Great pictures!
I will be making my first trip out this year so all of the pics/info you can give the better.
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1986 K5 The over-achieving grocery getter
- Thread starter CriticalAction
- Start date
1986 K5 Chevy Blazer
I will be making my first trip out this year so all of the pics/info you can give the better.
Good to hear! I will keep posting then. I also am going down for Blazer Bash this year so I am excited for that.
Please keep posting. You have great pictures. I really like that part of Utah. The sky is so clear at night.
Thank you very much. Do you know if there is a way to post videos some how on here? I have several of my climbs that I would like to share with everybody. I might just have to upload to Youtube or something and link the video, but if there is another way I would like to know.
Haha yeah they were funny guys. When I got denied on the gatekeeper to Behind the Rocks I asked them to sprinkle some square body love on me so I would grow a pair and give it the skinny like I should have! But I will be back...
T
tenderfoot
Guest
There is no rambling here. Yet.
The adventure is the best part of the build
The adventure is the best part of the build
The adventure is the reason I told my father we would be driving the Blazer out there instead of trailering it like everyone told me to do! I just responded with the usual when people told me to trailer: trailers are for boats. Thank you for the compliments and I hope I can keep providing some people with at least mediocre entertainment as the build goes on.There is no rambling here. Yet.
The adventure is the best part of the build
Right on! Drive them for sure!
Thank you very much Mr. Zoomad, I must admit I have read yours and Larry's build threads several times through. The approach to builds/trips is inspirational to me and has definitely made me want to do things like I am doing now. Keep on doing what your doing, and I will keep on reading/trying to keep up.
Final trail day: Behind the Rocks
So the last day was Behind the Rocks and I was somewhat anxious for this trial because I knew there was some doozies on it. We met in the usual parking lot and saw some new faces and some "old" faces that I had been wheeling with all week. Some of the new ones were Christian Hazel in the UACJ6D and Verne Simons in the Derange Rover. Both were very nice guys and had no problem talking with a couple of wannabes from ND.
This is probably as good a time as any to speak to the truly fantastic personalities and upbeat natures of those that I was joining on the FSI runs. I didn't meet/talk to a single person all week that rubbed me the wrong way or was unwilling to answer my question or spot me through a tough spot. This trip really showed me the 4wd community is truly awesome and I must say I am hooked!
Back to BTR... So they told us not to air down as we would have plenty of time to do that at the trail head when we waited for everybody to scale the gatekeeper. At this point a few people had voiced to me that the gatekeeper was the deciding factor of whether or not you should really be on this trail or not... No pressure...
Well I patiently waited my turn with my dad in the passenger seat kinda shaking his head at the site of the gatekeeper. Which to those that don't know is kind of a steep, rocky, climb that requires a lot less crawling and more so balls/skinny pedal. I did not see a single person that didn't at least have to give her a little bit to make it up at least the first undercut ledge. Which of course got worse as 40+ rigs ascended it.
When it got to my turn I approached as I had every other obstacle except now I told my dad to video tape this because I knew he didn't wanna be in the car for this one. Stephen Watson naturally was the trail leader for this obstacle and right away when I tried to crawl it he came to the window. He said your gunna have to give it a little on this one, its a lot less about crawling. So I moved over on my line a little bit and got a couple of feet run up and gave it a bump. Well my rear tires would just hit that first undercut ledge and the usual hopping incident we always see on the youtube videos ensued. My father says there was daylight under both my front tires at several points.
After 3 valiant attempts and the tree like patience of Stephen helping me anyway that I could. I bowed my head in shame and backed out of the way so others could climb and provide me with a winch anchor. I have to admit that I was pretty bummed that I got denied and seriously was wondering how the rest of this trail was going to go if this is how it was starting out...
Anyways the Squarebody/dually/12valve/no doors/big balls rig was up next and he made it up with relative ease compared to me so dad pulled my winch cable to him. He sat at the top as I pulled my rear tires over that first ledge and you know what happened after that?! I could do whatever I wanted for the rest of the obstacle and actually had to slow down because I was going to run over my own winch cable. I was VERY annoyed.
I just tried to make the best of it and parked my junk behind the other successful wheelers and sat at the top to watch. Several people came up to me and said the usual "you almost had it" which was somewhat nice to hear but somewhat not cuz its not what I was hoping to hear on this trip at all.
The rest of the trail went smoothly for the most part but I decided to bypass White knuckle(?) and High dive as I was afraid of tipping with my short wheelbase/small tire. Or maybe it was that I was a little afraid in general... Take your pick.
I did enjoy getting to watch everybody else come down High dive and chatting with everybody watching. After High Dive we made the quick jaunt out to the lunch spot underneath the rock overhang that provided some shade and a nice area to lounge around.
