1972 GMC K5 then and now

[72gmck5]

Been plucking away on all the last bits to get ready for bash. I was able to get the new alternator safely home and installed.


finished with putting the interior back together and added some rechargeable dome lights.


another issue that came up was the headlight switch went out, sorta. the clip that held the plunger rod in, stopped clipping. So new one went in.

After that I was able to get some miles on the truck and the new gears. We didn’t change out the inner axle seals at the time but turns out we should have. They were leaking pretty bad and luckily they were supplied with the rebuild kit.
Unfortunately after tearing down the axle we couldn’t get the R/P out and started scratching our heads trying to come up with an idea. @ashman came up with using the winch and that worked better than I had hoped.


Now that I have quiet gears, I’ve been hearing all sorts of new sounds
This exhaust collector gets gaskets about every year and I’m tired of playing with it so for the time being it’s getting a bandaid.

 

[72gmck5]

A New year and 5 months of activity to catch up on. Luckily not a ton has happened. First off blazer bash was a ton of fun and I got voluntold to trail lead Behind the Rocks when @ashman lost his brakes on the gate keeper. Running the trailer was fun and we only got turned around a few times.

 

[72gmck5]

The new suspension mods we made sure let the Jimmy stretch and crawl a lot better. Took the 12” travel shock from the front and moved them to the rear and new 14” fox shocks up front really smothed out the ride.

The 5.38 gears might be a little deep for my current setup but it sure was fun to have the extra grunt, and speed control on the trail.

 

[72gmck5]

I only had a few failed parts on this trip and nothing too bad.
I put a cheap breaker on a battery cable and it fried under a normal load. It popped and wouldn’t close again.

Also on the Sunday Flat Iron trail we made it down tilt a whirl and while stopped for lunch I noticed my rear spring plate was sitting weird.



The battery cable was just routed to bypass the breaker and the trip continued. The ubolt broke on the last day so we just strapped the springs to the axle and headed back to load it on the trailer. That got fixed at home.

 

[72gmck5]

The best part about these trips is meeting people, seeing old friends, and making memories with my family.

They both fell asleep coming back from the Crack

 

[72gmck5]

About a month after bash and well into October, @ashman , @Drummingpeke , and I took a drive up American Fork canyon here in Utah. They close parts of the canyon on October 31st annually for snow. So this was a last chance of the year drive.
The drive started off terribly. My distributor had loosened and my timing went way out of line. It was so retarded I couldn’t accelerate to get on the highway at all.
Luckily we were able to pullover and get it timed good enough headed down the road.

 

[ACTIONKING12]

A New year and 5 months of activity to catch up on. Luckily not a ton has happened. First off blazer bash was a ton of fun and I got voluntold to trail lead Behind the Rocks when @ashman lost his brakes on the gate keeper. Running the trailer was fun and we only got turned around a few times.
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What head lights are you running?

 

[mrk5]

The best part about these trips is meeting people, seeing old friends, and making memories with my family.
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Haha, love the facial expression!

 

[72gmck5]

What head lights are you running?

They were off eBay, looked up 5 3/4” led headlights. I really like them and the cool thing is that since I bought mine a lot of other designs have come out.

Haha, love the facial expression!

I can’t show that I’m having fun, then they’ll catch on that I enjoy their company.

 

[72gmck5]

On the trip up the canyon I kept having electrical issues. It started with the power feed to the Fitech coming unplugged and later the power cable to my stereo amp came out of its clamp. This allowed the cable to slide down the inner fender and rest on the header. As you can guess it promptly melted all the insulation on the wire and grounded everything out.
Took me a few minutes to figure out the problem and a little longer for everything to cool down enough to fix.
I attribute these issues to the summer projects and having the truck apart. When I put it back together everything was in its place but some connectors might have come loose or just broken from years of use. This inspired me to clean up the wiring under the hood and so I started gathering parts.

 

[72gmck5]

Still collecting parts and the Jimmy working fine, @ashman and took a quick trip out to the 5-Mile req area just outside salt lake. Being December, there was just enough snow to make it fun.

 

[72gmck5]

One of the parts I ordered is a switch control box that will help me remove relays and reroute wiring. I’m pretty excited to get that installed.

Still have a few more bits to get and layout my full wiring plan.
Anyone have a link for good front view camera?

 

[mrk5]

For what it's worth, this is one that was recommended to me, but I haven't purchased it yet. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077W23BG...olid=1XK4YCGLPPKEC&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I use the heck out of the weatherpack connectors. They work the best with a good crimper, the style that will do both the wire crimp and the seal crimp at the same time.

 

[72gmck5]

For what it's worth, this is one that was recommended to me, but I haven't purchased it yet. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077W23BG...olid=1XK4YCGLPPKEC&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I use the heck out of the weatherpack connectors. They work the best with a good crimper, the style that will do both the wire crimp and the seal crimp at the same time.

That’s a nice dash cam and I’ll probably get one for the daily. I’m looking to add a front parking camera to put under the front bumper for crawling visibility.

I also picked up these pliers

 

[skunked]

That’s a nice dash cam and I’ll probably get one for the daily. I’m looking to add a front parking camera to put under the front bumper for crawling visibility.

I also picked up these pliers

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Why? You don't like driving by braille like the rest of us?

 

[72gmck5]

Why? You don't like driving by braille like the rest of us?

I don’t always want to get out to see what I hit

 

[mrk5]

I've often thought I should get a camera for watching the rear driveshaft in the crew cab. Make sure it's not hitting rocks.

Have you thought about trying to find an older GoPro camera? Might be able to find a deal on a good used one.

 

[72gmck5]

A few weeks back I got a video up about the Deuling Design frame plates I installed and I really like how they turned out.

 

[72gmck5]

I've often thought I should get a camera for watching the rear driveshaft in the crew cab. Make sure it's not hitting rocks.

Have you thought about trying to find an older GoPro camera? Might be able to find a deal on a good used one.

I have a go pro sesh that works pretty good but the connectivity is a little spotty. Plus the battery dies fast while streaming.
I know there are cheap reverse and forward facing camera, but I haven’t had good luck with the reverse ones lasting.

 

[skunked]

A few weeks back I got a video up about the Deuling Design frame plates I installed and I really like how they turned out.

I saw something on bookface about this video. I think Joey posted it and there was plenty of arm chair engineers giving their two cents