78 K5 Linked/42s Family Crawler

[crawler78]

Thanks guys! And yes eventually it'll have full floors, just out of time for this trip. Ill probably run sheet under the frame in "bed" area also for heat barrier so it doesn't melt ice in coolers super fast. Might double as storage compartment too for spare parts. Wiring will be much neater later on too once I finalize everything ill be running.

Still along way from "done" but its close enough to go beat on it.

 

[crawler78]

Getting down to finishing touches for the weekend ride.... Lighted cup holders lol

 

[GWeakland620]

Lol, 32 pieces of flare.

 

[crawler78]

It survived the weekend beating! No broken parts! Went thru 2 tanks of propane. Gearing and power is about perfect. Makes some squeaks and pops buy I guess that'll happen with all the heim joints. Steering heims need replaced and seems like double cardon setup in front driveshaft is making noise although it has all new joints and bushings around the "ball". Also the 203 makes a clicking noise when in low, something rubbing on gear teeth, hope cable adjustment makes it go away.

May name it ResKue 5 since it was a tow truck most of Saturday lol. I'm just happy I didn't snap any axle shafts. Shocks need some tuning but suspension performed quite well. Hardly comparable to my old leaf spring rig.

Of course I never took any pics or videos. Just excited to be in the woods again.

 

[LNielson]

I bet that open tunnel was fun with those muddy roads, or did you close it up?

 

[crawler78]

Still open for now. It'll all get closed up eventually. I just did bare minimum to get it into the woods. Mud wasn't bad but its like an oven in there with heat coming off exhaust and transmission and everything.

 

[GWeakland620]

I bet!

 

[crawler78]

Haven't been on here in quite some time. Wheeled it a few more times and added a few new parts and played with shocks a bit. Added doors and taillights too. Almost looks complete on outside lol.

Had a good bit of body roll and torque twist. Upped oil weight in the shocks to 10w in rear and 15w in front to slow things down. That helped some but I still had to add an antirock style sway bar.

Fabbed up my own arms with a 1.25 solid sway bar from kartek.com Sway bar works great at 1.25 but limited the flex too much. I ended up taking it to work and turned down the center a little at a time. Ended up at .875 in the center. It still controls body roll quite well and soft enough to allow full articulation.

Last time out wheeling I bent my tie rod when wheel got stuffed into a wall coming down a steep hill. Ordered up some parts to switch it up to double ended ram. Ill fab it on once the weather turns cold.

 

[crawler78]

Wow been a while since I've been on here! Things are slow in the Fab department, seemed to have lost my fire to build it since I can drive it lol. My buddy and I are trying to start our own machine/Fab shop too so that's taking up some time. Just got our 4x4 CNC plasma table up and going so if anybody needs any brackets, tabs, beadlocks, np205 mounts, custom signs, etc. hit me up. Crawl Works Machine & Fabrication. We'll get a Facebook page up and going in next few weeks.

I got the double ended ram put on. Decided to blow my wad on some new to me H1 24bolt beadlocks with nice 42" tsls. Gonna make some rock rings for them this weekend. We'll see how long those axle shafts last now! I did break a rear 16spline shaft. I've since went to a 30spline spool with Yukon chromo shafts.

I gotta get my ass in gear again and get this thing finished up. Gonna start with finishing all the floors and tunnels. Hopefully build in some storage too. Think I'm gonna build some tube doors and tube tailgate also.

 

[crawler78]

Finally got a little work done but not in all the areas I said last time lol. Gave it some attitude and reworked the tube cowl engine cage (previous owner built it, couldn't let all the Fab time go to waste) and added v bar in windshield along with fancy light bar. My awesome woman started working on rear floors, cutting templates, and she played with plasma cutter some.

 

[crawler78]

Took a trip to Rush KY for the ProRock event. Trip was a success, no broken parts. This park is absolutely huge, nice groomed trails to some pretty Rocky and rutted stuff. Way too many RZR's!! Love to go back on non event weekend to hit more of the harder trails with full-size guys. As always, never got enough pictures or videos.

 

[GWeakland620]

Very nice. I really like your wheel/tire choice.

 

[crawler78]

Thanks! I picked up the wheels and tires used. Can't go wrong with TSLs and the H1 rims were already recentered. Made my own rock rings for them (www.crawlworks.net). Very happy with the setup.

 

[GWeakland620]

Thanks! I picked up the wheels and tires used. Can't go wrong with TSLs and the H1 rims were already recentered. Made my own rock rings for them (www.crawlworks.net). Very happy with the setup.

Yeah I’ll eventually be hitting you up for some rings just like those. Are yours even spaced 24 bolt or paired?

 

[crawler78]

Yeah I’ll eventually be hitting you up for some rings just like those. Are yours even spaced 24 bolt or paired?

Mine are evenly spaced but can definitely make them for any H1 variation.

 

[MWjr]

What is the length of your trailer?

 

[crawler78]

What is the length of your trailer?

22' long. This was my first trip with it. Pulls awesome but a bit heavier than my old 18' trailer. It's 3100lbs. And trailer brakes make a huge difference! My first trailer with working brakes lol.

I have a little pop up camper that I may mount on front part of trailer but it'll be a squeeze.

 

[crawler78]

Unfortunately I don't have any cool pics from wheelin Memorial Day Weekend because I broke it. Doing my normal hot lap in backyard before loading on trailer Friday evening and the k5 decided it didn't want to go. Tapped the throttle, heard a pop then free rev, no gears at all and now trans/converter is making a little grind and whine sound.

So the work began this week. Did some checking and trans is still pumping fluid. Seemed very odd that I have no forward or reverse and no signs of trans ever having a problem. Decided to drop the trans and tcases together to investigate the torque converter. The converter was literally stuck on the trans. Took some pry bars and a buddy pulling on it to get it to pop out. No signs of broken input shaft so decided to let the converter drain upside-down overnight.

Next day as soon as I turned converter over I saw broken pieces in the bottom. Managed to shake out a couple little pieces. So hopefully the trans is ok, new converter is ordered and on way. Get it back together in the next few days and see if it works

I've never really heard of anybody breaking a torque converter before. It's a little 10" no name converter. Bought a 2200-2800 stall summit converter to replace it, hopefully it holds up.

 

[Truckman4life]

Too much powaaaa!

 

[crawler78]

Too much of something. With the way it's geared I wouldn't think the trans and converter would see much stress. Just a stock 5.3 on propane.

I'm just happy it didn't break last time out deep in the creek bottom. Im the biggest rig most of the time, just with 4cyl Jeep, suzuki's, and Toyota's. The tow truck almost needed towed lol