Just bought a 62 C60.... Wanting to update

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Just bought a 1962 C60 dually with a 261. It used to be a dump bed but now it's a flathead. It drove great on the test drive but I heard some noise coming from the rear axle area. I got the truck for a decent price and drove it home. It did great on the way home. Next day I drive it and on the way home I got a horrible screeching noise when depressing the clutch. Probably the throw out bearing. Today the noise continued and the clutch pedal would stick to the floor. It's a 4speed with a 2speed rear end.

So my question is, is there a common rear end swap that can be done easily? Or better yet is there a good donor vehicle I could swap the cab onto to get a more modern drivetrain and better brakes? I'm not afraid to fab some stuff up. Just thought I would ask here first.

I tried doing a search and read a lot before I posted this without finding many answers.
Thanks!
Jake

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And here's a pic of it next to my 63 1ton panel truck I've been building. Slight difference.

[mrolds88]

Nice score. As far as the rear goes, they used mostly the same rears for a good number of years. My first thought would be to check wheel bearings and brakes first. If that checks out, I would pull the rear cover and go from there. If the diff is bad, I would simply swap it, instead of the whole axle. Also check your spid for axle weight rating. as far as the clutch, thats another crawl under and see whats going on.

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Originally Posted by mrolds88

Nice score. As far as the rear goes, they used mostly the same rears for a good number of years. My first thought would be to check wheel bearings and brakes first. If that checks out, I would pull the rear cover and go from there. If the diff is bad, I would simply swap it, instead of the whole axle. Also check your spid for axle weight rating. as far as the clutch, thats another crawl under and see whats going on.

Thanks. I'll try to keep updating. When looking up parts I don't see c60 as being listed hardly anywhere. Do you know if the stuff listed for c40 is generally interchangeable?

[jumpsoffrock]

^^No, in my short experience, and when looking through chassis manuals the parts are often different. For example,(for 1967...) the front brakes are unique to each the C40, C50, and C60. Whether the rears are the same? I don't know. I seem to remember the manual describing them different as well

Another example--For my truck('67 C50) you had 15"x4" rear brakes, or the optional 15"x5". Nowhere did it say that on the options list on the glove box door and out of ignorance I bought all parts for 15"x4" brakes....right up until I spent a small fortune on new shoes....and when I did the measurements?

Yep, I have the "optional" 15"x5"....almost installed all wrong wheel cylinders and shoes!!!


Raybestos' website used to have a wonderful database for the medium duty trucks when I was doing my brakes last winter. But when another member came asking about their brakes a few months ago and I went back to Raybestos website, they had reconfigured the website. Here is where it is now located:

http://www.raybestosbrakes.com/magno...=Medium%20Duty

The bad news? ALL of their wheel cylinder info is GONE. This would have made my life a living heck a year ago.

My best guess is they discontinued the cylinders....so why have them listed in their catalog(asked rhetorically)? They don't.....anymore.


Their website is the only reason why I even knew that there was 15x4 vs 15x5 brakes! Their "update" is a PITA for people trying to get the job done.

[mrolds88]

From the C40 to C60 there were a LOT of chassis combo's. The SPID will help you with some of the figuring things out. While I believe in 62 they used a different "platform" of a SPID, you can still get good info off of it. Do you have anything on the inside of the glovebox? The door tag can be helpful too. Lot of good info here too. http://chevyc60.com/

[JPBrecheisen]

Nice trucks! Love the flatbed.

Its all up to you in what you want in the end. I have a 1960 C60 and with the brakes all re-done, it stops well enough as it is stock. Some of the updating on the old trucks is nice, but personally, I like my '60 cause it drives like a '60.

On the clutch pedal noise, I agree. Probably a throw-out bearing.

On the rear end noise.....maybe take a look at the drive-line/shaft center carrier bearing. That truck should have a two piece drive shaft in it. Sometimes those can go bad and make you think the rear end has an issue. Its probably and easier one to check than tearing down the rear end....so maybe look there.

As far as parts go, do some looking for GM parts literature (parts book) of the period. That will probably be best for finding parts as you can call whomever and ask them to cross reference the actual GM part number.

[jumpsoffrock]

I forgot to add that an experienced NAPA employee can find a lot as well, but you need to know what your truck has first, and of course the parts are insanely expensive.(I got most of my wheels cylinders on closeout pricing for 12-$20; NAPA wanted ~$70-$80 EACH[for 4 rears])