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
The Jalopy Journal
