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'75 K5 build AKA -10 Below Blazer

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ricrok

ricrok

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ricrok submitted a new Build:

'75 K5 build AKA -10 Below Blazer

I picked up my 75 a couple years back from my father in law for $2200. He found it in northern MN after it had just arrived from AZ where the PO had passed away. I've used it for tooling around the back 20 for a while and occasionally take it to a local mud hole. I decided that it's time to start tearing it apart and putting it back together because I wanted one since I was a kid :smile1:. After having it for a few years there's a few things that I know I need to address. Body flex(already posted about rocker box design, that'll be this spring), seats and belts, axles, engine, t-case, and those crappy flares and hood scoop.

Here's the starting point the day I brought it home.
View attachment 194931

It's currently got a 327 w/ th-350 in it. I'm not sure of the t-case but I know it's not the factory 203 as it's goes from front to back 4L/N/2H/4H. I'd crawl under and take a look but my new polebarn doesn't have a floor poured yet and it's fricking cold here in MN. The 327 is a dog, it's way over carbed with a 750 Holley on it and you can tell it's tired from years of use. The carpet inside is some awesome redneck blue deck carpeting like you'd see on a pontoon:saweet:. Observant eyes will spot the body lift which is also going the way of the dodo as well. All in all I have a lot of work in front of me but I absolutely love the thing and I'm looking forward to posting occasionally for advice, updates, and what not. I've been lurking for years before I decided to jump in so all the great rigs on here have helped to serve as inspiration.

All that said, here's project #1 since it's winter(hence the name "-10 below blazer" and I can work in my attached garage with some heat and relative comfort.

View attachment 194933
There sits the 14 bolt that's going in this spring. My 7yr old got an 18v drill for christmas and wanted to help me out. I put in a sanding disk for him and he's off to the races. Free rust removal service:grind:. I grew up working in the garage with my dad as he was a mechanic so I'm loving go out there with him and teaching him anything I can. I already have the passenger side hub/drum off to do the disc brake swap. My wife got me all the stuff for christmas for it. She's pretty understanding about the whole thing(she let me buy it on mothers day after all) and loves that my son and 5yr old daughter like helping. I picked up the 14 bolt and a matching dana 44 w/ 8 bolt hubs for $150 on CL. My son says...
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Read more about this build here...
 
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When you remove the current body lift, replace it with a 1" body lift.

Are the flares going away?

Martin
 
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82355 said:
When you remove the current body lift, replace it with a 1" body lift.

Are they flares going away?

Martin
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Yea, cut em off and threw em away this fall....they were some cheap plastic that the PO had riveted on. When I got em off I realized the outer fenders are rusty so I've got some sheet metal work to do as well.
 
You asked about the gear ratio but I didn't see any talk about tire diameter. You want to start with that first....
 
Put in a bid on copart for a 99 2500HD with 6.0 and 4L80E. If I can pick it up for a $3-400 I'll be a happy camper, it's listed as runs, but I'll rebuild it anyways as it's high miles. I'll still be money ahead over what I'd pay just for a motor as long as I rebuild them myself. For 99 it's all iron block and heads so I may end up looking for better heads, or getting these worked over a bit, nothing wrong with iron heads as long as they flow well. Plus I can sell all kinds of other stuff off the thing to make some money back:waytogo:

skunked said:
You asked about the gear ratio but I didn't see any talk about tire diameter. You want to start with that first....
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And yep, 35's for now,the more I think about it, I'll probably stick with those.
 
nice truck to start with...great to see the young un's getting involved.
 
ricrok said:
Put in a bid on copart for a 99 2500HD with 6.0 and 4L80E
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I should have bought one of these before christmas, the prices are a grand higher now that the holiday is over. Oh well, after taking the motor and tranny and parting it out I should still be money ahead and have a solid driveline to play with.

Big Ray said:
nice truck to start with...great to see the young un's getting involved.
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Thanks, it's been a lot of fun working on it with him, I get a million questions which has me looking up answers once in a while.

On a side note, what temp do I need to get something up to for the primer to stick to it, namely that 14 bolt? I can get the garage to maybe 45 degrees but on the overnights it drops down to 20 degrees higher than the outside air, so last night....it was 0. I have the green zinc chromate self etching primer(thanks ryoken, I read the entire guide).
 
