1986 K30 6.2 Diesel Truggy Build - "The Mule"

[TheBeast_88K5]

Nice...

 

[muddysub]

nice work man, you're putting together one solid truck! trucks like this make me question the whole expedition rig theme for my suburban, makes me wanna ditch the doors, A/C, etc and cage it.

 

[myhichevy4x4]

nice work man, you're putting together one solid truck! trucks like this make me question the whole expedition rig theme for my suburban, makes ime wanna ditch the doors, A/C, etc and cage it.

Thanks for the complements! There is a lot more work to be done and $$ to spend before it is trail ready. But I am trying to chip away at it slowly.

 

[myhichevy4x4]

So yesterday I was busy in the garage installing the ORD Front Upper Shackle Hangars.

After getting the truck up on the lift amazingly the bolts came right out of the factory springs. I removed the top shackle bolt and rear spring bolt.

While I was under the truck I removed the sway bar (no need for that!!) and the factory shocks.

I sat the front axle on jack stands and then lifted the truck up allowing the springs to droop out giving me room to work on the shackle hangars.

I first scored the rivets with the grinder.



Then used the new air chisel and a flat chisel to cut the heads off.



Then used the punch in the air chisel to punch them all out.



Next the rivet holes had to be drilled to 7/16. The center hole also needs to be enlarged to 2 inches. I used the 2 hole saw method.



The factory hole is a bit larger then 1 3/4. First I threaded on the 2 inch and then the 1 3/4 behind it. After I drilled the center hole out I used a small air die grinder to clean up the hole.

All cleaned up and ready to test fit then paint.



Here are some comparison pics of the factory hangar and the new ORD hangar.





Note the slightly longer shackles



And the way thicker shackles



And larger bolts



I will note that I am still waiting on my new custom springs from ORD. I used the smaller rear spring bolt for now until my springs get here,

Also when tightening the bolts holding the FUSH on I actually broke a grade 8 bolt by only trying to torque to 50 ft lbs



That last bolt hole did not line up very well and I tightened it down anyway. It appears that the bolt must have seen some sheer loading when tightening and that is what broke it. It actually oblonged the hole slightly. So after a trip to Tractor Supply (AKA local Bolt Mecca) for a new grade 8 I was back in business.



All in all great kit, easy to install with right tools.

I could not resist the opportunity to throw a front tire on there. This is of course with the shackles not attached. I think that these pics should be close to the new spring height hopefully it will sit a bit lower. (The rear axle is strapped up in the pic to help balance the truck on the lift)



Gonna need some trimming!!

 

[myhichevy4x4]

Later in the day I started on the 14 bolt disk swap. I started by disassembling my rear axle.



And dropping all this weight. If anyone needs good 16,000 mile drum brakes let me know. Otherwise they are going to the scrap yard or I might make a bench grinder stand out of the drums.



Then I started stripping the donor axle (that came out of the blazer). After looking at the calipers for 15$ a piece I can get new ones so I will pick those up on Monday. Rotors and pads look great. I ordered braided flex lines and will need to pick up some hard line.



I think I am going to paint my hubs and the brake brackets and calipers while they are out. I will prob replace the wheel seals while I am at it too. I am waiting to see how the brake balance works out.

 

[jt512]

Nice progress You should have that thing out on the trail with us in no time ........right

I finally remembered to measure my front suspension (axle to frame) for comparison, it looks like I am right at 5" of lift. It is 13.25 ~13.5" from the bottom of my frame to the top of the axle tube.

 

[myhichevy4x4]

Nice progress You should have that thing out on the trail with us in no time ........right

I finally remembered to measure my front suspension (axle to frame) for comparison, it looks like I am right at 5" of lift. It is 13.25 ~13.5" from the bottom of my frame to the top of the axle tube.

I was at Nick's (newoldscottsdale77) house recently and I measured his truck sitting in the driveway. His truck measures almost 15" from the bottom of the frame to the top of the axle tube. He did just install new 3/4 ton 52s in the front.

On another note I received confirmation that my custom front springs from ORD shipped and I should get them within a few days.

In the mean time I have been gathering more parts. New flex lines to route the rear brake lines along the top link bar. Four new calipers (two for the rear disk conversion and two for the front for cheap insurance). New rear wheel seals.

Can't wait to get this truck sitting on all 4 42s not just the rear two.

 

[jt512]

I think Nicks springs definitely have more arch then mine, between the big block the front bumper and the fact my fronts are from a late model K5, they have hardly any arch to them.
Soo......any thoughts on when you hope to have it trail ready? I see Nick is looking to hit up RC again in September

 

[myhichevy4x4]

Soo......any thoughts on when you hope to have it trail ready? I see Nick is looking to hit up RC again in September

Well, not exactly sure. . . I expect to have it sitting on all four 42s hopefully by the end of the month. After I get ride height established I need to measure for a rear drive shaft. The rear axle has to come out and get the detroit installed.

