Black Betty - 78 Cheyenne

JSJJ388

JSJJ388

GREEN GREMLIN
Joined
Aug 31, 2016
Location
HAMPTONVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
Picked this up from my brother for $650, was our stepdads prior to that. Used as a farm truck.

1978 chevrolet c10 Cheyenne
Sbc 350/th350 cam and headers with glasspacks
Rear end out of a 80s Tahoe, 3.73 I was told.
Heavy steel flat bed, wood sides with electric hydraulic dump
Bullet hole wheels
31x10.50 MTs on the back


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This truck has brought home all my vehicles except the dodge. Hauled a lot of cattle and even more hay.

Good:
Runs like a top
Stops fine
Has good tires
Lights work (including clearance lights)

Bad:
No reverse
None of the gauges work
Radio doesn't work
No ac (nothing new there)
Interior is junk.

I'll need to get the reverse thing figured out. My brother backed it into the sopt he parked it, so maybe it just needs to be run. None of thw other stuff is critical.
 
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I spent a lot of time in a 67 c30 flatbed working for my cousin who was a contractor. As soon as i got my license i was the gopher. It got real fun with a full load and those all drum brakes.

The good thing is those th350 are really easy to rebuild if you have to.
 
83oldyoda4x4 said:
I spent a lot of time in a 67 c30 flatbed working for my cousin who was a contractor. As soon as i got my license i was the gopher. It got real fun with a full load and those all drum brakes.

The good thing is those th350 are really easy to rebuild if you have to.
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Yea, I've moved a lot of hay with this thing. Stepdad only sold it when he got the f250 dually with a 460. It's sat for over a year, but with some fresh gas it fired right up.
 
I think he still has the 67, i want to buy it from him and get it running. When i get the extra funds, i know it needs brakes and was smoking pretty bad when parked several years ago.
 
And don't ask me why I needed it. I can make all sorts of excuses, but I've loved the truck since we got it and thats all the excuse I needed. But, I am looking forward to having something more than my little dakota to haul and tow junk.
 
83oldyoda4x4 said:
I think he still has the 67, i want to buy it from him and get it running. When i get the extra funds, i know it needs brakes and was smoking pretty bad when parked several years ago.
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The 350 was put in maybe 6 months before it got parked. Was rebuilt with towing in mind. Not sure what cam, but its got an eddlebrock 4bbl and has some lope.
 
Got a few more pics today
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My brother had it idling pretty high. Idled it down, sounds pretty good imo.

 
Also added 4 qts of dex/merc atf, and uts still not reading full. But uts shifting a lot better.

I think I may be onto something with the reverse not working. Can the shifter cable get out of whack on these? Because I'm going forward in N, and its like it's trying to engage reverse while in park. Anyone have any thoughts?
 
Dumb question. What's this?

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No wonder I smelled gas...

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Found a gas tank, now to make it work.

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Well, it's in and the trucks running. Need to get the filler situation figured out still and get it permanently mounted.

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So, today did not go as planned. My buddy stayed the night to get an early start on pulling the trans. But, I got a call as we were getting started. My FIL came to help as well after I returned from the call. But, we finally got rolling. Munchkin was a big help...

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Then we couldn't get the cross member loose, as we didn't realize it had 2 bolts on the top of the frame rail. Got that figured out, then the u joint was welded to the yoke (wtf?!). Then the trans cooler line twisted off.

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Then we couldn't get the top of the trans clear of the firewall. As we were pushing and pulling on the thing, the truck rolled over the chocks and off the ramps with my 2 helpers under it. I had 30 seconds before been laying half under the truck, right behind the passenger front tire.... luckily no one was hurt.

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We gathered ourselves back up and got back to it, and the trans popped right out in about 5 minutes.

So we headed down to see @Silverado_Express and made it down there about 3PM. Talked for a bit and then headed home. It was pouring rain by the time we got back and as we were waiting for the rain to subside my FIL started feeling like crap and decided it best to go home.

So at the end of the day, the trans is sitting under the truck until next weekend.
 
We have reverse!!!

Turns out, ratchet a ratchet strap works well in conjunction with cribbing to get the trans in place.

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Only issue now is that it's leaking around the dipstick.
 
skyhighZJ said:
Easy oring fix! Congrats on making it happen. Ratchet strap/cribbing is way better than “throw it on my chest and I’ll bench press it up there” method!!
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We tried that... whooped both our asses sequentially. Then we decided to get smarter.
 
Put the ol gal to work today. Did great hauling this coop from clemmons back to my place almost in wilkes. Only problem was it blew a hydraulic line when I tried to raise the bed to dump the load.

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Caver Dave said:
I'd suggest *chocking* the tires next time... to ensure you're/buddy's are around to see "next time"...
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Well.... we did. But with him pulling and me pushing, we managed to get enough rocking to roll over the 4x4s.
 
Lost the U joint tonight heading home. Been all over, and luckily it failed on the way home from my folks place, 5 minutes from home.
 
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