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1989 Crew Cab Tow Rig Build

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LNielson said:
Nice documentary. Enjoyed seeing all those details.
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I tried to give a lot of details on the video to make it a worth while watch for someone wanting to do something similar. Made for a somewhat longer video, but oh well. It did take forever to upload to youtube cause it was so long, haha

Truckman4life said:
Very nice! you've built a great truck. What shifter boot are you running? I need one similar to that for my Ford.
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Thanks! That is just the stock shifter boot that came with the NV4500. So I think just a normal 96+ GM NV4500 shift boot. I still haven't completely bolted that down as I want to get some sort of "sound dampening foam" or something to put under that boot to quite the inside the cab down even more. Haven't looked into it yet as I've been doing other things on the truck, but we will see what I can find
 
Thanks for making the video. I enjoyed watching that and dreaming of an 8.1 lol
 
obijuank5 said:
Thanks for making the video. I enjoyed watching that and dreaming of an 8.1 lol
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Haha...says the guy about to do a Cummins swap :waytogo:

It is kinda interesting having a Cummins Truck and an 8.1 truck to compare the two. I can't wait to get some time on this 8.1 towing and see how they really compare. As far as initial off the line power feels on both (empty) they feel very comparable with the edge going to the 8.1 since it doesn't have the turbo lag. But I know with more weight I put on the back of each truck going up a grade, the 24v would probably start to out shine it. Plus and minus to both I guess.
 
obijuank5 said:
What's the deal with the nfab mounts?
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The only way they mount is you drill holes in the lower lip of the rocker. In the pic below, you can kinda see the 6 shinny bolts just above the step. As you can imagine, that little lip is not a lot of real estate to drill holes into, nor is it very thick metal there. They do have little "extenders" that extend up directly above the mounting bolts underneath and hug/rest on the body to act as a little bit of support so when you step on them, they don't bend down, but they still flex quite a bit, and I'm not a very big dude. Lets just say for how expensive they are, I was expecting much more out of the mounting side of things. Like I said on the video, they are functional at least, and I really do love the way they look, but I'm not of fan of the mounting at all.

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The truck looks great, and the engine sounds awesome! Congrats! It's been a long time coming since that baby left my driveway. Picked up another one (1989) full load big block truck with 83k original, but I think I'm keeping it! As soon as my "Willard" semi-clone is done I think I will start on it!

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MAXMAN said:
The truck looks great, and the engine sounds awesome! Congrats! It's been a long time coming since that baby left my driveway. Picked up another one (1989) full load big block truck with 83k original, but I think I'm keeping it! As soon as my "Willard" semi-clone is done I think I will start on it!

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I was actually going to text you the other day with some pics and stuff, but figured you would see the thread updates eventually.

Yeah, it took longer than I wanted, but it's all worked out in the end (and moving my family from CO to ID in the middle of the build slowed it down too). Thanks again for the chance to purchase this truck! My dream truck has become a reality with this one for sure!! And yeah, if I were you, I would keep that one :waytogo:!! If this truck had been an original BBC like that one, I probably would have just rebuilt the motor with a bunch of goodies and done the NV4500 swap and called it good. But in the end the 8.1 is a cool swap, so I'm glad I've done it. What will be your plan with that truck for a "build"?
 
Mounted my ECM, stand alone fuse box, and DBW modual to the driver side wheel well, and started cleaning up some of the wiring. I also got my Volt, Temp, and Oil Pressure gauges working. These are the stock square body gauges working on the 8.1 (and I was able to change out the oil pressure sending unit on the back of the motor to one that would work with my gauge while the motor was in the truck...was kinda annoying to get done, but not horrible).

Also got my main cluster gas gauge working again (this one is just hooked up to the driver tank that is running the motor, I have a seperate small aftermarket gas gauge and toggle switch that are hooked up to the passenger tank to keep track of levels in that tank and run the transfer pump).

As far as gauges go, I just need to get a tach in this thing that actually works and we are good to go! (I confirmed on my little OBD2 reader that I have tach signal, and the wire to hook up he tach has signal coming out of it too so...I think my cheap crappy tach is just done for, so will pick a new one up).

