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1982 k30, sticking around

Well finally got around to finishing the cargo skid and welded on the tail 'roller' today. Correct it doesn't roll but it will last at least a few years before the pipe needs replacement/repair. Considering it's a scrap metal build it works haha.

Used some 3 1/2" OD 1/8" thick pipe and welded it to both outside rails. Then used some 2"x 1" x 3/16" rectangular tubing running from the bed sub frame up to the bottom of the pipe to support the majority of the weight as it's pulled up and over the end of the bed.

Did a test lift with a few hundred pounds of scrap metal tied onto the skid. Had to reinforce the front crossmember on the skid itself (figured it would be necessary). Used a piece of scrap 3/8" plate welded across the top of the crossmember to the pallet. Seems to be fine.

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With it partway loaded onto the truck took it over closer to the shop. Welded up the skid reinforcements then used the mag drill and attached some tie down points to the skid. 4 per side.

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Unless something breaks on it the skid is complete now. It's going to live a rough, useful life.
 
More use of the skid today. Got rid of the scrap metal that was on it then moved a couple wheels to the other side of the lot where the m816 is parked. There's 5 24.5" wheels on there.

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At the scrap yard though it did have a problem. When the skid is loaded and pulled up all the way onto the bed (still overhangs past the bumper some) it does not want to slide off the end of the bed when trying to unload it. Even with the skid sitting on that pipe which I figured would help encourage it. So, the options I see are this. Continue telling people to hold my beer and watch as I drive at about 20mph in reverse then slam on the brakes to get it moving, or use something to pull it backwards a few feet until it reaches the tipping point. First option seems entertaining, but I'm going with the latter choice hahaha.

Going to use a second winch (harbor freight 12k) that was going to the front of this truck, and instead mount it to the rear of the truck by the hitch. Attach it's cable to the front of the skid when loading it onto the truck and let it's cable follow underneath the skid up onto the bed and stay there. When it's time to unload just loosen up the bed winch cable some and use the rear winch to pull the skid backwards about 3-4ft where the tipping point is. Then use the bed winch to ease it down the rest of the way.

Should be a more stable way to begin unloading the skid. With this truck going offroad anyways a strong rear winch can be useful. It's also serving as a test subject for when the m816 get's it's setup soon and what challenges it will have.
 
Found out the weight of the skid the other day at the scrap yard, it is pretty solid hahaha. Previous weight ticket without the skid is a empty weight of 6940 lbs, with just the skid on the last trip was 7500 lbs. Figuring differences in fuel the skid is at least 500 lbs of steel.

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Spent today making stronger mounts for the rear of the flatbed and incorporated a mounting plate for the rear 12k winch. Used 3/8" plate for everything. The bracket is basically a short H in design, 7 1/2" wide.

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Nice thing about a cheap flatbed is getting to test things out on it with little/no concern about it's appearance and find out if it works well or not. Like the tool box. Useful but it's not big enough.

Couple more things that I want to add to the bed are a air tank, underside storage boxes, fuel tank (have a 60 ish gallon tank sitting here), raise the hitch up to even with the bottom of the frame, and make the rear skirt for the bed. Rear bumper will get to go bye bye then.
 
Pictures from the trip today, headed up to a old mining town called 'Jacob City'. Varying terrain that was a mix of rock, dirt, snow, nothing difficult in that aspect but was very TIGHT along the switchbacks. Made for multiple 3-7 point turns for the pickup.

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And the truck lost a tire. Roughly 3" split along the sidewall. Good thing the truck has 2 spares when not full of cargo haha.

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The trail ride today did kind of solidify my decision in regards to dually or single rear wheels. The extra width at just the rear is a problem for my uses, and the truck isn't going to be used for heavy hauling regularly so going to single out the rear for good. For the axle that's a simple fix of using the hubs from a single wheeled rear and swapping them out to get the width to match front/rear. Narrowing the bed is more complex.
 
