77 K5 Just had to do it

[Capt Ron]

Started on the camper today. Removed the headliner and insulation.



Removed the icebox, stove, heater, water tank and countertop.


With all of the cabinets removed there is a lot of room.


I was worried about my house of cards self destructing when I picked it up so I installed a cross brace.


A previous owner or maybe original installer decided they needed a little more storage so they butchered the side panel.


I removed the roof racks.


And I removed all of the hold down bolts. I have tomorrow booked up going down to Pueblo so I will not be able to do much more until next weekend but I hope to have all of the supplies ready and get a bunch done then.

 

[ZooMad75]

Nice! Do me a favor. I didn't take down any dimensions on the lower bench that is still attached to your floor in the pics. I'm changing things up, but I'd like to know how far out it is from the side. I'm curious on the height too.

Great progress though. It's amazing how different both of ours are. That front cab wall looks like it was made in three pieces and mine was cut out of one. Yours had a water pump on it too. The other odd thing is they didn't put the floor in yours. They screwed that stuff right down to the sheet metal.

 

[Capt Ron]

31 x 11.75

 

[ZooMad75]

31 x 11.75

Thanks!!

 

[Capt Ron]

I made some very small progress on the K5, I removed the cover on the 60 {something I should have done before I bought it}. No real surprises there. No locker, 4.10 gears like the tag said, very clean inside. No metal flake in the oil and the synthetic oil was clean. Ring and pinion are in great shape.
I removed the "old man" spare tire from the front and was surprised the tire carrier appears to be an aftermarket item. I figured it was homemade.




Hey @ZooMad75 is this where your inside cut was at on the top?

 

[ZooMad75]

I made some very small progress on the K5, I removed the cover on the 60 {something I should have done before I bought it}. No real surprises there. No locker, 4.10 gears like the tag said, very clean inside. No metal flake in the oil and the synthetic oil was clean. Ring and pinion are in great shape.
I removed the "old man" spare tire from the front and was surprised the tire carrier appears to be an aftermarket item. I figured it was homemade.

View attachment 263309

View attachment 263310
Hey @ZooMad75 is this where your inside cut was at on the top?

View attachment 263311

That's pretty much the spot. We used that second ledge there as the guide for our inside cut. You can see it if you zoom in on the picture of my buddy Shane cutting it.

The actual amount from the outside edge was 1 3/4" and added an extra 1/8th" for the thickness of the cutoff wheel.

 

[Capt Ron]

We had some good weather today so I decided to pull some bumpers out of the parts stash.


Brackets are for the 81-91 frame so for now it is a little low and not tucked in as much as I would like.


I am using the bumper bracket part of the frame rails to determine placement, will build brackets for mounting.

 

[ZooMad75]

I like the bumpers! What's your plan for a spare carrier?

 

[Capt Ron]

I am not sure,,, I have been running different designs thru my head. Swing-away like Larrys and the style you showed me? Fold down style with access steps/table? I figure I will keep my eyes open and do some internet searching.

 

[ZooMad75]

I am not sure,,, I have been running different designs thru my head. Swing-away like Larrys and the style you showed me? Fold down style with access steps / table? I figure I will keep my eyes open and do some internet searching.

I picked up a 10b front spindle and hub at the LKQ yard up on Federal today while I was up there. It will be the basis for my spare tire swingout on the back.

 

[Capt Ron]

I built the brackets for the back bumper. I tacked them in place then unbolted and finished welding it up on the bench


I used all thread to keep everything from moving/square while welding.




I know... don't give up my day job!

 

[LNielson]

Looks pretty good to me. Those welds will do just fine. Nice work.

 

[ZooMad75]

Great job on the bumper. Here's a couple of thought starters for your spare. This one is pricey, but ready to go.

This is a different idea, folding down it could be used as a step possibly. This one could be fabbed up possibly.

 

[Capt Ron]

Thanks Rob I will check those out.
I got a bit done on the camper after work.

There was 5 self tapping screws and 4 1/4-20 bolts holding the back door panel to the tailgate area that gave me a hard time.


By the end of the night I had this.




