1966 dually J Truck/Buick 455

[Elliott]

Ok, I got side tracked from my mudder '65 but this isn't all bad unless it contributes to my screwing up the refi on my house...

The '80 truck is on standby pending another front D60 for the time being. Well, not entirely on standby...

At anyrate, this '66 truck I picked up (thanks to a tip from Janie) is gathering mometum currently. Dennis helped me gather up a '73 frame from Pascal after some bartering and I proceeded to convert the post mount frame to a SOA in front for the dually D60 and the then did hanger under frame for the rear dually pickup D70 HD using 3" Ford 10,500LB GVWR springs and 3" perches from Tad. The front sits on 8,400 LB GVWR J20 springs. Wheel base is set to 126" which is what the majority of the dually JTrucks ran on. Because the axles are from a dually pickup the dually rims can be swapped out for H1 if I ever want to convert from a flat bed (that I have located but not bought yet) to a long Thriftside, or Kaiser Townside bed.

Now I thought I was all set up to do a 401 motor with 4sp when I came across a Buick 455 that is either rebuilt (which I kinda doubt at this point) or very low miles. Here's the work I have done so far...

The three axles were used for weight in setting up the front, not that the front really compressed any There are two Dana 61's (Pascal's) and a D70-U.







4:10 gears in the dually axles...

Here's the motor, it's the thicker late block and came with a TH 400...



The motor came out of '75 Buick Landau Limited (basically a 2dr Electra) like this, only the wrecking yard version of the pic below:

[Tad]

Here's the work I have done so far...

Ya know what they are going to say....

[Elliott]

Yeah... well, just so y'all know I ain't really an AMC Nazie Heck, I gotta have something to compare my 401 too...

Btw, this will be running a NP205 that's sitting in my garage, the axles are out of an '83 GM dually 3x3. The cab is a small window.

[fulsizjeep]

Say Huh? Looks good so far!
A 455 seams like the logical choice Elliott.

[Gambler68]

Excellent!! That's going to be a brute!

Dennis helped me gather up a '73 frame from Pascal after some bartering and I proceeded to convert the post mount frame to a SOA in front for the dually D60 and the then did hanger under frame for the rear dually pickup D70 HD using 3" Ford 10,500LB GVWR springs and 3" perches from Tad. The front sits on 8,400 LB GVWR J20 springs. Wheel base is set to 126" which is what the majority of the dually JTrucks ran on. Because the axles are from a dually pickup the dually rims can be swapped out for H1 if I ever want to convert from a flat bed (that I have located but not bought yet) to a long Thriftside, or Kaiser Townside bed.

Besides the *ord springs, that's ultimately what I want to do with my 68 J3000 frame. I have a HD44 and D60 4.10 combo for mine ready to go as soon as I find someone to weld the mounts for me

I have a decent longbed with a killer Tad one off tailgate on it that will be needing a home..going Thriftside and wont be needing it. Just needs to be sandblasted and the usual stuff fixed (its not bad but not cherry).

[red mistress]

Dually

Did you decide on auto or manual tranny behind the 455 ?

Don't get those axles & brakes etc. too installed before you sandblast & paint the frame.

Although my air chisel on those post mount spring hangers, de-rusted it pretty good.

[Elliott]

Actually, I could probably just wire brush the frame... after your chisel slammed the flake off.

I still have a lot of holes to weld shut before it goes further and I need to box the inside of the frame at the rear hangers for a lil more beef that I'll feel good about.

I wanna go T18 but I may still go TH 400, either way I have work to do before I take either route... and parts to gather. I really like the idea of a 4sp and if I'm going to compare the 455 to the 401 it needs to be using a manual with both. I'll probably rebalance a Buick 350 flywheel.

I'm liking this project, ever since I saw that Buick dually JTruck chassis in Jim Allen's book (I'll post a pic later) I've thought about doing this 455 with a manual tranny.

[COLOFIREMAN]

Are you going to run a standard bed with wide flares or a flat bed? Either way would be very cool!

[Elliott]

I found a bed to use, if I can afford to buy it before it gets crushed, that is just like the OEM beds complete with the same style stake sides. I'm seriously thinking of making it a tilt bed and using it for hauling round bales for our horses as it'd haul 4 bales easily, maybe 6 if I could afford them.

Because I set this up on 126" wb and I used the wide dually pickup axles I could swap on H1 rims to run under a regular bed (or long Thriftside) if I want to change it up later, or I could run the dually rims under a 8' Townside box with the widened flares (which looks cool too).

[Elliott]

This here was kinda my inspiration, besides the sweet duallyJTruck in CT with the 455 in it (note the divorced NP200).



Here's a couple pics of a '78 SRW stakebed from Jim Allen's article in Feb 08 Off-Road Adventures mag (the above pic is Jim's from his Collector's Library... very cool stuff he digs up):
Jim... if you read this I have a slew of dually JTruck pics if you can use them and I'll help with an article.





These are from the old Jeep brochures and then the parts list:

[Elliott]

This is the look of the bed I'm shooting for, only I want to work in a roll pan like the OEM bed by splicing the lettering from a JTruck tailgate I'll cut up:

[COLOFIREMAN]

Man I'm drooling !!!

[Bill Moore]

very nice, Elliott be honest, do you sleep?

[Mahamotorworks]

Why not go to the Smokey side with this build? If you are going to be hauling with it the extra torgue will help out. Wish I had your problem and had a lot of J Truck's to build.

Maybe one day........

MAHA

[jpcoutts]

That's a pretty cool looking bed Elliott. I haven't made my mind up about what to use on my truck. I still think I want to try to duplicate the original as close as I can. I'm also thinking about using the composite "wood" available for building decks instead of real wood. I also saw the hardware for the stake panels in the Harbor Frieght catalog. I'm still waiting for replcement cab sheetmetal to arrive from out west and I have aquired two more wheels with your help. I now have a total of 8 wheels and I hope at least six and hopefully seven of them will be serviceable. Yours is going to be a heck of a truck. I can't wait to see it finished. You'll probably be finished before I am!