Looks good! Now yank the 1500 emblems off.
CK5
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'90 K5 - The Nevada Blazer [Post 1437: School me on alternators)
- Thread starter colbystephens
- Start date
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Looks great! Oh, and nice diff cover too! 
That is one sick looking fender emblem
, and a nice beefy dif cover colby.
, and a nice beefy dif cover colby.
magik235
Still Alive
That is one sick looking fender emblem
That cover looks awesome. Can't wait to order one up myself. Does it come with the new bolts? If not, what size did you use?
comes with hardware. 
It does look good. Makes me feel like my truck isn't 22 years old since it's so shiny... but that'll probably change tomorrow because I'm going wheeling and it's bound to get dirty/scraped.
It does look good. Makes me feel like my truck isn't 22 years old since it's so shiny... but that'll probably change tomorrow because I'm going wheeling and it's bound to get dirty/scraped.
K5 Jess
1/2 ton status
I dont know if Ive told you but your build and Renes are my favorites! Aside from Ryokens amazing stuff. Maybe one day when my truck grows up it can be like yours! 
Thanks. It's taken me many years to figure out how to build slow/methodically. My last truck turned into a disaster. This one will not. 
What a day. Wow! We went wheeling up Bud Canyon, right near my place. I'd heard it was a challenge, but DAMN was it a challenge. Definitely tougher than the Rubicon. One of my friends who was there commented about how we sustained more damage in the mile of trail today than we did on the whole 18.5 mile route of the Rubicon.
I did, unfortunately, incur some body damage.
I'm a bit bummed about it. But, on the bright side, the damage was contained to the doors (a ding on the passenger side door - no biggie - and a big smush-type dent in my driver's door.) I won't bother fixing the passenger door. Just going to sand it and paint it. The driver's door, however, needs to get popped back out. I didn't mess up any body lines. i think if I put a plunger on there, I might be able to pull it back out. If not, I'm going to try the inflate-a-basketball-inside-the-door method. 
I guess it's a risk that comes with the hobby. 
There's 3 "waterfalls" on this trail. The first 2 are not too bad, but are tight and technical. The third is a enormous, and after spending one and a half hours trying to get "alexsdad" up it, we decided to give up, because we had a goal to get to a particular mountain peak that day. Unfortunately, the pictures don't really indicate how big the waterfall is, nor how tight the trail can be in places. But it was an arduous day...
First "waterfall," and a tight fit.
Bud Canyon-1 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Bud Canyon-2 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
This would be the second one. You can't tell real well in this pic, but it's a pretty sharp V-notch in the dry river bed, and a small climb, making for a little trouble, but not so bad. This is where I dinged my passenger door.
Bud Canyon-3 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
You can kind of see the pointy rock that jabbed me. It's gotten lots of folks, as my white paint also has some red and some yellow on it now from other rigs.
Bud Canyon-4 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Somehow, the rock to the driver's side of my truck is the one that damaged my door. I had a hell of a time getting around it. Not really sure why - and everyone else struggled with it some too. My buddy driving a Dodge with no lockers couldn't get past it, so he stopped here. It doesn't look so bad, but I think there was loose dirt on smooth rocks making for a frustrating driver's side slide.
Bud Canyon-5 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Here's a photo that shows how my door got pushed in. Sadness.
Bud Canyon-7 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Here's the big waterfall at the end. Very steep, huge holes between rocks, and the route is shaped so as to catch your front and rear diffs with every attempt.
Bud Canyon-6 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Alexsdad's daughter was driving. She did pretty dang good, and we got real close to getting the truck over the top, but didn't quite make it.
Bud Canyon-8 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Cool photo looking back on the trail.
Bud Canyon-9 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
This kind of shows how steep it is. The waterfall ledge is probably about 5' tall or so.
Bud Canyon-10 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
After we gave up, we turned around and headed back out. My sliders got a serious work out today, and the passenger side one needs some repair, as the "tree-bumper bar" got pushed in. I'm going to plate out the driver's side one, and do a new bar w/ plate for the passenger side. We got back on the highway and went on to our next destination.
Crystal Peak. It's on the CA/NV border, just west of Reno. It's very cool. The top of the mountain is just white with crystal, and folks can go up there and dig up scepter shaped crystals. We had a good time digging around, and it's real pretty. We didn't come up with any big crystals, though some guys got some nicely shaped tiny ones.
