No thank you.
CK5
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'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond
- Thread starter mrk5
- Start date
Started out with 2wd TBI350 with SM465 to current 4wd with 454, 700r4, NP241
Got the door handle replaced and massaged some of the dents out:
Thing that sucks is apparently the act of literally ripping the handle off the truck screwed up the linkage in the door because now it won't unlock. Everything worked fine until I put a handle back on. I'm surmising some linkage got bent. What sucks is now I'm going to have to try and figure it out from inside the truck! I thought I had left behind unlocking/opening doors from the inside when I got rid of the K5 and it's frequent tailgate problems.
Thing that sucks is apparently the act of literally ripping the handle off the truck screwed up the linkage in the door because now it won't unlock. Everything worked fine until I put a handle back on. I'm surmising some linkage got bent. What sucks is now I'm going to have to try and figure it out from inside the truck! I thought I had left behind unlocking/opening doors from the inside when I got rid of the K5 and it's frequent tailgate problems.
Got it working. Not sure which thing fixed it, I have about 3 theories.
All of my theories are based on the door handle linkage not fully releasing. The door wouldn't unlock because it was like someone was trying to open the door while unlocking it simultaneously.
Theory #1; I think the linkage pointed at by the green arrow is supposed to be all the way behind the sheet metal and popped up behind the sheet metal like it appears in the picture. I noticed a dimple in the door sheet metal that's apparently from this piece getting forced into the door panel when the door handle was pried off. I suspect the door is warped enough that this piece is not far enough into the door to pop up like it should. I pounded on the handle with a hammer on a wood block to try and pop the handle section of the door handle back in further.
Theory #2 is that the rod pointed at by the blue arrow was jammed up on the bracket it hangs from and wasn't dropping fully. Again the hammering I did would jar this loose.
Theory #3 is that the linkage is jacked up in general from the handle being torn from the door. Could be my messing with it managed to get things settled just in the right position to start working properly.
And maybe it's a combination of 2 or all 3 of the above.
The handle still isn't 100% right because the button doesn't not extend out fully. I'm planning to swap out the entire door at some point in the future. For now it's working again, that's the important thing.
I included the red arrow above because that's the roll pin I knocked out to swap the handles. It was easier than last time I swapped a handle using the clip on the inside of the door down by the door latch. Although maybe that's the reason I had trouble with the door unlocking and it's not a good idea to remove that pin.
All of my theories are based on the door handle linkage not fully releasing. The door wouldn't unlock because it was like someone was trying to open the door while unlocking it simultaneously.
Theory #1; I think the linkage pointed at by the green arrow is supposed to be all the way behind the sheet metal and popped up behind the sheet metal like it appears in the picture. I noticed a dimple in the door sheet metal that's apparently from this piece getting forced into the door panel when the door handle was pried off. I suspect the door is warped enough that this piece is not far enough into the door to pop up like it should. I pounded on the handle with a hammer on a wood block to try and pop the handle section of the door handle back in further.
Theory #2 is that the rod pointed at by the blue arrow was jammed up on the bracket it hangs from and wasn't dropping fully. Again the hammering I did would jar this loose.
Theory #3 is that the linkage is jacked up in general from the handle being torn from the door. Could be my messing with it managed to get things settled just in the right position to start working properly.
And maybe it's a combination of 2 or all 3 of the above.
The handle still isn't 100% right because the button doesn't not extend out fully. I'm planning to swap out the entire door at some point in the future. For now it's working again, that's the important thing.
I included the red arrow above because that's the roll pin I knocked out to swap the handles. It was easier than last time I swapped a handle using the clip on the inside of the door down by the door latch. Although maybe that's the reason I had trouble with the door unlocking and it's not a good idea to remove that pin.
clean one owner.
y5mgisi
1 ton status
I hate those stupid little clips for the door latch rod to remove the handle!
I have an idea to try and use a bent razor blade and vice grips. Doing the rear door handle was a nightmare.
The reason I've given up on Detroit/automatic lockers for a multi purpose rig like yours is that the locker causes some sliding in low traction conditions. One year the old man decided having a detroit in the front and rear of his snowplow would be awesome. Turns out it would slide sideways in the front end with the plow angled. Nothing solved that issues except removing the locker from the front of the truck.
ARB's for the win. Price sucks but the benefits are great.
ARB's for the win. Price sucks but the benefits are great.
Yeah, I wasn't planning on a rear ARB but have decided differently. The issue came up again today pulling people out of ditches. Ended up using the work truck since it's open differentials.
