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'90 K5 - The Nevada Blazer [Post 1437: School me on alternators)

Hey Colby, I'd look into getting some ARP wheel studs. They faaaarrrrrr surpass anything resembling the factory studs. Measure what you need and order them from Summit. My studs are 1/2" x 3" long and have the quick thread nub on the end so cross threading is a thing of the past. Not to mention is makes changing and aligning the lugs on rather large tires much easier. I don't remember what wheels your are going to run but if they are aluminum or alloy then this is highly recomended as the factory studs are hardly long enough for propper thread engagement.

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On the front:

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Chevy305 - Thanks. I'm going to update my order. I wanted longer ones, but when I searched Summit yesterday, I only found one set due to the key words I put in the search feature. I instead searched "ARP Wheel Studs" and it came up with an option for the 3.5" long ones. :bow: Sure appreciate it. :)
 
colbystephens said:
Chevy305 - Thanks. I'm going to update my order. I wanted longer ones, but when I searched Summit yesterday, I only found one set due to the key words I put in the search feature. I instead searched "ARP Wheel Studs" and it came up with an option for the 3.5" long ones. :bow: Sure appreciate it. :)
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No problem! I think everyone should use these studs, they are nice subtle bling to have. It takes a good eye to notice them, but when people do they know you mean business... :smokin2:



Also a word of caution, the interferance fit on them is VERY tight and are much harder to pound in than factory studs. If you can get them pressed in, it will save you lots of time and effort.
 
The unfortunate thing is that they didn't have any in stock, apparently, and the factory was going to be 2 weeks. :( Since I have a Dodge Dana 60, the studs are of a smaller diameter, and aren't stocked as much. Decided I'd be fine with stock replacements... hope I'm right! I figure if they're a problem, it's not too much of a job to pull the hub and replace them.

Also, this is how you load 1100 pounds of K30 into your truck cleanly, with room for the dog, our backpacking packs full of clothes, a cooler, and a couple bags of food. ;)

And then somewhere between Sacramento and Iceman's house... :bow:

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Haha! I figured that would be the first comment. Something is funky with my gear indicator such that it indicates the gear above the one you're actually in. I tried rotating the lower plastic part of the column, but somehow the column always moves itself back to the wrong position, so I've gotten used to it. :doah:
 
Today's update from little 3 year old, wide-eyed Hailey after looking at the sorry condition of my Green Blazer: "Did a monkey get in there and take it apart?"


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Today we got the axles unloaded from the truck. Very pleased to have them removed and the stench of gear oil and hub grease out of the truck. Picked up some paint for my steering parts too. Considering painting my hubs too, but don't much care for the grey I got for the steering - not dark enough for the hubs, I don't think. Also spent some time trying to tie up loose ends, like picking up parts from Summit (who screwed up my order again :doah: ), so I also ended up getting brake pads at Napa while I was out.

Got the front hubs separated from the rotors, which was quick and easy since I didn't care about the studs that I was pulling out of the hub. :D BFH to the rescue. Did miss once, though, and the hammer deflected onto the back of my left hand and I think I may have cracked the index metacarsal on my left hand. :doah: Oh well, just take it easy and I'll be fine.

Cruised over to Owenst7's place and picked up a couple tools I'll be borrowing from him.

Now I'm just waiting on my EZ Inch blocks from Kert to arrive and the rotors to arrive from Summit. Rotors should be here Thursday. EZ Inch blocks I had sort of anticipated today, so likely tomorrow. Once those suckers get painted, and the leaf packs put back together, it's on! :D
 
Got some work done today. Not as much as I'd liked, but some. I'm getting hung up waiting for the EZ Inch blocks from DIY4x. I thought they'd be here today, but maybe tomorrow. I was wanting to get my spring packs assembled so I can start the swap tomorrow.... :( Oh well.

Here's my 14BFF. As you can see, the cover is getting awfully chewed up. I'd like to get a cover that's a bit more stout, but that's down the road. I decided to shave the bottom of the housing a bit to help the axle slide over rocks.


Build-1 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

Here's how the lip of a 14BFF looks stock:


Build-6 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

Here's the minor shave I did to mine:


Build-7 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

You can see that it's an improvement, but I didn't go very extreme. This really only gained me about 1/4" to 1/2" inch of clearance, but the smoothing out of the lip should help significantly. I haven't had much of a problem getting hung up on the 14 bolt in the past, but if I find that I do begin to have such a problem here in the Nevada rocks, I may go a little more extreme. One reason I didn't cut more is that because I don't have a strong after market cover, I didn't want the bolt head to have much chance of coming into contact with rocks. In the future, I'd like to run a countersunk bolt in an HD cover, at which point I'll likely shave more of the bottom of the axle off. :wink1:

Here's the WFO Steering components. I painted them today a sort of metallic silver. This is bare steel, though.


