Found another 3/4 ton Chevy with removable transmission tunnel sheet metal...?

[Bunkerbuilder]

What's the cab or complete truck worth?

It was a owned by a trash company
It's a std cab 1983 3/4 ton maybe a B cab and chassis or just a modified std bed truck.

Don't have a clue if it runs and doors are smashed up.

Has a 350 gas engine, mechanical clutch not hydraulic..sm465 transmission I'm guessing as its a 4 speed, np208 transfer case and has 8 lug D44 front differential , saw that and was dissipointed. 

Has a hydraulic ram setup where the bed would be to lift the 3 or 4 CU yard dumpsters.

Truck is at a yard in Chico Calif if anyone is interested.

Would get it for just the parts I want and get rid of the rest but have way too many trucks as it is on my land.

[zieg85]

1983's had removable in 2 wheel drive where 1985's did not.  I am not sure of 1984, never had a 4 speed floor shift in that year.

[hatzie]

Are you sure it's a Dana 44?  GM stopped using them around 77/78 and started using the similar slightly lighter duty 10 bolt.
The straight 8 lug GM/Dodge Dana 44 isn't the PITA POS the Ford Dana 44 TTB axle is. 
Folks assume they "need" a Dana 60 and NP205 because the hardcore wheelers prefer them for the very slight strength advantage.
The GM/Dodge Dana44 is lighter, less prone to death wobble, easier to fix, parts are more plentiful & inexpensive, and they're inexpensive to buy.
The NP208 or 241 are inexpensive, lighter, and have a much deeper low range ratio... the 205 is 1.96:1the 241 208 are 2.72:1.  I've beat the stuffing out of several 241 & 208 xfer cases, plowing snow, with zero failures.


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[1967KaiserM715]

I know someone with a completely stock 1983 4x4 K20 4spd, his has the Dana 44. His brother bought his truck the year earlier, 1982, almost identical except for trim options, his came with the 10-bolt 8 lug, is it possible the 44 was still used in applications where the gvwr was higher? I can look at their trucks and determine the gvwr and report back.

Just taking a slight thread detour.


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[Bunkerbuilder]

I like the heavier duty hardware, and that includes the D60 front the 14 bolt or D70 rear and the NP205 Transfer case.

Yep its a 44 alright as the (sweeping) steering arm is hard to miss on a 44.

I have a feeling the 1983 was the last year to feature the removable tunnel.

I own a 84 and a 85 in 1 ton 4wd and they are solid floor not even the glued in panel.

[hatzie]

I like the heavier duty hardware, and that includes the D60 front the 14 bolt or D70 rear and the NP205 Transfer case.

Yep its a 44 alright as the (sweeping) steering arm is hard to miss on a 44.

That won't ID the Dana Vs 10 bolt.  Both the Dana and GM 10 bolt RH knuckles have the C shaped steering connector bolted to the top. 
The Diff cover on the 10 bolt is a rounded kinda oval and the Dana 44 is a noticeably sharp cornered asymetrical hexagon with 44 cast into the lower cover side right hand web of the pumpkin casting.
http://ck5.com/forums/resources/axle-identification-chart.10/

[Bunkerbuilder]

Thanks for that, I wasn't at all concerned about the differentials front or rear as they would only get scrapped as they aren't the differentials I would use, I have several sets of M1031 differentials to choose from and with the duty the trucks I build will see there is no reason to use a sub standard (from my pov) differential as the 10 bolt or D44.

mentioning the differentials was folly as it wasn't the point I was attempting to make it was the cab with the removable transmission tunnel that this 1983 3/4 ton truck has.

Trying to figure out the rime or reason the Chevy trucks came with a removable transmission tunnel sheet metal area was the reason I posted this thread.

If I buy this truck it will be my 3rd with this ?RPO?


Now I just need the SM465 that would have mated with the 6 bolt round NP205 transfer case that would  have come in a 1 ton Chevy in the range 1989-1991.

[hatzie]

I thought they did that with all of the K series manual transmission trucks up to sometime in the mid to early 80's.
 

[Irish_Alley]

not sure if this will help you or not. 79-91 had the 32 spline 4x4. 85 is when they went with a round pattern for the 205 and the electric speedo was 88-91 but might be easier to find a 241 and use that


http://www.advanceadapters.com/tech-vault/1-gm-new-process-205/

[Captkaos]

All K-series trucks with manual transmissions had removable trans tunnels.

Chris Lucas
73-87chevytrucks.com
squarebody.biz

[hatzie]

All K-series trucks with manual transmissions had removable trans tunnels.

Chris Lucas
73-87chevytrucks.com
squarebody.biz

That's the interesting thing...  and the reason for the OP question.

I had unmolested V pickups from the late 80's that did not. 
I've worked on two mid 70's K pickups and a 1985 & 86 that did not but I don't know the whole pedigree of those.  They could've been 2wd cabs on a 4wd frame.

[Captkaos]

Really hard to tell unless you can identify the cab swap.  Many people are doing 2wd cab swaps, but most all of those were low tunnel humps.

Chris Lucas
73-87chevytrucks.com
squarebody.biz

[Bunkerbuilder]

This one is a 4wd and a manual transmission but I pulled a sm465 transmission from a 1985 1/2 ton 4wd and it didn't have the removable floor panel so my contention is that these removable transmission tunnels stopped in about 1983 as have has several original 1984 4wd 4 speed cabs  and they didn't have removable sheet metal Trans tunnels.

[75gmck25]

On my '75 K25 the transmission tunnel has a removable panel.  I believe all 75's have a removable panel, and the panel on a K series is higher (bumps up more) than the panel on a C series.  I always assumed it was clearance for the transfer case. 

I also know that my transfer case is so close to the cab that when my body mounts collapsed (from age) the cab was sitting right on top of the transfer case.  It got a lot quieter when I replaced them and it stopped transmitting the vibration right into the cab floor.

Bruce

[Bunkerbuilder]

I just learned something that I wish to share about the removable transmission tunnel cover.

I will edit later with actual dimentional data.

The covers and the holes that the removable sheetmetal covers arent the same from the late 1970's to the early 1980's.

The cab I bought from a gentleman in the south San fransisco area was a few inches longer than a cover I purchased from a wrecking yard in central Oregon.

I never saw this information posted on this forum in the past.

The cover meant for the earlier truck (had a 1978 GMC from around 1986 to about 1996) its tunnel cover was shorter front to rear than the later 1983 tunnel cover.

I will edit with measurements asap.

The earlier tunnel cover front to rear is aprox 22.5".

The later tunnel cover that came with the 1983 cab is approximately 25.750 front to back overlapping the access hole.

Pics when I can figure out how to.