Just read through this whole thread, awesome work man.
I didn't read anywhere what gearing is in your axles? And also, with your rear disc swap, have you rigged up a e-brake?
I'm starting a build quite similar to yours, anything you would change if you were to start from scratch again?
Thanks
I didn't read anywhere what gearing is in your axles? And also, with your rear disc swap, have you rigged up a e-brake?
I'm starting a build quite similar to yours, anything you would change if you were to start from scratch again?
Thanks
Thanks for the kind words!
The axles were in my K5 first so I haven't done much with them in the past 6 years until I put the ARB in the front recently. I have 5.13 gears and they are about perfect for my 700r4/NP241 with 37" tires.
The only thing I really messed up was locating the front axle. It ended up way too far forward. So I needed to come up with a better way to determine where the rear spring hanger needed to be. The only hard part about that is the way the 2wd frame gets taller as it makes the run down from the engine crossmember to under the cab, you've gotta really drop the rear of the springs down which means the front hangers need dropped as well or some other measure taken to correct caster angle. So really it's a balancing act, but I do wish I would have spent a little more time on that part. Maybe a person would be ahead to figure on link setup and that would make things easier, but probably not cheaper.
The other thing I still plan to address is the engine crossmember. I just used what I had handy which was an ORD crossmember for a big block - I have a small block. So the crossmember hangs down further than I'd like or need and really gets in the way of my high-steer and hydro-assist setup. I've bent 1 assist cylinder and have since limited my up-travel to prevent bending another. Downside is that I'm loosing 3" of up-travel to do this.
I was working on installing the original steel cable today and found this problem:
One of the tie rods busted completely out.
Also had trouble removing the last bit of synthetic rope because it melted to the drum.
So I have some work to do on the winch. Gonna end up costing me about $150 to fix. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find the parts but they are pretty readily available. Seems like that trail run is the gift that just keeps on giving, but in a bad way like herpes or something.
On the side of actually accomplishing something, I covered the spokes of my steering wheel with white carbon fiber vinyl:
I did this because the spokes would catch the sun and glare in my eyes.
One of the tie rods busted completely out.
Also had trouble removing the last bit of synthetic rope because it melted to the drum.
So I have some work to do on the winch. Gonna end up costing me about $150 to fix. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find the parts but they are pretty readily available. Seems like that trail run is the gift that just keeps on giving, but in a bad way like herpes or something.
On the side of actually accomplishing something, I covered the spokes of my steering wheel with white carbon fiber vinyl:
I did this because the spokes would catch the sun and glare in my eyes.
Little things like the sun reflecting annoy me more than anything.
Glad you could find the parts for the winch! What was the reasoning for going back to the steel cable?
Glad you could find the parts for the winch! What was the reasoning for going back to the steel cable?
When we were trying to recover my truck from slipping halfway off the trail, it was a huge pain in the ass figuring out a way to route the winch line that avoided rubbing any trees and the ground. And then after finally getting the line situated away from hazards, the winch ended up being able to break the synthetic line just by it's pulling power. Either that or it was already nicked up.
So I obviously need a stronger synthetic line than I had which means more money. And then just having to worry about it not rubbing on anything was such a pain. Plus finding that the first layer was melted to the drum was disappointing.
All that being said, probably the #1 reason was the steel cable is free because it was what came on the winch so I already had it laying around.
I never thought about the "rubbing on obstacles" issue. That would be a pain for sure.
hard to beat free.
I had thought about a scenario like you see in the literature where the line is laying over a rock and you can simply slide the abrasion sleeve in place to protect the winch line but not something to the extent we had going on that night. We would have needed 2 or 3 of those protective sleeves that night.
The problem we had was there were a couple of trees that the winch line was going to be laying against between the anchor tree and the tree we had the snatch block on. We were having to anchor to trees that were smaller than I would have liked so we were keeping the line down as close to the roots as possible. That resulted in the line cutting through the dirt a little at the side of the trail. When we were trying to get it all lined up I kept thinking about how I wouldn't be as worried about it if we had steel cable.
I suppose in hindsight we could have used floor mats to protect the winch line. But at 3AM we weren't exactly thinking the clearest.
Yeah, that is still just a crazy story.
I tell everyone that trip is like herpes, it just keeps on giving....
Fixed the winch and mounted it back in the bumper.
Added some additional width to the grill guard.
It wasn't quite wide enough to keep the headlight bezels from broken.
Added some additional width to the grill guard.
It wasn't quite wide enough to keep the headlight bezels from broken.
