'90 K5 - Project Betty - LS3 Swap for a DD/Offroad/Utility Build

[cliles]

cliles submitted a new Build:

'90 K5 - Project Betty - LS3 Swap for a DD/Offroad/Utility Build

Thought I would open a build thread so some of the more experienced members could save me some headaches along the way. I have seen that there are a lot of different k5 owners out there. Some are straight offroaders, others stock/numbers matching/purist, some that have blazers just to tow their tubing frame creation, and some are just daily drivers that are proud of their truck.

Betty is intended to be built for 7's in almost all categories (other than being stock, I don't give a **** about that). It will not be a daily driver, but I want to be able to take it to work (20 miles) any time I want. It wont spend half its life in the mud, but needs to be able to get out of most sticks. And finally while I do not want her to be a beauty queen, she needs to be pretty enough (inside and out) that my wife and friends are not embarrassed to be seen in her when we are pulling a boat or going to homedepot, etc.

View attachment 230336

Read more about this build here...

 

[cliles]

pics

She is not much to look at it.

Currently running 38.5'sx14.5X15 TSL/SX's (not long for this world, I need some radials for the road).

Dana 60 front and rear with 4.10's (once again hoping to move to 5.13's with a locker in the rear by 2011).

Stock steering set up. This is where I could use help is crossover steering conversion necessary for decent road behavior or are my bias ply tires the real culprit?

Looking to replace the front fenders with some that have cleaner cuts, and need to replace both bumpers and steps.

Interior needs to be completely revamped, and paint needs some updating.

 

[tRustyK5]

Bias ply's are hell on D60 steering. The majority of guys that complain about death wobble or other scary steering also have bias ply's.

I'd definitely go radial, and check into the ballistic springless arms for your crossover. They use a sintered bronze KP bushing and a pre-load set screw on the arms. This eliminates a poor design point on the D60 king pin set-up. With the stock set-up, the plastic bushing can pop up off of the king pin. With larger tires the stock king pin springs provide marginal pre-load on the bushings...which means you end up adding shims. Then the springs quickly lose their 'height' and need more shims. This continues until you end up shimming them into a bind situation which makes the steering very spooky.

I currently have ORD arms on my D60, but before the 60 goes under my '90 Blazer I'll be switching to the Ballistic arms. I've had enough fun with death wobble, and my blazer will see a lot of street time.

Rene

 

[MTBLAZER89]

X2 What rene said. Crossover drives so much nicer than the stock setup, and the springless arms are in my future as well! I will also be upgrading to the bronze bushings from MAD 4WD to replace the nylon.

The steering wobble from worn kingpin parts combined with big bias ply tires it really what keeps my K5 off the street.

I had great luck with the SSR's on the street. I ran the 37's for several years as a daily driver and trail rig. They had 15k on them when I sold them and my buddy still runs them on his Yota.

 

[cliles]

Four 38.5x14.5x15 TSL/SX's for sale. 2 have 80-85% tread left, 1 has 65-70% tread left (also has siping), 1 has 20-30% tread left.

Moving to 40's and need to sell these. They are all good tires, hold air and such. Minor cuts/scratches on tires, but 3 of the 4 will give years of offroading. 1 works fine on road, but honestly needs to be replaced if you want to do serious mudding (good spare tire).

They run a little less than $400 new. Asking $600 for the set. Will Post pics tomorrow.

About to get a set of Irok Radials. Anybody have an opinion on these? Truck will spend a lot of time on the road.

 

[texas4x4rebel]

Your probably not interested but ill sell you my 39.5 tsl/bogger combo there pretty much brand new.

 

[cliles]

I would be other than I am trying to move to radial tires since this guy is going to see a decent amount of street time.

 

[cliles]

I want to build a custom dash and console similar to the newer chevys where the console connects to the dash. Problem is the console will cover up the transfer case shifter. Has anybody either built there own or know of a replacement shifter that is taller (like on some older trucks) that would be long enough to extend up through the custom console. Would this be an easy swap?

