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73 K20....crossmember time

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wetoolowdingbangow

wetoolowdingbangow

1/2 ton status
Joined
Nov 30, 2014
Posts
4,870
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Location
East Bay, Ca
wetoolowdingbangow submitted a new Build:

73 k20-topless

Hey all!

Im Eric and im new to the site, wheeling and k5's! Ive been riding dirt bikes for 17 years or so now so you could say im quite familiar with the offroad world and through my riding experiences ive caught the bug to start wheeling. After riding my dirt bike a few times over the rubicon i said to myself "why don't i have a 4x4?". Consequently i had to fix that problem!

I went around and around with different makes and models of vehicles to start this endeavor but within the last 6 months it became evident that i MUST have a k5! I scored a 1985 GMC Jimmy "Sierra Classic" :saweet:


Shes got the regular old 350 chevy, 700r4, np208 for powertrain and at the time the drivetrain consisted of dana 44 outers on a 10 bolt front with a 14 bolt semi float rear end. 4.10 gears in both, open/open. Tires are some knock off swampers that are a small metric size (31.5 inches or so)

Here's the day i got it!




I purchased the truck from a young guy who just didnt have the mechanical skills to take on such a project and i snagged it for $1000 bucks! It was in what i call california rough shape meaning it was rust free but the interior was trashed, didn't pass smog, driveline issues, electrical bugs and leaks. It sat for a few months because he didn't have the money to work on it which was the cause of most the problems. After a few months of tearing it down, cleaning it up and getting things working again, it passed smog on the second attempt! I really hope to get to know you all and better yet make some friends while having all of this fun! This build will be a steady pace but not super fast. Being that im a machinist my first thought is "why should i buy it if i can make it?" so this should be interesting and hopefully informative.

Goals:
Get this truck to be able to drive to the trail, wheel through the trial and make it home in one piece. I live in the east bay in northern California so im about 2.5 hours from the Rubicon which I have my sights set on to successfully get through a few times this year.


More pics to come! :woot:

View attachment 230303
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Read more about this build here...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Pretty :thumb:

I am the sheet metal Nazi around these parts, I will be the guy trying by all means to keep you from chopping up the sheet metal.

Carry on :D :popcorn:
 
Deuling said:
Pretty :thumb:

I am the sheet metal Nazi around these parts, I will be the guy trying by all means to keep you from chopping up the sheet metal.

Carry on :D :popcorn:
Click to expand...
Haha dont you worry dueling im a minimal trim kind of guy! If the sheet metal gets scraped off ill put it right back on! I'm a big fan keeping my k5.... a k5, but I wouldnt mind doving the front and rear at some point.
 
So after i bought the truck i towed it home, which im glad i did because the rear u joint was blown, the straps were finger tight, it didnt have seat belts and on top of that the bench seat wasnt bolted in! :doah:

Once i figured out it would fit in my garage i quickly snapped some pictures and got to work.











The inside was a mess as a 5L bottle of 10w30 exploded inside the thing so i new the carpet was toast. So the next logical thing to do was to strip it:











Thankfully I like things with a bit more edge and simplicity so i went down to Orielly's and bought a gallon of Herculiner. I definitely recommend it as it has a lot more rubber in it than other liners and it was easy to use! For future reference it takes 1 gallon and a quart to go from the pedals to the tailgate if anyone is curious.
 
Take your top off

After i got the interior stripped i decided the top needed to come off. It apparently was only off once in its time.



Damn that top was heavy for me and one other person!





Then i started to clean the inside before i started the bed liner....i hate cleaning!! :mad:



I sold the bench seat shortly after pulling it and bought two new reclining bucket racing seats from Summit so i had to do a quick test fit to make brackets!





Herculiner:







Pulled the truck out and finished off the liner...then went to move the truck in and it flamed out because i ran it out of gas. To top it off it rolled back so the filler neck lined up with the garage door trim so i couldnt get the fuel door open!! :doah: poured gas down the carb and got that fixed!

