1996 Chevrolet c3500HD CrewCab BEAST - Junkyard Rescue Take II

[GarrettGmc]

I swear I saw this truck for sell not to long ago. Maybe another one but your just over in susanville, I'm just south of redding so I'm always looking over there when I'm heading to Reno. Congrats and cnt wait for the build

 

[gstubbz]

99% of the rear axles on those were cab and chassis width. Which if I have figured right to be about 5 inches from wms to wms. The rear wheels will be tucked way in. Most of the HDs with standard beds put on have regular long beds with custom fender flares. The other option is custom wheel spacers to push them out. I have looked, and have not found any off the shelf manufacturer for the bolt pattern.

But nice find. Looking forward to the build.

Edit: 5 inch difference from standard DRW.

I was thinking about this. I could mount up a standard width 8 lug dually axle, but I run into a problem with the front. I would have absolutely no idea how those front hubs would work. If I can't change them to 8 lug I think I need to find a dana 60 front and SAS it as much as I don't want to at this point. This 10 lug thing somewhat blows!

Nice project. Did they at least include rear wheels?

Thank you! Yeah, he said when I come to get it we will throw on some wheels. Fortunately he has junk F-Superdutys everywhere and those share the same lug pattern.

subscribed to see progress. Congrats and good luck!

Thank you! Should be a sweet project.

glad to see you got it. was such a nice truck to pass on.

I agree. I've wanted this thing for years and the first time I went to that junkyard to buy a driveshaft for my 98 he said he doesn't sell vehicle cabs or frames. But after everything I've done for him since selling my 6.5 has been to my benefit!

That truck will be awesome once up and going. Love the look of the 3500HD. Just removing the mirrors will really just the look and feel.of the truck. Good luck with the built.

I agree! How many other GMT400 trucks do you see with that gnarly four inch spacer on the front, especially in a crew cab

Dang, modern weight capacity in the old beast. I didn't realize GVWR was that much higher.

That was one of the things I was thinking when I did some research on them sometime last year. The frame has to be 13" or so tall under the cab alone!

I swear I saw this truck for sell not to long ago. Maybe another one but your just over in susanville, I'm just south of redding so I'm always looking over there when I'm heading to Reno. Congrats and cnt wait for the build

Shockingly there was a crew cab 3500HD on Reno's craigslist within the last few months. It was white and I think he wanted $4,900 for it because I saw the listing. But if you ever headed to Reno through Highway 32 or 36 before hitting 395 there is a chance you may have seen this truck! It is located in Chester and the junkyard this is at is right after the massive spillway to Lake Almanor right across from the airport. This truck you can totally see from the highway. Not right this second because there are so many vehicles in the front now, but in the past you could see it!

 

[deejaaa]

you already have a drop axle up front. should be easy to search 3500hd.com for an answer to any question you have.

 

[skylark]

If the F450 shares the same lug pattern and it is the typical 34" frame it is probably similar in width to the 3500 axle but I'd measure just for grins.

 

[Tavi]

There was an incredibly rare wide axle option for these. Placing the rears at the same distance as standard DRW. The ford rims share bolt patterns. But the center is larger. Much like the smaller 8 lugs of the two makes.

If you go with an 8 lug axle your gawr will go down. But I believe the duramax 11.5 has close to the same rating at the Dana 80. Although you will have to relocate the spring and shock perches. Could always get custom wheel adapters made and run 22.5 or 24.5.

 

[gstubbz]

you already have a drop axle up front. should be easy to search 3500hd.com for an answer to any question you have.

I looked at their website, I wish it was designed differently and had more members! I tried looking and couldn't find anything helpful if I wanted to swap the front to 8 lug. I guess I will inspect better once I can pull the front wheel off!

If the F450 shares the same lug pattern and it is the typical 34" frame it is probably similar in width to the 3500 axle but I'd measure just for grins.

Next time I see it (this next weekend) I'll bring a tape measure and you shall all know soon enough!

There was an incredibly rare wide axle option for these. Placing the rears at the same distance as standard DRW. The ford rims share bolt patterns. But the center is larger. Much like the smaller 8 lugs of the two makes.

If you go with an 8 lug axle your gawr will go down. But I believe the duramax 11.5 has close to the same rating at the Dana 80. Although you will have to relocate the spring and shock perches. Could always get custom wheel adapters made and run 22.5 or 24.5.

I'm thinking this is for sure a normal C&C axle, looked too narrow. If I wanted to stick with a Dana 80 apparently all the 2nd gen rams with a CTD/5spd or V10/5spd 2500s had SRW 80s and then the dualies had the 80s. However I think it's inevitable that I need to put a solid axle in the front and then it is too tall unless I can manage to spring under the front axle. My ram 2500 has a 10.5 AAM rear, the GAWR of a 11.5 AAM is 10,120lbs which is close to the D80.

I'm still lost on what I should do, or if I should just stay 10 lug and make it a SRW and figure out something for the front hubs and non-dually rims. Too many things that I haven't thought about!

 

[gstubbz]

I am thinking this was an ex-union pacific truck, based on a few things.

First it's a crew cab, really the only people a crew cab would have been popular for back in the 90s that would require a truck like this would be the railroads and possibly others like PG&E.

Second, from what I know the PO in 2007 only owned this truck for a short period of time and took it into the junkyard and needed something bigger and upgraded to a F650.

Third, it lived in Quincy CA. There is a main Union Pacific hub in Portola CA which is 32 miles away from Quincy. Based on the registration tags of 2007, it would make sense that UP used it from 1996 to 2006 for a solid decade.

Fourth, it has these odd side steps that I have never seen on any other c3500HD unless it was a railroad truck and the pics below all have a similar side step setup as my 3500HD.

Now what is throwing me off is why does this truck have a stock front bumper and not some crazy railroad setup nor is the front bumper missing. Maybe if I can inspect the cab more maybe I can find a UP tag or something. Maybe if I can find the location where holes were drilled for the rail switches and whatnot I can confirm my suspicion.

Also, I did email the company who did the upfitting of this truck, maybe they will reply and tell me it had X style of service bed mounted and was sold to Union Pacific or something. I'm hopeful! It's possible that all the trucks in the photos below went to the same upfitter to have the rail equipment mounted.

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[gstubbz]

Well I was impatient. Obviously a fleet vehicle and I can't imagine it has many miles granted the gauge cluster is missing.

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[gstubbz]

Here is some new knowledge I found out after some research tonight.

During 1991/2-1996 someone could buy what is called the Chevy Van 30 HD which appears as if it uses the same exact 3500HD truck frame, and even includes the same 5 lug front/10 lug rear. In addition it has a spacer between the bumper and grille. Personally, I have never ever seen one of these and I'd imagine they are about as rare as a crew cab 3500HD.The spec sheet is from 1995.

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[Supercharged111]

There was an incredibly rare wide axle option for these. Placing the rears at the same distance as standard DRW. The ford rims share bolt patterns. But the center is larger. Much like the smaller 8 lugs of the two makes.

Learning moment for me here: what was the rear width normally on these? I figured they were all the same. I saw one at the local pull and pay, but wasn't a crew cab so I didn't get my panties in a twist over it. I did observe that ridiculous frame rail under the cab that the OP mentioned, pure beef!