Lockouts for a 63 3/4 ton 4x4 impossible?

[pilotguy1050]

hello all.

This may very well be my first post on this forum... if not, the others were inconsequential. I am in need of infinite Wisdom (as if we all weren't). But, lacking an infinite supply, I'd be happy with a rather finite sample. Perhaps you all can share some of yours with me?

I recently received my first vintage GMC pickup. It was my Fathers, bought in the Winter of 1970, when I was 10; it was a mostly-rust-bucket powerhouse/treeclimber with a snowplow attached. I think he paid $900 for it. I remember driving it home *(yes, I was 10). Remember, we lived in rural Iowa, and my Dad wasn't too afraid of being caught breaking the law. I didnt get caught, and I was full of adrenaline driving that truck home that day. And, by "received it", I mean, my brother says it is now mine. But it is in Arkansas, and I live in Iowa. And, i'm now in the Middle East. Now, I own it. it is a '63 3/4 ton, 305e V6 and 4 speed.

It was part of his estate. He died two years ago, and it was only recently that my brother expressed a desire for me to have it; but, my Brother only said something about giving it to me when I first expressed an interest in acquiring an old, vintage truck of some sort to make into a daily driver. He had a couple of possibilities between he and his Father-in-Law, and, frankly, this one vehicle scared me. After being used for nearly 30 years by my Father on our small Iowa farm. The reason I was scared of it? It was rusty when Dad bought it as a 7 year old workhorse; the only thing holding the cab together on it now is faded paint. It would require a HUGE amount of bodywork to really become usable as a daily-driver. Thankfullly, my brother has a replacement cab and step box already, and is willing to help me with the swaps. That makes me happy to no end.

Now for my question: During Dad's ownership, he used that thing to plow snow from our 1/4 mile driveway. I remember that thing would start like it was born in Siberia. Put a good battery in it and hit the key and it would run. It was more dependable than a Mother's love. He was not one to take good care of anything cosmetically, but he kept the oil changed and made sure the fluids were where they should be. He didnt even care if gaugues worked; "If the radiator has a problem, the steam will tell me." Anyway, at some point in his tenure, he replaced the lockout hubs on it with solid-lock caps... That is, he set it up to never come out of 4WD from an axle/spindle point of view.

I do NOT know what it had for lockouts, or what might be available out there to replace these solid caps with. So I am searching for some. To further complicate my search, as stated previously, I am currenly deployed to the Desert in the middle East... you may have heard "The war is over", but do not be fooled; not everyone has gone home to their own warm bed. On top of that, my brother lives in Arkansas and I will have to travel to his home when I return to the States to help with getting it rehab'd... if we are able to take pics of the process, I hope to try and make a 'rehab posting' (not a restoration; not going to go overboard and redo everything... just going to do some major cab/box swaps, fix the brakes and get it running... ) On top of that, when I do go back to help my brother, I'll only have about a week to do the work.... so, I'm trying to line up parts for the project in-advance so we're ready for the basic expected repairs.

To that end, I would love to find a set of lockout hubs for this truck. I do not even know what axles it has under it, but I have every reason to believe they are stock original. If I have a VIN, is there a way to decipher what options/axles/anything intelligent from the VIN? Otherwise, anyone know where to find lockouts for such a beast? I don't even know the spline counts on the front axles.

Gonna be a million more questions for the group as time goes by, but that is the starter question.

Can anyone help me out? I sure hope so. I want to put this truck into traffic again (although not interstate, of course)... I just want it to be my new daily driver, to/from work, errands, etc. Something that people point at and talk about when I fill it up with gas.

I appreciate any info. I will have to figure out how to post pics; I don't have ready access to any "media" sites from my deployed location, so it may be hard to post pics.

Thanks to all...

Wayne
1963 GMC 3/4 4x4 305e Treeclimber

[joek3167]

search milemarker.com for your lockouts

[pilotguy1050]

Originally Posted by joek3167

search milemarker.com for your lockouts

Since I do not know any of the mechanical particulars of my axle (were there more than one variant for the 63 GMC 3/4 ton 4x4?), I'll have to write to my brother and see if he can tell me the required parameters.

Thank you for the link.

[joek3167]

if you have the original axle, then I would c what they have by calling them. tech support should be able to help you

[Texas63GMC]

I have the same truck. Check your PM and send me your email.
Mine had a beat up set of manual locking hubs when I got it. Warn makes replacements.

thanks for your service

[GMCNUT]

Post some pictures of the truck - we always like seeing everyone's old birds, especially ones with great family history like yours

[pilotguy1050]

Originally Posted by GMCNUT

Post some pictures of the truck - we always like seeing everyone's old birds, especially ones with great family history like yours

Well, this will likely get moved to the Build/restoration forum eventually, but for now, here is what I have that's important...

Let's hope I did this right, as for most of the forums all I see are red 'x's in all the photo placeholders in the threads...







Wayne

[FetchMeAPepsi]

I don't know why you have red xs but you did it right. That's a great looking patina.


You owe your brother thanksgiving at your house this year. And btw thanks for your service. That cant be said enough.

[pilotguy1050]

Originally Posted by FetchMeAPepsi

I don't know why you have red xs but you did it right. That's a great looking patina.


You owe your brother thanksgiving at your house this year. And btw thanks for your service. That cant be said enough.

Hahahahahahaha... I thought there was a significant difference between "patina" and "imminent implosion"... I must have been wrong.

