1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Well here I go starting what will really be my first build thread. Last year I bought a really nice 84 K5 and wanted to convert it to 3/4 ton. After considering it for some time and realizing that I didnt want to change an all original 80k mile truck I decided it should be kept stock. The thing is in too nice of shape to "tear" up. With all of this decided I was on the look out for another truck. One of my best friends grandpa had this old 76 1/2 ton that he wanted to turn into a mud run truck. He wanted to put 40in tires, 3/4 ton running gear and GM's zz572 crate motor. Before I bought my Blazer I tried for several years to buy the truck from my friends grandpa with no success, the thing is he had totally quit messing with it and I figured it would be a good start for me. We talked a lot about what he was and wanted to do to it and how nice of a relief it was to work on it, and that maybe one day he would sell it to me. Well lets fast forward things a bit and I am now the owner of said truck due to the passing of DW. I am happy to own the truck but unhappy with the way it came about, but thats life, and I will continue to build the truck with him in mind and hopefully he would approve to how its going to go.
Now onto the truck. Its a 76 1/2 ton with an 81 i think front clip. The original front clip was totally junk so DW found a new one and had it put on. He also found 3/4 axles and had them installed as well. Although they were put in a bit crooked in the read with some "custom" u bolts. A bit sketchy. It has a 350 with an auto tranny and obviously 4wheel drive. Here is a picture of it the day I got it and finally setting at my place.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/.../Green76-2.jpg

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Ok, so now we move onto my plans for the truck. I will have some reworking to do to set the axles properly, but thats okay because I want to change this truck from a long bed to a short bed. I want to get rid of this late model front clip and change it back to the 73-80 style with the single round headlights. Im not really concerned about this being a show truck or anything along those lines, I want this truck to be able to be driven in the woods, through the weeds, in ditches, across rivers, and all sorts of mean nasty places were pretty paint wouldnt last. That doesnt meant that Im not going to try to color match and get some paint on the fenders and hood. But I will get there soon enough. If you notice the bed of the truck is just absolutley full of parts. I dig some digging and found a decent chrome front bumber, the correct 76 grille and bezels, 2 brand new chrome steps, an entire set of 8lug round hole steel wheels, 2 new round headlights, a new in the box ignition switch and key, and several driveshafts. The original front end was also in there.

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

First thing on my want to do to this truck list is to make it a shortbed. I considered cutting and shortening the original frame but decided against it. Doing it isnt what Im concerend with, but how well it would hold up is. This truck will have a 6in lift with maybe 35's and I dont want any sort of week spot in the frame. With this is mind I did quite a bit of searching and found what appeared to be a nice 73 shortbed frame, with a bed, and a brand new, NOS GM bedside. Not an LMC triplus foreign made bedside, but an original. Contacted the guy and for $300, the frame with 1/2ton 2 wheel drive axles, bed, GM bedside, 2 inner fenders, drive shaft, and a box of parts were delivered to my house. From the picture I assumed the frame would need a good sandblasting in order to be hit with some Por-15. Although this isnt a show truck I dont think that if you have the option to clean parts up nice you should just skip it. I want this truck to last so a bit of paint on the frame should be an easy job. Anyways, the frame is in really nice shape, still has coating on frame rails, and really only needs a bit of wire wheel work in order to be prepped to paint. Here is a picture of the frame before I got it.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...9m20/76bed.jpg
In all honesty I only saw this picture but did talk to the guy and was assured it was in good shape. I am more than pleased with how nice all the parts I got from this guy were.