A pic as I was walking up the hill.
Bud Canyon-11 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
It was getting late in the day, but very pretty views.
Bud Canyon-12 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
There was this crazy distinct line of color change in the stone from bright white to sage green. Very cool.
Bud Canyon-13 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
All in all, a great day. A bit disappointed about the damage, but it's minor and fixable.
I did, unfortunately, incur some body damage.
I'm a bit bummed about it. But, on the bright side, the damage was contained to the doors (a ding on the passenger side door - no biggie - and a big smush-type dent in my driver's door.) I won't bother fixing the passenger door. Just going to sand it and paint it. The driver's door, however, needs to get popped back out. I didn't mess up any body lines. i think if I put a plunger on there, I might be able to pull it back out. If not, I'm going to try the inflate-a-basketball-inside-the-door method. I guess it's a risk that comes with the hobby. There's 3 "waterfalls" on this trail. The first 2 are not too bad, but are tight and technical. The third is a enormous, and after spending one and a half hours trying to get "alexsdad" up it, we decided to give up, because we had a goal to get to a particular mountain peak that day. Unfortunately, the pictures don't really indicate how big the waterfall is, nor how tight the trail can be in places. But it was an arduous day...
First "waterfall," and a tight fit.
Bud Canyon-1 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Bud Canyon-2 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
This would be the second one. You can't tell real well in this pic, but it's a pretty sharp V-notch in the dry river bed, and a small climb, making for a little trouble, but not so bad. This is where I dinged my passenger door.
Bud Canyon-3 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
You can kind of see the pointy rock that jabbed me. It's gotten lots of folks, as my white paint also has some red and some yellow on it now from other rigs.
Bud Canyon-4 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Somehow, the rock to the driver's side of my truck is the one that damaged my door. I had a hell of a time getting around it. Not really sure why - and everyone else struggled with it some too. My buddy driving a Dodge with no lockers couldn't get past it, so he stopped here. It doesn't look so bad, but I think there was loose dirt on smooth rocks making for a frustrating driver's side slide.
Bud Canyon-5 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Here's a photo that shows how my door got pushed in.
Sadness.Bud Canyon-7 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Here's the big waterfall at the end. Very steep, huge holes between rocks, and the route is shaped so as to catch your front and rear diffs with every attempt.
Bud Canyon-6 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Alexsdad's daughter was driving. She did pretty dang good, and we got real close to getting the truck over the top, but didn't quite make it.
Bud Canyon-8 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Cool photo looking back on the trail.
Bud Canyon-9 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
This kind of shows how steep it is. The waterfall ledge is probably about 5' tall or so.
Bud Canyon-10 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
After we gave up, we turned around and headed back out. My sliders got a serious work out today, and the passenger side one needs some repair, as the "tree-bumper bar" got pushed in. I'm going to plate out the driver's side one, and do a new bar w/ plate for the passenger side. We got back on the highway and went on to our next destination.
Crystal Peak. It's on the CA/NV border, just west of Reno. It's very cool. The top of the mountain is just white with crystal, and folks can go up there and dig up scepter shaped crystals. We had a good time digging around, and it's real pretty. We didn't come up with any big crystals, though some guys got some nicely shaped tiny ones.
A pic as I was walking up the hill.
Bud Canyon-11 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
It was getting late in the day, but very pretty views.
Bud Canyon-12 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
There was this crazy distinct line of color change in the stone from bright white to sage green. Very cool.
Bud Canyon-13 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
All in all, a great day. A bit disappointed about the damage, but it's minor and fixable.
454Sub
5/8 ton status
If you look in a few other guys build threads, you notice a similar trend, as the Blazers, Subs and pickups start out beautiful, and slowly descend into the realm of the sawzall. Nice pics though, great looking Blazer too. I just finished up my relay headlight wiring after reading yours and wow, I used the voltmeter before the relays were installed, 9 volts at the headlights 
Now its like a nuclear bomb is going off in the garage.
Now its like a nuclear bomb is going off in the garage.
Burbdood 74
Giver of not a single damn...
I spread my best friend's ashes up on Crystal Peak back in 2003. We used to camp all throughout Dog Valley and go fishing at Stampede and Boca resevoirs.
Damn Colby...everytime I see your pics it makes me miss the area and I get all home-sick and stuff. I just wish Reno were the same small-ish town I knew when I was growing up. I don't like how damn big it's gotten.