Oh, and as of yeaterday, its officially insured, tagged, and legal to drive on the road :pimp:. So will start driving it some to see what other bugs I need to work out. The last real thing I need to get to start doing truck things is a full trailer wiring setup for lights and trailer brakes. If anyone has any recommendations for a good setup to purchase when starting with no trailer light/brake setup at all...I’m all ears :waytogo:

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I like to use these 7 way rv trailer sockets that also have a 4 flat but I really rarely use the 4 flat. I do have a collection of adapters from 7 way rv to anything else. I also run 7 way wire that they use for semis. Make sure you get the kind that has 6-14 gauge wires and 1-12 gauge wire though. My current square body crew cab I just spliced into the factory tail light wiring and ran it to a junction box and then out to my plug. You can also run another set up to the bed for a 5th wheel plug. I also ran a separate brake controller wire and ignition power wire down the frame. Of course make it all pretty and only use heat shrink style butts and eyelets on everything.
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Truckman4life said:
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I like to use these 7 way rv trailer sockets that also have a 4 flat but I really rarely use the 4 flat. I do have a collection of adapters from 7 way rv to anything else. I also run 7 way wire that they use for semis. Make sure you get the kind that has 6-14 gauge wires and 1-12 gauge wire though. My current square body crew cab I just spliced into the factory tail light wiring and ran it to a junction box and then out to my plug. You can also run another set up to the bed for a 5th wheel plug. I also ran a separate brake controller wire and ignition power wire down the frame. Of course make it all pretty and only use heat shrink style butts and eyelets on everything.
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Yeah, I already have an adapter that goes from 7 pin rv to 4 pin, so I think just getting the normal 7 pin will work just fine for mine. And yes, I want to have a connector mounted inside the bed too as I plan to install a gooseneck ball. Plus, my slide in camper has a plug that if I can plug it to a connector in the bed, while driving it will charge the battery too (plus make my running lights work on the camper while driving at night), so I for sure want a plug on the bumper plus the bed. I'll look into all that, thanks!
 
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No problem, I love doing wiring but my at home projects usually suffer due to funds and time availability compared to the stuff I get to do on the clock at work.
 
I asked this question on etrailer. Here's the response: https://www.etrailer.com/question-214476.html?fb=yes

I wanted the Prodigy P3, so that's why it was in the answer, but I'm sure there are less expensive options. I like the interface with the LCD readout. Also it's transferable so I can use it in my crew cab and company truck. (I hate the controller in my company truck.) I also wondered if the pendulum inside these controllers could get messed up from a lot of offroad use, so I thought it was a good idea to be able to remove it easily.

I also like the terminal block @Truckman4life showed. That would be useful for me because I have the trailer harness plus the extra set of LED lights in the bumper.
 
Oh and I also have the type with both the 7-pin round and 4-flat plugs.
 
On Saturday, I officially drove the truck farther than just up and down the road to see how things were working. I took my boys and drove it from my house in Emmett, down into Meridian to the Sportsman's Warehouse and back (probably 40ish mile round trip) and she ran like a freaking top!! It's actually surprising how well this truck runs straight and smooth down the road. I probably should get an alignment job done on it soon before putting too many more miles on it, but man does it ride good! Overall....this truck is a freaking blast to drive on the road. I don't think the smile left my face, even after I got home. Even my youngest boy (2, almost 3 years old) said, "Daddy...this crew cab is awesome!" Haha

Even with a completely stock tune that's on this motor right now (and keep in mind it's in a truck that is probably every bit of 7k lbs empty), the power feels very good. 2nd and 3rd pull pretty hard...and I love how even if I'm lugging around at low rpm's in 4th, the motor has enough low end that I can hit on it and it'll still accelerate pretty impressively. The main highway to my town you can get up to 70 mph...and in 5th...it cruises nice down the road!

Still tracking down a few small things here and there such as a tick noise that is either the throw-out/release bearing rubbing a little bit on the clutch pack/fingers (I've adjusted the fork a bit to no reduction in the tick noise) or it could be a lifter tick. So trying to figure that out. I think I'll put some nice synthetic oil in this thing next (just did normal crap for getting it started and running) and probably replace the plugs as those were not changed from Tilden, along with some more adjustments on the clutch...and see if I can get the tick noise to go away. But all in all, things are going pretty good with this thing :pimp::pimp:
 
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