco tire for something seeing any sort of daily driving or much road time. Unfortunately Interco is one of the only companies that I know of where you can get something taller than a 35 in something skinny enough to be used in a dual wheel configuration. But some guys love them so that's just personal preference.
 
There's the 9.00r16 and 11.00r16 Michelins (radial).... If they're still available.
 
Sadly 9.00r16 are basically a thing of the past. Would have been perfect though.

Want to stick to something readily available and not specialty sizes. If I blow a couple of 37x12.50x17s driving over something on a job site I should be able to source new same day even around here.

I'll look into the dodge 17" wheels.

If they're 8x6.5 I can just machine/weld a spacer to make the wheels hub centric. It would be nice if they had the nuts with the sleeves for making these lug centric then I'd run alcoas in 17" for Dodge.

Going to call around and check what's available at local wreckers.
 
I'll look into the dodge 17" wheels.

If they're 8x6.5 I can just machine/weld a spacer to make the wheels hub centric. It would be nice if they had the nuts with the sleeves for making these lug centric then I'd run alcoas in 17" for Dodge.
The plain ones are 7.5 wide and the chrome-skinned ones are 8". 8x6.5" pattern. Backspace is around 6". Im talking ~2005ish vintage.

Unless you defeat the taper seat for the lugnut, they remain lug centric.

Edit: you mean srw or drw? I'm talking srw still :homer:
 
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