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Project Frankensquare

n8in8or

I never met a project I didn’t like
Messages
4,285
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8,286
Location
Kalamazoo, MI
I have been wanting to start this thread for a few weeks now. I see someone else started a "franken" thread, but this is the title I was planning all along, so I'll stick with it.....hopefully this doesn't cause any confusion, and if so, I apologize in advance.

They say necessity is the mother of invention, so I will say that perceived necessity is the mother of my projects :) I was given a parts truck with a title a couple years ago. I didn't know what I was going to do with it at the time, but since it was free, I just couldn't pass it up. What I knew then is what I know about it as of this writing: It's a K30 frame of unknown year, with an '82 C10 cab on it that has factory AC and was originally a diesel. Unfortunately someone swapped the front Dana 60 out for an early 70s Dana 44 at some point, but the frame itself is solid, so it's a great foundation to a build.

In the meantime, I have been slowly getting parts when I thought about it or they became available. Someone had taken the AC evaporator box off the firewall and cobbled a heater box in its place, so I got all of the AC parts off of a truck at the junkyard. I also got all of the AC accessories off of a squarebody diesel truck last year.

I didn't know exactly how I was going to build the truck, but I hoped to use some 16.5" kidney slot wheels that I already had, just because they'd look retro and cool on it.

This fall, I finally had a need and direction to move forward with this, so here it goes...... This summer, I moved a butt-ton of dirt in the yard. I have a large pile that I'm estimating to be about 175 yards of dirt that needs to be moved now. Luckily, a friend of mine just half a mile up the road wants the dirt, so that makes this easier. Now we need to move it. His house will be challenging to maneuver a dump trailer in, so a dump truck makes more sense. Renting a dump truck is problematic due to insurance issues, plus it's pricey if we go that route, especially since we'll be loading the dirt with my Ferguson, which has a capacity of about 1/4 yard per bucket full.......so I'm not even sure the job can be done in a weekend. I was looking at old dump trucks to buy, but anything in the price range I wanted to spend needed work and was going to be a challenge to get home due to the weight. Then getting parts and fitting it in my barn will be a challenge on top of that. Oh and then license and insurance is once again a challenge. So now my brilliant idea is to build a dump truck, using this squarebody as the foundation.

I've started collecting parts for this project. I found an old International truck at the junkyard that was 4wd. It had an NP202 transfer case under it, which I hadn't heard of before. I did a little research and found it's actually a heavier-duty (and heavier) case than an NP205. Conveniently this unit was divorced from the trans and had a passenger side drop, so it matched the factory GM arrangement. I want the truck to be close to factory from the firewall forward so I can make a tubular turbo system that will clear AC - you can't fit the factory cast iron manifold around the squarebody evaporator case.

I also picked up a 2wd 4L80e trans as a core that I will be pairing with the transfer case.

Next I found a Dana 60, so I grabbed that. It was missing the hubs, but I found a set of dually hubs nearby, so I grabbed those as well. The axle already had a crossover steering arm, so that's cool.

Yeah, so dually hubs..... I decided that even though I wanted to use those 16.5" kidney slots, that this truck was going to make much more sense as a dually since it will be a dump truck, so these dually hubs are actually perfect.

I've been working toward getting this truck ready to work on. I bought a cheap flat bed squarebody truck and parted that out, getting some useful parts for this project - one more truck to add to the list of trucks used to build this truck....so far isn't an 82 C10, an unknown year K30 and a 79 C35. I'll likely also be using a steering column from an 86 Suburban I used to own and who knows what year that Dana 60 is from.

But there will be more trucks.... I want to lift this truck, for stance and also for more offroad capability. I have been looking at Off Road Design offers and a shackle flip in the rear makes sense to me - I can keep the heavy rear springs that are on the K30 currently and gain some lift that I want. However, that shortens the wheelbase a little and that is a negative for how I want to use this truck. I started looking into stretching the K30 frame. That would take some money and time to do it right. I started searching for squarebody frames and found a C30 frame with a 160" wheelbase about an hour-and-a-half from me. I should have that in my possession tomorrow. I don't really want to hack up the K30 frame I have to convert that C30 frame, because the K30 is in quite nice shape, so I'm also getting a K20 frame that's in so-so shape that I can rob the crossmember and other bits off of. The K30 frame then will be saved for another build in the future.

