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1989 Crew Cab Tow Rig Build

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scotto0609 said:
Yea dont do what i did and spring the truck to carry the camper weight. The camper is gone and my kidneys are screaming every time I drive it! If I redo it I will be going flip.
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This is what I was thinking too. Since this truck will get driven without towing sometimes, it would be nice to have a pretty comfortable ride unloaded. Then when loaded have the bags take care of leveling and sway as gweakland said.

I would rather do a shackle flip in the end, just want to make sure it won't hinder me towing heavy
 
Started gathering some parts. First off, for Christmas my wife got me some nicer Cabelas bench seat covers. Two of them for the front and rear seats. I also picked up this: http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cc/full.aspx?Page=81 (at the bottom of the page, the molded plastic dash covers). I have never been a fan of the carpet mat dash covers and I didn't want to spend the money on a whole new dash, so when I saw this thought I would give it a try. It seems to be pretty awesome and comes with adhesive to fit right over the existing dash. I think it will look pretty good once its installed.

I also picked up this:



Pedal assembly for a hydro 85-87 pickup. They are for a vacuum brake setup and I have hydroboost, but I have read a couple threads where you can make these work pretty easy.

Also got this:



Master and slave cylinder for hydro clutch setup. I will probably just use these to get everything mocked up and once its rocking install a new setup. I plan to do all new clutch parts (except the pedal assembly obviously) that way I won't have to dick with it (hopefully) anytime soon after its done. I think its worth it.

And then I picked up this:







its a 1997 NV4500 4x4 that came out of a K3500 with a 6.5 in front of it. The bell is cracked but I really don't care about that because I am planning on running the Advanced Adapters bell kit to replace it and use those factory hydro clutch parts listed above. I purchased this off of PoorboyK5 down in Colorado Springs and he knew I was going to use the AA bell so I think he just put a random cracked bell on the front of it for me to make it easier to move around. Popped the top and everything seemed in good shape. Syncro's seemed a little on the low side but I am just going to clean this thing up and throw it in when I do the 8.1 swap too and if I need to pull it and rebuild it later I will do that.

Now time to find the 8.1 and keep gathering all the misc parts for the entire swap.....
 
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The 8.1L is a hidden gem. Our 04 Suburban has one with the 4L85E, 4.10 gears, and 33.5" tires (255/85R16) and that combo is just about perfect. It gets used to tow the rock crawler and does an excellent job in the mountains. Only time it comes out of OD is for really steep grades. The 8.1L is an ideal, high powered, straight bolt in option. Especially when gas is less than $2/gallon. Looking forward to your build :thumb:.
 
CUCV2 said:
The 8.1L is a hidden gem. Our 04 Suburban has one with the 4L85E, 4.10 gears, and 33.5" tires (255/85R16) and that combo is just about perfect. It gets used to tow the rock crawler and does an excellent job in the mountains. Only time it comes out of OD is for really steep grades. The 8.1L is an ideal, high powered, straight bolt in option. Especially when gas is less than $2/gallon. Looking forward to your build :thumb:.
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Amen to that! I have come across so many people (aka, pirate4x4) who have told me I'm stupid for going a gas motor and I shouldn't settle for anything other than a cummins. To me, the 8.1 is a perfect fit for these old square bodies for towing. Is a cummins a great motor? Absolutely, but is a lot more effort to get them fitted in these trucks. And with gas prices (usually) lower than diesel prices, to me it's a no brainer to go with the 8.1. Plus, with the nv4500 I should be able to get good power to the ground with having overdrive for highway speeds. This thing should be a blast to drive empty or towing when its done.

Now I just have to find the 8.1, haha
 
Kay86K5 said:
Now I just have to find the 8.1, haha
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Check car-part.com . They seem to have plenty around here. Personally, I would shoot for an 04 or newer.

As for a Cummins, they are a good candidate as well. My favorite is the p pumped 12 valve with an NV4500. The reality is that these are getting scarce and any low mile swap candidates are rare/expensive. I have a 24 valve Cummins truck with an NV4500 and it pulls great. Even with 241K. But I just replaced the ECM to the tune of about $1K and it seems any time it needs work, it is always a $1K minimum. The 8.1L has cost less to own and I have had it longer. It is comparable in the towing dept. and sounds better with the windows open. It's all personal preference really but after 5 years with the 8.1L and it being rock solid, I'm a believer.
 
CUCV2 said:
Check car-part.com . They seem to have plenty around here. Personally, I would shoot for an 04 or newer.

As for a Cummins, they are a good candidate as well. My favorite is the p pumped 12 valve with an NV4500. The reality is that these are getting scarce and any low mile swap candidates are rare/expensive. I have a 24 valve Cummins truck with an NV4500 and it pulls great. Even with 241K. But I just replaced the ECM to the tune of about $1K and it seems any time it needs work, it is always a $1K minimum. The 8.1L has cost less to own and I have had it longer. It is comparable in the towing dept. and sounds better with the windows open. It's all personal preference really but after 5 years with the 8.1L and it being rock solid, I'm a believer.
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This statement sums it all up for me and exactly what I have been thinking when determining what motor I wanted for this build. the 12v's are awesome, they pull great and are simple to work on, but very expensive like all diesels, plus fuel costs (even if they get better mileage than the 8.1). Most guys are claiming with a simple tune to the computer to remove stuff like torque management, EGR, etc....that they are getting +/- 400hp and 500ft lbs. out of a completely stock 8.1! For what my truck is going to do, that is plenty. Should be a blast to drive empty, and should tow up these steep hills in CO we have way better than my current de-tuned Vortec 7.4 with 184k miles on it. Plus its simple. Just a no brainer to me.

