‘82 GMC “Junkyard JIMMY” {Build bash Rebuild}

[pblaze725]

Maiden Voyage


This guy is a nut! The Anti Prius is a dune slayer for sure!





The token Side by side shot of the 2 rigs at sunset.




This is the kind of terrain we were in. mostly flat & smooth with the occasional whoops.




These are the mountains you need to cross to get there.




Looking at the landscape here makes me think about camo patterns.


JIMMY did good. No problems at all. I didn't break anything and I had fun.

 

[swettysblazer]

View attachment 152516

It's these long desert roads that make you think About every nut, bolt, and weld you have done. The further I go the more confidence I have in my work.

The maiden voyage was successful.


I made it home safe.

Thats exactly how I felt when I drove cross country this summer to Michigan. I was pretty proud that I could put the truck together and have no major issues with it for 2500 miles.

 

[magik235]

It's these long desert roads that make you think About every nut, bolt, and weld you have done. The further I go the more confidence I have in my work.

The maiden voyage was successful.


I made it home safe.

Excellent outcome. It is a great feeling when confidence sets in after thinking about every nut, bolt and weld.

 

[andyblack]

Cool trip but I can't see all the pics.

 

[swettysblazer]

How much backspacing is on your rims, and how much did you have to grind on your calipers? I'm trying to figure out the most effective way to do my swap.

 

[pblaze725]

Cool trip but I can't see all the pics.

I don't know why you can't see the pics.

How much backspacing is on your rims, and how much did you have to grind on your calipers? I'm trying to figure out the most effective way to do my swap.

4.25" backspace.
...2 days probably about 1/4" .

I have more pics of the build I can post later for clarification.

 

[pblaze725]

Grinding Dana 44 brake calipers for 15" rims


At first I thought I could remove my caliper mount from the 10 bolt and use it on the 44 but that didn't work.




The above and below photos shows how much the 2 mounts differ. The holes in the spindle are all in line. I think I could have cut along the edge and welded it in lieu of grinding...



..but I didn't.






In the above and below photos you can see the original thickness of the material and how I tapered it down to the edge of the brake caliper.

I got to a point where I didn't want to grind it any thinner than this so I cut where the red arrow is and removed about 3/16" and hammered it in to the edge of the caliper.


I made sure I could remove the caliper and there was nothing funny looking about it.


On the first side I was using a flapper wheel and removing small amounts of material at a time.

I would install and remove my rim & tire and mark with a fancy blue sharpie the points of contact. I wish I did it before I installed the tire. It must have been at least 2 dozen times.

The second side went quicker. I used a coarse grinder wheel and knew how deep to go. I only test fit that side 2 times.

 

[andyblack]

I wonder if you would have had to grind any if you had used wheels with 3.75" back spacing.

 

[pblaze725]

I wonder if you would have had to grind any if you had used wheels with 3.75" back spacing.

Judging by the contact points in my test run I would say 1/2" less backspace would still require grinding.



On the test run I was getting vibrations. Upon inspection I saw this small point of contact. I hit it with the flapper wheel, mounted the tire and checked clearance.

The vibrations went away.

 

[swettysblazer]

I know on wheels with 2.5 inches of backspacing you won't need to grind... however, IDK if I want my wheels to stick out that far. Debating whether or not to grind or just get the wheels.

 

[Deuling]

I know on wheels with 2.5 inches of backspacing you won't need to grind... however, IDK if I want my wheels to stick out that far. Debating whether or not to grind or just get the wheels.

Id grind. Unless you want your blazer to look like the badass farm truck down the road with 33s and the entire wheel sticking out of the fender on a stock truck....

If so go for it

 

[82355]

It's not that bad.

Martin

 

[pblaze725]

It's a labor of love. I only did it because I like my tires so much and it was the cheapest route.

Knowing 15" tires are getting obsolete I figure when these meats wear out I'm going to need to get new rims so that's when I refurbish some Junkyard Chevys and Rock the hubcaps.
That should be a few years down the road.

For now I'm still waiting for my new shocks to be delivered before I do anymore work on the rear inboard project.

 

[pblaze725]

New shocks





The rear shocks have the side bolt type mount. It looks beefy and was manufactured that way so I'm going to use it.
The tabs get put back in the scrap pile for now.

 

[andyblack]

That might work out better. Those things sure are shiny too.

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

And, a new Tiki,...

 

[andyblack]

Now that's impressive!!

 

[pblaze725]

That is SICK Mike!!

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

That is SICK Mike!!

Thanks, Paul..

Gonna try to ship it tomoro.

 

[pblaze725]

Thanks, Paul..

Gonna try to ship it tomoro.

That's kewl.
I'm going to do my annual drive up the coast for The holidays. I'll be passing by your place if you want to not be be there at the time. Or we can get burritos
Remember you can drop a package off at "the lighthouse" in P-ville too.




Front shocks installed.