SouthernYank
1/2 ton status
Man that thing is fockin sweet, and fastest build in CK5 history lol. Nice work, you have got some skills sir. Whats next?
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97 King Cab DS-Ton build - Rock Jock 60 and shaved 14
- Thread starter r3dd0g
- Start date
We picked up a tailgate for the bed, made a mount for the high lift and spare tire.
Built a nice stereo system with sub, also added a nice flat rear deck for the dog (that's why we built a king cab).
Hard wired winch remote, compressor and ARB switches.
Built a nice stereo system with sub, also added a nice flat rear deck for the dog (that's why we built a king cab).
Hard wired winch remote, compressor and ARB switches.
I'm not done with this rig yet, but I think my next project will be stuffing all the parts from my Blazer (6.0, NV4500, doubler, 14bff, D60) in to another S-10.
I was having issues with the stock computer (it was re-flashed and tuned to work with the manual, but I was having other issues) so I upgraded to a 411 ECM.
Also, the steering sucked. The tires were hitting the radius arms so I needed to do major modifications. The old radius arm mounts were removed and new ones were fabricated (I didn't end up using Balistic mounts this time) and moved inboard 2".
A longer Superlift Ford pitmann arm was installed to give me much better steering.
Also, the steering sucked. The tires were hitting the radius arms so I needed to do major modifications. The old radius arm mounts were removed and new ones were fabricated (I didn't end up using Balistic mounts this time) and moved inboard 2".
A longer Superlift Ford pitmann arm was installed to give me much better steering.
All that work and you didn't go V8? 
Amazing work though!
This makes me miss my S10 BAD...
Amazing work though!
This makes me miss my S10 BAD...
After wheeling the rig for a couple months, the doors started rubbing and not wanting to open/close. After staring at the truck for quite some time I decided the issue was the frame bending at the neckdown spot right in front of the firewall.
The truck was jacked up with jack stands on the frame behind the bend point and the front end just hanging off. With the truck like this the doors functioned properly. I gusseted and boxed in the frame, the doors worked fine after this and it's held up for the last year of beating on it.
The truck was jacked up with jack stands on the frame behind the bend point and the front end just hanging off. With the truck like this the doors functioned properly. I gusseted and boxed in the frame, the doors worked fine after this and it's held up for the last year of beating on it.
All that work and you didn't go V8?
Amazing work though!
This makes me miss my S10 BAD...
My thoughts on this rig were for reliability. I know how I drive and if I had a 5.3 in there I would beat the crap out of it even more than I do now. It's plenty fast with the 4.3 and pulls the trailer pretty well.
The next issue I addressed was the brakes. I installed caddy calipers in the rear to give me an e-brake.
I also went to a bigger master cylinder and booster and Porterfield R4/S pads to give me decent brakes (they were pretty crappy before these modds).
Then we picked up a nicer bed from a wrecking yard that already had a sprayed in liner. This proved to be pretty pointless as I smashed up the side shortly after installing it
.
I also went to a bigger master cylinder and booster and Porterfield R4/S pads to give me decent brakes (they were pretty crappy before these modds).
Then we picked up a nicer bed from a wrecking yard that already had a sprayed in liner. This proved to be pretty pointless as I smashed up the side shortly after installing it
.
For safety and to stiffen up the rear of the truck a bit, I made a custom roll bar using 2" .120 wall DOM.
This bolted through the bed and was tied into the frame. Unfortunately it made it so the toolbox didn't open all the way, but I fixed that later.
Rigid Industries LED Flood lights for night wheeling (it's hot in AZ).
Custom toolbox/ice chest mounting location for the back of the bed. You can see in this shot that I cut down the other toolbox limiting my storage there which is why I needed this additional box.
This bolted through the bed and was tied into the frame. Unfortunately it made it so the toolbox didn't open all the way, but I fixed that later.
Rigid Industries LED Flood lights for night wheeling (it's hot in AZ).
Custom toolbox/ice chest mounting location for the back of the bed. You can see in this shot that I cut down the other toolbox limiting my storage there which is why I needed this additional box.
After about a year of abuse, my radius arms were too bent to keep using. The original ones were 2" .250 wall DOM steel, the replacements are 2" .250 wall Chromoly.
