Heavy Half-Ton ?

[timthescarrd]

So I keep hearing about trucks being a "heavy-half", but what exactly made it so?  I assume more leafs on the rear, maybe better shocks, bigger brakes.   Was there an RPO code for this?  How does one determine if a truck is a heavy-half or not?  was it both C series and K series?  Was it only for certain years? 

Thanks in advance, you guys have a lot of info to share.

[Stewart G Griffin]

i'd like to know as well.

It's funny because i have the heavy duty rear springs yet my gvwr is only 4900 lbs.

[Cabcorner]

        It was all about beating emissions .

[bd]

        It was all about beating emissions .

The winning ticket goes to the man in the "...corner" ! ! !  

       (Sorry, I couldn't resist....)

IIR - The Heavy Half was a marketing strategy based on a 1/2-ton chassis and available only for a few years during the 80's (give or take).  Heavier springs increased GVWR by ~500 lbs, and ushered the vehicle toward a less stringent emissions requirement.

[zieg85]

Ford did it with the F150 until 1979.  My 78 was free of emissions, took regular gas.  The F100 had cats starting in 75.  I assume GM did the same thing back then as well.

[78 Chevyrado]

Being a heavy-Half got the truck over 6,000lbs GVW  so it didn't need a cat and could run leaded fuel.

[Captkaos]

Heavy Halfs recieved the longer 56" spings of the Long bed 3/4T trucks and increased the GVWR to get past emmissions.
RPO was F44, Big 10's were Heavy Halfs.

[Jason S]

I may be remembering incorrectly or just plain wrong, but I think Big 10 was Chevrolet with associated Big 10 decals on some trucks and Heavy Half was GMC with associated decals...

[78 Chevyrado]

I may be remembering incorrectly or just plain wrong, but I think Big 10 was Chevrolet with associated Big 10 decals on some trucks and Heavy Half was GMC with associated decals...

Yeah thats correct.