Very cool man! Great idea and nicely executed!!!
CK5
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1987 K5 Rebuild- narrow and dovetail the body-Painted
- Thread starter stockk5
- Start date
Today was not very exciting, lots of painting.. painting, painting.. but hey that means im done welding and grinding for now!! Then i cut the front of the fenders off, put the front driveshaft in and climbed our rock wall at the house. The wife was not amused to see it parked up there. I am excited, its finally moving again, but now its time to fix the 208 that wont stay in 4low, fix my 700r4 and let it go into park.. cuz it doesnt really just go into park you have to force it a few times. Then, more tube out front to make the whole front removable like the rear.
Can someone please point me in the direction of a np208 rebuild kit. This one wont stay in 4low, or 4high.. or hell anything really. I have replaced my 208 a few times over the life of the truck and I just want one that works from the start. I keep finding random kits online but not sure which one.
Have you tried adjusting the linkage? I was having the same issue, and it was my linkage that needed adjusted.
To be honest, no last time I had it working properly was when I clocked it a few years ago. I will take a look. The trans and tcase are leaking like a submarine with a screen door so I need to power wash it all and start fresh either way. Basically, i have no idea where its all coming from, because its from everywhere.
Yeah, I'd start with adjusting your linkage. That may save you a ton of hassle.
So I wanted to talk shocks, I am over the white tube specials. I know all about shocks from the mountain bike world and proper dampening etc making a large difference. My go to for this build in my head is the Fox 2.0's, I am familiar with rebuilding fox shocks on mountain bikes, you can adjust them etc. Has anyone had 2.0s with 52s all around? Are they valved ok from factory? What other options do you guys suggest? My biggest thing is having a truck that will actually stick down and not just hop and bounce on rocks. Thanks!
I currently have 52's and Fox 2.0's on the rear of my K5. I am in the process of doing a 52 swap up front and running my other 2 Fox 2.0's up front as well. I did notice a big difference when I swapped the 2.0's on after my Ranchos. I'm really anxious to see how it feels with the 2.0's on all 4 corners.
That's good news. How do you have them mounted in the rear? What travel did you get and did you get any special set up done for them when you bought them? Thanks!
They are mounted in the factory locations. Right now I have the 12" travel in the rear. And I bought mine used, so I honestly don't know much about the valving, or what they are set up for.
I'll jump in, one thing I'll recommend regarding this 2.0 thing, I'd be sure I was able to revalve and rebuild my own stuff, the older foxes with the Schrader valve you could do that with, the new versions require a special needle to charge, not a big deal if you ever have touched a ktm shock where they're bladders are the same.
Bilstein obviously has a good offering as does king.
Bilstein obviously has a good offering as does king.
I've heard the same about the Fox's. Mine are the older Schrader valve style.
So I ended up going with the Bilsteins 5125s, they were 223 bucks off amazon with some amazon discount I had. I couldnt beat the price. My question is, how do I mount them?
The rear suspension has not changed, is there any advantage of mounting them on top of the axle tube? They are 14" travel shocks. I figure I could even just mount the rear on the stock location on the axle, then maybe make upper mounts just a little higher than the stock ones?
When I flex up the front of the truck the springs flex out and go to flat with 4" left before the bump stop mount. Any tips on how to make shock hoops at the proper height?
So I need to make bump stops as well.
The rear suspension has not changed, is there any advantage of mounting them on top of the axle tube? They are 14" travel shocks. I figure I could even just mount the rear on the stock location on the axle, then maybe make upper mounts just a little higher than the stock ones?
When I flex up the front of the truck the springs flex out and go to flat with 4" left before the bump stop mount. Any tips on how to make shock hoops at the proper height?
So I need to make bump stops as well.
Take the leaf packs down to the main leaf, then set it on the bump stops if that's when they're flat or negative.. up to you.
The Bilstein website has the compressed height. Make the shock mount so that it doesn't limit droop but it also doesn't break the shock on impact.
What you can do is tape or clamp something you can write on to the frame, we use foam board, then set up the truck so you can bottom the springs vertically.
Then measure from the axle mount up to your board and mark the location of the shock. This is where your Bilstein compressed measurement is needed.
Then build your hoops accordingly.
Here's an example from my blazers rear suspension.
Yes it is a pain but your shocks, springs and steering will thank you for it and probably last longer.
The Bilstein website has the compressed height. Make the shock mount so that it doesn't limit droop but it also doesn't break the shock on impact.
What you can do is tape or clamp something you can write on to the frame, we use foam board, then set up the truck so you can bottom the springs vertically.
Then measure from the axle mount up to your board and mark the location of the shock. This is where your Bilstein compressed measurement is needed.
Then build your hoops accordingly.
Here's an example from my blazers rear suspension.
Yes it is a pain but your shocks, springs and steering will thank you for it and probably last longer.
Well I got my shocks on finally! Then broke the hard line of my brake line.... This week is the big push to get the truck done ready for a charity car show at my school I teach at!
Today I spent the day getting the rear panels in the truck, I like how they came out, and my ghetto bead roller worked on stiffening up the sheet metal.
Today I had some very thin sheet metal to go under the seat and it was way too flexy, i simply hammered on top of a large threaded rod I had and it worked like a charm. It doesn't look pretty but its under the seat, so no worries.
Got the floor and seat in.
Then I was able to get all the panels on.
Today I had some very thin sheet metal to go under the seat and it was way too flexy, i simply hammered on top of a large threaded rod I had and it worked like a charm. It doesn't look pretty but its under the seat, so no worries.
Got the floor and seat in.
Then I was able to get all the panels on.
So I am calling it done for now.... I have been doing nothing but work, come home, work on this, pass out repeat in order to get it ready for the car show that we are having at my school to support our electrathon program.
I have painted it 2x by now.. this means 2 x the fun! I tried a duplicolor metallic but it just didn't look right. I went with rustoleum safety blue. I took it for its first drive in almost 2 years. Last time it drove was to my new house, then before that was at least a year.
This was the metallic... its hard to spray on messed up sheet metal.
I have painted it 2x by now.. this means 2 x the fun! I tried a duplicolor metallic but it just didn't look right. I went with rustoleum safety blue. I took it for its first drive in almost 2 years. Last time it drove was to my new house, then before that was at least a year.
This was the metallic... its hard to spray on messed up sheet metal.
Well I finally bought a winch for it.. but then have been prepping for our newest addition, our baby boy! So not much has been done but now that he is born and we are getting into a routine I can get out and work on it. Its been working great as a log skidder dragging down trees around my property though.
Been a while since I looked in here for updates...looks sick man! Done any wheeling with it yet?
Well, my lil boy is 7 months old, so truck time is super limited. Been having a blast with my lil guy, slowly getting back into the garage when i can. I bought a set of h1 wheels, recentering them and using a fun toy at work to make some rock rings. So, no big steop but wanted to document it.