A cheapy Chinese LED bar was added for additional night wheeling fun. It works extremely well.
A cheapy Chinese LED bar was added for additional night wheeling fun. It works extremely well.
This brings us up to this years overland run. On the first day I sheered off 2 of the 3 high steer arm studs on the drivers side. I'm sure one was broken before I started the run and I just didn't catch it when I was prepping the rig, but with a couple donor studs from other rigs that were just running crossover steering and some welding with my ReadyWelder I was back on the road for the week (center stud stripped out).
For a permanent fix the drivers side knuckle was replaced and 4 stud arms were installed (I was already running Ried knuckles, but I reused my old 3 stud arms ).
After making sure the light bar was going to work where I had it mounted, I made a better mount for it to protect it from trees.
).
After making sure the light bar was going to work where I had it mounted, I made a better mount for it to protect it from trees.
That brings us up to the current upgrade I'm in the process of working on. On the last day of Blazer Bash 13 while running Behind the Rocks I lost the centering ball on my front high angle CV. I had the shaft re-built and that one lasted another 6 months until the centering ball failed again.
Since this was obviously going to be a problem I decided I needed to upgrade to 1350 u-joints on my driveshafts. I had also been tossing around the idea of installing a different t-case solution which would require new driveshafts anyways so I should do that now too. Upgrading to a 1350 yoke on the 12 bolt meant I had to replace the crush sleeve, so I got a crush sleeve eliminator to replace that. Installing the crush sleeve eliminator meant pulling the carrier (Detroit locker) so I should use that 25% off ARB gift certificate I won at Blazer Bash to upgrade the rear locker (I hate the Detroit)... That was my line of thinking anyways
.
I started collecting parts. First off was a shiny new Magnum Box, various output yokes/flanges and shafts, and modified 205 output housing for VSS from ORD (thanks Stephen!).
I picked up a 205 locally from JMS here on the forum and installed all my shiny new parts into it
The last part of the puzzle was the shifters. I opted for a JB Custom Fab cable setup.
Since this was obviously going to be a problem I decided I needed to upgrade to 1350 u-joints on my driveshafts. I had also been tossing around the idea of installing a different t-case solution which would require new driveshafts anyways so I should do that now too. Upgrading to a 1350 yoke on the 12 bolt meant I had to replace the crush sleeve, so I got a crush sleeve eliminator to replace that. Installing the crush sleeve eliminator meant pulling the carrier (Detroit locker) so I should use that 25% off ARB gift certificate I won at Blazer Bash to upgrade the rear locker (I hate the Detroit)... That was my line of thinking anyways
.I started collecting parts. First off was a shiny new Magnum Box, various output yokes/flanges and shafts, and modified 205 output housing for VSS from ORD (thanks Stephen!).
I picked up a 205 locally from JMS here on the forum and installed all my shiny new parts into it
The last part of the puzzle was the shifters. I opted for a JB Custom Fab cable setup.
I drove the truck to work one last time before the planned upgrades. This proved to be a problem, but luckily it happened before the upgrade started. Somehow (maybe someone here can provide some insight?) my harmonic balancer sheered off the woodruff key, snapped the bolt and mangled the end of the crank. Instead of getting started on the upgrade, I had to replace a crank...
This ended up being a 2.5 week delay. Finally the weekend before last I finished getting the engine together and reinstalled only to notice that my tranny bellhousing was cracked...
I've had a TIG for about 5 years now, but I've never learned how to use it properly. I figured I try on this since if I screwed it up I could just order a factory internal slave unit anyways (which would be better than the modified Advanced Adapters one). I watched a few Youtube instructional videos, drill stopped and ground out the cracks and surprised myself with what appears to be a good repair. I added some extra filler material in around the ridges on the transmission for extra strength.
This ended up being a 2.5 week delay. Finally the weekend before last I finished getting the engine together and reinstalled only to notice that my tranny bellhousing was cracked...
I've had a TIG for about 5 years now, but I've never learned how to use it properly. I figured I try on this since if I screwed it up I could just order a factory internal slave unit anyways (which would be better than the modified Advanced Adapters one). I watched a few Youtube instructional videos, drill stopped and ground out the cracks and surprised myself with what appears to be a good repair. I added some extra filler material in around the ridges on the transmission for extra strength.