I found a good deal on some 8" Superlift front springs, so I bought those.

Things are coming together, and it's exciting to start on a new project. I will be posting pictures shortly, but I wanted to do all of this typing on the computer first for ease. More to come shortly.
 
Clearly the PO was all kinds of classy (and lonely I assume)

F0704C37-405D-4018-8C45-A4C7B5DBB356.jpeg

Here’s the NP202 when I snagged it at the yard. Yes, that’s my girlfriend’s gardening wagon….it’s a lifesaver at the junkyard!

FE957706-562D-45CC-99D9-2C78D853A7F4.jpeg

Here’s the 4L80e I got with a 6.0 core I also got at the junkyard.

B958A1DA-CC4B-4070-831B-24FAD765708D.jpeg

Here’s the Dana 60. It has 4.56 gears in it.

F8464374-F578-43CD-8DC5-3190C7606EBD.jpeg

And the dually hubs I got.

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Here’s the 79 C35 I got for parts. It’s all parted out now. Unfortunately it had 4.10 gears in the 14 bolt, so hopefully I find 4.56 in my other axle choices.

543B434F-F440-44C5-BDC9-04CA31CF9D30.jpeg

I ordered some 315/75/16 tires and 4 of the 6 showed up today. I’ve seen many people install this size tire on dually wheels and it works fine, but I’m not sure I’m thrilled doing that, so right now my plan is to widen the dually wheels from 6” wide to 7.5” - 8” wide. I’m going to do some test mounting and see what seems right.

E69F18F4-4AAF-41BE-B026-0D4F2F87BF07.jpeg
 
One of the steps I needed to take to get ready for this project was some rearranging in the barn. I’d have more workspace if I would get some projects finished, but that’s not how I roll, so here’s where I am. The space actually worked out exactly as I planned and I ended up with 2 work stalls open instead of just 1, so that’s a big win.

05AD2145-306A-4DB0-8AD1-B3DC1B0CB7BE.jpegD296C5E6-3D04-47A0-960D-DA48E376211D.jpeg9BCD698E-80ED-4D89-9909-807CF1205EC3.jpeg5981C0D4-89F6-41BC-B6FD-64D99DB38A54.jpeg68346C90-AD56-4C2C-A146-CBB59A00B9D1.jpegFB90BB09-CF9E-4538-82A8-E9F49823FE97.jpeg

First up was parting out the 92 K3500 I got a couple years ago. It was in my way for digging the squarebody out of it’s current storage spot and this thing is always in my way, so I decided that if I took it apart it would be easier/more efficient to store, so I brought it in to disassemble. The frame is junk on this truck, so that’s why it’s coming apart. Unfortunately, this one has 3.73 gears, so that’s another 4.56 gear candidate that didn’t pan out.

E882CDEA-AE2C-4D73-97C6-DB8BC3BABB66.jpeg
 
Yes sir. I figured it was easier/more efficient/more practical to convert the longer C30 frame to 4wd than to extend the K30 frame I already had. Right now the C30 frame has about a 160” wheelbase, I think I want it a bit shorter than that, but I’m not sure how short yet….still, relocating spring hangers and then bobbing the frame is easy, so I think this is the right way to go. Another bonus with the longer frame is that the frame rails are made out of a little thicker material than the pickup length frame, so that’s a good bonus considering how this truck is going to get used.
 
Very cool. Can you use just mild steel to fabricate the front diff brackets? I've always wondered if truck frames were of a certain metallugy to allow for some stress/ flexing. I've bent half inch thick flat stock pretty easily trying to build plowing implements for my 45 hp tractor, hence the curiosity.