And, I owe my brother Thanksgiving dinner for the rest of my life; you all don't know how awesome he has been to me in the last two years alone... He is one of the two best brothers a guy could ask for. This truck is just the latest installment. I am really excited about being able to get it going again when i come home.

BTW, my intention is to take the plow off it first, and after we have it roadworthy again, then perhaps putting a newer plow (i.e. not ugly and worn out) back on it. But, I want to get it back to its original muscular profile first.

oh, and FetchMeAPepsi, yours is the rebuild thread I have been following with gusto, .. and, I can see the pictures on my laptop back in my barracks, so the red-Xs are only on the other computer I was using.

Mr. Pepsi (shorter than your whole profile name), I love your logic in doing your work, and hope to use the same, rocket-scientist-like Vulcan reasoning when i do my "rehab" on ol' Jimmy here. Cecelia looks like a great truck, and your pit-crew is top-notch!

[frictionman]

Wow! it is amazing what you stumble across on the internet. Allow me to introduce myself. I am "the brother" and I have a view of the 63 GMC out my front window just past the barn across the road. This thread is about hubs, so I'll try to remember to get back to those.

First, let me say I remember having a conversation with my brother back when dad first bought the gmc, which was a replacement for the other 4 wheel drive he had, a 59 willys pickup with 3 spd that ate clutches under the snow load. This mighty new beast was going to be just the ticket to push the 8' manual swing plow to remove the Iowa snow from the 80 or so resident trailer park that our grandparents owned. Lakeside Manor Park. All 1/4 acre lots. The Elysium of trailer parks.

We were used to seeing the faded powder blue Willys with 700x15 mud and snows under the flat fenders and when the mighty gmc showed up, it also was sporting 700x15's under its immense wheel clearance fenders and what seems to be a factory 4" lift. Anyway, I was 8 years old and I just didn't like the look of that huge truck with the huge plow and the huge fenders and the little roller skate tires. We brothers were split at the time over whether it looked good or not. No matter. It was what we had and it could move mountains of snow. Dad always ran chains on all four wheels. Skinny tires with chains in snow is just about unstoppable.

Fast forward a few years, 1974, Grandparents retired, we moved away from Elysium to Utopia, a small 17 acre farm on the edge of the school district. Now the only snow was our own driveway, 1/4 mileish long. It had to snow more than 3" for dad to even fire the gmc up and put her to work. It sat parked year round, but on the snow days, he would put in a hot battery and crank her up. All of the heater knobs were broken off in who knows what position. There was no heat, but the massive holes in the floor kept enough air circulating that our breath wouldn't fog up the windshield.

Occasionally, on real big snows, dad would go plow out the neighbors and a few family friends. Mostly just showing off I think. The old gmc was a legend around western Scott county. I'm thinking that it was 1978 or 9, there was a huge blizzard, the buses weren't running, but school was not cancelled it seemed. Not sure who's idea it was to take both of my big brothers to high school instead of just sitting it out, but dad cranked up the gmc and off they went 14 miles into town when nothing else was moving. He dropped them off and headed home. Before he even got back, the brothers had called from school to tell mom that they had school open just long enough to have it not count as a snow day but they were closing early and dad would have to come back and get them. Dad wasn't a happy camper about that.

Fast forward a few more years and I was in high school and the movie "Take this job and shove it" came out. 1980 or 81. Anyway, that was "Bigfoot's" first movie and all I could think about was putting a set of 44's on the gmc and being the cool kid at school. Well, that didn't happen. The 44's or the cool kid. Dad said "if I sell you the gmc, what am I going to replace it with? It ain't eatin no hay sittin right there until I need her."

Well, I was going to have a gmc one way or another. I found an ad in the wheeler dealer for a 61 3/4 ton v-6 gmc. I had to borrow some money but it was worth the $2000 I paid for it. It was white and was immediately nick named "snowdrift" because of the shape of the hood. It came with 8-17.5 tires. When those wore out, I upgraded to 7.50x17's and gained about 4" of altitude.

Fast forward from early 80's to about 2002??? Dad called me and said the plow hoist had quit on the gmc and some guy had come in the driveway to ask to buy it. He told me if I still wanted it, I could have it because he had found a diesel ford at a farm sale and he wasn't going to fix the gmc. I was hooked up to a trailer within the hour and headed from NW AR. to eastern Iowa before he changed his mind. Now it is here.

Fast forward somemore. I have been accumulating rust free components ever since. Besides the Snowdrift, (which I still have stored in a container) I have a 60 3/4 ton 2x4 (also stored) and several 2 tons. I have too many projects, not enough time. Brother Pilotguy wishes he had a cool old daily driver, problem solved! (Partial assembly required)

Anyway, back to the hubs... My Snowdrift has dualmatic lockouts with the two levers that pivot around. One of them has been cracked ever since I bought it back in the early 80's. Dad's had the same problem. The passenger side hub was broken. He tried taking it off and two or three of the bolts broke off smooth in the hub. He tried drilling one. It went off center. he took the hub to a machine shop and they didn't do any better. He ended up having plates made to lock the axle in full time and that is how it has been ever since.

I know Dualmatic hubs are extinct, but if I could find one somewhere, that would be great, if not, I guess after all these years, I'll be ditching my dualmatics for something modern.

I didn't mean to hijack this thread, but I am very excited that dad's truck will get new life and stay in the family for a while longer. Hopefully the young uns will want to keep the gmc's in the family for a long time. I'll be providing pics to Pilotguy as I begin to tinker with it pretty soon.