 
So i continued putting my interior back together, fixed some seals and replaced some engine parts/oil just in time for its first wheeling trip. I went with a few friends to Slick Rock which is straight up highway 4 near lake alpine. It was a great trip and the only damage done was a little scuff on the quarter panel. I was really blown away with what the truck could do and i knew that through some hard work and money it would become something way more capable. Being that i was on some small, cracked tires i took it easy and didnt air down. Slick rock is great little trail that offers a lot. Although its a small trail, it offers easier and harder lines and the stair section is really the hardest spot.

It appears that the truck had some bed linerish coating to the underside. What ever it is it makes it easy to work on being that its not all rusty!




I like to make my own stuff but for two cases of sierra nevada i found this to be a good trade:



Just an FYI but im doing a 1 ton swap including turning dually hubs to srw so im just trying to get up to speed here!
 
Slick rock trip

Naturally i forgot my camera on my first wheeling trip but at least i got some videos of this old pig moving! :doah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNQ2xClgPVQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEF4vGHcEJ0

Not the best filming in the world but you get the point! Definitely going to get my film and photo **** together on the next trip. Oh and i know...my power steering pump hates me...:waytogo:

After that trip it became clear i needed to make some changes to the ol rig. I got it running pretty good but im still dealing with a tranny leak :mad: I found some mud holes near the house so i raged through that quite a few times for the hell of it. I love mud flinging off after the tires get on the road again.









I debated on getting a k10-30 but after experiencing the summer with the top off im glad i got a k5!



Well at this point i was only into the truck about $2000 bucks so i had money to spare and i decided i needed to embark on the 1 ton journey. After watching craigslist for a few weeks i found a full float 14 bolt with 4.10 gears and a gov lock. I scored it for $100 bucks without brakes, which worked out great because i wanted to go disc brakes anyway. I got some flak for getting a full float when i already had a semi float but i wanted the extra strength, disc brakes and most importantly to fix a wicked pinion angle. It was bad enough that i couldnt find a shim big enough so i said to hell with it im going to start from scratch. Hubs were off to put discs on with dually studs.



I searched around for some good disc brake brackets and i found Ruff Stuff (http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/) which had brackets that didn't use a spacer so i bought em! I love ruff stuff, they often have what i need cheaper than i can make it and there local! Super cool guys there! I powder coated them myself...



http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/
 
:sign27: Is anyone out there? Hope im not doing it wrong...


So a few weeks ago I started collecting parts for my 1 ton swap. The first phase is going to be Dana 60 up front. My front 10 bolt is shot and i didn't feel like putting any money into something that's worth next to nothing. I missed out on a dana 60 dually axle about 2 months ago as it sold within the first 10 minutes of the ad being on Craigslist. I scoured the internet for another but i refused to pay $1000 bucks for something that needed $1000 dollars put into it. Finally 6 weeks after i missed out on the dually axle another one was up for sale on Craigslist. The guy wanted $1000 bucks so i made an offer and he wasn't interested...5 days later he emailed me back and said whats your offer! I ended up scoring a 1985 gm front dually dana 60 for $700 bucks...best of all it came off of a running truck.

Heres the d60 the day i got it:



Then i cleaned it up a bit and painted it. These rollers from harbor freight kickass and the tweaker lady got me 25% off too!




4.10s on top of that and everything seemed to be in good condition besides needing a new pinion seal.



It didnt have the studs for the pumpkin so i got some from WFO which were pretty nice. Maybe a 3rd stud will come later on.



Here's some goodies i collected for the swap! I got ubolts, spring pads, studs and the crossover steering arm from RuffStuff. More pics to come but i also got the crossover steering link, pitman arm, and extended brake lines from Offroad Design. :woot:





Chebby orange!

