I'll check tonight and let ya know. Hit me up with any questions. I have been in the '60-'72 truck scene for the last 15+ years. Currently have a '65 C10 truck, '65 C10 Panel and '68 C10 truck, in various forms of build process/driver.
Not sure what it is supposed to be called. I have been referring to is as a Suburban Panel, since I thought a regular panel would be a car-type station wagon with no windows. One listee seemed sure it was supposed to be called a panel, which I am fine with. Regarding the overload springs: I don't know whether they are a factory item or not, but they do look like they were designed for this type of chassis. I was surprised by the wood inserts. In any event, I think I will probably remove them in favor of the stock coil springs (and airbags if necessary). Thanks for the chevytrucks link.
For this, Panel Truck would be more acurate. You could have had a Panel Van. Truck was based on the truck platform, van was based on the van platform. The Panel name reference no windows. Typically station wagons without windows (or car based vehicles) were called deliveries (i.e. sedan delivery). As for those "overloads"... if you don't take them off, I will have to find you in Coronado and remove them for you. 100%, those are not factory in that location!!! BTW, do you want this stock height or lowered? Makes a big difference in what you need to put in.
Those forward mounted quarter elliptical spring were on my 63 Suburban also. Throw away? no way. They don't hurt the empty ride at all, but you can fill the back with heavy stuff and it won't squat...good for towing, too. They could be dealer acc'y springs? Yes, I know where the pickups had overload leaf springs; attatched to the rear of the frame, pointing forward, and yes, they had added extensions to the trailing arms for the leaf tip to touch. correct term is "suburban carryall" Somewhere I have every sales brochure for 60 through 66 suburbans. If I ever find them, I will look for acc'y springs. I have a 62 dealer sales book which is huge, misplaced of course... and a 60 dealer parts manual.
yes How about that website that showed the guy with a ton of kids who bought the 10' bed floor panel, and did windows, and a whole bunch of seats, and a liftgate, when it was brand new
Wow, learned something new. In all my years of looking at pics and such, I don't think I have seen another setup like the one pictured above and definitely not without the stock coil spring. I know the truck ones I have only seen on long bed trucks so maybe Panels and shortbeds got this setup or maybe Panel only. Weird but cool to know. Just seems like a bad idea of rubbing mid arm like that.
Did you find all the clamp stuff you need for the springs? I have the lowers with the bolts, let me know if you want them.
Sorry I didn't reply sooner. Got caught up fixing my '65 C10 truck. Got it fixed. I do have a set of springs. They came off my '68 C10 and will work just fine. You are welcome to them... free, just need to pick them up. PM me if interested and want to come get them.
Update: At the expense of a smashed finger I was able to get the new front suspension basically attached to my frame yesterday. The hardest part of the whole deal was prying off the old dead calipers so I could remove the discs. The guy I bought the suspension from thoughtfully left all of the nuts, bolts and washers which were in good shape, so I didn't have to find any (the originals were trash). Thanks to Squirrel for finding the lower brackets for the rear end, and thanks to ChevyMike for offering up a pair of springs. I ordered the 6 lug discs from CPP today (unfortunately back ordered for a few days). Until the arrive, I am going to spend time cleaning up the front end and frame. I will also probably have to disassemble the old front end to get rid of it. Here are a couple of pix. I also added three pix of my other toys. The London taxi is going on the market soon. We have had it a bit over a year and have put less than 2000 miles on it. It has cost more than $1/mile in repairs over that period of time!
Hi- It appears I am getting my frame issues wrestled to ground. Thanks for all the advice. New problem: Does anybody know where I can get new body mounts? Panel (suburbans) are evidently different than pickups. THanks
I took mine over to the truck shop and matched them up to what they had (I worked 1 street over at the time). I remember they weren't cheap, like $8 each at the time and you needed like 16. I just found my receipt and it says "upper body mounts", I'll look into it. Also I'll recommend that you put in a slip yoke in the rear shaft since everything is getting fixed. Ok, it's a "upper cab mount fits '69-'72 Suburban" part #69-09703 and is $15 each!!!. The bottom is a pic of mine, so it takes a top and bottom one hence the 16.
Yikes! Thanks for the input on the body mounts. Without wanting to sound too stupid: What do you mean by slip yoke? I am installing a 700R4 (I think), so I assume driveshaft work is in my future. Is the slip yoke part of that?
as mentioned, if your truck does not have windows, it would be called a "panel delivery" the fifth digit in the VIN should be a "5" these are pretty rare. can you imagine making deliveries and not having side doors? If I was the delivery man, I would prefer a suburban with the seats removed. At least there would be one side door for access. best wishes!
more likely a "panel truck". So you won't confuse it with a "sedan delivery" A 63 panel truck, just like a 63 Suburban, has two front side doors just like a pickup truck. Starting in 1967, Suburbans had 3 side doors, and they also got longer as they were made on a long bed truck chassis, instead of a short bed.