I like the looks of the dually, with the box and extended fenders. if I would have came across a dually before I bought My single rear wheel truck, a dually it would have been.
I have no need for a dually, just like the way the look. Don't need the expense of an extra pair a tires too. LOL
 
I like the looks of the dually, with the box and extended fenders. if I would have came across a dually before I bought My single rear wheel truck, a dually it would have been.
I have no need for a dually, just like the way the look. Don't need the expense of an extra pair a tires too. LOL

Yea the old crew cab duallys look good, just not the most practical unless always towing or loaded up heavy with cargo. If it was a inner dually like the cab/chassis models where it was the same width as the front axle then it wouldn't be an issue. Having the rear that much wider though, it tends to get caught on things and sometimes hard. My old 87 k30.

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One idea that keeps popping up in my mind is to make the 82 a 6x6 eventually. Not likely to happen but I keep thinking about doing that to it haha.

Focusing on the flatbed and rear of the truck is first. Mounting the bigger replacement fuel tank under the rear, a pair of air tanks, underside storage, move/modify the hitch, wire in the rear winch, and make the rear skirt for the flatbed. And the rear springs need to be replaced soon, noticed that the passenger side pack is down to just the top 3 leaves and the very bottom thick overload leaf.
 
After the scrap metal loads posted above I am confused as to why you would single this truck out! Offroading eats tires no matter what... :p
 
After the scrap metal loads posted above I am confused as to why you would single this truck out! Offroading eats tires no matter what... :p

haha well most of the time the truck is not loaded like that. Got many trips recently because I had to. But, a point was brought up today by another friend in regards to the duals. The 5th wheel trailer I have would tow better with the dually partly because of the deck height. I forgot about that so trying to figure out a plan.
 
I have killed soo many tires over the years offroading. I would take Marty’s suggestion one step farther. Keep the duals for road use and have them designed for on road use specifically. Then get a set of wheels with off road specific tires. The offroad tires are always softer compound and dont get as many miles out of them on street. You could do an regular rim to run a single on the rear that spaces it where you want the tire. Duals off road leads to issues with rocks always jamming between them. I got good at doing the pipe between tires trick to get them out. No more duals for me off road - thats why I went to 3500 srw trucks. But I rarely towed big trailers and when I did I hated not having the duals.

Depending how often you go offroading, yes it can be a pain to swap out tires. I’m too old and broken to throw out Labor frequently, you sound still plenty active enough that it doesn’t bug you to burn 1/2 hour swapping tires though. But this way you can actually have the best of both worlds.
 
Ha I'm not making oilfield money right now so 2 sets of tires is outta the budget hahaha. I like going offroad every few weeks so not going to spend that kind of time/labor to swap out tires that often either. Either staying dually or going singles, no changing it often.


Dually: Without getting wheel spacers it's kinda limited to the tire size I have now, 235/85/16 (32"). Better towing, more stable with heavy cargo, can get tires for cheap such as what it currently has at $110-120 each. No need to narrow the current bed, and unless heavily loaded always have 2 spares without taking up any cargo space.

Singles: same track width as the front tires, 2 fewer tires to buy, less rolling resistance, fit between the boulders easier, less likely to tear up tires offroad, easily go to humvee wheels/tires which gives double bead locks and highway cruising at 65mph compared to current 60mph.


Other things to take into consideration. This truck doesn't tow often right now and I'm not planning to really change that much but does pull in the 10k+ range. Much more often that cargo gets loaded onto the bed and has a legal cargo payload of just over 3000 lbs in it's current setup which I do use and plan to continue using. It's the daily driver, so lots of empty driving and highway with offroad trips that are becoming more regular. Going to get a locker in the rear axle.
 