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Here is a picture of the bedside.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...0/76bed4-1.png

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

The other side of the bed.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...m20/76bed2.jpg

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Now that I have found and bought a short frame, and bed, I needed to find the correct front clip for the truck. Im sure every know this, but craigslist is just amazing. I have heard of some people having trouble on craigslist, but I never have had a bad deal buying or selling anything. This opened up a whole new market for people to get rid of the old garbage they have sitting around and thinking that no one would want. I can guarantee I would never have gotten my front end in this nice of shape this quickly without it. I found an entire fron clip off of a 78 that was posted at about 9pm the other night. After a very quick email I got a few pictures the next morning and a message telling me if I wanted these that I needed to let them know asap because they had several interested people. I called immediately and said I wanted them, then had to drive almost 2 hours to pick them up. Again trusting some old cell phone pictures and the seller on the quality. Here are a few of the pictures after I got them home.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...frontclip2.jpg
Boxes of extra parts and tilt column
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...frontclip3.jpg
Grille, core support, bumper
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...frontclip4.jpg
Really nice inner fenders, a couple valances
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...frontclip5.jpg
All of these parts cost me a staggering hundred dollar bill. I think I made out ok!

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Thats where I am at for now. On deck for first work is to get the frame cleaned up and painted, get it ready for the 3/4 ton axles, get them under it and wheels and tires on it. Now if there were just more time. I have a good name for this project in mind. We will get to that later. Let me hear any suggestions, ideas, or just random comments if you have them. Be back soon!

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

I guess I should add that the front clip from the first picture will be available to buy at some point.

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

looks like a good start so far.

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

looks good man im doing the same thing but i already had the short bed 4x4 frame, i pust 76 11/4 ton army rear ends underneath it and am now curently swapping in a 427

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

These are my fenders after a good sanding some prep work and a nice coat of primer. I think they look pretty nice!
Here is one fender with my helper
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...0/DSC01061.jpg
And here is the other
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...0/DSC01059.jpg

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Got some time to work on the truck. I dont currently live where my truck is so I dont get a ton of time to work on it. It is at my parents place 4hrs away so you get the picture. I bought a shortbed frame as seen in the pictures and being a 2 wheel drive the work involved to swap all of the parts over seems to be a bit overkill. Its not that I cant or dont want to do it but the frame was in such good shape that I didnt want to ruin it. Therefore I am going to try to sell it and find a 4wd shortbed frame which may be easier said then done, but we will see. Anywho I got the old front clip pulled and put on all the correct front end pieces. Looks so so much better. I will get a picture added of how it looks on there now.

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Finally got some time to do an update. I found a 79 shortbed 4wd frame and decided to drive about 2 1/2hrs to go pick it up. All I was concerned with was wether or not the frame was in good shape, I was reassured it was.
Here is what the truck looked like when we got there.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...m20/frame5.jpg
Apparently it had set in a field for the last 7 years, news to me. At least they power washed all of rats nests out of the cab and it was fairly clean.
Once we got it home we needed to pull the front clip off, easy as it sounds.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...m20/frame3.jpg
Next came pulling the bed. 4 bolts and we lifted it off. It is a really nice stepside bed that I will not be needing, so if you need one let me know.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...m20/frame6.jpg
Our next step was to pull the cab off and get the frame out from underneath. We were going to use the car lift in the shop but didnt want to move everything. So we used the block and plank technique. It worked pretty well.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...m20/frame4.jpg
Here is the frame coming out the frontside of the trailer.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...9m20/frame.jpg
The cab and front clip were completely junk, doors full of rust and some fiberglass repair attempts. No rockers, barely any floor worth saving. We stripped it of the parts we needed and then took it to the scrapper. I felt horrible doing it, but it was junk.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...m20/frame2.jpg

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

My next project for this truck is to get the frame ready for the body. Im going to clean up the rust and paint up the frame. Some of the spring hangers had some issues so Im going to pull the good ones off the green frame and use grade 8 bolts and bolt them to the short frame. Im debating converting the front springs to 52"s, so if I do I will but the kit from diy4x. I want a 4 inch lift and 35 all terrains. Now off to clean the frame!

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

nice start...........tuned in!