I will check out those car-part.com guys. I was going back and forth on what year to get for a motor. I know in 04 Chevy got rid of EGR on these things which would be nice cause I would want to get rid of it anyways if I got an 01-03 motor but I live in a place that needs emissions and I'm not sure if that is something they are going to check for if I have an 01-03 motor. If I did remove it I wonder if they would not pass me on inspection for emissions because it was gone. Gonna have to check that. Also I heard they have a different "non-return" fuel line on them from 04 and up. I was hoping to do like Larry did on his K10 and Polar Bear burban where I just put a Vortec fuel pump in my current TBI tank but I am not sure if that works the same with the returnless fuel system or if you have to have a return line to run it like that. Anybody have an idea?
 
Again, if you see anything on car-part.com with LKQ's name on it holler at me. I can get a little bit better price on that stuff.
 
GWeakland620 said:
That for motor and trans?!

If so, that is a crazy good deal.
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yeah it is, I'm pretty sure it was $4K last time I saw it on CL.

If he wants it, I can go get it for him and store it at my place. It's about hour from me....
 
GWeakland620 said:
Again, if you see anything on car-part.com with LKQ's name on it holler at me. I can get a little bit better price on that stuff.
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I will keep that in mind while I am looking there for sure. Thanks!

skunked said:
What are the Allison transmissions worth?

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/pts/5353220776.html
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Holy crap! I would think an Allison is worth at least $1500 with that low of miles. That is even the correct bracket assembly on the front of the motor to keep the AC unit (you can notice the AC compressor is high on the driver side....that is only in the G-Van's, TopKick's, and Medium duty trucks that had the 8.1's, the consumer 8.1 trucks had a different setup to where you can't use the AC in these older trucks). And that is low miles. Let me sit on this one cause my dad found a wrecked 2002 8.1 truck at a wrecked car auction he is apart of and it goes on the auction block on Monday. If I could buy that thing for ~$2000 then I could sell everything off of it and make it worth it....plus that one is here in CO and I don't have to worry about transport back which is the problem I'm having with the actual truck right now, haha. Thanks for posting this up!!
 
Haha, that's a good feeling! I know my wife is getting so sick of hearing about all this. I have displacement on the brain :burnout:flagwaver:crewcab:
 
been a creeper here for a few weeks now, interesting build going on. I decided on the 12V Cummins, as when I pulled the trigger, gas was about 3.50/gal and diesel about 4.00, so it made sense at that time to go diesel, plus I like the simplicity of the engine.
I really like the 8.1/Allison as well, towed about 7500lbs with that combo in an Avalanche...it sucked balls, very swervy, didn't have the problem with a fullsize truck so I believe it was the tow vehicle.
anyhow, good luck and I'll be watching.
 
76zimmer said:
been a creeper here for a few weeks now, interesting build going on. I decided on the 12V Cummins, as when I pulled the trigger, gas was about 3.50/gal and diesel about 4.00, so it made sense at that time to go diesel, plus I like the simplicity of the engine.
I really like the 8.1/Allison as well, towed about 7500lbs with that combo in an Avalanche...it sucked balls, very swervy, didn't have the problem with a fullsize truck so I believe it was the tow vehicle.
anyhow, good luck and I'll be watching.
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I have been a creeper on your build too. Yours is clean and will be awesome with a cummins in it. I know the gas prices seem to keep going up and down (over the last 10 years) but for my case it isn't that much of a deal breaker since this truck will not be a DD and just a tow/fun rig. So I am looking for simplicity of the swap + costs. Right now these 12v's are going for a lot of money that have a lot of miles on them and it takes a lot more fab work to get them in these trucks. They are really simple to get running (1 wire hookup) but nowadays with these LS swaps being the craze, there are a lot of guys who will rework a harness and tune the rig for you for not that much money (respectively). Plus, I'm looking at long term maint. costs too being usually these gas motors have less long term maint. costs then diesels. Either the 12v or 8.1 I think both I would be happy with, just weighed the options listed above and came to my conclusion.
I will be watching yours too!
 
I know my 99 6.0 had a real hard time coming up out of Rifle and also on I-80 out of Cheyenne? two long climbs that we were basically never able to get out of 2nd gear. I would like to be able to climb those without issue, that will be my "test" for the new setup.
 
76zimmer said:
I know my 99 6.0 had a real hard time coming up out of Rifle and also on I-80 out of Cheyenne? two long climbs that we were basically never able to get out of 2nd gear. I would like to be able to climb those without issue, that will be my "test" for the new setup.
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Yeah, those two climbs are pretty good ones. Coming back from Blazer Bash this year going over Vail and Loveland pass was the same for me in my 96 K2500 with 7.4/4l80e combo. At the top of each pass I was in 1st just trying to keep up with the loaded semi's :crazy: :angry1: :haha:

So any setup I do on this truck has got to be better than that. Considering that 7.4 is only rated at ~290hp from the factory (detuned like crazy) and mine has 183k on the clock, a tuned 8.1 putting close to 400hp and 500 ft lbs is going to make a world of difference
 
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