'70 C10 Long Bed swap?

I'm looking at buying a '70 C10 long bed fleetside. Of course I prefer a stepside bed. I've located a complete '66 step side bed, all the panels, tailgate, wood floor strips, lights etc. From what I'm reading it does not appear that I can just swap out the beds. Apparently Chevy changed the frames in '67 or thereabouts. Anyone out there know what kinds of modifications would be needed to get this bed to fit the '66?

Joe

 

Do you mean long or short stepside? I seem to remember that long bed step sides only came on 3/4 ton trucks. If you are referring to a short bed, you could purchase one of the frame shorting kits on the market and go from there.

 

I'm looking at a '70 long bed fleetside complete truck and a '66 long bed stepside bed that I would like to retrofit to the '70 truck. From the videos I've watched it looks like the '70 fleetside bed is held on with 8 bolts that go through the frame, 4 towards the front and 4 towards the rear. I haven't come across any information on how the '66 stepside bed attaches to the frame. I know a '67-72 stepside will go right on a '67-72 fleetside truck with no issues. I just don't know what the difference is on the pre '67 trucks.

 

The frames didn't change much between 66 and 67. The fenders did, you can put the early fenders on the later truck and most people won't even notice, since it's been decades since they've seen a 67-72 stepside and forgot what the fenders look like

I just looked in the Chevy parts book, the bed side panels, sills and front panel are the same part number from 1960 to 1972.

So you should be able to bolt the bed on with no problem. The rear axle was made wider in 1970, so the only thing that might cause problems is if you have wide tires/wheels on it, they might not clear the 66 fenders as easily as they do the 70 bed.

 

Hey Jim,

Well that would be great then. Right now the '70 has stock wheels and tires so that shouldn't be a problem.

Joe

 

As I'm reading this, you have the 70 long bed truck and intend to just swap on the short bed, correct?
Generally, the differences in the bed length between the short bed and the long bed are split on both sides of the rear axle. The non-matching bolt holes will be the least of your problems.

You are going to have to shorten the long bed truck frame between the front of the bed and the rear axle, as well as shortening the truck frame behind the axle to put that short bed on the long bed frame. If you install the short bed so the fenders match up with the rear axle, you will have a gap between the cab and the front of the bed, and the frame will extend out behind the back end of the bed.

If you put the short bed on the long bed frame with the front of the bed against the back of the cab, the fenders will be way to forward of the rear axle and you will have lots of frame hanging out behind the bed.

 

I think he is installing a long stepside bed.