Hello to everyone. This is my first post here after finding the site yesterday. I am in WV and was recently given a 1967 Chevy C40 dump. A bit of info about the truck:
292, 4spd. Decent shape, runs real well with only a bit of smoke while the motor is cold (valve seals?) The dump is a bit of an issue as it has a long body on it so it doesnt dump quite steep enough for any sort of wet/sticky dirt/gravel. I am wondering if it was an old lumber delivery truck at one time. Have been thinking of shortening the bed and tail of the frame but I havent taken the time to figure out the geometry and what it will do to the payload and such.
My real issue is that the truck has the old split rims (split in the well) and the tires on it are pretty dry rotted. It has 10 lug 9.00-20's on the rear and 5 (perhaps 10's with the plate) 7.50-20's on the front. At this point I am not interested in a restoration but I would love to get the truck a little more reliable and road worthy for rare short (10-20 miles) hauls. I am a home builder and also own a sawmill. I am always needing to shuttle around a couple tons of gravel or a couple thousand feet of lumber. That said, I am not sure I am willing to invest 2k into this truck. I thought a quick motor rebuild (rings, have the head done, gasket set) for 500-700 or so dollars and a set of tires would be worth it. To my question, is it possible to weld these old split rims up solid and still get a tire on them? Or is that out of the question?
I would appreciate any of your input on the whole package. I would love to look forward to a restoration of some sort one day but its just not in the cards for me, time wise, right now. I love the nostalgia of the old truck but sinking 2-3k into it when I could pick up a newer road ready truck for 4-5 k is what I am thinking about.
Glad to have found you all and look forward to scouring the site and all of your input.
Thanks,
Mark
