Pete's 1988 Chevy One-Ton Crew Cab

[67pete300]

This truck needs a name, still working on that.

I've been casually shopping for a long time for an old Chevy truck. My year/body preferences have evolved all over the place from 69-72 to AD and most recently to 73-80. I've looked at several rusted out basket cases but nothing was speaking to me. Until this:



It's a 1988 Chevy V30 (4x4 One Ton) Crew Cab with a TBI 350 and T400. It has less than 75k miles and was originally a local municipal welding truck. On paper I'll be the second owner but it traded hands a few times before I got it.





Somehow the interior is a crucial part of getting the right project and this one is minty-original (save some holes in the dash and cheap aftermarket radio/speakers.)

The frame and body are in great shape with some minor spots in the wheel wells and doors. Rockers and cab corners are mint.









Front bumper and grill are like new:



Tailgate is mint. A chrome bumper and modern receiver hitch would go a long way.

[67pete300]

If you've seen my Chevelle, you know I am a sucker for steel wheels and dog dishes. These are staying.



All the mechanicals seem to be in good working order (as far as I know so far!)



Under the (perfect) hood is clean and complete, even the jack and lug wrenches.









The bed is completely solid. There are some extra holes from side toolboxes and the welder rack that was bolted and welded in. Still need to cut the welds and get that out of there.





There are some holes in the roof from a light bar. Those are globs of silicone.

[67pete300]

So there are no big plans yet. I need to get it registered and then I've got some small projects around the house that I hope to put it in service. Then I'll focus on cleaning up the interior, fixing a seat belt retractor, new stereo and speakers (nothing fancy), and other little things. I'll research swapping in a late model interior, I've seen some of those on the truck forums. But the red benches are in great shape so I may just stick with them. It still has the CB antenna, so that would fit the vibe nicely.

I may consider installing a plow, but that seems expensive from what little research I've done so far.

Mostly I've just scratched a long-standing itch, and love having it in the driveway. Can't wait to get it legal so I can start driving it everywhere!

[squirrel]

I'd leave the rear bumper on it, you never know when you'll buy a backhoe and trailer

Sure is a nice truck!

[rightpedal]

I'm with squirrel. Just add a bolt on frame hitch underneath. It will drop the ball hitch and probably not get in the way. You will find the bumper mount is too high for all the small 1 and two axle trailers. The tow-able compressors and med duty trailers are all a lot taller. I would love to have both.

Steve

[Bamfster]

Man that thing is perfect the way it sits .....

[JOES66FURY]

keep the bumper, it screams "go ahead, tailgate me...I dare you."

as far as a name, It looks like a "Hank" to me

[TheSilverBuick]

Nice score!

[BOOOGHAR]

hit up the LMC site and order a catalog, it'll be your best friend

[Schtauffer]

Nice project, very nice shape.

Check out these guys for a good deal on a plow: http://www.storksauto.com/index.php/

[67pete300]

Registered and legal! Passed emissions without a hiccup, could hardly believe this. Had a hiccup in getting registered. I had to go back to the town that used to own it to get a letter for the DMV. Turns out the truck was seized by the town in 1995 "in the course of duty." But once I had the letter I was home free.

One of the rear seatbelts wouldn't retract. I was investigating the other side to figure out what was wrong when the metal retractor spring cover blew off and I had an instantaneous spaghetti pile of copper spring. Figured I would remove the whole retractor to try and fix that and broke the bolt off in the hole. Negative progress there. But now at least I can drive it. But I want to get the rear seatbelts fixed asap so it can be a family vehicle. I need to extract the remaining bolt and find a spring and cup retainer for the other side (it is totally missing.) I feel a trip to the junkyard is in order.

[67pete300]

More gratuitous shots. Unfortunately I'll be out of town all weekend and no time to play with the new toy

[67pete300]

Small bits of progress in between driving and using LOTS of gasoline (at $4 a gallon). But all with a smile on my face.

I got that welding rack cut out of the bed and welds ground down. Got some primer on the bare spots before it started raining for a week. Borrowed a buddy's welder and welded a nut on the bottom of broken seat belt bolt sticking out of the floor. This was my first real use of a mig welder and it took me three tries with different settings to get solid penetration. Put a big breaker bar on the nut and backed it out. Figured out how to re-wind the retractor spring onto the retractor so I am back up to two seat belts in the back (had the two girls back there this weekend on the way to a hike.) Still need to find a replacement spring and cup for the one that was always missing and a weird metric bolt to replace the broken one.

Had the back seat out for all that messing with the seat belts. Didn't find anything too interesting. Must have pulled a pound of nails out from under there though. Had to pull a nail out of one of the seat belt buckles too.

Planning on getting a load of mulch or two this weekend....Then a load of lumber for some loft beds for the girls....

[BADB0Y]

I know this is an old posting, but I had to share... Wow!!! I've been looking for something like this for YEARS... Glorious find!

[NewEnglandRaceFan]

you might want to check as that body was 73-87 88 was the new body.. maybe the crews didn't change that year.. not sure..