# Frame width on 73-87's?



## linycctitan (Aug 13, 2007)

Searched for a while, to no avail so here's my question; Does anyone know the width of the front frame rails directly behind the bumper, outside to outside?

Reason I ask is I am currently beginning to hunt for a late-'70's to '87 K10 or K20, the issue is I refuse to buy one that already has, or previously had a plow, as I am plenty aware of the cancer and frame crack issues this generation has. I want to clarify that statement by saying that I have owned many GM trucks of that era, and although I aware of their "quirks", I still absolutely love them. I can't afford to buy even a decent used plow with a frame to fit that truck so I will be putting my plow on it, and since I have the "new style" drive-in mount (with the 2 spring loaded pins), a mount is not made for this plow for this truck. The only used mount found for this style truck is the old 3 pin setup.


----------



## CAT 245ME (Sep 10, 2006)

linycctitan;1476614 said:


> Searched for a while, to no avail so here's my question; Does anyone know the width of the front frame rails directly behind the bumper, outside to outside?
> 
> Reason I ask is I am currently beginning to hunt for a late-'70's to '87 K10 or K20, the issue is I refuse to buy one that already has, or previously had a plow, as I am plenty aware of the cancer and frame crack issues this generation has. I want to clarify that statement by saying that I have owned many GM trucks of that era, and although I aware of their "quirks",


I measured some of my old truck frames I had and the width was 28 1/8" wide. Most plow manufactures like Boss & Fisher still offer plows for the 87 & older GM's.

Don't be afraid of looking at an old GM truck with a plow on it, there is a lot of these trucks out there with plows on them that have only done personal plowing. I know of some trucks around here that are this way where those that own them have just recently put plows on them to clear there drives instead of using a snow blower or a tractor.

My old 85 K20 has had a Fisher MM2 on it for two seasons now but total plowing time is less than 1 hour and this truck is in very good shape.


----------



## linycctitan (Aug 13, 2007)

Thanks, that helps a lot, sounds about right from what I remember. I've had several trucks from the era, K5's, 10's & 20's, and as some of you guys know once your bit by the bug, they're all you can think about. 

It'll be much cheaper and easier to fab 4 simple brackets to bolt up the center section of my plow frame (29" width) than to purchase a plow & mount specific to these trucks. Also, around here it's hard enough to find a decent K10 or 20 that hasn't been beaten to death, or one that the body isn't rotting off the frame. To find one that already has a plow and is in decent shape would be like hitting the lotto! 

Going to look at 2 K20's this week, so we'll see. I'm not in a real hurry, but money is very much a factor, so I'm changing things up. Thanks for the help.


----------

