The Monstrucktus

[Ascinder]

Hi everyone, I recently picked up this behemoth and am looking for info on modernizing and repairing some minor issues.

[timthescarrd]

Welcome from NV,  I saw that on craigslist awhile back, Congrats on getting it!

The body is a crewcab 73-87 but I believe the stuff underneath is a newer GMC TopKick or 6500.  Either way, looks like a fun truck

[LTZ C20]

Holy moly! Welcome from central California. I envy you, that is a sweet monster! More pics and info please?

[FlatBlack77]

good golly that thing is a beast and a half!

[Ascinder]

Welcome from NV,  I saw that on craigslist awhile back, Congrats on getting it!

The body is a crewcab 73-87 but I believe the stuff underneath is a newer GMC TopKick or 6500.  Either way, looks like a fun truck

Thanks! I stumbled across it completely on accident on craigslist. I was looking for a pintle hitch receiver and it came up in the search. The clutch brake is totally out of adjustment on it so taking it back from Placerville to Reno was no picnic.

The body had the VIN information removed by CA when they issued the new reconstructed CA VIN so I have no idea what year it is. Based on some "Service Parts Identification" tags found in the glovebox, the lower half was a 1988 C7000 which is a Topkick. It's running the 10.4L CAT 3208 Turbodiesel and an Eaton Roadranger RT-6610 10 speed tranny. It runs airbrakes rated at 26-33,000 lbs. which stop it very, very ,very well. the tires come in at about 43" high. 

Holy moly! Welcome from central California. I envy you, that is a sweet monster! More pics and info please?

Thanks!
     Well, no A/C(yet), no stereo(yet), the wipers are anemic at best and have no intermittent setting and no auto stow feature. The steering wheel looks way too small to me, so it is in line to be replaced with a more size appropriate unit along with a tilt(and hopefully telescoping) steering column.
     It is very bumpy to ride in due to the thick springpacks. I would love to move over to air-ride, but haven't found any good resources to determine cost and complexity. I don't think I would be able to run air ride seats(like on semi's) because the cab just doesn't have enough vertical room for them. I am looking into some threads on here where people have replaced the seats with Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban seats.
     It is not annoyingly loud except for a very pervasive air intrusion noise coming from the drivers side A-pillar/window area at freeway speeds. I have felt around there and have not been able to isolate it yet.
     The bedliner could stand to be relined and I would love to add a hydraulic liftgate or even a cross frame crane. I had to hump a dozen 80 lb. bags of concrete up into the tailgate(about chin height and I'm 6 ft.) and it was less than fun.
     I am playing around with making the bed removable and mounting an air operated sliding 5th wheel to the frame. It this setup, I would mount a kingpin to the bed structure and use intermodal container lockdowns to secure it. I plan on ultimately using it to pull a smaller semi trailer when I move up to Montana in a few years. Once there it will be used as my work site truck while I build my house.
     Despite it's enormous size, it will(just barely) fit within the limits of a full size parking spot. I used to drive semi's for UPS, and it uses the same tranny we ran there and the ride height is similar, so it is pretty easy for me to maneuver around. My wife however is 4'10" and want's a shot at driving it, so this should be interesting.
     I have a lot of plans for it, but unfortunately, I am a bit of a project girl, so it may take some time to get around to everything. I work in Afghanistan on a rotational basis, so I am only home every 3 months, but when I am, it is for a month straight. On the plus side, my job is super easy, so I have a tons of lead time to plan out and acquire parts for builds. 

good golly that thing is a beast and a half!

Yes it is! I took it to Lowe's to grab some supplies and it took me half an hour just to get across the parking lot. Everyone wanted to stop and check it out and ask about it. I regularly get people giving me thumbs ups driving down the highway or wanting me to honk the air horn. It's fun. More importantly, the kiddo loves it. She always wants to take daddy's big white truck everywhere(to my wife's dismay, lol).

[LTZ C20]

A C7000 is a monster in itself, a 10.4L turbo CAT engine has got to be a blast! I work at a Chevy Dealer and we have an old fire truck that is pretty sweet, I want to say it's a 60-something, don't remember the year, it's got a big block Buick engine or maybe something else, I'm totally drawing a blank on the specs now, but it's a got a trans with an air doubler I think it's called. It's got a switch on the shifter so you can use 2nd, then hit the switch and it grabs another 2nd gear with the air system, then hit it again and it drops 2nd with the air system, then you grab 3 and repeat the process. I think that's the way it works. It's got air brakes too. When we got it, my friend at work took it as his own kinda little project and got it all working again, so it's a fully functioning pump truck with a water tank. You can fill, spray, fill from a hydrant or pump from a hydrant, it all works.