Damn Colby...everytime I see your pics it makes me miss the area and I get all home-sick and stuff.
I just wish Reno were the same small-ish town I knew when I was growing up. I don't like how damn big it's gotten.
From what I can tell you could pop that dent out but you may end up with a crease. With the amount of rocks you crawl over it was bound to happen. Don't worry, I'm definitely crying with you on it but I applaud your future efforts to straighten it out.
If you look in a few other guys build threads, you notice a similar trend, as the Blazers, Subs and pickups start out beautiful, and slowly descend into the realm of the sawzall. Nice pics though, great looking Blazer too. I just finished up my relay headlight wiring after reading yours and wow, I used the voltmeter before the relays were installed, 9 volts at the headlights
I know the trend is to beat the hell out of the trucks after building them, but mine is not going to go that direction.
Glad the relay mod was beneficial for you. I drove last night in the dark for the first time (and on backcountry dirt roads), and it is a damn good difference!
I spread my best friend's ashes up on Crystal Peak back in 2003. We used to camp all throughout Dog Valley and go fishing at Stampede and Boca resevoirs.
Damn Colby...everytime I see your pics it makes me miss the area and I get all home-sick and stuff.
Cool deal about spreading your friend's ashes up there. I also wish Reno were smaller. It's too big for me here.
From what I can tell you could pop that dent out but you may end up with a crease. With the amount of rocks you crawl over it was bound to happen. Don't worry, I'm definitely crying with you on it but I applaud your future efforts to straighten it out.
We'll see. The plunger I have didn't stick to the door, so I'm going to try the ball method. I don't figure it'll be perfect after I pop it back out, but I think the only crease I'm going to have will be below the door trim.
invest in a couple body hammers and dolleys.. just make sure to get something with a shrinking surface... you'd be amazed at what can be straightened, including crease removal, doors being exceptionally easy to deal with because of good access...
Good tip. I will do that. I just don't know how to use them... but that's what Google's for. Would you start by pushing it out with a ball, and then use the hammers? Or are you saying I should just start off with the hammers?
it's always good to remove as much bulk damage at first as possible.. so yes, a bag/ball is a good start....
just always remember, a dent stretches metal in one way or another... thus the need for a shrinking face at some point in the repair usually..
you may look at a dent and just figure the whole thing is low at that point.. it is usually not the case, the perimeter area will generally be slightly high...
that's a mistake many beginning bodyman make, "oh, it's a dent, grind and fill it".. than they have a high spot or ring around the area... that's why before I do any grinding/filling, I'll often do a bit of hammer and dolley work around the edge of the damaged area, at a minimum..
just always remember, a dent stretches metal in one way or another... thus the need for a shrinking face at some point in the repair usually..
you may look at a dent and just figure the whole thing is low at that point.. it is usually not the case, the perimeter area will generally be slightly high...
that's a mistake many beginning bodyman make, "oh, it's a dent, grind and fill it".. than they have a high spot or ring around the area... that's why before I do any grinding/filling, I'll often do a bit of hammer and dolley work around the edge of the damaged area, at a minimum..
You need to have a good friend in the paintless dent repair business.
that would be good.
Wonder why nobody with fullsizes does body armor like the jeep guys do? Some nice rocker armor or some door skins would take a good beating. guess it is a little harder since they are not flat like a jeep but have quite a bit of curves.
I will say it is damn nice to rub my rockers, fenders, rear qp all over rocks and not worry about it but instead use it as an advantage.
You need some door sliders haha
I will say it is damn nice to rub my rockers, fenders, rear qp all over rocks and not worry about it but instead use it as an advantage.
You need some door sliders haha
andyblack
Registered Loser
Great pics Colby. Have you ever thought of just taking your doors off on a trip like that when you get to the trail head with some quick release door pins or something? That may not be practical, but maybe you could get a set of tube doors? Since you drive it so much on the road through the mountains, that may not be the way to go either.
As hard as the trails are that you go on, I'm surprised that neither you or Alexsdad has a winch. Yall must have some pretty big ones to go out on those trails without a winch. I would be scared.
As hard as the trails are that you go on, I'm surprised that neither you or Alexsdad has a winch. Yall must have some pretty big ones to go out on those trails without a winch. I would be scared.