Thanks

Chris

 

[cliles]

Tires pics (mentioned above)

Tires pics (mentioned above)

 

[cliles]

Light problem solved, truck passed inspection, let the modification begin. I got 4 new toyo mt's (38X14.5X16) on the way. Before I get too many boo's, keep in mind I am wanting to have this thing go 70-80 MPH for as far as 300 miles at a time.

Going to true dual exhaust on saturday. Hopefully will have custom bumpers (front and rear), and steps within a couple of weeks, and custom dash by year end.

Then if money allows, 5.13's, with a detroit in the rear

 

[rjfguitar]

First off, 38-40's and towing is an oxymoron.

Get yourself a set of nice 35" radials. You can still tow, will drive better on the street, give better economy, and passengers will have an easier time trying to get into it.

With 35's, you could get those new fenders that aren't hacked on and now you are gaining on the presentable part. Throw a decent paint job on the truck, replace as much as the interior as you can with new stuff from classic parts, and now you have a truck that will look good that you won't be embarrassed to go places in.

I'm just not seeing a DD/light tow rig/wheeling rig that includes 38" tires in this plan. I would think 35's could take you anywhere you want to go, keep in mind you say you want a nice truck, so you aren't going to want to wheel very hard anyway.

 

[cliles]

I appreciate your honesty, even if it is a little disparaging.

38's with 5.13's should result in a gear ratio a little over 4.10's (I might even consider 4.88's that will get me around a 4:1 for improved mileage and high end performance). So I do not understand why you suggest it could not tow things? Keep in mind I am not talking about towing a 10 horse gooseneck trailer, just something like a traditional 16 footer than can pick up metal/wood, or move atv's and bbq pits. Maybe tow a ski boat short distances.

As far as the fenders, I am thinking about replacing them, but still trimming the new ones. Even with smaller tires, it seems like some trimming is going to be needed in order to avoid potentially smashing them in an offroad situation. I had 35's with a 6 inch lift on my k10 in high school, and I got them into a fender in a non-agressive offroad situation. This guy has something like a 6 inch lift on it.

As far as nice, I am looking towards a vehicle that would not be considered a beater. It would never be taken to a truck show or anything like that. I just do not want people thinking I am trash when we take it top down for happy hour in downtown fort worth. And it needs to be nice enough (clean enough) to where I do not have to worry about getting grease or whatever on dress pants if I want to take it work, then cut out early to go dove hunting or whatever.

As far as the interior, I think I am going unconventional there, something more like what sincity78 has done (tubing framed with aluminum plates (kinda like the DIY4x version), digital gauges, toggle switch controls, etc). Then probably rhino line the floor and console.

Thanks for the help. I look forward to hearing more.

 

[cliles]

Fender Trim

Smoothed out the rear of the front fender cuts made by the PO, I think it looks a ****-ton better.

 

[chalet2506]

Smoothed out the rear of the front fender cuts made by the PO, I think it looks a ****-ton better.

Looks good.

 

[rjfguitar]

I appreciate your honesty, even if it is a little disparaging.

38's with 5.13's should result in a gear ratio a little over 4.10's (I might even consider 4.88's that will get me around a 4:1 for improved mileage and high end performance). So I do not understand why you suggest it could not tow things? Keep in mind I am not talking about towing a 10 horse gooseneck trailer, just something like a traditional 16 footer than can pick up metal/wood, or move atv's and bbq pits. Maybe tow a ski boat short distances.

As far as the fenders, I am thinking about replacing them, but still trimming the new ones. Even with smaller tires, it seems like some trimming is going to be needed in order to avoid potentially smashing them in an offroad situation. I had 35's with a 6 inch lift on my k10 in high school, and I got them into a fender in a non-agressive offroad situation. This guy has something like a 6 inch lift on it.