It's been a while since I worked on the ol' K5. It was a busy winter but no work on the K5 until this weekend. I did however work on finishing and insulating the garage as well as ice fishing as you can see my portable on the left side of the pic. You can see that I did bang through getting the passenger side caliper, bracket, and hub all back on including all new bearings, races, and seal. That grey color is what the final color will be but the flash makes it look way brighter than was it really is. Everything on the ORD brackets fit like a glove, I have to say I'm very happy with the quality of the product. That paint job on the bracket was handled by my 5yr old daughter with some duplicolor rattlecan caliper paint. I already have the hub off the other side and it needs new races, bearings and a seal as well which should arrive today so I can put it back together.
20160403_135354.jpg

Here's the second part of the post. I'm looking at swapping this into the rear. What all does that entail? I know I'll need some new brakelines. At the same time I'm also thinking that I should get rid of the blocks and do the shakle flip, and do the ubolt flip as well. The pinion seal is also leaking, what are the opinions on moving away from the crush sleeve to the eliminator kit when I do that?
 
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I got my brake line set from ord but it only includes the drop down line for the rear...not super important unless you're really flexing the truck out.

I recommend earls brake lines off of summit...braided stainless, cheap and come in a ton of different lengths...28 and 26 inch is what I chose.

You could also do hardline but it requires more effort and in some cases the flaring tool.

Yeah you'll need u bolts and the spring plate. I recommend looking at ruffstuff for those items. There fairly cheap and sturdy.

I've done pinion seals before with a crush sleeve...the key is to tighten it a smidge past where it was to re crush. That said if you're going to regear I would use the eliminator. That's a $40 item from east coast gear supply.
 
wetoolowdingbangow said:
I recommend earls brake lines off of summit...braided stainless, cheap and come in a ton of different lengths...28 and 26 inch is what I chose.

You could also do hardline but it requires more effort and in some cases the flaring tool.

Yeah you'll need u bolts and the spring plate. I recommend looking at ruffstuff for those items. There fairly cheap and sturdy.

I've done pinion seals before with a crush sleeve...the key is to tighten it a smidge past where it was to re crush. That said if you're going to regear I would use the eliminator. That's a $40 item from east coast gear supply.
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I checked into those braided stainless lines, those look like the way to go. I don' feel like running hardline and flaring and bending. I took a look at ORD, Ruff Stuff and DIY4X for the spring plates and u bolts, seems like It'll be ~$80 shipped for that, not too bad. I also got the driver side back together and cleaned up. It went together quite a bit easier than the passenger side. I have the axle tubes cleaned up and painted. I also popped the cover off the back, I didn't bother to put the dial indicator on it yet but it's got a ton of play in it. The gears aren't chewed up at all and it looks pretty good so it may just need to be adjusted properly. It's also got 4.10's in it already so I may wait on the regear until these are shot or I go with bigger tires.
 
So I was out cleaning out the polebarn and was staring at my 2 extra eagle alloy wheels/tires. I looked all over the place as I thought I had 2 more rims, sure enough, I didn't bring them with me when I moved from my other house. Luckily I sold that to my sister so I was able to run over and grab them so now I have 2 sets of wheels and 6 tires, 5 of which are good. They're all in really good shape and just need a polish so I might clean them up nice. I'll see what I can do about getting a trade locally for one set for some 8 bolts so I can put those onto the new axles. Worse case I end up selling them and getting some new ones from Summit or something. :woot:
 
Oh my god that truck is a 90's nightmare!! Flares! scoop! 15x12's w/1.5" backspace!

I like where you're headed with it tho, put some functionality into that thing!
 
ricrok said:
Put in a bid on copart for a 99 2500HD with 6.0 and 4L80E. If I can pick it up for a $3-400 I'll be a happy camper, it's listed as runs, but I'll rebuild it anyways as it's high miles. I'll still be money ahead over what I'd pay just for a motor as long as I rebuild them myself. For 99 it's all iron block and heads so I may end up looking for better heads, or getting these worked over a bit, nothing wrong with iron heads as long as they flow well. Plus I can sell all kinds of other stuff off the thing to make some money back:waytogo:


And yep, 35's for now,the more I think about it, I'll probably stick with those.
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find a set of 317 heads off a newer 6.0, you can usually pick up a set for around $100, and depending on how many miles i wouldnt worry too much about rebuilding it, i have several with over 250k that run good and the one in my van i use to pull has 332k. The 6.0s are known for cam bearings going bad around 300k right after the oil pump gets weak. So at least put an oil pump in to prevent that.
 
So life took a detour on me. My father entered hospice and passed away during the last couple months(no need for condolences, we all know it sucks). Instead of working on things time was spent on more important things:( ,namely spending as much time as I could with him. This was a few weeks ago so I'm now back into life a bit. I had a spare set of Eagle Alloy 15x10" wheels that I was able to trade for a 700r4/NP208 combo and a pair of good front fenders. I still have to swap in a new front seal into the 14bolt and do a crush sleeve eliminator and that's back together and then I can paint it. The 4.10 gears will stay for now as they're in good shape so I'll spend my money on bigger needs at this point(rust). But I hope to get back into the swing here of normal life.
 
Condolences are still in order
Sorry about your Dad
 
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