C50/C60 frame swap

[abus319]

I have a really clean 64 C50 winch truck that my dad bought at a farm sale several decades ago. No title, motor needs overhaul, and has several large cracks in the frame. One crack behind the cab is nearly completely through the frame.
I have an opportunity to get a 82 C60 with a trashed cab at a reasonable price. Any one have any Idea how much difference there are in the frames?

[Cayoterun]

That's a clean old truck. Did it come from around here, or from down there?

Wish I could help on the swap, but don't know anything about them. Good Luck.

[Andice]

My '64 GMC Maintenance Manual has several pages dedicated to repairing cracks and other damage to frames. Seems a lot easier to repair what you've got than to remove a cab and try to make it fit a frame that is nearly 20 years newer. Just my thoughts.

[abus319]

Marvin
I enjoyed our conversation, as always, we need to make that a routine..

The Chevy came from the panhandle complete with about 50 lbs of dust
and a collection old bolts and tidbits of equipment. It was farm archeology cleaning that thing out.

Andice
Thanks for your input. I wasn't aware of the frame repair section.
I don't have a Chevy manual but the 60 GMC manual clearly shows that it can be welded. That addresses half the problem.
The title is the bigger problem. We never found that "safe place" where my dad kept titles. We really doubt if he ever registered it since it was only used on the farm. We know that it was purchased at a farm sale and suspect that is was probably sold as scrap.
I have heard the horror stories about trying to get a title in Texas, and had a little taste of it trying to register the GMC.

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[Andice]

Apply for a "bonded title". This costs around $150. My dad did it just a few years ago. I remember him telling me something about there being only a few auto title places in the state still doing bonded title work. Maybe a guy in Temple/Killeen does it, an ex-DPS trooper, blah, blah, blah. Clearly I've not retained all of what my dad told me but I feel certain that a couple phone calls will get you started if you decide to title the truck.

[Andice]

Here you go:



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[quest]

Originally Posted by abus319

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I have a really clean 64 C50 winch truck that my dad bought at a farm sale several decades ago. No title, motor needs overhaul, and has several large cracks in the frame. One crack behind the cab is nearly completely through the frame.
I have an opportunity to get a 82 C60 with a trashed cab at a reasonable price. Any one have any Idea how much difference there are in the frames?

Hi There, If you have access to the newer truck I would just take a few quick measurements to compare to your truck, like center of front axle to the firewall and firewall to the front cab mounts and then distance between cab mounts front/back & side/side just to see how close it is.
Frames can be repaired for sure but I still like the idea of a rust free solid uncracked steel under me.
If you like what you see then you might find the swap easier than expected. I guess it depends on how cheap you can get the newer truck for? good luck and here's another C50 you might like.



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[abus319]

Thanks Quest.
The truck is a 10 hour drive from Austin so it wasn't really feasible to drive down to take a look. I was hoping that someone here might have some experience with the C60 frame. Its a moot point now though, the owner wasn't able to produce a title.

[Donny]

Bring it to California I'll fix it, I don't do rivets though don't care if I drill out another rivet in my lifetime lol

[abus319]

Dont tempt me, Im retired!!
Seriously though, I think you would find everything from there cab back appalling. They welded every stringer to the top of the frame, then welded 1/2 inch plate to the stringers. From the splatter I would guess 6011 turned way up, nice and hot. Thats where most of the cracks start. Looks nothing like those nice welds on your frame.