'74 K5 build: Smurf

[dremu]

Then a buddy of mine decided to sell his ARB for the 10-bolt (I already had a Detroit in the rear... heh, no pix. Wonder when I installed that?) ... so I had to get the ring gear to expand to fit over the ARB carrier:

This was before marriage #2, though I think Debbie would put up with this sort of thing now

And here it is installed

Also put in a CB, and went through fifty-seven iterations of mounting the antenna:

That's the CB with the "James Bond" control panel ... the switches control the clutch on the OBA compressor (through a pressure switch), the auxiliary lights, an idle step-up for the OBA, and the ARB.

and finally stuck it on the rear of the rollcage.

more...

 

[dremu]

I played with different ways to test flex when you don't have a ramp =))

and then we had The Shed Incident... (see http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150470&highlight=shed for details )

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[dremu]

Now that we have traction from the ARB and Detroit, more articulation was called for. After lots of research, that meant 52"s in front and 56"s in back, which meant crossover, which meant reusing the knuckles from the D44 I had removed from the truck.

I messed with the factory hangers for the 52"s, as per the tech article, but decided I didn't like them and could get a bit more lift and clearance for the steering if I made my own.

Mocking up

Also made my own rear shackle hanger things, though ORD and DIY4X both sell these now

And did longer shackles for the front.

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[dremu]

Fiddled with the springs -- including painting leafs alternating colors, which is dumb -- and eventually settled on six leaves from various sets.

Here are the Rancho springs and the various custom 52/56 sets I made:

I had two sets of factory 52"s, and the 56" set was an eight or so leaf pack from my crewcab.

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[dremu]

One clever trick: strapped some big PVC pipes along the inside of the bedrails to hold the extra set of front half-shafts, with U-joints installed:

10-bolt on 35"s is asking for trouble, especially with an ARB ... and even with me, the king of the light right foot.

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[dremu]

Also made my own rear shackles as I was too cheap to buy i.e. ORD's (now that Kert makes 'em, it'd be a tossup =))

Mocked up the crossover/highsteer with some wooden steering arms

And let's not talk about why the tie rod is in front

Also did Gabriel shocks up front on the Ford (cast) towers. They're 12" travel, part number G63438.

I've since zip-tied a nice long spring onto the brake lines, keeps them safely out of the way.

And I did up a rear crossmember, much like Kert's -- great minds think alike -- for the rear shocks.

(EDIT May '08: Note that I later moved the rear shocks back to a vertical orientation, as they weren't doing squat at that 45* angle, and also found the Gabriels were worn out after very VERY few miles, so I'm switching the front around as well.)

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[dremu]

So this is the net result, as she sits today:

Oh, I did get a little bling in the form of Trevor's spiffy shifter knobs:

I painted inside the etched areas to maek them easier to read:

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[dremu]

Other little crap included replacing some of the rubber airhose with PVC (the rubber doesn't like UV and cracks over time.)

Tank pressure, regulator, and filter, plus quick disconnect in the back for hookup (there's also one under the hood with all the crap up there, i.e. pressure switch for the compressor clutch, the ARB solenoid, etc.)

And the flex now on the 52/56:

I think the shocks and maybe the driveshafts are limiting my flex, but for now, I'm happy.

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[dremu]

And where from here?

Well, as we know these things are never done.

I've been mostly dealing with the CUCV and the sixpack as of late -- the '09 needed a tranny rebuild, and the sixpack needs a new motor and tranny, aargh. However, SOMEDAY when those are dealt with, the K5 will get...

* Custom bumpers, with real welded nice shackle mounts.

* A rear stinger-type tire carrier, a la DPI's and Dontoe's.

* More cage work, including a bench seat up front mounted to the cage, and mounting the harnesses to the cage as well.

* Prolly more storage, big toolbox, etc.

* 5.13:1 or maybe 5.38:1 gears

And anything else that I can think of and can't quite afford.

