1985 Chevrolet K30 Modified C&C
She started life as a C&C with 10' tool body fleet truck for a local union operation. In '92 she was pick up for the farm where she worked until 2011 when she was torn down to the frame to rebuild. The frame was chopped to 8', flatbed/toolboxes/transfer tank were added, she got painted to match the farm colors, and converted from SRW to DRW. She continued to serve as the primary farm truck and excavation company truck for the newly formed excavation company until she was outgrown. Just not enough truck to pull the new trailers with new mini and bigger skid loader. I then took her to my farm where she currently serves as my service truck between both farms and elsewhere.
She's an '85 body with an '82 red block NA 6.2 Detroit (engine #3? now), TH400 (trans #4), NP205, Dana 60 kingpin front, and Dana 70 rear converted to dually. She's a tank, all-be-it a low powered tank. Most don't like the old Detroit's, I am probably one of the few that does. It doesn't take much to keep her happy and I can feed her off the transfer tank in the rear when needed in a pinch. Plus, even loaded down with 1000lbs of tools and fuel, she pulls the same mileage as my empty '04 half ton gasser.
Really don't know the mileage that the truck has. As a farm truck she's serviced annually with the equipment, we never bother to track via Odometer readings. The original '85 engine gave up with a cracked head years ago. A dinosaur Old's 5.7 diesel sat in the frame at one point. The current '82 engine came from a completely rotted out donor truck off a neighboring farm, and at the time of replacement had like 350k on it. At this point the engine probably has north of 400k and this winter I finally rebuilt the original factory injection system. Hard to beat that kind of reliability. When the engine was swapped in the mechanical fuel pump was bypassed for a simple electric lift pump, and she's about to get a new injection pump and new fuel system as the original is bleeding air in the IP circuit.
She's nothing really special, just a trusty farm truck. Cruzes about 55mph max and seeps oil everywhere which is just free rust preventative. The ignition went out at real bad timing during spring plant 2020, so I patched it with a interior 15A light switch that now serves as the ignition switch. Old mechanical trucks are nice, you can easily fix them on the roadsides. Old mechanical diesels are even nicer. Beats the snot out of finicking with carbs or modern computers. Plus, because no one likes these engines, parts are plentiful and dirt cheap. I've got a full '84 runner with all accessories in the barn that I snagged for $100 to have a spare on hand. If (more like when) the '82 engine gives out, in goes the '84 and she'll just keep right on trucking.
Last edited by HFfarms; Tue May 11 2021 01:19 PM.
I really like the twilight pic with the dozer and Old Glory in the background.