New Truck added to operation - 1988 Chevy 1 ton

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Here are some pics of my newly redone 1988 Chevy 3500 one ton. I bought this truck to haul the dump trailer I purchased a few months back. One its maiden voyage, it pulled the trailer loaded at 10,000 pounds, plus had the bed of the truck loaded with firewood all the way up to the top of the cap. I have since added side boards to the trialer to extend the right and left side walls up to 28 inches in height. Really love this trailer and have already made about half what I paid for it by hauling loads for friends and business related activities.

Great power with the 454 motor, but the gas mileage stinks at only a whopping 10 miles per gallon. Funny thing is that it is geared so low that you get 10 mpg if you ride around town empty or 10mpg if you are hauling a 12,000 pound load.

Truck has been completely redone from the ground on up. New interior, paint, tires and rims, exhaust, brakes, battery, trailer brake controller, and complete refresh on the original 454 which now has 84,400 miles on it. This baby should last me for years to come.

All told, I have about $6000 into this truck which is a lot cheaper than going out an buying a new truck and dropping $40,000

[Raider Bill]

That's a mighty fine looking truck!

[gunman63]

nice looking  truck, but can it scale out with single rear wheels when loaded and pulling a loaded trailer?

[northwoods1]

ha ha, loaded the box up to the top of the cap and with a 10,000 pound load behind

all I can say is

you are getting great mileage with that 454 :D

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

gunman

Am probably pushing the load limit a bit hauling a full trailer and full bed :


Northwoods

At 10mpg thank goodness I do not use it as the daily driver. My daily driver is actually a Toyota echo that gets 41mpg. Talk about going from one extreme to the other. :D

[Captain]

Sweet ride BBL.  I have a 1988 Chevy Dump that I wish looked as good as that...

Captain

[tyb525]

That's a great looking Chevy! (my favorite truck)

[thecfarm]

Good find.Had a truck that got about the same mileage,empty or a load of wood in the back,was a Ford.Top speed was just about 55 and you could hear everything whining on it.Did not have to go 55 often with it. Most times only want 15 miles one way with it.

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

ty and captain

Thanks for the nice compliments. I do really like this truck and am glad I spent the time to give it a second life. She rides like a dream and has all the power you could ever want and then some. Did not look anywhere as nice when I got my hands on it. Had spent the last five years sitting in a barn, but overall had very little rust to repair. Some body work and a nice paint job took care of that pretty quickly. Found the cap for it at a dirt cheap price of $50 so decided to add that to protect the bed, which also has a bed liner, and have some way to keep tools in the truck from getting rained on.

Mechanically it did need some more serious work. Engine had bad oil leaks at oil pan and rear main seal. Replaced gaskets at both locations and solved that quickly. Needed new battery and battery cables, new exhaust, and some serious work on the brakes. Wound up replacing all the brake lines from the master cylinder on back and all new brake shoes and pads. Original bench seat looked like someone tried to eat it. Very badly cut up and shreaded. Got this seat out of a 1990 and as luck would be it matched the color of the door panel very nicely, so it almost looks like the original. I had a lot of friends that needed work last year and was glad to be able to give them some income by having them help me restore the truck. Felt good to help them out and very happy with the final results.

thecfarm

I am pretty much in the same boat you are in. I expect to put all of about 2000 miles on the each year to fetch logs and deliver firewood. At that rate, I can put up with the terrible gas mileage and just enjoy the ride 8)

[clww]

I like the looks of that trailer! 8) 8)

[Buck]

I dont mind a little thirst for fuel if I'm not paying notes. Takes the edge off of repairs too. ;)

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

clww

Have been very happy with that trailer. Had it custom made in October of 2010 by a fellow up in Michigan, His prices are excellent and at least $1000 cheaper than any other builder around, plus he does not mind doing custom work, like the fold down side I had him add so I could load logs and sheet goods from the side using either a winch or fork lift.

Fred

[Woodchuck53]

Mine won't ever look that good. Got 1988 just like it dualed out. Steel bed and headache rack. 245,000 miles plus at 10/11 miles to the gallon. But the 454 has all the power you will ever need. I pull a 30' gooseneck and you wouldn't know it's back there sometimes.

[gunman63]

The reason i asked about the scaling  out of it was this past fall i looked at adding a 1 ton  to pull my  dump trailer for delivering  firewood with,  its a 14' with 4' sides, with a gate in the middle to spilt the load  from a 2 cord load to  2- 1 cord loads, thought if  i could get a 1 ton with a dump flat bed, with sides,  would  give me more options of hauling, could haul 1 cord without dragging a trailer with, or hauling 3 cords at one time. the more i dug into it, the more ways  it wont work, had to be a new one to get the gross weight up there, and a dually to get the , singles wheels dont  cut it, older ones dont have the GVW  that the new ones do. just seems like everything i loooked into, looked good but was a reason it wasnt legal.

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Gunman

I feel and know you pain. Went through similar what if scenarios. At the beginning of this year, I had a nice 1990 chevy dually with a 12 foot stake side flat bed carry 2 cords at a time size wise, but that would have been definately over gvw if I did so. That is not to say that I never did load it with two cords, but I did so knowing I was definately not legal in doing so. Since it was registered commercial, the insurance was very high. I got rid of that dually and bought this chevy one ton with cap.

On the dump trailer, it does have dual 5200lb axles and could have a gvw of 10,400lbs. I had the trailer maker derate it to 9990 lbs so that I was under 10,000 lbs and did not need a cdl endorsement. At motor vehicles I registed it at 9000lbs capacity since the truck is registered at 7000lbs to stay below the over 16,000 combined weight that would force me to get a cdl. Basically, size wise and weight wise, it can legally carry a full cord of wood when you figure the trailer itself weighs about 2880lbs ad a cord of oak weighs in less than 6000 pounds

You looking to haul 3 cords at a time puts you into a very difficult situation unless you go for the big haulers and cdl license. I can tell you this, I do not haul much wood and instead subcontract out a lot of the hauling for just the reasons you mention. For whatever reason, there are a lot of folks that are a lot less worried about getting pulled over and scaled than you and I are. Take a look at this picture of one of our early deliveries. Definately not legal. He has 250 bundles in the back of the truck that weigh over 8000 lbs and another 200 on the 1960's vintage single axle trailer that is probably another 6000 pounds. Basically, he has 2.5 cords of wood in that total load.

I cautioned him all the time about overloading, but he never listened. Do not use him any more over concerns for his lack of safety. He did eventually break the frame on his trailer after hauling about 6 loads and I later heard that he ripped the hitch right off the back of his truck, fortunately when he was just starting to move a load he was haulling for another client and not when he was on the road.

The fellow that does the majority of my hauling now, has a triaxle 20 foot long trailer that can take 15,000 lbs and then he also puts about 50 bundles in the back of his truck. He too leaves the building overweigh versus what he is rated for with his 3/4 ton truck, but not as bad as the fellow shown in the picture below. He has assured me that before we begin hauling big loads again in March that he will have a much beffier tow vehicle, rated for the weight he is pulling on a daily basis.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Fred thats a nice looking pickup you have there and I have always liked a good looking Chevy and would take one of those over a newer one any day Mate  ;) ;D 8) 8) 8)

Regards Chris

[red]

I also Love the 454 TBI and have a 1989 C30 Dually 4dr  turbo 400

but wiring harness burnt   so it is on the back BURNER  ???

someone just gave me a Pickup camper and we may just make a
Dually Trailer for it

also want an AUX overdrive most likely gearvenders