1970 C50 2 Ton advice

[Coal creek Chris]

Thinking about one of these that is for sale on Craigslist. Anybody have any experience trying to get parts for these? Is it easy? The truck has front drum brakes. Can these be converted to discs or is that a major project/headache? If I buy it, I would be using it for hauling material in the mountains with a lot of hills and steep grades, so drum front brakes seems like a bad idea. It has a 350 motor, so parts for that should be easy to find, I'm more wondering about other types of parts.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

Brake parts are pretty easy to find in my area. Everything else is basically stock Chevy stuff, should have a sm465, with a parking brake assembly on the output shaft. I think 2 speed stuff is still available for the axles. Dont know anything about a disc swap for bigger than one tons.

Can get radiators locally, most cab stuff is interchangeable, some of it is not. Maintenance parts are readily available. vacuum boosters are available. Pretty much everything you need.

 

[Bennyt]

I believe if you use and drive the truck as intended and follow the speed limits, rules of the road, etc, you'll have no problems with properly maintained drum brakes. The main benefit of disc brakes is wet weather and faster cool down. You can mitigate the faster cool down by stopping occasionally when you feel like you've been braking heavily. I would think that converting a C50 to disc may also be quite expensive for possibly little to no benefit. If you were buying a bare shell and had nothing to start with I could see justify spending the extra costs to start with discs but to throw away the drums that are already functioning, in my opinion, isn't justifiable. That being said, I've never driven a '70 C50 and have experienced it's brakes.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

I believe if you use and drive the truck as intended and follow the speed limits, rules of the road, etc, you'll have no problems with properly maintained drum brakes. The main benefit of disc brakes is wet weather and faster cool down. You can mitigate the faster cool down by stopping occasionally when you feel like you've been braking heavily. I would think that converting a C50 to disc may also be quite expensive for possibly little to no benefit. If you were buying a bare shell and had nothing to start with I could see justify spending the extra costs to start with discs but to throw away the drums that are already functioning, in my opinion, isn't justifiable. That being said, I've never driven a '70 C50 and have experienced it's brakes.

They are pretty large brakes, and the stopping power is plenty plenty adequate with a load. Especially the double booster systems, they don't mess around. If the farmer ever maintains their brake system lol, which is hardly ever.

 

[DoubleDingo]

It was manufactured to work in extreme conditions and carry heavy loads. If it is mechanically solid throughout you will not have any issues. It's not a speed demon, it's a hauler, and haulers aren't meant for speed. Top speed is probably 55 in that truck.

 

[Vbb199]

Any idea on the lug pattern on this c50? Asking because if its the "big 6 lug" like rockwell 2.5 tons, i have data stored away for disc brakes that fit, etc.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

Any idea on the lug pattern on this c50? Asking because if its the "big 6 lug" like rockwell 2.5 tons, i have data stored away for disc brakes that fit, etc.

If I remember correctly, they used the Eaton and Rockwell axles, for that era. They didn't use the Dayton style wheels yet I believe. I could get a picture of my 70 c50 tomorrow.

 

[Coal creek Chris]

I believe if you use and drive the truck as intended and follow the speed limits, rules of the road, etc, you'll have no problems with properly maintained drum brakes. The main benefit of disc brakes is wet weather and faster cool down. You can mitigate the faster cool down by stopping occasionally when you feel like you've been braking heavily. I would think that converting a C50 to disc may also be quite expensive for possibly little to no benefit. If you were buying a bare shell and had nothing to start with I could see justify spending the extra costs to start with discs but to throw away the drums that are already functioning, in my opinion, isn't justifiable. That being said, I've never driven a '70 C50 and have experienced it's brakes.

Thanks BennyT - This wouldn't be a bare shell, but a fully functioning, road worthy truck. They are asking a lot of $$ for it, so not sure I can swing it. I wondered how the drum brakes would do in Colorado mountains where I would be doing a lot of heavy braking for 20-40 minutes of driving essentially down steep hills out of the mountains to the flat lands with a load. Regularly with elevation drops of 2,000-3,000 feet between point A and B. With my 1 ton with front discs, just staying in low gear isn't usually enough to avoid a lot of heavy braking too. But I suppose I could just plan to pull over to let them cool off too. Sounds like the disc conversion idea is not worth considering.

 

[Coal creek Chris]

Any idea on the lug pattern on this c50? Asking because if its the "big 6 lug" like rockwell 2.5 tons, i have data stored away for disc brakes that fit, etc.

Well, maybe it's easier to just share a photo of it. I see 6 lugs in the front. Truck looks like its in nice shape from the pictures. Side dump "beet box" setup. Price is high though, seller is asking $16k.

 

[DoubleDingo]

If it's mechanically sound and road worthy, and all the hydraulics works, etc, 16k may be about right. Those big drum brakes were meant to stop the truck with or without a load.

 

[mcarlo86]

I have a '67 C50 former grain truck that I use as a dump truck and a '68 C50 winch truck. I agree with @PrairieDrifter that the brake parts are easy to get and they are actually quite good. There would be no reason to go through all the work to convert them. Wheel cylinders can start leaking if they are old, but they are inexpensive and pretty easy to change. $16K seems a bit steep for a C50 though. Does it have power steering? There are different gear ratios that these trucks came with. My '67 originally had a 292 in it and it is really geared down. I'd say 55 mph is about as fast as it will go. The '68 came with a 327 and it has taller gears in it and will run 70 mph easily. If you are climbing grades, hopefully it has the lower gears.