'88 RCLB C3500 "Roscoe P. Coltrane"

[HotWheelsBurban]

Yup.


Ten years ago when the truck was parked, a beat up GMT400 farm truck was utterly worthless. The only thing of value was the motor. He never intended to get it back on the road. Instead he filled it with scrap metal and trash and intended to roll it off into a ditch somewhere. It's pretty common around here. Another guy I knew bought 10 acres near me and discovered two cars on the property with no documentation. He had a ditch that needed filled. I can guess where those two cars went.

I have another coworker with a 3/4 ton frame, engine, transmission, and suspension that he's offering me. I was already interested because I'll need a motor, but now I'm more interested. My only concern is that I think that's a 4wd frame, and for a long-haul truck I'd prefer 2wd for fuel economy and simplicity. I'm also not set up for a cab swap; I'd have to borrow an a-frame. If I get the 3/4 frame, it might become a crossmember donor, but then my problem is that I don't have the shop wired for 220v yet. I think I found my driving motivator for that!

Ugh. Frustrating, but all this typing is helping me sort the problem and come up with a plan. I'm going to go ahead with disassembling the dash and cleaning that mess up. It's something I can tackle this weekend and it's going to need done eventually anyways.

I think that happens more in rural areas than we realize. Stolen cars in Houston area usually end up in a chop shop or a bayou, but if there's fields around, they go there too. Until someone comes through to clear the land, or gather up stuff to scrap, no one notices. Especially if there are already"old junk cars and trucks" on the property....

 

[RedneckWithPaychecks]

I wonder how many old cars have been shoved into my piece of Louisiana swamp, or shoved into my 100+ acres in the UP now that you say that

I think that happens more in rural areas than we realize. Stolen cars in Houston area usually end up in a chop shop or a bayou, but if there's fields around, they go there too. Until someone comes through to clear the land, or gather up stuff to scrap, no one notices. Especially if there are already"old junk cars and trucks" on the property....

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Not much telling, in LA. the gators get it or it rusts away into the black gumbo mud....

 

[RedneckWithPaychecks]

Not much telling, in LA. the gators get it or it rusts away into the black gumbo mud....

Or it’ll be washed out by hurricanes, likely why I haven’t moved down there other than the humidity

 

[Supercharged111]

Just chop that out of a junkyard truck, zap it in, and be on your way. Also, for the motor, if you start with a Vortec you can 58X it and run that and the 6L80 (or 90?) off of a GenIV LS ECM/TCM.

 

[454cid]

I have another coworker with a 3/4 ton frame, engine, transmission, and suspension that he's offering me. I was already interested because I'll need a motor, but now I'm more interested. My only concern is that I think that's a 4wd frame, and for a long-haul truck I'd prefer 2wd for fuel economy and simplicity.

Convert it to 2wd?....normally when I see requests for help with that, I think it's stupid, but in this case when you're basically building a truck from the ground up, I don't think it would be bad at all..... IF you can do one of two things, use your 2wd spindles/knuckles on the 4wd control arms or the more likely thing, use GMT-800 unit bearing hubs like these.... assuming 6-lug, but there are 8-lug parts too. I don't know thw hubs will work for sure, but they look like that should, unless some spacing would be off.

More Information for TIMKEN SP450301

After taking care of the front end, you'd probably want to swap the transmission out of a 2wd or drop the t-case and install a 2wd tail shaft.

 

[Erik the Awful]

my problem is that I don't have the shop wired for 220v yet

Weld all around. I'm guessing that crossmember is no more than 3/16. A basic 120V welder should be plenty fine, with Flux cored wire.

Let me clarify - I have the 220v wiring run in my shop, but the entire shop is powered off a 50' extension cord to the back of my house. I still need to buy 150' of 2/0 2/0 1/0 0 MHF so I can power my shop off the 200a service on my wife's shop.

I'm not going to weld off a flimsy extension cord. If I felt froggy enough to tow the truck back in front of my house to the garage, I have 220v there, but I really just need to finish up the wiring on the shop. It's getting to the rainy part of the year, so likely in the next month or so I can easily trench the yard and get it dropped in.

 

[MrPink]

i am glad i only have to go 40' at most with 2,2,2,4 for my new service in the garage.

 

[454cid]

I still need to buy 150' of 2/0 2/0 1/0 0 MHF so I can power my shop off the 200a service on my wife's shop.

What kind of shop does your wife have?

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

I still need to buy 150' of 2/0 2/0 1/0 0 MHF so I can power my shop off the 200a service on my wife's shop.

You really don't need that big of wire unless you're running a 200A service to your shop. I'm running 2/2/2/4 to my shop off a 90A breaker from my meter base at the house to a 100A/30 space panel in my shop. The 90A breaker is protecting my feed so, I can run wire sized for that size breaker. Even running my welder on its highest setting it draws ~50A and my air compressor draws 30A so, I'm close but, when will I ever want to spray arc with my wire feed and air up my tires?

NEC changed their sizing for neutral a few years ago (2012 IIRC). You have to do the calculation for load on your neutral before you can reduce it. If you have a lot of 240 loads with no neutral, you can de-rate it. It's a lot easier just running the same size.