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Its been almost a month but I finally made it back home to start working on the truck. First thing was to strip the frame and get it ready for sandblasting.
Here is a picture of the frame sitting on a set of jack stands ready for tear down.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...m20/frame8.jpg
As you can see the drivers side still had the leaf springs attached and those had to come off. Almost as easy as pulling of the nut and popping out the bolt. Unfortunately not when the bolt is locked with rust into the spring eye.
Front drivers side turned out to be a huge pain in my you know what. Got the nut off fairly easy but then couldnt get the bolt out. Problem is the backing plate to the mount. You cant get a hammer or anything back there enough to put enough leverage on it to push it out. Solution: Drill a hole in the back side of the mount and use a punch to knock out the bolt.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...cklemount4.jpg
Here is my custom made punch.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...79m20/bolt.jpg
And victory!
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...acklemount.jpg
It took several hard whacks with a 4lb sledge but it finally decided to come out!

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Passenger side front was already done. The PO obviously couldn't get the nut and bolt out so he used a torch. Not a problem though, as I can use the mount from the green truck to replace on the short frame. Not very pretty.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...cklemount3.jpg
Next was the rear drivers side and it came out without too much fight. The good thing is that once I got the nut off I was able to hit the backside of the bolt to knock it out of the eye. No mount in the way on the rear. Unfortunately when I got the the rear passenger side it was a whole other story. Nut came of fairly easily ( all nuts and bolts were soaked with PB blaster a few times by my brother before I came back), the bolt itself didnt want to budge. I spent a good 5 minutes hitting the backside of the bolt with the sledge trying to get it out but to no avail.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...cklemount2.jpg
Finally I decided to cut the head off the bolt and try to wedge it out at an angle.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...cklemount5.jpg
It worked pretty well actually. Here are a couple pictures of what the bolts looked like.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...pringbolt2.jpg
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...springbolt.jpg

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

After that was taken care of I went on to the gas tanks. I was hoping that at least one was still in good useable condition as I am only an going to run one tank. Not so much for being useable. The nuts we froze to the strap bolts and broke when trying to take them off. Passenger tank was empty and full of holes on the underside. Drivers side tank had some fuel in it so I was hopeful it would be okay. As soon as I lifted it from the mounts, fuel started pouring out of it. Appatently rust was holding it all in. Oh well. Straps were junk but had to get the rivets gone off the bottom of the mounts so I could eventually bolt new straps up. Picture is of mounts with rivets air chisled out.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...stankstrap.jpg
Here is the frame bare of everything but the brake and fuel lines. This was the last picture I took.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...m20/frame7.jpg
After this I pulled off all of the fuel and brake lines, proportioning valve and the steering box. Now the frame is ready for blasting. Thats all for now!

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Almost forgot to post this one. It is my green bench seat. Definetly looks old, but im kind of diggin it.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...79m20/seat.jpg

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...20/76chevy.jpg
This is how she is sitting today. The fenders are semi bolted on and the hood is just sitting on it. Figured it was safer to put them on then allow them to sit in garage and maybe get hit.

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

looking good.....nice start.

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

Not sure if everyone one has seen one of these but I will post it anyway. This is a PPG colorchip page for GM. It shows all of the colors that were available for the trucks or cars in any specific year.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/.../colorchip.jpg

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

The medium lime is what my truck is, I think. The codes in the glove box are gone and I havent found another way to find out exactly. But I am fairly certain its the medium lime.
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/...colorchip3.jpg

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

looking good. keep at her

Re: 1976 3/4ton 4x4 Shortbed
 

So I have a mini update to do here. I sold the nos bedside to a member here because im not doing a restoration that needs a part like this, and I would hate to ruin it when someone else could have put it to better use. The other part of this build is to do it on the cheap and as cost effective as I can. Therefore, I sold the single nos bedside and then used that money to pick up two perfect unused aftermarket bedsides. One driverside and one passenger side. I figure that for a truck that will see some trail time these were the best fit. Plus the price was right. Now to just find the time to go down and work on it!