Retiring an old war horse

[stumpjumper83]

Its a 78' chevy c-60 gasser, 296 style, ordered that way for north penn gas co. N. penn sold it 10 years later to a contractor, while there the 296 gave out and a 350 was installed. Some time later another contractor purchased her, and he wore that 350 out, & put another 350 out of a car into her. Then he developed heart trouble and parked her for several years.

This spring I bought her ($ 500), and somehow got it inspected, and ran it all summer pulling my excavator. Two months ago she developed some wiring problems due to cobbling every time the motor was swapped, got it running again only for the 350 to start contaminating the oil w/ antifreeze.

Now from the time I had it, it didn't have enough brake, and the previous owner had spent alot trying to get it to stop better. I had to patch the floor boards to pass inspection. Firewall was rusting out, as with the bottoms of the doors, fenders and top of the cab.

So since cars were bringing $235 a ton, and nobody wanted any projects, farm trucks, or dump carts, she went for one last ride to the salvage yard behind her replacement, a cherry '88 ford f-800 diesel w/ air brakes.

Kinda sad to see the orange peel squeeze the cab, but it was necessary... Although she only got 5.8 mpg, that old truck sure made me some money, there were several days she was billed out for purchase cost or higher, but she drank a $20 per hour, and a quart or two of oil at the end of the day, and required ear plugs to operate.

-- they will prolly make razor blades out of her, and she will come back to cut me yet---

 

[willie59]

I hear ya bro, kinda hard to let one go that has dragged your dirty self all over the place. Probably just as well though, certain parts for those old C series are getting real scarce. At least ya got pics of the funeral.

 

[Stevenbrla]

That's a dayum sad pic.

 

[stumpjumper83]

Yeah, it wasn't quite big enough to handle the 17,000 of hoe and trailer. I'd be down to 2nd low pulling some grades, almost blew the motor pulling one, she got warm, 250 ish, and I had to pull over to cool her down then proceed in granny gear up the rest of the hill.

Best thing was the hoist, couldn't overload it, I tried. filled till spilling over the boards with wet, rocky clay, she still dumped...

 

[sandnsnow]

I have a 68 Chevy C-60 that was my first. She has a 400 something V6 in it. I dont know why she still sits at my house but I just cant seem to scrap her out. I let my buddy use her and he wore out the chutch. She does start every time but smokes abit. She was my first love. It reminds me of back when things were easy I guess. I think I will charge her up tomorrow and go for a spin.

 

[Gmc7210]

I run a truck like that all the time, they are a good setup as far i'm concerned but you probably did the right thing

 

[stumpjumper83]

Had the cab not been rusted out, I would have stuck another motor in her. Prolly would have went to an 8.2 detroit or a 5.9 cummins, 7.3 ih or some other light/medium duty diesel. It was only legal for 5 ton of payload on the truck w/ the gas motor so I'd have been runnin out of room with a diesel under the hood, and I couldn't keep the gas in her.

What type of milage are you all getting out of the big block gassers, 429, 454, 460...

As for doing the right thing, yeah your right. I couldn't find anyone that wanted to give me what I could get for scrap out of it. Had one guy that wanted to trade me a 05' 250 kawasiki ninja for it, but I'd don't need a baby bike, and its winter so the bike wouldn't sell till may prolly. I told him to come up with cash equal to the junk man and I'd let him have the truck. Then there is a local contractor that has several of these c series for jobsite and fuel truck use and he said it was a little too far gone for him, so away it went.

I do absolutely love the refinement of the ford f-800 over the c-60 though. I have a radio & cb, I can hear both at highway speed. The truck will do highway speed. Due to the truck originally having a 296, it had the shortest gears I'd ever seen in a highway truck, high gear & bouncing off the governor on a downhill was 53.

 

[Greg]

I would not be to worried about it being turned into razor blades and coming back to cut you. Most likely will come out as rebar for concrete or light structural steel.

 

[nedly05]

Tough old trucks, we wore out several of them! Any pics of the new ford?

 

[stumpjumper83]

humm... no ford pics at the moment. Hasn't been the best of weather lately and she needs a bath at the moment. What good weather we have had I've been busy wrapping things up.

 

[mitch504]

I never clocked the mileage because it was a fertilizer spreader, but I had a 1977 IH w/ a 404 gas (same block as a 7.3 diesel), 5-speed, and a 2-speed rear( 9.97 & 7.37). It would not run hard all day on a tank of gas (48 gallons). When I added a second truck I bought an Ih single axle tractor w/ an L-10 270 Cummins, 9-speed, and a 4.30 rear. It had a lot more power and would run hard all day on 25 gallons of fuel. after seeing those results for a season, I bought another diesel truck, and made the payments w/ the fuel savings from retiring the gas burner. Air brakes also are far and away cheaper and easier to fix than hydraulic brakes

 

[Ray1953]

shoulda save the mirrors for me looking for some like that and they are hard to find. sad but sometimes losses need to be cut.

 

[barklee]

We had a 1974 c-60 with the 350 in her. Same problems with that one as you had with the cab rusting out and tearin up the fuse box. Ours had a bucket truck mounted on it. Im trying to remember but i think that truck had 75,000 miles and 25,000 hours of run time on it!! We swapped the boom over on a newer ford f-800 because it was getting to be unreliable and it was slow as heck on the highway. An old tree trimmer bought the chassis and put a flat bed on it. I just saw it the other day runnin down the road! What a great old truck... they just dont make em that way any more.

 

[95zIV]

Dad has got a '71 C-50 with a 350 in it and I think it's getting to the end of it's life. If it does go I'm gonna see if I can get the heart out of it, it would go darn well in my sons Jag.

 

[d9gdon]

You say it originally had a 296 engine in it? Do you mean a 292 inline six cylinder?

 

[Randy88]

We had a 292 in a pickup back in 73, had nothing but problems with it and traded it for one with a 350 in it, way better engine.

I had the same feelings you had seeing your truck go into the crusher, my old 88 dodge that drove me around for 19 years hit the crusher and I felt like I'd lost a friend forever, it just gets to a point that there's nothing to fix anymore, they are in such sad shape your trying to patch patches with patches. Hope the new truck is as good as the old one for you, thanks for sharing the pictures with us, boy they bring back memories of years gone by, there were a ton of those c series trucks around here in their day though.

 

[digger242j]

Retiring an old war horse

As I grow more 'old war horse-ish' myself, I feel compelled to point out that "retirement" should mean being put out to stud :naughty ; not being made into dog food...



(Although I'm currently comtemplating exactly the same fate for a couple of old friends...)

 

[barklee]

as i grow more 'old war horse-ish' myself, i feel compelled to point out that "retirement" should mean being put out to stud :naughty ; not being made into dog food...



(although i'm currently comtemplating exactly the same fate for a couple of old friends...)

ha ha ha!!!!!

 

[brushmaster90]

Aww man that had to be a bad day. Never like to see a truck go down.

Heck if it was me ide let it sit behind my shop.

 

[250c]

I have a '75 w/350 that has seen it's better days--it also has the same rust problems but still runs good. I have it in semi-retirement and just use it on my place--like me it might be wore out but we can still get it done lol.