carps 89 K5 build (how not to put a k5 on a trailer)

[USSkoval]

Have you bit the bullet and moved the rear hangers yet? Not so much to improve the angle, but more just to get some of your height back.

 

[carpeonnel]

well I still using the stock location on the frame but I got some tabs and relocated the lower mounts up higher instead of hanging way down

 

[carpeonnel]

Well I finally got to work some on my Blazer today. Got the rear suspension done. Put the add-a-leaf in the rear along with the overload spring (upside down) to put me back in the 7-8in lift area. I still haven't switched sides with the hangars, I think they'll be fine as the their angle is a little better now. Got my shock inboarding kit in today from DIY4X. Looks pretty pimp. Also got the DPI sliders in the other day from a member on here, they look very nice and pretty beefy.

Busted out the angle grinder and started grindin the rivets off for the B52s. I forgot how much fun grinding rivets was. Found a new pain today while doing that. It hurts like a SOB when you get a hot ember down your earhole while you're grinding. After the second time this happened I stuff some paper towel in my ear. That S**T hurts! But anyway I got all the rivets grinded down and was about to bust out the BFH and punch to knock them out, but a storm cloud rolled up and has decided to sit over my house. So I guess I'll wait til Wednesday when I'm off again to hopefully get the front suspension down.

I'll try to get some pics of everything Wedsnesday

On a side note, when I was at Wally World getting some more spray paint I picked up a couple of these Mr. Mister coil hoses that just squirt out a mist in the hardward dept. These things rock! They were only $5 a piece and if you do like I did and wire tie it to the front of a occilating fan, you now have a cheap water misting fan. And they really do make a huge difference, especially down here in the balls hot dirty south.

 

[carpeonnel]

also, i cranked my K5 the other day and I noticed a funny sound coming from the passenger side header. My headers are still uncapped right now so I could here this noise and it sounds like an exhaust hangar rattle to me. The sound is not rhythmic adn is not in tune with the engine. Basically is you rev the engine, the noise doesn't really change. It's sporadaic and you can only hear it from the end of the pass header. you can't hear anything from under the hood.

Somebody suggested that I might have gotten a rocker arms too tight when I put my new roller rockers on. So I guess when I finally get my blazer back on all 4s I'll take the valve covers off and set them this time with the engine running

 

[carpeonnel]

Finally had some free time and got my 52s on the front today. Wasn't too big of an ordeal. Just glad I don't have to grind anymore F**KING rivets. Few tips for anybody bout to do B52s and DIY4X's beefier shackle hanger brackets:
1.) Before removing the old shackle hanger bracket, use the bushing sleeve in the old hanger to center your hole saw (the DIY4X bracket uses a bigger bushing that's 2in). It makes enlarging the hole loads easier.

2.) Go ahead and put the inner half of the the new bushing in the new sleeve bracket before installing. This is much simpler than trying to tap it in from underneath the truck.

3.) Insert your bolts from the frame side to the bracket side. If you do it vice versa your nuts will hit the shackle when it rotates

I did it with a angle grinder and 3/8s drill bit to remove the rivets. Plasma torch would be the sh*t but watch out for the lines in the passenger side frame rail. These were just a few things I noticed when I installed my stuff and hopefully it'll save somebody else a couple H/As.

I'm gonna try and run my shims differently this time. Now I'm tied them into the zero rate instead of sandwiching it between the zero rate and leaf pack. Also tried running longer heads on the alignment bolts so I could just slap the shims underneath everything on the perch, but both of these ways have resulted in bend bolts. So this time I ground down the shim in a way so the bolt head would sit flat in relation to the spring instead of sitting flat in relation to the shim (make sense?). Also had to drill a one inch hole in the shim so I could tighten down the alignment bolt thru the leaf pack. I think this ought to work fine. We'll see.

Also got a pick there of my rear shackle angle with the add-a-leaf. Haven't measured the angle yet but it looks fine to me and I'm gonna roll with it.

 

[obijuan]

what up with your spring?

http://coloradok5.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=70545&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1222044930

 

[carpeonnel]

here's what my 52s look like up front now. I like the shakle angle it gives me with the springs mounted in this location, but I wouldn't mind the axle being a little further forward. This is the way it's sitting now on the jack stands in the front, but I think it's gonna sit pretty level once it's all said and done.