Build-2 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

They provide replacement bolts for the driver's side cap, pictured above, but I felt that the stock studs would be stronger than the supplied bolts. For the passenger side, pictured below, they provide new studs and nuts.


Build-3 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

I sealed up the covers on the axles today. Before doing that I photographed the 5.13 gears that "onetonbb74" installed for me. 14 bolt with 6 thousandths of backlash:


Build-5 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

Dana 60, backlash of 5 thousandths:

Build-9 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

The Dana 60 I was a bit concerned about because I wonder if there should be washers between the bolts and the back of the carrier?


Build-10 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

Can someone confirm? No biggie to go back and fix if need be, particularly since there's no gear oil in there yet. There are washers on my 14BFF.

EDIT: Dean confirmed for me that the Dana 60 does NOT use washers. figured I'd leave that info here for anyone who might search for it in the future.

Also put the tires in front of the truck to see what kind of trimming I'm looking at. With the relocation of the axle, the trimming shouldn't be too aggressive. This is a slight estimation of the location centerline of the axle tube.


Build-12 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

Still have some more parts I can paint today, so I'll do that and probably post a pic... Kind of boring stuff, but posting the pic keeps me motivated. ;) I'm not real excited about the silver color I chose, and it certainly makes the "patina" on the axles look like crap. :D Oh well. Actually, I think the color will look real nice for steering parts, it just clashes with the axle.

EDIT: Just looked at the tracking info on the rotors for the front axle and they should arrive today, which will be great. I can then finish prepping the front axle for install, which gives me plenty to do while I wait for the EZ Inch blocks to arrive (tomorrow?).

EDIT 2: DAMN! FedEX says they came by my place at 4:24 P.M. today. I was home at that time. No knock, no shipping slip left on the door. Friggin liars. Sucker probably just didn't want to haul that 60 LB box up 3 flights of stairs. Grrrrr. We'll see if it arrives tomorrow. :mad:
 
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I swear to God your Blazer looks like my 1990 I sold just before I moved.

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Not the best pic in the world, but only one I had on this computer.

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Ya man its coming along nicely ... if I ever get mine done id like to drag it across the border and run some trails with you guys!
 
raymos said:
Ya man its coming along nicely ... if I ever get mine done id like to drag it across the border and run some trails with you guys!
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that'd be cool. Where are you?

My O SH!T of the day: I was carrying my front hubs through the living room and the wheel bearing fell out onto my white carpet. :doah: Idiot. Now I'm using a combination of dish soap, water, and my shop vacuum to pull it out instead of working on my truck. :mad:
 
A little bit of goo-be-gone or carb cleaner should get that grease out of the carpet Colby.

Blazer should look great when you get it done!
 
The carpet looks good as new. :wink1: Used dish soap, water and my shop vac. Shop Vacs are the absolute best tool for removing stains from carpet. ;)

Today's progress update is minor. Worked a lot though. :doah: I wire wheeled my 14 bolt and painted the hubs black on it. I also wire wheeled and painted the hubs on my 60. The rotors arrived today, so I'm going to assemble the hub/rotors tonight. I also was able to get the Dana 44 removed from my green truck, and got the nuts removed from the spring bolts. However, I ran out of time to actually get the spring bolts punched out and so the lift springs are still in the truck needing to be removed.

I don't think that my current front shocks are going to work. However, I have a little influx of cash coming because I sold the green truck to "imiceman," so it shouldn't be a problem. Additionally, I had intended to use my extended brake lines that I had on my green truck, but when I removed them from the truck today I found that the passenger side one has damage on the stainless steel braiding, and it appears that the brake tube is herniating through the ruptured steel line. So, now I am going to have to replace those too. Fortunately, there was recently a thread about alternative extended brake lines from other trucks, so I should be able to find it pretty easy. :)

Still waiting on USPS to deliver my EZ Inch stuff from Kert. Don't know what's up. Should've had them on Monday. I sent Kert a message, hoping they have a tracking number for the package so I can see what's up. At this point, that's my only remaining hang up and then I can start putting things into my '90! :woot:
 
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