Then there is the front axle. I have to drop about 3K to do everything I want. Full hydro steering, Artec high steer arms and Reid knuckles with an Artec Ram mount. And I need to buy a front locker, prob a Grizzly locker. So that is on hold until the wife gives me the ok on that or I may compromise on some things.

Once I get the springs in I should be able to steer it ok using the factory push pull at least enough to move it around. Once it is mobile again I hope to work on the rear axle and then work on adding gussets and tabs onto the cage.

Somewhere in there it needs to get painted.

So long story short prob not going to be ready to wheel until maybe spring if I am lucky.

Work has been crazy and my boss was laid off last week so I suspect it will only get worse.

 

[newoldscottsdale77]

[jt512;3305616]I think Nicks springs definitely have more arch then mine, between the big block the front bumper and the fact my fronts are from a late model K5, they have hardly any arch to them.

my original springs were the rears out of my 77, they had completely flattened out after a few wheeling trips, even with the 3/4 ton springs up front its rides pretty smooth (and its nice to have some up travel again!)

Soo......any thoughts on when you hope to have it trail ready? I see Nick is looking to hit up RC again in September

Dont worry, I make it a point to provide Dan with motivation "regularly" to hopefully move the process along!

 

[myhichevy4x4]

Well today my custom front springs from ORD came in Took about 6 weeks from when I ordered them. Stephen from ORD designed these specific for my application. They are a 10 leaf pack setup for five inches of lift with the axle moved two inches forward. These are setup to use the factory mounts without moving them. They measure 48 inches along the spring and as they sit 44 inches spring eye to spring eye.

Keep in mind that my truck has the 6.2 diesel and a winch bumper. Using a trailer tongue jack scale on my floor jack I measured about 2,000 lbs weight per side in the front. Anyway on to the pics!



Full Military wrap on front of springs and smaller bushing in rear of spring to help keep it away from the taller 1 ton frame.





A little over 2.5 inches thick



Lots of arch. Almost 10 inches from bushing centerline to bottom of leaf pack. They seem fairly soft so I hope they settle down with the weight of the truck or else the truck will be really tall!



So that is what $800 leaf springs look like. I hope they live up to their cost!

I thought this was interesting too



Oh and these beauties came recently too. 14 inch travel 5125 series Bilsteins for the front. Now I just need to get some Ford shock towers.



I hope it cools off so I can actually get out in the garage and get some of this stuff installed!! Yesterday when I got home from work it was 105 in the garage and today it was only 100.

 

[myhichevy4x4]

Just a quick update. Got the rear disk brakes all mounted up just need to plumb them in. Painted the 14 bolts hubs while they were off and replaced the seals.





With the tires on



SUPER DUALLY!!!



I hope to put the front springs in on Sunday so I can get it sitting on all 4 42s

 

[Deuling]

Looks like batmans rig from the rear.


Do it

 

[myhichevy4x4]

Looks like batmans rig from the rear.


Do it

I thought the exact same thing! Might be a little wide for the trails here on the East Coast. . .

 

[myhichevy4x4]

Got the front springs in today finally. Ran into some unforeseen issues but I will get to them.

Old springs came out pretty easy. Only had to cut out one bolt, even the U bolts came loose. I removed the calipers because I was too lazy to bleed them today. I have new longer lines I will install later. For now the stockers work but are strung tight with weight on the truck. I also had to remove the steering arm to droop out the axle enough to slide the new springs in. (Just a reminder I am going full hydro steering just using the factory push pull setup for now to move it around)



Comparison of the old and new springs. New springs have a crap load more arch. Also note how far forward the centering pin is.



I had some longer U bolts that came of the Blazer I parted. They were barely long enough and I had to go to Tractor Supply to get longer grade 8 bolts for the passenger side. All bolted up. I would like to note that drooped out with the weight of the axle hanging I measured 18.5 inches from the top of the axle tube to the bottom of the frame. It was sitting at 8.5 inches before I started. This pic is drooped out with the axle hanging.



I sat the weight down on the axle and it only moved like 3.5 inches. So I now measure 15 inches from the top of the axle tube to the bottom of the frame. This means I netted 6.5 inches of lift and I wanted 5 inches. I have to assume that it will settle some but time will tell. On to the pics.



My son approves of the new monster truck. The truck really looks different on the big tires. To give you an idea the bottom the slider is 31 inches off the ground and the lowest point on the belly is like 30 inches.



I added more Nitrogen to the air shocks to level the rear of the truck.



Problem 1:
Axle is way forward as shown in the last pic. I actually had to cut a bit off the fang just to get the tires mounted. It does measure only 2" forward from stock. I think I am going to have issues hitting the core support. I guess that means I just need to narrow the front to solve that problem. I think I can deal with this problem just going to have to trim a bit an maybe trim the core support too. (I was the one that decided on 2 inches forward so not ORD's fault)

Problem 2:
Shackle angle is not great. See pic.