After removing the somewhat gutted camper it is sitting 5/8 of an inch higher in the back. Hey @ZooMad75 my over head panel was only 5/8 thick and I still had to cut it in half to get it out. How in the heck did you get your new panel back in?

 

[ZooMad75]

Thanks Rob I will check those out.
I got a bit done on the camper after work.

View attachment 263921 There was 5 self tapping screws and 4 1/4-20 bolts holding the back door panel to the tailgate area that gave me a hard time.

View attachment 263922
By the end of the night I had this.

View attachment 263924

View attachment 263925
After removing the somewhat gutted camper it is sitting 5/8 on an inch higher in the back. Hey @ZooMad75 my over head panel was only 5/8 thick and I still had to cut it in half to get it out. How in the heck did you get your new panel back in?

Man somebody didn't want that camper coming off if they screwed it right to the back of the Blazer. Haven't seen that before. Bet that was odd to be lifting with the camper jacks and camper and Blazer kept lifting together. We had a problem with the very front bolt on the driver's side being concealed by the fridge and starting to lift it off the donor K5 without removing it. Once we found it we discovered the caged nut in the body was stripped. Fun ensued from there.

As far as the cab over floor, like you we cut the old one out in half. Although mine was rotten enough a well placed Karate chop might have done the trick too. We ended up getting creative to put the cab over floor back in by getting it inside and going in diagonally low on one side, high on the opposite side. Once we got it up there, we lowered the high side down into position. We actually did this twice as we doubled up the board. The initial board we dropped in was 5/8" like yours, but we added another 1/2" board on top of it. We did install the second board the same way and used a liberal amount of construction adhesive and 3/4" deck screws too. We did this because the nominal thickness of the particle board we pulled out was right at 1" thick where it wasn't swelled. So mine's a 1/8th thicker, figuring maintaining that much thickness should limit deflection with me up there. You may not need as much support as me, but it don't hurt to have some support.

 

[ZooMad75]

One other thing to think of on the cab over floor is that it is not a straight length X width dimension. The back edge at the cab wall is. But the front wasn't with mine. Besides of the radiused front corners, the line between the two front corners was not a direct straight line. Thinking from memory here, the center was just a slight amount forward of the corners. Cutting the front edge straight across might lead to a slight gap at the very center. I don't think it's much as in 1/4" or less, but you want that board to sit in the ledge along both sides and front securely as that's how it locks together. You end up screwing up from the bottom through that ledge into the plywood.

I'd set a 2x4 or thin board in place of the plywood at the rear of the cabover floor to simulate where the rear edge is and then measure forward to the front edge of the cabover. Take one at the corners where the radius just starts to go straight across on each side and the center. Use those for your measurements to put on the new board. We used a chunk of the old stuff to trace the radius too.

That lip or ledge on the sides and front of the cab over floor is like only 1/4" so the more precise you are the more material you have on that lip and will allow you to screw up into the floor without blowing a screw through the side of the plywood. We have mine pretty tight so that meant a little persuasion was required to get the one side down and into the spot.

 

[Capt Ron]

I did not get any end of day progress pics today but will post some up in the morning. I got quite a bit done today. I spent a lot of time measuring for the overhead panel because it was a large span increasing curve and my old rotten piece of particle board was too far gone to use as a template. I was very pleased with how it turned out, there were no gaps and every thing fit very tight.

 

[ZooMad75]

I did not get any end of day progress pics today but will post some up in the morning. I got quite a bit done today. I spent a lot of time measuring for the overhead panel because it was a large span increasing curve and my old rotten piece of particle board was too far gone to use as a template. I was very pleased with how it turned out, there were no gaps and every thing fit tight.

That's great! Got to like when it starts coming together.

 

[Capt Ron]

That's great! Got to like when it starts coming together.

You got that right. I really appreciate your input and your interest in this project. It has helped a lot.
Did you notice my aluminum angle mounted different then yours. It first screws into the overhead panel and then the front butts up and into it.






I also replaced the passenger side panel below the window and doubled up the lower panel on drivers side.


The only way I could figure out how to move a 4x8 sheet horizontally by my self.

 

[ZooMad75]

It's coming along nicely. The interest is my pleasure. Seeing another one of these get put back into working order is awesome.