The only thing left was to head out to the dunes and watch those with much better suspensions than me fool around for a bit. People like Stephen, Offgridoffroad, and James Merrick from Merricks garage.
Unfortunately we had not been there for more than 10 minutes when I was watching James come around for another jump when he cut too early to make a turn in the bowl on flat ground and his blazer rolled right on its side. Obviously, everybody rushes to help and we were glad to see both he and his younger son in the passenger seat were OK. Except the vehicle was dumping fuel/ATF/brake fluid everywhere and we needed to get it right side up.
Before we did so my dad suggested we get his son out, so we lifted him out through Merricks window which by this time Johnny Wood had hooked his winch to the vehicle to pull it back on all four. Its the worst thing any fourwheeler wants to watch or have happen to but the good thing is that both James and his son were unharmed. As for his Blazer we all know it will live to drive again.
This happening obviously killed the mood very effectively and we all just said some goodbyes and headed out. Overall a very eventful day of wheeling and an interesting last hurrah for the boys from ND. Unfortunately more rambling and not as many pictures(I will get better) but I will add some that I took of the M715 concept they displayed in town for those that maybe are interested.
![20190417_111632[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284001-44a2b374a3bd23e3abf69c33b89688a0.jpg "20190417_111632[1].jpg")
![20190417_154924[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284002-3a53616098355f248bd046efcc4c78cb.jpg "20190417_154924[1].jpg")
![20190417_155139[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284003-d662dab0e3b8b88c69650baacb4a19e9.jpg "20190417_155139[1].jpg")
![20190416_164516[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284004-8b52e54915516f8248f9aaeec802738e.jpg "20190416_164516[1].jpg")
![20190416_164525[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284005-919c45b4b61683efac93f46dd9fb039f.jpg "20190416_164525[1].jpg")
![20190416_164531[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284006-0123bd24ed4e6f27bba147976d07d1c5.jpg "20190416_164531[1].jpg")
So the last day was Behind the Rocks and I was somewhat anxious for this trial because I knew there was some doozies on it. We met in the usual parking lot and saw some new faces and some "old" faces that I had been wheeling with all week. Some of the new ones were Christian Hazel in the UACJ6D and Verne Simons in the Derange Rover. Both were very nice guys and had no problem talking with a couple of wannabes from ND.
This is probably as good a time as any to speak to the truly fantastic personalities and upbeat natures of those that I was joining on the FSI runs. I didn't meet/talk to a single person all week that rubbed me the wrong way or was unwilling to answer my question or spot me through a tough spot. This trip really showed me the 4wd community is truly awesome and I must say I am hooked!
Back to BTR... So they told us not to air down as we would have plenty of time to do that at the trail head when we waited for everybody to scale the gatekeeper. At this point a few people had voiced to me that the gatekeeper was the deciding factor of whether or not you should really be on this trail or not... No pressure...
Well I patiently waited my turn with my dad in the passenger seat kinda shaking his head at the site of the gatekeeper. Which to those that don't know is kind of a steep, rocky, climb that requires a lot less crawling and more so balls/skinny pedal. I did not see a single person that didn't at least have to give her a little bit to make it up at least the first undercut ledge. Which of course got worse as 40+ rigs ascended it.
When it got to my turn I approached as I had every other obstacle except now I told my dad to video tape this because I knew he didn't wanna be in the car for this one. Stephen Watson naturally was the trail leader for this obstacle and right away when I tried to crawl it he came to the window. He said your gunna have to give it a little on this one, its a lot less about crawling. So I moved over on my line a little bit and got a couple of feet run up and gave it a bump. Well my rear tires would just hit that first undercut ledge and the usual hopping incident we always see on the youtube videos ensued. My father says there was daylight under both my front tires at several points.
After 3 valiant attempts and the tree like patience of Stephen helping me anyway that I could. I bowed my head in shame and backed out of the way so others could climb and provide me with a winch anchor. I have to admit that I was pretty bummed that I got denied and seriously was wondering how the rest of this trail was going to go if this is how it was starting out...
Anyways the Squarebody/dually/12valve/no doors/big balls rig was up next and he made it up with relative ease compared to me so dad pulled my winch cable to him. He sat at the top as I pulled my rear tires over that first ledge and you know what happened after that?! I could do whatever I wanted for the rest of the obstacle and actually had to slow down because I was going to run over my own winch cable. I was VERY annoyed.
I just tried to make the best of it and parked my junk behind the other successful wheelers and sat at the top to watch. Several people came up to me and said the usual "you almost had it" which was somewhat nice to hear but somewhat not cuz its not what I was hoping to hear on this trip at all.
The rest of the trail went smoothly for the most part but I decided to bypass White knuckle(?) and High dive as I was afraid of tipping with my short wheelbase/small tire. Or maybe it was that I was a little afraid in general... Take your pick.