Still haven't decided one way or the other with the rear wheels. Driving around for now with just 4 tires and it is noticeably less stable around turns but I'm blaming that more on the worn/broken rear leaf springs. Speaking of which, found a set from a late 2000's gmc 3500 for $150. 64" long compared to the stock 56" that's on the truck so the mounts will need to be moved to keep the axle where it is. Gotta move the fuel tank first then these can go on which fixes the rear suspension, bit more axle articulation while offroad, and a smoother ride in the rear when running empty.

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Looking into ways to setup the overload brackets so they can be used when loaded and not used when empty, allowing for better articulation.



Can't get to the torch in the shop right now so no progress on the rear winch stuff yet. Couple other things I'm trying to layout are the spare tire mount and storage. Currently the rear seat/floorboards/behind the seat is taken up by stuff that I'd rather have out of the cab:
Jumper cables
Tools that stay on the truck
Air compressor
High lift jack
Winch equipment
Gloves
Field clothes (coveralls)
Oils
Coolant
Water

Add to it the tie downs, chains, and tow strap in the current bed box which is full and ya get the idea that the truck needs storage. I have a bunch of 40mm ammo cans sitting here along with a old toolbox that had seen better days a few decades ago.


So one layout idea is having 2 spare tires up at the front. Placed them on the driver side but thinking of actually mounting them on the passenger side. With them back/back all it takes is a piece of place steel sitting upright and a few wheel studs/lug nuts. Those of yall that are fans of the dually setup will probably notice that yes, the spares mounted this way are just inside the width of the bed. It's also roughly as far into the bed from front to back as the winch sits. That's good because of there's something wide that gets dragged onto the bed that front area alongside the winch has been kinda dead space.

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Next is the toolbox. 2 of the drawers and the middle section of the box were crunched so cut the box down. The section of multiple drawers is 14.5" tall and the other section is a little less than 14" tall. I'm thinking of mounting these along the underside of the bed in front of the axle with one on each side, or stack them and mount it on top of the bed on the opposite side of the winch from the spare tires.

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Did some more bed designing stuff and will get started on the storage boxes/fuel tank/rear suspension soon. Looks like the truck is going to stay as a dually for the known future.

Came across an ad from a guy that's parting out a 77 c30 dump truck. Picked up the pedal assembly for when the engine/trans swap happens and also snagged the transmission with PTO. Probably just going to flip around and sell the trans but the PTO will be a nice addition since I have a hydraulic pump and tank sitting here.

Used the bed winch to drag the trans up from the dump bed onto my bed.

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Well the fuel tank and leaf spring swap to the 64"s will hopefully happen tomorrow (tuesday at the latest). For the short term the fuel tank swap will require being filled from the rear of the bed and one of the boards cut out to provide access to the fill spout. Plan to eventually move the fill spout to either the driver or passenger side of the bed like usual but kind of in a hurry to get the leaf springs swapped over, which requires the saddle tanks to be gone haha.

Snapped a pic of the clutch/brake pedal assembly that I snagged on saturday. It's designed for a manual clutch but planning to run a hydraulic setup instead. Can also see some of the 4bd1t parts and a glimpse of 1 storage box for the flatbed in this pic.

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Spent today unloading stuff from the truck and doing some organizing in my currently storage trailer. Needless to say, I accumulated alot of stuff for projects and am finally getting around to them. Also did the first cleaning of that donor trans and got it up into the trailer.

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That main leaf is strong enough all by itself right?....... Thankfully the Ubolts arrived yesterday evening. Stuffed some scrap steel plates in there and wrapped it up to make sure they stayed in on the way to the shop. Only the main leaf and the overload are intact. Went from 4 intact leaves down to 2 in just a few days waiting for Ubolts.

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So with that pack finally removed, did the test fitting for the new 64" springs from the 06 c&c and figured out where to drill the new holes for the front bracket. Then slid it into place and bolted everything up.

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Shackles have some angle to them at ride height but not much. And as can be seen in the last pic the truck has a noticeable lean to the driver side, and to the front which points out just how worn these stock springs are. The driver side spring will be replaced either tomorrow or monday.
 
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