Basic advice to the noob's is to do it once, do it right... I planned my Doubler and gathered parts for it for two years. The only reason I ran those 4" lift Rancho springs up front was they were free... after that I went to the 52/56. You get the idea.

I don't claim to be an expert, but I've turned a few wrenches on this truck and the others, and I've learned a lot from CK5 people. Feel free to ping me with questions ... I chose these pix to be worth at least a few hundered words each, but sometimes that's not enough.

-- A

 

[jms]

Kewl stuff.

And readable in a reasonable timeframe too !

 

[dremu]

Kewl stuff.

And readable in a reasonable timeframe too !

Thanks ... was chuckling with Debbie last night, that's eleven years I've had that truck, so squeezing over a decade of build into three pages isn't TOO bad...

-- A

 

[pvfjr]

Thanks for taking the time to write that up. Makes for a good read. I never heard about the shed incident, that's a good one. I guess that's why I've always got a flat tire or two. Yeah....that's the reason...

 

[chevy wrangler]

i like the hidden winch!! its awesome

 

[dremu]

While there's been progress it's not very photo-able, like fixing some of the tranny leaks, and putting some angle shims on the front axle to change the caster. She drives better now, I think, but I've more fiddling to do.

However, I did do one cosmetic mod:

which I've been meaning to do since I took the factory grille out lo these many months ago. The factory wouldn't fit back in with the tranny cooler and the associated plumbing for the temperature gauge sender. Anyway, once I found an appropriately sized piece of mesh, it fit in easily enough, and after some spraypainting, it occurred to me that I had an extra tailgate emblem or two that might attach easily ... and voila! I was gonna center the logo vertically, but then it got hidden behind the brushguard, so that's why it's so high up.

Anyway, it'll be nice that folks may now recognize it as a Chebbie, at least, if not a Blazer ... between the halfdoors and the camo job, a lot of people don't recognize it as a K5 When I switch the box in the back as part of the bumper/stinger project, I'm gonna do up a K5 Blazer marking of some kind, should help alleviate this problem further

Next up will be some kind of cold air intake and possibly a snorkel, not because I wanna play U-Boat Commander so much as I can't find an easy place to get a 4" duct out the front!

-- A

 

[Xtremegmc80]

subscribing

thats a nice build..

 

[k2mslskier]

Very nice build. Now I need to go out and get busy on my '74.

 

[dremu]

Well, did get the cold-air intake thing done, if for no other reason than the old air cleaner was waaaay too restrictive. Also got the 4* shims on the front and she feels better, but she's now spurting oil something fierce off the back end somewhere, so I gotta park her, wait for her to cool off and then go see what the heck is leaking now. *($^@*($@ tain't one thing 'tis another.

I moved the tranny cooler and temp sender plumbing over a bit and snuck a ~2x3" hole to fit a PVC raingutter adapter into:

And then after running through the various aisles of my local hardware store, voila:

Newer style air cleaner is much less restrictive, and the air from the support area is 10-15* cooler than that inside the engine compartment after just five minutes of idling, so we'll call it good.

She still dieseled on me once, but the gas is way old and the idle is a bit high, so I have more fiddling to do.

-- A

 

[pvfjr]

No step! Oh man, some things just remind you of being in the military. Thanks for that pic, I got a good kick out of that one. Looks like a pretty nice cold air setup. The stepside is open element, but I may have to try that on the crew cab. 454's can always use a little more air.

 

[81K5GUY]

nice build up

 

[dremu]

No step! Oh man, some things just remind you of being in the military. Thanks for that pic, I got a good kick out of that one. Looks like a pretty nice cold air setup. The stepside is open element, but I may have to try that on the crew cab. 454's can always use a little more air.

Well, I kept resting my hand or elbow there whilst workign on it and the shroud ended up breaking ... it's still broken even though I tried to epoxy it, but the sign reminds me not to use it as a rest

-- A