I did enjoy getting to watch everybody else come down High dive and chatting with everybody watching. After High Dive we made the quick jaunt out to the lunch spot underneath the rock overhang that provided some shade and a nice area to lounge around.
The only thing left was to head out to the dunes and watch those with much better suspensions than me fool around for a bit. People like Stephen, Offgridoffroad, and James Merrick from Merricks garage.
Unfortunately we had not been there for more than 10 minutes when I was watching James come around for another jump when he cut too early to make a turn in the bowl on flat ground and his blazer rolled right on its side. Obviously, everybody rushes to help and we were glad to see both he and his younger son in the passenger seat were OK. Except the vehicle was dumping fuel/ATF/brake fluid everywhere and we needed to get it right side up.
Before we did so my dad suggested we get his son out, so we lifted him out through Merricks window which by this time Johnny Wood had hooked his winch to the vehicle to pull it back on all four. Its the worst thing any fourwheeler wants to watch or have happen to but the good thing is that both James and his son were unharmed. As for his Blazer we all know it will live to drive again.
This happening obviously killed the mood very effectively and we all just said some goodbyes and headed out. Overall a very eventful day of wheeling and an interesting last hurrah for the boys from ND. Unfortunately more rambling and not as many pictures(I will get better) but I will add some that I took of the M715 concept they displayed in town for those that maybe are interested.
Drive home and after:
Well after a fun filled week of wheeling I unfortunately had to head out Thursday so we went to the expo for a few hours and ran into a ton of guys we were with all week. We obviously stopped at the ORD booth as well to drool at the Magnum doubler and Killer K30 a bit more before we left.
The last thing we did was attend the FSI raffle party they had Thursday night for everybody. It was cool to spend the night just bench racing with avid fourwheelers and meeting some new people as well. One of which is Joey Marzo(Plan B K5 blazer) who also encouraged my upcoming trip to Blazer Bash as well as starting this thread so shout out to him for that.
The trip home went relatively well considering we didn't break, didn't get stuck in the snow, and had perfect weather the whole way. The only thing that was somewhat wrong was I had knocked the turn down off my tail pipe on Moab Rim and like an idiot I told my dad we didn't need to fix it after he suggested it. Well you would not believe how having the exhaust pointed directly at my bumper instead of turned down just a tad would make the drive home so much worse inside the cab. To top this off I was definitely developing a vibration that was not present before(more on that later).
FSI 2019 damage report:
- Bent rear bumper badly(couldn't open the tailgate)
- Bashed the tailpipe turn down off
- Sheared skid plate bolts
- Snapped T-case brace rod bolt
- Pinstriping (who cares)
- A lot of rock rash (Not on anything that it wasn't meant to)
Found out later:
- Trashed motor mounts
- Water in rear U-joint, burned grease also
- T case brace rod too short
When we got home we instantly fixed the bent bumper, sheared bumper bolt, tailpipe, and rock rash(painted the sliders where powdercoat scraped off). Then over the next several weeks I found the broken brace rod bolt which I found to be the rod was too short so I die grindered out the holes 1/8" and done. Then I pulled the rear driveshaft because the vibration was getting worse and I couldn't find it. Found the rear pinion U joint had water in one part of the cross and burned grease on the other side. It hadn't wrecked anything yet so I reinstalled it and then pumped it full of grease until I saw nothing but clean grease coming out.
Then one Sunday morning I was pondering my vibration problem when I remembered that the ORD crossmember is very tight to my oil pan and I am running cheap $6 mounts. I had heard of them sagging before but could that be my problem? Well I made the 30 second walk outside to look and sure enough... My oil pan was resting completely on the ORD crossmember and clearly had been for a while. So I promptly placed an order with Summit for Energy Suspension inserts and Tranny mount as well because I know you have to do all if you go urethane.
Apparently Moab just finished them off because they were falling apart as I was pulling them out. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking as to how bad they were...
![20190531_192220[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284012-0644c97946b6437b31c6cd455941c196.jpg "20190531_192220[1].jpg")
![20190531_192334[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284013-cad3db9570231b02b862f24a13efe11b.jpg "20190531_192334[1].jpg")
![20190601_074650[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284014-a514270c98948a5d6eb82c62c846a45c.jpg "20190601_074650[1].jpg")
![20190602_092141[1].jpg](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/284/284015-bfbfb4443c1774b233a444d03b0cf89d.jpg "20190602_092141[1].jpg")
Well after a fun filled week of wheeling I unfortunately had to head out Thursday so we went to the expo for a few hours and ran into a ton of guys we were with all week. We obviously stopped at the ORD booth as well to drool at the Magnum doubler and Killer K30 a bit more before we left.
The last thing we did was attend the FSI raffle party they had Thursday night for everybody. It was cool to spend the night just bench racing with avid fourwheelers and meeting some new people as well. One of which is Joey Marzo(Plan B K5 blazer) who also encouraged my upcoming trip to Blazer Bash as well as starting this thread so shout out to him for that.