Might look into maybe rubber stock and punching holes in it, not sure if that's cheaper or not. The driveshaft was a 2 piece unit with a center support bearing hanging from the frame. The cheap support bearings you get now blow the rubber out quickly and the cure is to put a slip yoke (think of a 4x4 front drive shaft) in the rear shaft to relieve the strain on the support bearing. All my X frame cars/trucks have it and have been trouble free for years, the last problem I had was my panel broke the mount on the support bearing (cheap china support) after 10 years. Your going to have to do some crossmember mods for a 700, a 200 will be right on the parking brake crossmember. The hot ticket is to put a TH350/200R4 in, bolt it to the parking brake crossmember and then use a parking brake cable set-up from a '66 (which didn't use the crossmember). Also to add to the Panel discussion, most panels (60-66) can with just a drivers bucket style seat. The suburbans came with a jumper on the pass side to aid getting into the rear seats since those years didn't have the 3rd door. I just noticed your from Coronado, I was down there about a month or ago getting a car off of 5th and C ave.
Hey guys! I need to learn to hit the correct reply button! Just wiped out this post the first time by not hitting "Quick Reply". I have had my nose down and butt up for the last few weeks cleaning up the frame on my panel. Installed the "new" 71 front end with new disc brake parts. Removed the helper springs - turned out bolts that have been hanging in the breeze for nearly 50 years were a bit of a challenge. I have been scraping and wire brushing the frame and am using Eastwoods rust encapsulator and Chassis Black paint. What I have done looks pretty good if I do say so myself. Installed new bushings for the panhard rod (not too tough) and the trailing arms (more of a challenge). Should get the gas tank back tomorrow. Just ordered a new rear (drum) brake kit. My question du jour: Where is a good place to get brake and fuel line components? Thanks!
Hey all- I am hoping for some advice on the next steps with my panel. I need find a power brake booster/master cylinder and power steering gearbox. There is a pretty good junk yard nearby and I was wondering which year of Chevy or GMC would be good to cannibalize. Also, I understand that somebody makes a power steering box adapter for the older suburbans. Can somebody tell me who that is? Finally, I was trying to mount my new shock absorbers the other day and I discovered that the hole in the frame on the right side of the chassis is a lot bigger than the hole on the other side. The shock studs are the same on each side. Is there a sleeve or something that I am missing? Thanks in advance.
Over on the other board, there is a guy who sells what I feel is the best adapter plate on the market. I have used two of them and they work great. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=332923 It allows you to use most any GM C10 truck from '68-'87 power steering box (earlier boxes have the standard inverted flair connection, later ('80ish) use a metric fitting. Either will work but you have to get the matching style pump). As for the shock mount, likely the original one came loose at some point and wollowed out the hole. You will likely need to weld a HD washer to the frame to close it up make it the right size. CPP also sells an outer bracket that support the end away from the frame, which puts that stud into double shear mounting. This eliminates this problem from happening again. Have them on my two '65's and need a set for my '68. CPP also makes a nice power brake booster setup. Capt. Fab (same guy making the steering bracket) on the other board makes an adapter that allows you to use a junk yard booster from '70's-'80's GM cars. I have this but am thinking I might not use it and go with a whole new setup. Could make you a deal on it. Hope that helps.
Mike- Thanks for the advice! I suppose it is possible the hole got expanded, but it is pretty uniform and about twice as large as it was before. If the shock brackets you mentioned will solve the problem I think I will go that way. Thanks of the tip on the power steering bracket. What do you want for your brake set up? Dave
It's possible a previous owner might have used something else or maybe the later ones (73+) use a larger inner stud and someone drilled it out. Here's the instuctions on how the bracket works. http://www.classicperform.com/Instructions/PDF/6372FSRB.pdf As for the bracket for the booster, below is what it is. It was $65 shipped but I'll let it go for $50. I do have a power booster I bought from the junk yard, that looked like it would work but I never got around to using it. I'll let that go for $50 but if you bought both, I'll take $90. This does not include a master cylinder, which I had planned on buying new. Below is the link about the bracket and how it works. http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?p=3257836&posted=1#post3257836
Hey guys...I was reminded that I haven't updated the status of my Panel in a while. By way of correcting that: 1) Engine (SBC) and trans (700R4) are installed in the chassis. I removed the original trans mount and went with an after market trans mount. 2) Started installing new brake and gas lines this past weekend. 3) '71 front end was installed a while ago - new discs and calipers. 4) New shocks 5) All body parts that can be removed have been media blasted 6) Most of the body work on the shell is done. 7) Hoping to score a power steering gear box this week so I can install it next weekend (recommendations?) 8) I cut new plywood for the rear of the panel 9) I bought new body mounts - we'll see if they work 10) Going to work on installing a '66 parking brake. Still need a lower sill plate for a clamshell rear door. Still plenty to do Dave
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