1996 Chevrolet c3500HD CrewCab BEAST - Junkyard Rescue Take II

[deejaaa]

i am running railroad rims on my 93. they are called hi-rail.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road–rail_vehicle
more info:
http://www.dieselhub.com/rigs/c3500hd.html

 

[Tavi]

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!

Pretty sure it is 63" from wms to wms.

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!



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



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!

The 80s in the dodges were a 80/70 hybrid. 80 center section and tube that tapered down to 70 barrings and hubs

 

[gstubbz]

Railroad rims would be interesting. If I could find a 10 lug set of four I wouldn't mind making this thing SRW but then again I need spacers for the rear.

Didn't know that about the dodge axles, but makes sense!


So Auto Truck emailed me back this morning. I'm glad they did but it wasn't the result I was hoping for. Oh well worth the shot!

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[GarrettGmc]

Well that's wired, id check the frame and see if the chevy body was swapped onto it.

 

[gstubbz]

It's for sure a chevy frame. Maybe Y2K messed up all of their records or something, I have no clue!

 

[deejaaa]

that IS wired!

 

[Tavi]

Sorry. My mistake. The axle is 67 inches. Normal duallys are 72 inches.

My plan has been to add a 2 inch spacer per side between the duals. And throw on some 245/70r19.5. Which should push the outside tire almost flush with a standard dually bed, without screwing with wheel to barring alignment to much.

 

[GarrettGmc]

Well seeing as how your a chevy an dodge man like me I'd drop a 12v 6bt in, nothing to fancy but built for those cross country drive hauling whatever you want.

 

[gstubbz]

Sorry. My mistake. The axle is 67 inches. Normal duallys are 72 inches.

My plan has been to add a 2 inch spacer per side between the duals. And throw on some 245/70r19.5. Which should push the outside tire almost flush with a standard dually bed, without screwing with wheel to barring alignment to much.

That may work! I am skeptical of spacers though. I think the bigger problem is I would have to have a set custom made at this point.

Well seeing as how your a chevy an dodge man like me I'd drop a 12v 6bt in, nothing to fancy but built for those cross country drive hauling whatever you want.

12 valve would be cool! I took a gander at craigslist and the cheapest 12v I found was $2,200 and wasn't even a P-Pump. If I go the cummins route then I have to figure out what I'd do for a transmission (probably go nv4500) and figure out how to add the parking brake to the back of it. Could always use the Cummins/4L80e adapters but those are pricey and I don't think this truck will have a 4l80 forever.

We shall see as time goes on!

 

[Black_cirrus]

I read a thread on C3500hd.com last week in 4x4 conversations that talked about spring under conversations. There was an upfitter that did them that way small lift and one person had replicated it.