This is with weight of the truck on the tire. It is about a degree or 2 from 90 degrees to the frame. This is not that big a deal it should get better as it settles but is ok how it is.

Problem 3:
Rear suspension was setup for 5 inches of lift. I am going to have to raise the lower air shock mounts to get better down travel. To level the truck I have to have about 11 inches of shaft showing. The shocks are limited to 16 inch travel. this means I would only have 5 inches of droop. Solution is move lower shock mounts up two or three inches.

Problem 4:
This is a big one. At ride height my driveshaft binds badly. It does turn but it is rubbing. You can see the rub marks in the pic below.



The pinion angle is horrible. I measure 2 degrees up as it sits. The shaft is a non CV square tube shaft that has a 1410 on the axle side and a 1480 (dana 60 joint) on the tcase end. Only the axle side seems to bind.



I backed the truck out of the garage no problem. However, when I went to drive it back in it was binding so badly with the load I was not sure if I could get it back in. Remember I only have a front shaft right now too. I was thinking about going CV shaft but that would make it even worse.

Problem 5 goes hand in hand with problem 4:
I measure the caster to be about 12-13 degrees positive which is way too much. I believe it should be about 6 or so.



I am hoping I a 6 or so degree shim will fix both the caster and pinion angle.

Overall things could have worked out better. I am sure I will get things straightened out. I had heard nothing but great things about ORD custom springs. I plan to give Stephen at ORD a call first thing tomorrow to discuss these issues and get his input. For now I can't even move my truck out of the garage.

I am not sure that a 6 degree shim will be enough to keep the driveshaft from binding at full droop. Any one have any ideas?

 

[myhichevy4x4]

So I had a very good conversation with Stephen at ORD today. We talked for almost an hour. He is genuinely interested in my build and helping out however possible. He also found and read my build thread here on CK5.

First off shackle angle. We both agree it is not bad and should only get better as the springs settle. Stephen believes that the springs will settle maybe 3/4" after they are cycled. For the pinion and caster angle issues we are going to try a 6 degree shim to help correct both.

I believe this will cure the driveshaft binding at ride height but not at full droop. After doing some research a Tom Woods Superflex U joint may solve the problem.

http://4xshaft.com/Super-Flex.asp

They are available in 1410 and claim to provide up to 10 more degrees of flex. I am not sure if I would gain the 10 degrees because the Tcase U joint would start to bind at some point (and it is a 1480 not 1410) I plan on calling Tom Woods tomorrow. I may just end up with a custom high angle shaft. Part of my front driveshaft issue stems from the Atlas being clocked up almost flat. This raises the front output making the angle more severe. Stephen suggested that I could clock the Atlas down or just buy a custom Dynatrac high pinion 60 (I wish this was in the budget but believe me I am going to call and price one tomorrow) to improve the angle.

As far as the rear suspension, Stephen pointed out some things I want to look into for the 4 link geometry. I need to research this some more and run through the 4 link calculator. He suggested the lower links may be at too severe of an angle. I welcome his input on things like this. He has already solved many of these problems before.

I think it is great that someone like Stephen from ORD still takes the time to read build threads and to share his wealth of knowledge.

 

[y5mgisi]

Sounds like you got it all worked out then right?

 

[Deuling]

I was going to comment last night... but I was falling asleep as I was reading lol.


I got custom springs from ord as well. And also noticed the bad angles

My buddy works at a machine shop and made me some 5* shims. It was just a guess.

Worked great though. I think having my axle moved forward .5" and the face the HD shackles are longer than stock, all result in angling the pinion down.


I think a 6* will work awesome for you man. And I absolutely love this build


You can see the shim in this thread bolted to my wood blocks for spring cycling.

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=306572&highlight=spring+cycling

 

[myhichevy4x4]

Sounds like you got it all worked out then right?

Yeah we will see how the 6 degree shims work out but I think so. Looks like a lot of fender to trim and maybe even core support. On the other hand having the axle that far forward helps my approach angle.

I was going to comment last night... but I was falling asleep as I was reading lol.


I got custom springs from ord as well. And also noticed the bad angles

My buddy works at a machine shop and made me some 5* shims. It was just a guess.

Worked great though. I think having my axle moved forward .5" and the face the HD shackles are longer than stock, all result in angling the pinion down.


I think a 6* will work awesome for you man. And I absolutely love this build


You can see the shim in this thread bolted to my wood blocks for spring cycling.

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=306572&highlight=spring+cycling

Makes me feel better that the 5 degree worked well for you. At some point I plan to cycle my springs too your thread is a great reference.

Thanks for the complements!

 

[Deuling]

The cycling will let you know how much trimming you actually need.

Just remember. you moved the axle forward, but on up travel the shackle will move the axle back. So I think you will be trimming much less than you think