 
Looks good. Most folks here watch a build unfold. You have a solid rig and are headed in a good direction.:waytogo:

Once you start asking questions, such as best way to add hydro assist or vendors to get parts from, etc.... you will get answers. Or the opposite like I want to run the stock 10 bolt with 12" of lift and 42 inch tires you will also get people to respond with why and how about this this and this to make it safe....:rolleyes:
 
Jester1 said:
Looks good. Most folks here watch a build unfold. You have a solid rig and are headed in a good direction.:waytogo:

Once you start asking questions, such as best way to add hydro assist or vendors to get parts from, etc.... you will get answers. Or the opposite like I want to run the stock 10 bolt with 12" of lift and 42 inch tires you will also get people to respond with why and how about this this and this to make it safe....:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Thanks i figured that's what it was! Im going to keep on keeping on then! I just became a member and got me the big CK5 sticker so im just warming up :waytogo:
 
Out with the old

Ok so i got the truck jacked up safely....give it a good shake whenever i return working on it just to make sure. Out with the old damnit!



Thats how i felt after and during:



Once the D60 went under it was pretty easy going with only a little prying on the springs to get the holes to line up. Get in your hole!




Unfavorable working conditions but i made it work. Got everything bolted up and now i start the drw to srw conversion...



That damn retaining ring on the outside was a biznitch! The spindle nuts were literally finger tight...does anyone know the torque off hand?

 
DRW to SRW

Once i got them off i took the discs off and it was go time. Im sort of on a budget with this truck (mortgage) so its very important to me to stretch my bucks. Ive done a bit of reading on turning down the drw hubs and once i sifted through the bad advice it became clear this was the way to go for me. Im lucky enough to have access to more than one machine shop so this really benefited me. The plan is to turn them down to 4.5" OD and obviously make the disc mount surface become the wheel mount surface too. I made some pucks to insure my hubs were concentric and flipped it on...Holy sheep **** the castings were extremely out of round. Both were easily over .050" of run out...in other words they were nearly lopsided. I suppose the weight of the truck calms that down but either way it doesn't matter because its getting turned into chips. The first phase is to turn them down and take a skim cut on the new wheel mount surface and then make two .5" rounds that will slide over the hub, incorporate the existing weld with a taper and be welded to the fingers of the hub. After this is done another skim cut will be taken for the WMS. If anyone is interested on the how to of this id be glad to answer PM's or even do a tech write up.











 
The whole process took about 3 hours a piece, however on a bigger lathe you could cut that in half...no pun intended.



Here's the somewhat finished product:







It was pretty easy but i also move metal everyday for work. I still need to take a skim cut to the OD because i noticed about .008" runout started which in all reality is no biggie but i have the proper tooling to make it right so why not. They cleaned up pretty nice and ill be starting the WMS discs tomorrow.
 
Don't Get to mad at your old parts :haha: like the font 10 bolt... not everyone wants or needs a 60. Still worth something to someone!

Not saying I would turn down a dana 60 if the price was right.

Nice job on the hubs. :waytogo:
 
max 02 said:
Don't Get to mad at your old parts :haha: like the font 10 bolt... not everyone wants or needs a 60. Still worth something to someone!

Not saying I would turn down a dana 60 if the price was right.

Nice job on the hubs. :waytogo:
Click to expand...


Your right! My 10 bolt never gave me any trouble and I wasnt easy on it! I hope I can sell it on Craigslist for maybe $100 bucks? I would love to use it on a little transaxle buggy bought im running out of real estate. Dana 60s are way too expensive around here. A decent chevy drop 60 goes for $1500 bucks even if its beat. I got lucky! :woot:
 
Chevy305 said:
I am sooo jealous of you California trucks...

Carry on :popcorn:
Click to expand...


Hey thanks man! im jealous of your gun laws haha! California trucks and cars always fetch more money. Its nice not to have rust beyond the surface! My truck has a few rough spots but easily fixed. :waytogo:
 
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