With the engine repairs nearly completed I had to play around with my shifters and hooked them up to bench test them.
I was determined to finally make some good progress last weekend. We finished up the engine and transmission install Saturday morning and started it up, everything ran perfectly
.
With that headache finally over, we loaded the new t-case onto the tranny jack and bolted it into place. Surprisingly, it cleared without needing any floor pan modifications. Finally something was going smoothly.
I marked the floor where I needed to remove a bit of metal to clear the Magnum Box shifter then sat down in the drivers seat to figure out where to mount the shifters. After staring at the shifters for quite some time trying to figure out how I was going to mount them (they made it difficult to reach the transmission shifter) I had them laying on the floor between the seats and it hit me. I needed to modify them to rotate the handles 90°!
I was determined to finally make some good progress last weekend. We finished up the engine and transmission install Saturday morning and started it up, everything ran perfectly
.With that headache finally over, we loaded the new t-case onto the tranny jack and bolted it into place. Surprisingly, it cleared without needing any floor pan modifications
. Finally something was going smoothly.
I marked the floor where I needed to remove a bit of metal to clear the Magnum Box shifter then sat down in the drivers seat to figure out where to mount the shifters. After staring at the shifters for quite some time trying to figure out how I was going to mount them (they made it difficult to reach the transmission shifter) I had them laying on the floor between the seats and it hit me. I needed to modify them to rotate the handles 90°!
Since I had success with the TIG on the bellhousing, I decided to try my hand at stainless with the TIG too. The handles were cut off the shifters one by one, rotated 90 degrees, clamped to the welding table and welded back on.
I didn't like the open top design on the shifters, especially since we have our dogs crawling around in the truck with us, so I bent up some aluminum and made a nice cover for the shifters.
I didn't like the open top design on the shifters, especially since we have our dogs crawling around in the truck with us, so I bent up some aluminum and made a nice cover for the shifters.
At this point I stripped out the interior, rolled the carpet out of the way and modified the floor pan to give myself somewhere to bolt in the shifters. I set it up so the cables bolted right through the floor so I wouldn't have an opening. Sorry for the terrible pictures, I'm not sure what happened with the camera.
There was a body crossmember/seat support right in the way of the cables so I had to do some heavy modifications to make that work, but it came out nice.
You can see in the last couple pictures that I patched up where the 241 shifter was. I grabbed a chunk of floor from my parts truck and welded it up but forgot to get pictures.
You can see in the last couple pictures that I patched up where the 241 shifter was. I grabbed a chunk of floor from my parts truck and welded it up but forgot to get pictures.
That brings this thread up to date. Currently the transmission/tcase are just sitting on the single transmission crossmember that I was running before. I had a second crossmember welded in behind the 241 (to replace the driveshaft carrier bearing crossmember), but I had to cut it out to be able to install the new t-case. I need to get that reinstalled in a way that makes it removable, then make a skidplate with an integrated mount for the transfer cases.
I also have to move the catalytic converter as it's hitting the 205, I need to finish up some wiring, modify the transmission crossmember to clear the front driveshaft (205 is not offset as much as the 241 and it's mounted further back adding more interference). I did manage to get a mock up driveshaft bolted to the front output, but sitting at ride height the standard 1350 CV was maxed out... I think for now I'm going to swap my front and rear output and put a non-CV shaft up front to get this thing back on the trail quicker. If I decide that I have too much driveline vibration I'll switch to a high angle CV.
I also have to move the catalytic converter as it's hitting the 205, I need to finish up some wiring, modify the transmission crossmember to clear the front driveshaft (205 is not offset as much as the 241 and it's mounted further back adding more interference). I did manage to get a mock up driveshaft bolted to the front output, but sitting at ride height the standard 1350 CV was maxed out... I think for now I'm going to swap my front and rear output and put a non-CV shaft up front to get this thing back on the trail quicker. If I decide that I have too much driveline vibration I'll switch to a high angle CV.
Cool stuff Brent and on the bed you crushing in bed sides. Geez you woulda never thought 
