3 week review into the C-30 rehab

[RuralRoute C-30]

Well it was 3 weeks ago I brought this truck home. Such was a road trip of 3 hours in a truck I didn't know with a leaky exhaust donut that made it sound like a logging truck and a gas guage pegged past full and not moving and no radio to forget the noise or the fuel guage. But it was a fair deal and the adventure is always fun.(welcome to the 'new' truck!)

The goal is to have a nice working C-30 dump truck for the farm. Not a daily driver but around when the need is there.

So far, the exhaust is repaired as is the fuel guage. Shocks all around, a clean interior, total tune-up, repaired vacuum advance hose, new belts, new tires to go with the new rear tires it came with, and some exterior refreshing with the front end grill & headlights from LMC (my new 'wish book') and the chrome simulators that came with the 79 C-30 I purchased late last year. Spare tire, new jack and passed the safety lane also has been added and done.

Warm weather arrived today and now the bed has some sides and maybe a plan for an 'air gate' using some pipe. Still pondering that idea.

Did get an oil leak "fixed" by tightening the oil pan only to have it return recently. Parts are now bought that includes a front seal, rear seal and oil pan gasket as a soon to happen project. (this will be my first "surgery"!)

Except for the darn oil drip it looks to be close to done except for a radio, (not worked since purchase) and yea, I have some new oem cab clearance lights coming as the old ones are past aged. The dash is typically cracked in a couple of spots but that will wait until I know this truck is mechanically done. I swear I expect to repair the oil leaks and then...? New interior??? Paint frame??? Overhaul???? It doesn't end does it...?

Still, not too bad for only 3 weeks into it. Been driving it around more to try to get "to know it" lately. Seems every used vehicle, (even new ones come to think about it), I have ever owned comes with a "personality", so I am still trying to learn this one!

But here is where it is today and a pic to remind me of what it was 3 weeks ago. Not bad considering the cold weather and the day job!

Anyway, appreciate all the information to be found here always by folks who have been where I am these days with this 'new' truck. I have quickly learned the value of the search engine here to read and learn about these old Chevy trucks!

Taken today while the paint dries on the 2x12 side rails...



and then there is this pic from 3 weeks ago...

I have a plan/idea to modify/cut down these red sides as extensions when needed for some annual firewood hauling this year attaching to the side rails I just made. (more to do...)

Thanks all for this forum! Sure makes it easier and more entertaining too!

Mark

...and then there is this picture that reminds me what the wife sees...bless her heart for letting me have some "toys" to play with!

[Matt Man]

looks really good and clean for a northernn truck

[RuralRoute C-30]

Thanks, I think the fact it was a wrecker until about a year ago when the owner retired, as did this truck from that line of work, is what kept it so clean from our northern winter salt. Typically wreckers are treated more as tools than daily drivers and kept spotlessly maintained.

The original owner did give it a fresh paint job before letting it go. Yet the floors underneath are perfect, unusual as that is. And it passes the magnet test on the more obvious areas typical of this truck.

The primary problem I am discovering in this minor rehab is related to it literally sitting idle for a period of 12 months as the original owner was treated for cancer. Once out of the hospital is when he retired his body shop, sold the wrecker bed, changed it to the flat bed dump and set it up for sale. So while it sat idle for a year, so did the motor and seals and such which is my new oil drip.

Receipts have shown in Sept last year the front end was rebuilt, primary brake repairs, back tires, fuel pump changed to electric and new exhaust were done before I got it. Granted the exhaust donut was brand new but whoever installed it didn't get it lined up right to begin with so that was a fix. Yet with the repairs made before I got it and what little I have done, it remains a fair investment for our needs.

Once the oil pan, front and rear seals are replaced, soon I hope my time will allow, will see where it leads me!

Overall though, the truck appears to have what I would call "good bones". Should last us here in rural America for our lifetimes.

Admitting before I bought this one I priced a new one so there is plenty of room to put some repairs into this one! At least this truck is something I can work on without a degree in computer science and it is more fun (and practical) than the "garage queen" I had before it!

Mark

Just another day to play/"work" in the shop now that the paint is dry...

[Scootin 81 C20]

That looks like a heck of a nice buy. Great job. On a side note, what size and brand are those rear tires?

[RuralRoute C-30]

Thanks, these new tires are what came with the truck, 235/85/16 Mastercraft Courser AT/2. Appear decent enough. Advertised as a 50k mile tire. PSI is 80 max and the tire is rated compatible to the load capacity for the truck. With new tires now on the front I hope not to have to worry about a flat tire on this truck.

Yet like the '79' C-30 I did stock behind the seat a new 4-way bar with a 32" breaker bar/pipe and an 8-ton bottle jack if ever needed. I would hate to change out an inside dual.

As a firm believer in Murphy's Laws and a former Boy Scout I don't forget: Be Prepared!

Mark