Camper special equipment question

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Mad gimp

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My 79 dually is the 10,000gvw camper special. It has something ive never seen before and ive had 4 of these duallys. In the bed there is two dampers or shock absorbers that run through the front of the bed and attach to the back of the cab. What is the purpose of these and is there replacements available anywhere. Both of them are broke off. According to the build sheet these are factory option as part of the camper special but ive never found an explanation of what they're for.
 

78C10BigTen

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Im a wee cornfused on your description... do you have any pics of them?
 

75gmck25

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My '75 K25, 8200 GVW Camper Special had exactly the same brackets attached to the back of the cab. It looks like you could connect something to these brackets and extend it through holes that are cut in the box. I believe it allows you to run a brace/damper from the slide-in camper to the cab, so that both the cab and the box are used to stabilize the camper. Mine only had the short brackets on the cab, so I don't know exactly what was bolted to them.

Bruce
 

Mad gimp

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Mine has what looks like shock absorbers and the brackets on the cab and in the bed have ball and socket joints like what you would see on hood lift cylinders on newer vehicles. The problem is the socket are broken and the shocks are just hanging in the bed. And the shocks them selves are pretty rusty.
 

Mad gimp

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78c10bigten i will get some pictures this afternoon and post them up so you can see what im asking about.
 

Keith Seymore

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My 79 dually is the 10,000gvw camper special. It has something ive never seen before and ive had 4 of these duallys. In the bed there is two dampers or shock absorbers that run through the front of the bed and attach to the back of the cab. What is the purpose of these and is there replacements available anywhere. Both of them are broke off. According to the build sheet these are factory option as part of the camper special but ive never found an explanation of what they're for.

From the generic info packet in the GM Heritage Center archives, for '79 Truck:

https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/do...its/Chevrolet-Trucks/1979-Chevrolet-Truck.pdf

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Keith Seymore

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Unfortunately my on-line service information only goes back to 1985 for C/K truck and the Z83 camper special was no longer available. As a result I wasn't able to come up with any pictures or part numbers.

K
 

Mad gimp

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Here what i have

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Mad gimp

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Keith Seymore thats cool info. Elimi pitch thats a new one for me lol.
 

Mad gimp

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I notice the photo is of a regular cab and the vertical shocks appear to mount to the front fenders. On my crew cab theres no sign of anything ever being mounted there but there is a somewhat random 3/8" bolt in the pillar between the front and rear doors. Havent been able to figure what would have been mounted there with that big of hardware but im betting thats where these vertical shocks go on a crew cab
 

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The spacing would be about right for it, between the doors.
 

75gmck25

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I had forgotten about those shock brackets that were bolted to the front fenders. I went back and looked at pictures before my front fenders were replaced, and the brackets were there. However, the body shop did not transfer them over when they replaced the fenders, and I forgot they were even there.

I also replaced my truck bed that was really beaten up, so I had to remove the brackets on the back of the cab so that a bed without holes would fit. I also swapped out and used smaller mirrors, but at least I kept the big mirrors and the back brackets. However, I really doubt I'll ever put a camper on this truck again.

Bruce
 
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I had forgotten about those shock brackets that were bolted to the front fenders. I went back and looked at pictures before my front fenders were replaced, and the brackets were there. However, the body shop did not transfer them over when they replaced the fenders, and I forgot they were even there.

I also replaced my truck bed that was really beaten up, so I had to remove the brackets on the back of the cab so that a bed without holes would fit. I also swapped out and used smaller mirrors, but at least I kept the big mirrors and the back brackets. However, I really doubt I'll ever put a camper on this truck again.

Bruce
How on earth do the camper shocks in the box connect to the front fenders???
 

Mad gimp

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How on earth do the camper shocks in the box connect to the front fenders???
There is supposed to be 2 sets of shocks. One set in the bed/back of cab and the other set bolts to front fenders and go vertical to the camper. In the case of my crew cab the vertical shock apperently bolt to the pillar between the front and rear doors
 

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