For your truck, ac and a radio will be good additions. I have driven numerous Kodiak and Top Kicks for work, diesels, gas, autos, manuals, 2 and 4wds. They are fun, no fun when the air seat doesn't work tho, had a few of those. Even drove a medium duty International once and lots of those little Isuzu diesel cab over things, those are kinda weird to drive but fun. Sounds like you got a great project.

My girlfriend is 5'4", I'm 6'3", she thinks it is just so funny to drive my truck and hit the horn when I'm standing in front of it or to slip it in neutral and goose the throttle so the mufflers bark like an angry dog. She gets a kick out of that.

May I ask what you do in Afghanistan, are in the service or security contractors? I know if I had kids, if they want the truck, we are SO taking the truck haha. If wife doesn't like it, well she can try and block the driveway. Key word "try", I double dare her lol.

Really an awesome toy you got. Do you mind me asking about how much you paid for it? This is optional of course.

[Ascinder]

That almost sounds like a 2 speed rear end, but I have heard of the early transmissions shifting like that. Man, your knee would get worn out quick with that if it was using a heavy clutch. Sounds like a neat project. Your girlfriend sounds like she's got a great sense of humor, lol. My wife is a bit like that too. I'm sure some time soon I will be greeted by a greased door handle while trying to get into this thing  .

For Afghanistan, I am 14 years prior service working on helicopters. I was out here working on the Mi-17s for the Afghan air force, but our maintenance contract ended and I have been doing the flight simulators for those same aircraft. It pretty much amounts to turning them on in the mornings and turning them off in the evenings, and occasionally some light maintenance thrown in with a whole lot of free time in between. 

I picked it up for $14,500 which is about what these go for. There is a guy that makes and sells them in Kentucky, but this one came from the west coast from my understanding. I looked into it and you can (very)easily pick a Kodiak or Topkick like this up for $3-5,000 and probably about the same for an 80's crewcab. So for about half the price(once you start adding on blingy rims and bumpers and such) you could come pretty close to making one just like this. I just seriously do not have the time while I'm home to take on something like that. I already have a million other huge projects I'm working on.

My other "irons in the fire":

> An Isuzu Vehicross (see http://www.vehicross.info/showthread.php/17331-Ascinder-s-1-Ton-VX-Cont-d?highlight=Ascinder%27s+1+ton+vx  for my build thread.
> The 1947 Dodge Ratrod:http://www.killbillet.com/showthread.php?34320-1947-Chopped-up-Dodge-heavy-truck
> Motoped: http://www.thebarnburnerbuildforum.com/forum/forum/motopeds/motoped-build-threads/159-mod-heavy-desert-moto
> Camp trailer build(start from bottom of page for chronological order): http://ascinder.livejournal.com/
> A Nissan 60 series Patrol: http://60patrol.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4091

[LTZ C20]

Dude you got way too many projects lol. What you do in Afghanistan sounds like fun. My grandpa was a fighter pilot for the Navy and then went to work for Northrop Grumman as a test pilot in the 60-70s, unfortunately I never got to meet him because he passed away from a second heart attack when my dad was 19.

My girlfriend has a pretty good sense of humor. Sounds like you got the truck for a decent amount. You don't have to do all the hard work just the stuff to make it your own.

[frotosride]

I  would love to beat that thing around a bit and I'm gotta thank you for letting us in on the other projects bc I've been looking for small engine EFI stuff!

[bryanedp9]

Good lord, you're after my heart here dude. I got a CC I would love to plop on a topkick, but the plan is to get a utility bed and build a slide-in camper with a loading bay for the small trail bikes (love the motoped you're building there as well). The Isuzu stuff is neat as heck as well. Never seen such, but I am involved with their older tech. I've got an Isuzu diesel from a Chevette going into a Willys with Trooper running gear.

That truck really beats all though, man. I've been wanting to get up with the fella in KY and figure out how to easily adapt that front clip.

[Ascinder]

Well, the Monstrucktus is now getting it's audio done! Just ordered a metric F-ton of soundproofing to damp out the cab. Hopefully it will provide some relief from the growl of the CAT and the bump and thump noises that happen pretty much nonstop. I am also installing a sound system (since there is currently none). At the same time (well, actually first) I am upgrading the "Big 3" power and ground cables and upgrading from a 3 battery system to a six battery system. I will try to document all this with pics as best I can while I am home this rotation. I have a couple other projects I am planning on tackling including a steering column swap (to a chromed out tilt unit), and a clearance light delete so I can replace the clearance lights with a lit windshield visor. I also want to upgrade the headlights to HID/LED units and install some sorely needed cameras for the rear and right front fender areas where visibility is a huge concern. We will see what I actually get done though. Stay tuned.

[Captkaos]

I love this.  PLEASE take a high resolution pic of it 3000x2800 and email it to me for the Calendar!  webmaster@73-87chevytrucks.com