The trip home went relatively well considering we didn't break, didn't get stuck in the snow, and had perfect weather the whole way. The only thing that was somewhat wrong was I had knocked the turn down off my tail pipe on Moab Rim and like an idiot I told my dad we didn't need to fix it after he suggested it. Well you would not believe how having the exhaust pointed directly at my bumper instead of turned down just a tad would make the drive home so much worse inside the cab. To top this off I was definitely developing a vibration that was not present before(more on that later).
FSI 2019 damage report:
- Bent rear bumper badly(couldn't open the tailgate)
- Bashed the tailpipe turn down off
- Sheared skid plate bolts
- Snapped T-case brace rod bolt
- Pinstriping (who cares)
- A lot of rock rash (Not on anything that it wasn't meant to)
Found out later:
- Trashed motor mounts
- Water in rear U-joint, burned grease also
- T case brace rod too short
When we got home we instantly fixed the bent bumper, sheared bumper bolt, tailpipe, and rock rash(painted the sliders where powdercoat scraped off). Then over the next several weeks I found the broken brace rod bolt which I found to be the rod was too short so I die grindered out the holes 1/8" and done. Then I pulled the rear driveshaft because the vibration was getting worse and I couldn't find it. Found the rear pinion U joint had water in one part of the cross and burned grease on the other side. It hadn't wrecked anything yet so I reinstalled it and then pumped it full of grease until I saw nothing but clean grease coming out.
Then one Sunday morning I was pondering my vibration problem when I remembered that the ORD crossmember is very tight to my oil pan and I am running cheap $6 mounts. I had heard of them sagging before but could that be my problem? Well I made the 30 second walk outside to look and sure enough... My oil pan was resting completely on the ORD crossmember and clearly had been for a while. So I promptly placed an order with Summit for Energy Suspension inserts and Tranny mount as well because I know you have to do all if you go urethane.
Apparently Moab just finished them off because they were falling apart as I was pulling them out. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking as to how bad they were...
Happy to provide some inspiration. It's all part of sharing here at CK5. I've pulled from the collective works of most around here too. As you've found I'm a huge fan of people driving their trucks, which makes me happy to see yours taking on the road trip, wheel Moab and back. Nothing against dedicated trail rigs that get trailered as they are amazing trucks in their own right. But there is something of a badge of honor being able to say you accomplished a trip like that without a trailer. Plus the adventure you have on the way out and back is almost as good as the wheeling is for me. I love the view of the world looking through the picture window of one of these trucks.
You most certainly jumped into the deep end for your first big wheeling trip. I dig the enthusiasm. Keep that up.
Thank you very much for the kind words. Blazer Bash is next on the list for adventures so I will have some updates coming very soon...
We should see you there then! Looking forward since I had to miss my normal desert hijinks. Now if I could just put my hands on some spare D44 front shafts just in case...
If those Energy engine mounts give you a fit later, go DIY4x or ORD mounts. They are easier to install and will last forever. I still run an AcDelco rubber trans mount with my DIY4x engine mounts. Not an issue for years. But when the time comes, I'll try the Energy mount. I just hope to not have more vibration.
Sweet, very capable all around rig ya got there!
Sweet, very capable all around rig ya got there!
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Nice rig and great read. Can’t wait to see it in person at BB.
@the_blaze check it out
@the_blaze check it out
Unfortunately all I have is 60 stuff or 10 bolts... Good luck on the search and can't wait to meet everybody in person!
I will definitely be doing them if these dont work out. The reason I didn't go with those right now was I knew that they would transmit the most vibration into the frame and subsequently the cab. These are also cheaper... But thank you very much for the kind words! Butch is a work in progress.
I would like to say that I can't wait to show it off but honestly I'm much more excited about bench racing with everybody! The trip needs to come sooner!
Just kidding... I need to do some upgrades before then. And the LS swap of my burb has to happen during this time as well... Darn projects...
Hey I'm glad you are on here with a thread and planning on BB19! This is an amazing group of guys and blazer bash is really unlike any other event i have ever gone to! Keep us posted on which trails you plan to run.
Sounds like a plan!
Just finished up my registration for BB2019! Going to be running Hells Revenge, Flat Iron Mesa, and the Sunday run of Crack n Back.
Checklist for before the trip:
- Gas tank skid plate
- Rear bumper build
- Figure out better storage solutions in the back
- Bigger radiator (Cu730 BBC replacement)
- Check AC system so we don't sweat like crazy on the way down
Checklist for before the trip:
- Gas tank skid plate
- Rear bumper build
- Figure out better storage solutions in the back
- Bigger radiator (Cu730 BBC replacement)
- Check AC system so we don't sweat like crazy on the way down
