1966 C30 Dump Truck

[tmsgclma]

Hi, I'd like to show you my truck and ask a question or two. I've been lurking here for quite a while, lusting, dreaming, and scheming. You see, I knew where a 66 C-30 dump truck was sitting and after threatening theft, dickering with my brother and buying a couple cases of beer she's mine. The body has all the proper rust and dents it should have after spending it's life in an apple orchard. The dump still works, thought the cylinder leaks. It's a 292 4 speed w/ granny 1st. It hadn't been started, let alone moved, in 5-6 years.

I got her running after tinkering a couple hours, spent mainly cleaning out the gas tank and sending unit and adding a fuel filter. I have a rear brake sticking and plan to tear into that this weekend so that I can drive it home, about an 50 miles from where it currently sits on my brother's farm. I plan to use it to haul firewood, gravel, and just generally have a heavy truck around the house for now, though I'd eventually love to restore it.

Here's the question. the tires on it are 7X16 and are in bad shape. they hold air and have good tread but the sidewalls are so cracked that I'd be afraid to put much of a load on them. I have a friend that has offered me a used set of 225-75R16. The price is right - free. Will these work on my truck?

Here's a few pics and thanks for looking.

[MikeS.]

That is a nice lookin truck, I really like the shot with the hood. I'd say clean it up, fix the mechanicals and leave it be. Good for you!

[jonzcustomshop]

nice.
the tires will probably fit, the issue might be finding a shop that will deal with the split rims.

[tmsgclma]

I thought about the split rims. I'm watching craigslist for more modern wheels. any idea on what the lug pattern measurement is? It's an 8 lug pattern of course.

[hugger6933]

Welcome to the board. Normally I'm a 67-72 guy but this 64 "blue Bob was given to me by my bro in law who bought it new. My sistewr even gave me 300 bucks to get it away from their place. It has been under a barn all but the last 6 months or so. I'm in the process of all new wheel cylinder kits and dual circut master and hrdoboost maybe. It is a 292 as well and the bed still tilts as it should and I am gonna use it at my body shop to throw scrap metal on then drive it to the scrapyard. it has 28,000 miles so we are running kinda parallel projects. Great find. Congrats

[71swb4x4]

Originally Posted by tmsgclma

any idea on what the lug pattern measurement is? It's an 8 lug pattern of course.

Until some ultra-new stuff, all 8 lugs are the same bolt pattern. Even Ford and Dodge. The issue with Ford and Dodge are the centers of the wheels, I think one center is larger than Chevy and one smaller.

I have wheels from an 80's Chevy on my 67 and I have a set of 16" from a 75 ready to go on when the 16.5" tires wear out on my current wheels.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum

Nice find with the '66 C30. Yes those 225/75R16's will work on those wheels, but as Jon said, you may have trouble finding someone willing to deal with the split rims. Also you would have to purchase radial tubes for them. I would suggest as you already mentioned, looking for a set of later model 16" dually wheels. The Chevy/GMC wheels have a smaller center bore for the hub. Both Ford and Dodge have larger bores, so they will fit a Chevy, but not the other way around. The bolt pattern you want is 8x6.5", which is common with most C20 and C30's, except for Ford when they went to a metric pattern in about '92.

Also, I would stay away from the 16.5 wheels unless they have good tires on them already. The 16.5 tires are being gradually phased out.

[tmsgclma]

Thanks for the info. I'm on the hunt now for wheels. I found a guy the is willing to clean up the rust and tube the split rims but it ain't cheap. For the money I'll find a set of solids.

[Shaun1162]

Great looking old truck!

On the wheels, you might want to try harder to find Chevy rims instead of Dodge or Ford. They do fit, but the Dodge/Ford rims are meant to be interlocking- four spots for the lug nuts are sunk in, while the other four stick out. They do fit fine, however it doesn't fit against the hub like it should, and really isn't the right way...I just went through it on my '69 C-30 that's the only way I know haha