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CK5
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8 Low
- Thread starter nedceifus
- Start date
It started as a 1985 1 ton mud truck. 16.5x15" wide wheels on dually axles. 12 or so inches of SuperBrick, or Super Lift. 4 or so inches of body lift. Small block, 205, Dana 60 dually front, Dana 70HD dually rear. 42" tall Super Swamper TSL's. Freaking thing was so wide that I couldn't even fit it on my trailer. Had to tow it home on a deck.
Now I really bought Big Yellow for drivetrain parts for another project, the Hillman. I wanted the Axles, motor tranny transfer case & tires. I started tearing the Hillman apart & stopped as soon as I started. I decided it had great matched components & that it was not a great canadate for hauling a family. So I started looking for a Blazer.
So a buddy of mine tells me he has a Suburban. I was not interested but decided to go take a look just because..... This is what he had. 1990 Suburban, 350 TBI. It was supposed to run. No rear axle, pickup box tacked on. It was the start of a cool rig. He had done a good job grafting the box to the Burb, I just needed to finish welding & finish the back of the passenger compartment somehow.
So I manage to get it hauled home. Stuffed in my shed & start swapping parts around. I took the axles, tranny & transfer case from Big Yellow & stuffed them under the Burb. DIY4x shackle flip & switch on the rear with a DIY4x easy inch. DYI4x B52's up front with Chevy 1/2 Ton 56" springs & an easy inch. ORD shackles. ORD crossover steering, grease able bushings all of the way around, got some ORD sourced Rough Country shocks also. Ran into a little problem after bolting in the axles. It was stuck in my shed.
So this just about in a nutshell brings things up to current. I have a new Blazer fuel tank ready to install. The Burb tank was too ginormous. I'm waiting on some brake lines & bushings from ORD to get it rolling again. Should be a driver here within a week or so.
I was going to try & use the Burb tank. I really did not want to dick around with moving fuel lines, a fuel cell or the such. Turned out a Blazer tank with 32gal will work just fine under the bobbed rear end.
I'm in!
I Really like what you have started and the fender modifications look great.
I Really like what you have started and the fender modifications look great.
Cool build!
Love this, that fender mod is bad ass.. Do tell more.
Big Yellow had cut fenders. Very crudely cut fenders with more of a round wheel well. I did not care for them. I had the doner fenders off that other truck so I cut & added 5" of wheel well to the back. Enough so that now the firewall is the limiting factor. Also took 3 or 4" out of the front lip vertically. I did not get carried away with the internal structure of the fender or the inner wheel well. One of these winters when I go threw the body I'll build a really nice pair. I plan to get some rear quarter replacement panels & to do the same to the back. I need to finalize wheel placement & get this thing flexed out before I make anything permanant. I had to have a 2x4 lift kit wedged between the frame & axle to roll this pig before fender mods.
The biggest limiting factor in the progress of this bolt together has been the facilities I'm working in. My new to me 4 years ago property has a 20x20' shed at the bottom of a hill with no poured concrete, except for in the shed. Before I got married I lived in a commercial part of town in a 1500 sq ft shop. This whole deal would have been 10X easier there. As it stands I'm doing things the hard way. When I built the Hillman it had a Dana 44, 9", 250 straight six NP 435 & a Dana 20. Any of witch I believe to be lighter than this pig of a Dana 70HD. I see a lot of guys building in the same conditions though. I should keep my mouth shut. But it sucks. Looking forward to a real shop!
My "shop" is 24x24 and it sucks so I understand what you are dealing with. Really dig your tow rig. You can multitask with that baby!
Looks awesome so far
