1990 K5 - The Dent Side K5

[Gibby56]

Dang, I could swear it sat higher when it was freshly linked. Good to know about coils!

Yes, that rear shackle hanger is pretty well integrated at this point.... If its getting cut off its to put your rear 4-link setup on the rig.

rear has about 6" of up travel to full bump and the front is at 6.25" to full bump. So not a lot of wiggle room in the front, but some. I am running 4" bumps front and rear. I'll adjust it and see what happens after Jeepers Jamboree.

I say do it @Stephen! Would be sweet to see something with trailing arms on the rear. That could be new and exciting... just saying.

 

[Babaganoosh]

In general, coils don't settle, the only changes you will see are in reaction to weight changes. If you can't dial the height down without the spring pack coming loose at full droop, you need a softer spring in the pack. A tender coil can solve the problem if you're close and running low in your shock travel but it's not ideal.

With the shackle hanger welded very firmly to the frame you're kind of stuck with the shackle angle you have but if that mount point was to come forward and inch or two it would stand the shackle up, give you a little ride height and probably add some compression travel to the system too. It looks like everything is set up pretty tight to what you have so it's probably not worth it. As long as you can keep 5-ish" of bump travel in the front, lowering it a little more won't hurt. This thing makes me want to do a more extreme build on another K5 but not go as far as my "Wally" K5 which really makes me think I should spend that money on professional mental help.

We can help you with that… UA 2027 wally comes back

 

[Gibby56]

A little late to post but the Rubicon was a great time.

 

[Gibby56]

 

[obijuank5]

A little late to post but the Rubicon was a great time.

View attachment 511154View attachment 511155

This looks so good

 

[Greg72]

A destroyed 3rd member sitting on the side of highway doesn't look like a "good time" to me, but what do I know?

 

[imiceman44]

A destroyed 3rd member sitting on the side of highway doesn't look like a "good time" to me, but what do I know?

Well assuming it wasn't him, it wasn't a bad time

 

[Gibby56]

Wasn’t me but was one of my buddies in our group.

We all towed the rigs up to South Lake Tahoe and drove them down Hwy 50 to Georgetown. The Toyota started making funny sounds on deceleration/coasting as we were coming up the grade just before Georgetown.

We checked in and the Jeepers Jamboree office and headed to loon lake via Wentworth Springs Rd and the rear end of the Toyota absolutely exploded a couple miles from the trail head.

Luckily we had service so we started calling every local shop and junk yard we could trying to find parts. That wasn’t going well so I went onto FB Marketplace.

Marketplace wasn’t looking promising for Toyota 3rd’s. I found a guy selling some crawler related parts and took a shot in the dark if he had an extra 3rd laying around. The guy had his trail spare that wasn’t listed and we made a deal that was fair for both of us. Turns out the guy lived in Reno and drove like 2 hours to deliver it to us on Hwy 50. A real hero.

We had one guy drive down to meet him and we limped the Toyota to the trail head head in front wheel drive and got just before gate keeper where we set up camp.

Rebuilt the entire rear end with the new 3rd in the dirt that night and packed up camp at 6am the next morning. Ran the entire trail to the springs without any other issues. It even made the trip from Tahoma to South Lake without missing a beat.

We did have a jeepster commando in our group crack his frame. He didn’t find that out until he got home though. He has a new frame is on order from CNA.

 

[imiceman44]

Wasn’t me but was one of my buddies in our group.

We all towed the rigs up to South Lake Tahoe and drove them down Hwy 50 to Georgetown. The Toyota started making funny sounds on deceleration/coasting as we were coming up the grade just before Georgetown.

We checked in and the Jeepers Jamboree office and headed to loon lake via Wentworth Springs Rd and the rear end of the Toyota absolutely exploded a couple miles from the trail head.

Luckily we had service so we started calling every local shop and junk yard we could trying to find parts. That wasn’t going well so I went onto FB Marketplace.

Marketplace wasn’t looking promising for Toyota 3rd’s. I found a guy selling some crawler related parts and took a shot in the dark if he had an extra 3rd laying around. The guy had his trail spare that wasn’t listed and we made a deal that was fair for both of us. Turns out the guy lived in Reno and drove like 2 hours to deliver it to us on Hwy 50. A real hero.

We had one guy drive down to meet him and we limped the Toyota to the trail head head in front wheel drive and got just before gate keeper where we set up camp.

Rebuilt the entire rear end with the new 3rd in the dirt that night and packed up camp at 6am the next morning. Ran the entire trail to the springs without any other issues. It even made the trip from Tahoma to South Lake without missing a beat.

We did have a jeepster commando in our group crack his frame. He didn’t find that out until he got home though. He has a new frame is on order from CNA. View attachment 511186View attachment 511187

This looks like it was cut with a plasma

 

[Gibby56]

Maybe just the angle of that last one. Just happy it wasn’t my rig dealing with frame cracks for once

 

[Gibby56]

I took the “dent side” K5 to a car show. Met a lot of cool people that came up to look at it and asked questions since they are building some variation of the platform.

Also, ordered a grey soft top! Excited for that to show up.

 

[Gibby56]

Soft top is on.

I ordered clear windows but they definitely have a light tint to them.

 

[folkenheath]

You happy with that soft top? Thinking of ordering the exact same thing...

 

[83ChevyK5Blazer]

I loved my softtop, best thing I did to the truck. Roll the sides up and the kids have shade but the open feeling, or drop it and not have to worry so much if it rains, cause it only takes a minute to put back up. Plus side, it kept the truck drier than that hard top that always had a leak.

 

[Gibby56]

You happy with that soft top? Thinking of ordering the exact same thing...

I don’t have a lot of miles on it yet but I’m super happy with it. Seems like it was made with good materials and has some thickness to it.

The only thing that was irritating was the hardware they shipped with it to go in the factory top holes wasn’t the right thread pitch. So plan on reusing your existing stuff or get those before you do the install.

Install was straight forward. No permanent modification to the cab which is sweet for the guys who have nice paint on a restoration. My only tip is to clip the snaps all together before you drill the hole for the last screws for the band that mounts on the cab.

 

[folkenheath]

Thanks for the heads up. I will get one, but at this point it's nearly time to store it for the winter, so I will see if I can catch a sale in a month or so.

 

[Tnsejed]

Thanks for the heads up. I will get one, but at this point it's nearly time to store it for the winter, so I will see if I can catch a sale in a month or so.

My soft top lasted 6 years and I sold it when I backhalfed my truck. Those soft tops are legit and work very well. The dark tint is pretty dark fwiw.

 

[Gibby56]

Question for those who are linked in the rear. What spring rates are you running? Are you happy with them?

Im going to KOH this year and I know im going to get pissed that the rear isn’t linked (and i don’t have a LS).

The urge to link the rear and LSA swap this thing is strong…

 

[rderosier]

200 over 250, I have no complaints, love the way the ass settles coming off big drops. It's what ORD sent me

 

[Fastereddie]

Mine are 300 over 400, but they are at a compound angle, not verticle.