CK5
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'91 K5 Four Wheel Camper
This is the build for my 1991 V1500 Blazer, AKA the K5.3. It started out life being sold to the U.S. Government with a 350 TBI/700r4/241 combo. 4 years with a 5.3/700r4 Combo and now moving to an 8.1L Vortec and NV4500 5-speed.
C'mon Larry it really does not matter you are always in front of him anyway.
I thought Rob was trying to change that with his engine upgrade. This thing is a bit lighter than the K10, no?
Define "bit". The truck is gaining weight and will continue to do so with the fat block going in. The bumper is heavy as every bit of it is 1/4" wall stuff. The main section is almost 100 lbs by itself. Add the swingout, same size spare as what is on the ground and 3 jerry cans full of fuel/water then it adds up fast.I thought Rob was trying to change that with his engine upgrade. This thing is a bit lighter than the K10, no?
After texting with Bill the bigger issue with the lights is accurately placing the holes in the bumper. The lights are large enough to reach from the top to bottom so if the hole is off a little the light is going to hang over the edge top or bottom. Right now we don't have an easy way to cut the hole other than the cutting torch. Plus the more I think about it, having a couple of large openings in the bumper will be an easy spot to let moisture in.
We need to get this done anyway because Larry's bumper is in line to come back to Bill to be reconfigured to run a different winch out back than the Smittybuilt he has back there now. Clock is ticking for the desert trip anyway.
I'm figuring that your drivetrains and bumpers are fairly close in weight, unless you stick with an aluminum transmission. But his truck is a bit longer, has some extra body weight, and his camper should be longer, too.
These are just guesses on my part. But if I'm right, you'd be flying past him on the climbs, for once.
Sealing out the water shouldn't be too difficult.
There would also be options outside of bumper mounting the lights...
1/4" thick is a lot to deal with when you need a fairly precise hole.
I picked up a pair of these strip lights at a TA truck stop, they are single pole, so they only come on with the brakes or with the turn signals...
There would also be options outside of bumper mounting the lights...
1/4" thick is a lot to deal with when you need a fairly precise hole.
I picked up a pair of these strip lights at a TA truck stop, they are single pole, so they only come on with the brakes or with the turn signals...
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Well, that is good to hear!
Those lights were not going to look nice no matter how many excuses you threw at it. 
I'm figuring that your drivetrains and bumpers are fairly close in weight, unless you stick with an aluminum transmission. But his truck is a bit longer, has some extra body weight, and his camper should be longer, too.
These are just guesses on my part. But if I'm right, you'd be flying past him on the climbs, for once.
Yeah, Rob’s should definitely be one of the first to the top of the hills after his 8.1L swap. Even after the fat block swap finds its way into his rig I still suspect mine will weight close to a 1000 lbs. more given mine has a full camper where as the FWC on the K5 is more less a shell. Mine also has a heater, water heater, water tank, two winches, a heavier D60, 3 batteries, solar system, more body and much more heavy crap stashed away (tools, parts, etc.) in the every cubby in the camper. It will be interesting to run them together across the scale when his is done to see how they compare. Last year I ran mine across the scale with the water tank full and both fuel tanks full and it came to 8,175 lbs. That was before the fridge was filled up, clothes, food, electronics and people were in it. The heaviest thing on Rob's is Rob himself
That all said, our friend Ian is also building an 8.1L CUCV K5 that will just be a regular Blazer without a camper. He should have the fastest rig before long and leave us all in the dust
Just before the desert trip last year I weighed mine with a partial load of gear and Ian's fridge. It came in at 5880. I didn't get it weighed before we left with a full load, but based on how full it was we were at 6300 easy, 6500 with Ian onboard.
Oval or round I don't think I want to fool with cutting. I need to get the bumper mounted and then I can think about a possible stip light setup on the back of the body as long as it can be seen. I don't want to go directly to the face of the bumper.
IIRC you have 4:10s and Larry has 4:56s, what gears is Ian running?
Larry nailed the major differences weight wise between his and mine. One factor on the climbing will be gearing. I'm staying with the 4.10's in mine vs his 4.56's. Given the same tire size we run I'll probably be dropping to a lower gear a little sooner on the long passes. But that isn't going to be like what it is now.I'm figuring that your drivetrains and bumpers are fairly close in weight, unless you stick with an aluminum transmission. But his truck is a bit longer, has some extra body weight, and his camper should be longer, too.
These are just guesses on my part. But if I'm right, you'd be flying past him on the climbs, for once.
That seems really light with the camper and the larger tires. My M1009 had a stock curb weight of 5200# with no interior furnishings. IIRC I came across at 5700# when in normal commuting mode (including myself, the NV4500, and 10.5" rear end).
That seems really light with the camper and the larger tires. My M1009 had a stock curb weight of 5200# with no interior furnishings. IIRC I came across at 5700# when in normal commuting mode (including myself, the NV4500, and 10.5" rear end).
By an old magazine article on the Blazer FWC camper the actual camper itself might only be a 200lbs heavier than the stock fiberglass top. Since it's built out of an aluminum frame and sheet metal exterior and no floor it's much lighter than Larry's full bodied Pheonix. But as Larry told me it's not the camper it's how much crap you can stick inside it that brings the weight. My rebuilt cabinet was overbuilt with 5/8" plywood vs 1/2" stuff. The cabover has 1 1/16" worth of doubled up plywood over 7/8" particle board. Everything got heavier in my rebuild because as Larry says "I'm the heaviest thing going inside" anyway. That 5880 did not have the full complement of tools, 20# propane bottle, my beer cooler and other assorted goodies like 2 cases of bottled water and 2 5 gallon jerry cans of water for cleaning/washing (we would pump into Larry's ride for hot showers). Factor in some other items like an Aluminum headed 5.3 saving weight, fairly light winch bumper up front, D44 front axle and it might explain why you might think it's on the lighter side.
I know this, the rear bumper when fully loaded with jerry cans is going to cause it to squat for sure. I see zero rates in my future.
After getting a pretty good idea of the weight of my FWC while rebuilding it I really think it weighs about the same as a stock top and K5 tailgate combined. I am not sure if they are just bulky/cumbersome to manage but a K5 gate complete with glass is a handfull for me.
I think that's a fair estimate. I didn't take into account losing the gate/glass in the process. I know mine is heavier still due to the beefing up that was done in the rebuild.
No kidding. But then again I'm running rough country springs up front. That chunk of iron might finally settle them down.
I've mounted lots of the grommet mount rubber lights typically found on semis. I have templates for mounting holes and also some plasma cutter guides I made that made it real easy to get a precise exact size hole for them. I vote for the grommet mount oval led lights in the bumper. I'd do a stop/tail/turn on each side maybe at an angle and also an oval led reverse light next to it.
So, I discovered that there is a 6" oval light that has tail, turn and reverse light all in one. We had a new dump truck show up with them. But I don't have any experience with how well the reverse lights work, and the truck isn't here at the shop at night.
But they are being made now.
But they are being made now.