If I were building my ideal 6.5 dump truck I'd aim for the 156" wheel base equivalent, which I think can allow for a 10' dump bed (if just a regular cab). I picked up a K3500 1 ton dump last year with an 8' bed that is I believe the 131.5" wheelbase. Always nice to have the extra room, and I'm sure whatever engine you put it it will be a very happy monster 🤘
 
Very cool. Can you use just mild steel to fabricate the front diff brackets? I've always wondered if truck frames were of a certain metallugy to allow for some stress/ flexing. I've bent half inch thick flat stock pretty easily trying to build plowing implements for my 45 hp tractor, hence the curiosity.

If I were building my ideal 6.5 dump truck I'd aim for the 156" wheel base equivalent, which I think can allow for a 10' dump bed (if just a regular cab). I picked up a K3500 1 ton dump last year with an 8' bed that is I believe the 131.5" wheelbase. Always nice to have the extra room, and I'm sure whatever engine you put it it will be a very happy monster 🤘
I don't know a ton about the properties of frame rails, but I know just enough to know that to do it right I need to follow my Ps and Qs. You can get bolt-on brackets for the front springs from Off Road Design and they're just formed out of sheet steel. I'm going to look at the factory 4wd frame and see if it's worth adapting the factory parts, but I'm more than likely going to go with the ORD stuff.

156" is probably a few inches over where I'll want to be. I'm going to go by what looks right to me by eye and then go from there. This is close to what I'm shooting for, but the wheelbase and bed look just a little long in my mind. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1985-gmc-k1500/

For this project, I'm willing to compromise bed length a little to gain maneuverability and looks.
 
One of the steps I needed to take to get ready for this project was some rearranging in the barn. I’d have more workspace if I would get some projects finished, but that’s not how I roll, so here’s where I am. The space actually worked out exactly as I planned and I ended up with 2 work stalls open instead of just 1, so that’s a big win.

View attachment 77754View attachment 77755View attachment 77756View attachment 77757View attachment 77758View attachment 77760

First up was parting out the 92 K3500 I got a couple years ago. It was in my way for digging the squarebody out of it’s current storage spot and this thing is always in my way, so I decided that if I took it apart it would be easier/more efficient to store, so I brought it in to disassemble. The frame is junk on this truck, so that’s why it’s coming apart. Unfortunately, this one has 3.73 gears, so that’s another 4.56 gear candidate that didn’t pan out.

View attachment 77759
“For this project, I'm willing to compromise bed length a little to gain maneuverability and looks.”

Ok. You said this, so this video came to mind:
A friend had a 1940's 6x6 cut down to a 4x4 about that long or shorter
 
Made good progress this evening: I got everything stripped off of the frame. I got really lucky even because the leaf springs barely fought me coming off, which is very rare here in the rust belt. Tomorrow I’ll get things moved out of the barn and the mess cleaned up so I can start on the next thing. 35AD5229-924D-41CA-A343-A1BE967A8B93.jpeg
 
Picked up another frame today - this one is an 82 K20. Bonus is this one had a 6.2 originally so not only did I get a 4wd frame as a guide and parts for the 4wd conversion, but I also got the diesel motor mount brackets I needed, score!! The front is in pretty good shape, but the rear is in typical shape for around here, which is just fine for my needs.

F6D20AA2-CB15-4AD0-9A3E-6DDC1B374AF7.jpeg45191672-3D0F-4621-B41E-B0C095D1D3D4.jpeg3E2B92A2-20E2-46B6-8A2C-27207C8CCBBC.jpeg628FF686-364B-41B0-A080-2C715DB012B2.jpeg

I did some quick comparing between the 89 C30 frame and the 82 K20 frame and found that the K rails at the front are taller than the C rails are, so I’ll need to decide what I want to do there for the conversion. When it comes to that I’ll put the frames side-by-side and figure it out.

I also took a look at the original truck’s frame and found out that it’s not a K30 frame after all, it’s actually a C30 frame that someone converted to 4wd, so that’s interesting.

I got the K20 frame all stripped down this afternoon, so that was good progress. This week I’ll pull the frame out of the barn and then take care of the parts I removed from both frames to save. Once that’s done I’ll be ready to pull the truck into the barn and I can start making stuff happen.
 
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