The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts New Guy with a 1972 C/50

Hello all,
My name is Josh and I recently bought a C/50 that was rotting in my neighbor's yard. It has some rust problems and did have brake problems. I replaced all the brake lines and the master cyl. I am currently in the process of getting it to run. It has a 350 and a flat bed currently. I am not sure what my intentions will be as of yet but, Im thinking of using it to pull my 1976 horse 4 horse trailer. I was wondering what is (with the current driveline) is a good cruising speed? It does have the 2 spd rear. Also I am having a hard time sourcing front fenders for it. Any help would be appreciated! By the way I am a ase master tech and an aircraft tech also. So I know my way around with the wrenches!
Thanks for your time guys!

Well being a C50 finding front fenders will be challenging. The cab parts are all the same and the 1967-72 truck are very popular so anything you would find on a pickup truck is being reproduced but the big trucks aren’t so popular so you will need to either fix what you have or search till you find better ones. The difference in the fenders is primarily the wheel well openings and they are taller so you may compare any rusty areas to a pickup truck fender if you are lucky pickup truck patch panels may fix your bad spot.

Good luck and welcome to the BOLT

By 1972, the speed limit was 70 in most states, 75 in some. And a 72 C50 was built to run the speed limit.

Hey guys thanks for the help! How do I tell what tonnage the truck is rated for? It has drum brakes front and rear, and 10 lugs on the wheels. Any links to information would be helpful as I did a search but everything I read was pretty vague.

Thanks
Josh

Josh, Check your GVW Tag and let us know what it states. I'm going to guess that it is somewhere around 19,500.

Are you sure you have 10 Lugs on the Front and Rears? Those trucks usually had 10 Lugs on the Rear and 5 on the Front.

Bill

Well I cant find the tags on it. Where would it be located? Yes 10 on front and 10 on rear.

Sounds like you have a pretty heavy truck for a C-50. When you open the drivers door, look at the door jamb to the right (towards the back of the cab) and near the bottom.

Bill

Bill there is no tag there. I did see on another post that there may be on in the glove compartment. I will check there next. Thanks again.

It could have a 7k steering axle and a 17k driver which would give a gvw of 24,000. Are you sure that it uses 10 lug bolts in front or do the wheels just have 10 holes with a bolt in every other one? I'm not sure if a 50 series with offered with 10 hole stud piloted, but that doesn't mean that someone didn't change components in the last 40 years.

Hey.jstar! I live about 4-500 miles west of you, but i have a friend whose step- father owns about 10 1967-1972 C-50 or c-60 school buses. I know that Iowa is a long way from Indiana, but you might be able to find the parts you are looking for (front sheet-metal) in the source of parked buses. If they're are ten in my backyard,there's bound to be one in your area. Good Luck! Bill Hickey [email protected] Cedar Rapids,Iowa

Josh, There is also a label on the Glove Box Door, but lots of times they get beat up or torn. Hopefully yours is still there. It will also have other detailed info on it. But if you have the Title or an old Registration make sure the VIN Number and other info match. The glove box door is easy to change and some have the wrong one on there.

Also is there any evidence of a metal tag ever being there on the door jamb?

By the way, the title and registration should also have the GVW Ratings on it, although in some states you can actually register them for more than the factory specs.

I think you'll find that the fenders on a school bus are different than on a truck.

About 30 years ago, someone set off a bomb in the Denver Public Schools parking lot in the middle of the night. A friend of mine in the salvage business bought 10 or 15 of the GM busses, but found out that the sheet metal was different after he got them home.

Just be careful!!

Ok here is what I found. Per the sticker in the glove box it is rated for 24000. Thanks for all the help guys! Now to just find fenders or make patches.

Don't confuse rated spring capacity with the actual GVWR. 24K sounds pretty high for a 50 series. A std 60 series wouldn't have been that high. What does the axle rating say? FYI the GVW is the total of the least rated components so 7000 lb springs on a 5K axle does not up the GAWR, i.e. axle rating. Make sense?

I've owned 3 67-72 C50s, for front fenders, c40-50 fenders are an exact match, hoods don't interchange from pickup to C50, school buses had similar fenders with wider wheel well flares, same year pickup door will NOT fit unless you cut a 45 degree notch at the bottom front of the door. My Chevy C50's all had 5 lug wheels on the front axle, but my GMC V5500 had a 10 lug front axle, which I believe was optional. If your truck has the original glove box door, inside it should have a sicker with a coded list of all original equipment. Good luck!

You must be really bored this morning.

Martin, That comment made me smile this morning!

Also made me think of Dave "53Moneypit"...I miss him and his knowledge on truck bodies and hoists...he hasn't been here since 2014.

Mike B

Yup, I was just browsing through the Forums this morning and noticed a lot of posts by Shacklett. No it’s not unusual to see a bunch of posts from one person but upon closer look most everything he was responding to was 9-10 years old, hence the “bored” comment.
Missing a lot of the old gang these days.