As far as nice, I am looking towards a vehicle that would not be considered a beater. It would never be taken to a truck show or anything like that. I just do not want people thinking I am trash when we take it top down for happy hour in downtown fort worth. And it needs to be nice enough (clean enough) to where I do not have to worry about getting grease or whatever on dress pants if I want to take it work, then cut out early to go dove hunting or whatever.

As far as the interior, I think I am going unconventional there, something more like what sincity78 has done (tubing framed with aluminum plates (kinda like the DIY4x version), digital gauges, toggle switch controls, etc). Then probably rhino line the floor and console.

Thanks for the help. I look forward to hearing more.

38 inch tires do not provide proper stability for towing. There is just to much sidewall and rotating mass to begin with. With 35's 5.13 gears are about right. You would want to get at least to equal 4.10, lower being better.

 

[cliles]

X2 What rene said. Crossover drives so much nicer than the stock setup, and the springless arms are in my future as well! I will also be upgrading to the bronze bushings from MAD 4WD to replace the nylon.

The steering wobble from worn kingpin parts combined with big bias ply tires it really what keeps my K5 off the street.

I had great luck with the SSR's on the street. I ran the 37's for several years as a daily driver and trail rig. They had 15k on them when I sold them and my buddy still runs them on his Yota.

Brian,

I should have read this more clearly, but I recently found out that the kingpin bushing (being worn or damaged) is almost certainly what gives me the death wobble. It is a cheap fix, and now I somewhat regret ordering the tires. I know the radials will do better than the bias plys, but like a true expiremnent, I want to fix one thing at a time to determine the effect.

I am getting me refurb kit in soon, should have it in by the end of the week, will let you know how it goes.

 

[cliles]

I took apart my steering column to fix my tilt wobble, and was going to make a thread about it, but it seems like there is enough out there already.

However I will post this video which goes step by step http://www.stolenandrecovered.com/howto/index.php

A couple of things I will mention though.
1. Doing this without the proper pullers and plate depressors is not as easy as some people make it sounds (unless you are incredibly talented). I had 2 out of the 3 necessary tools, and still struggled through my first attempt (I had like 6 before it was all said an done)
2. Nobody really talks about the ignition rod that connects to the bottom bowl. It is tucked back into the column, and at least IMHO it is not obvious. I reassembled everything only to have the ignition not work. That was trip 2.
3. Last it is very important to make sure the race is tucked tightly into the bearing in the bottom bowl. I placed it in there loosely the first time, assuming that everything would tighten up properly once the various springs were inserted, not for me at least.

 

[ryoken]

doing the snap ring without the lock depression tool by yourself is a b*tch... i did it that way a 1/2 dozen times back in the day till i got the tool.. one of those ones where a third hand is a huge help...

eezy peezy with the tool...

 

[cliles]

Ryoken reminded me. The most important part about these tools are they are free! I was a little put off on doing this because of all the expensive tools I had to buy (or at least that is how some people made it sound). Autozone will rent you these tools for $20, and refund you $20 when the tools come back.

There is no reason to rough it, and while if you have money, time, and are not mechanically inclined I would recommend taking it somewhere. However I am mildly mechanically inclined, and I feel like this process definitely helped me grow. It took me about 3 hours my first time through and back out, but by the 4th time (yeah I suck), I was able to get it on and off in under 15 minutes. If you watch the videos I posted it should take a first time maybe an hour.

 

[cliles]

Replaced Kingpin bushings and springs. This (at least for me) as not nearly as easy as others or the manual make it out to be. The PO had three washers to shim the spring up, and it pushed the bushing so tight over the kingpin that I had to use a drimmel to cut it out. Also when I replaced the spring I had to use tow straps the tighten the housing just so I could barely thread the nuts on, and then tighten it down accordingly.

It did not seem to make much of a difference, because the bushings were not broken. However I replaced the bias plys with radials, and it is a whole new truck. Very minimal death wobble. The truck can do 85+ MPH with low vibration. Really turned it around. I am thinking about rolling a super street AT in the future, and purchasing a set of boggers for offroad, giving the blazer proper duality.