LUVTruck.com

I have found 78 Stepside Luv Truck. It already has a 350 engine 350 auto tranny combo. It appers that this was a orginal auto truck. They used the stock Luv rear end.

Will this hold up for a while? I don't plan to get on it from a start. What worries me more is what kind of RPM's will I be turning to drive it. Tires apear close to stock size. Maybe a little taller.

I will do a rear end swap later. My son wrecked my 85 3/4 ton chevy truck and I will need a tempoary replacement while we deal with the Insurance and fixing it. I haven't bought yet, but I will as long as we can work out a deal.

Thanks
Richard

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

well if it's a origonally auto truck the rears were 4.10's so that means tat it wont' get you good milage with that rear. I'd get it though since obviously you could afford the gas with your 3/4 ton chevy.

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-Old ride-82 Luv diesel 5spd with some upgrades
-Past rides-82 Sierra, 78 Coupe De'Ville, 91 2dr Blazer, 86 RX7, 86 Porsche 944T (rear-ended and totaled)
-Curr. rides- 1970 Ford LTD 4dr, 390 4Bbl, 2nd owner! With a few Extras 00' Civic beater...

I don't put a lot of miles on anything at one time. More worried about how many RPM the engine will have to turn to do 60 or 70 MPH. I live in rual Texas and the closet town is 15 miles away.

I ran 4:10 and 14" tires in a 65 GTO, 4sp trans, I had years. I think I had to turn 3800-4000 RPM to go 70.

If I get it a rearend swap is 1st on the list...

Richard

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

What are 4 speed LUV rearend gears?

Should be around 4.11's stock. Your estimate is about right, probably about 4000RPM for 65MPH. At that RPM I don't think mileage will be your concern. The problem will probably be the life of the motor.

I thought they were lower than the gears in a diesel's 5spd rear ben, cause the ones in a 4spd are lower to make up for not having an overdrive gear, least that's what my books tell me.

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-Old ride-82 Luv diesel 5spd with some upgrades
-Past rides-82 Sierra, 78 Coupe De'Ville, 91 2dr Blazer, 86 RX7, 86 Porsche 944T (rear-ended and totaled)
-Curr. rides- 1970 Ford LTD 4dr, 390 4Bbl, 2nd owner! With a few Extras 00' Civic beater...

It's driveable but stay off of the Hwy. Engine temps will go thru the roof with trying to keep pace with traffic. It was hell with my truck when the speed limit was 55. Once they raised it to 70, i knew i had to upgrade for sure. After you get a new axle line up, go ahead and try and grenade the stock axle. You can give us a report on how well and how long it lasted. There's not much of a demand for stock LUV axles so selling it is almost out of the question. I couldn't give mine away so I finally ditched my old axle at the wrecking yard scrap pile. They didn't charge me anything because i had bought a motor and trans from them.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

ok a little off topic but how should a 3speed auto luv do on the freeway? only thing not stock is the exhaust.

27 mpg, how do I know im about to buy one and that's what the guy has coocoolated up for his milage then again it's only a 3spd w/o an overdrive and it has a 4.10 rear.... get the picture.

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-Old ride-82 Luv diesel 5spd with some upgrades
-Past rides-82 Sierra, 78 Coupe De'Ville, 91 2dr Blazer, 86 RX7, 86 Porsche 944T (rear-ended and totaled)
-Curr. rides- 1970 Ford LTD 4dr, 390 4Bbl, 2nd owner! With a few Extras 00' Civic beater...

Found out that it is the 4 spd rearend, he used the auto shifter console pedal set and driveshaft from a parts truck. He said the stock auto drive shaft fit , even the yoke worked.

He wants $3500 for it. recent black paint, good tires, rebuilt engine and tranny. Here is is ad for it.


1978 CHEVROLET LUV PICKUP SPORTSIDE, CHEVY 350 4 BOLT MAIN WITH A TURBO 350 TRANSMISSION, RECENTLY PAINTED BLACK, HAS A QUADRAJET CARBURETOR. A HOWE 342 ALUMINUM RADIATOR WITH A 16 INCH ELECTRIC COOLING FAN. THE FRONT GRILL HAS NOT BEEN INSTALLED SINCE IT NEEDS MODIFICATION DUE TO THE ELECTRIC FAN PERTRUDING FURTHER THAN NORMAL, REAR END IS OFF OF THE ORIGINAL LUV, THE HEADLIGHT RIMS NEED TO BEEN INSTALLED IT IS MISSING SOME PLASTIC CLIPS, VEHICLE RUNS GREAT AND CAN BE DRIVEN HOME, I HAVE PUT ABOUT 100 MILES ON THE NEWLY REBUILT MOTOR AND TRANNY. THE DASH HAS SOME CRACKS ON IT BUT IT HAS A COVER ON IT. VEHICLE HAS A SUN ROOF AND A REAR SLIDING WINDOW, I ALSO HAVE A SPARE REAR FENDER AND REAR WINDOW THAT GOES WITH THE VEHICLE.

I don't think my old truck will bring that much from the insurance company. Pictures of the truck look good, but it is several hundred miles away... My gut says I want, I want it, I want it...

Richard

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

If your gut tells you that you want it, you want it, you want it, My suggestions is to Go get it, go get it, go get it!!!
A S-10 axle can be fitted to the truck with better gearing and certian Camaros drive shafts will fit without any mods. A Ford axle will require a new driveshaft built. That could cost up to 350.00 on top of the Ford axle and mods to narrow it and fitting it to the truck. The cost only hurts until you drive the truck, then you dont think about it any more cause you'll be too busy having fun driving it from gas station to gas station. The stock fuel tank is rather small for a V-8. Throwing 20-25 bucks in to the tank will get swallowed up by the V-8 quickly. We all complain about it but i dont see anyone dumping their trucks for a gas mizer. Getting a second vehicle is more common.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

You can put bigger tires on the back temporarily. If you go to 235/75/15 in the back, you'll drop rpms by 9%. If it's now turning 4000 at 70 mph, you'd be turning about 3600 with the bigger tires.

Of course, it's a little harder on the differential but if you baby it a little, you shouldn't have a problem.

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You went there in that?!?!

Here are some pictures of the truck.








Richard.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

thats a cleeeeean looking truck man id jump on it if i were you

Nice truck. I would be worried about your U-Joints. I have a 4.3 in my Luv and my stock 4x4 rearend which is a litter heaver than the two wheel rearend. At about 10,000 miles I cracked 2 U-Joints and I had my drive shaft custom built.

Not a bad Idea to have done. What did you do about the yoke on the rearend.?

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

I'm using the stock 4x4 yoke but the U-joints are heaver. I drove form Phoenix AZ to Fayetteville AR towing my 79 LUV 4x4 with my 80 LUV 4x4 and didn't have a problem with out a problem and I have 30,000 on the new U-joints.

How does it do with the stock rearend on the highway? The 700r4 must be great in it.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

I get about 20 mpg and at about 3500rpm I am runing about 65-70 mph.

That sounds good. I would guess you have the 4.56 gears too. Are you running tall tires or something close to stock?

Richard

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.