Now all I have left to do is:
- Front shocks and ford towers
- rear shocks and DIY4X inboarding
- adjust rocker arms
- get front gears set up properly
- exhaust
- DPI sliders
- wire aux fan
- retube rear d-shaft
- new front d-shaft
- install new x-member bushings

 

[carpeonnel]

That's the only long leaf, add-a-leaf I could find. Evidently, nobody makes a offset, long leaf add-a-leaf for 56s (that I could find at least), and these are for 1/2, 3/4, and 1 tons. It doesn't seem right to me either but I see no other way to run it cuz one end or the other is going to be too short or too long. Now I did think about drilling an offset hole in the add-a-leaf so it would make up correctly with the other leafs but I decided just to see how this works. Anybody got any previous insight on 56 add-a-leaf?

 

[MTBLAZER89]

what up with your spring?

Yeah it looks like you may have a spring out of order in the pack.

 

[carpeonnel]

that's the add-a-leaf that's not off-set like the 56s. Here's a pic of the other end of the spring. That's the best place I could come up with to put it unless I drill an off-set hole in the add-a-leaf.

 

[twoslo4five0]

do you have the flips around backwards??angle looks a lil steep like its still flipped for 52's

 

[obijuan]

well theres space between the #2 and #3 leaves, as far as i know theyre not supposed to be like that

 

[carpeonnel]

Yeah mentioned that a few times before, I left the flip the same and didn't swap sides. The angle was right at 53* before I added the add-a-leaf to the pack, so I would roughly say it's probably about 48-50* right now since the spring length has now decreased. Didn't want to go thru the PITA of dropping the tank again, so I just stuck em in to see how it'd work. I think it'll be fine

 

[twoslo4five0]

fyi you can do it with out dropping the tank if you have the bumper off (i think my frame was bobed) and a magnet or long needle nose holding the back piece on..it would be about impossible with ords

 

[BGKYK5]

I wouldn't run that rear spring that way. Perhaps they gave you the wrong add-a-leaf? I'd drill another hole even though spring steel is a PITA to drill through.

 

[carpeonnel]

hhhmmm...did not think of that. Well I don't see a problem with my shackle angle now. Only thing it's doing is taking away lift and I don't see the springs compressing enough to flatten out the shackle, but I'll see

 

[carpeonnel]

I swear man. Everywhere I looked from Summit to 4WP, every long leaf add-a-leaf is equi-distance and not offset to compensate for the 56s. And these add-a-leafs are for 3/4s and 1tons. I re-referenced it multiple times and double checked with the clerk when I ordered. He couldn't direct me to an offset add a leaf either

 

[carpeonnel]

did a little more work today in the few hrs I had. I got the old shock stuff removed and put my F*rd towers on. I tried to set them up so I'll have a little bit more extension than compress with my Bilsteins. They're 14in travel so right now I've got them setup for 6in uptravel and 8in downtravel. I got lucky when installing them on the passengers side. I forgot to check to see where the lines were on the inside of the frame but luckily I missed them all. Anyway my buddys gonna come over next week and weld up the new shock mounts so that'll be down. Now I just gonna get my other friend to install my gears correctly (if I can ever get his busy arse over to my house). I'd do it, but I neither have the tools and don't feel like buying some just to set the preload and depth shims on my axle one time. Also finally hooked up my twin stick shifters and put the carpet back down. I do have a decent size hole around the tcase shifter, so I think I'm just gonna find some sheet metal to fill it in and finally mount the boots.

Also, got my yukon shafts and joints via UPS today for my D44. They're slightly used, but I figured it be a good upgrade especially for the price. Maybe one day the D60 gods will let me stumble across a good deal

 

[carpeonnel]

also, next day I'm off i'm gonna pull the rear packs and re-adjust the add a leafs. I figure if I drill the new alignment hole 2in forward that'll in essence take 2in off the front and add it to that rear of the leaf, making it more like the 56s leafs. Is my reasoning correct? Anybody see a problem with that? I just don't like the way the add-a-leaf sits in the pack now

 

[chevyridinhigh79]

who did you get the twin stick kit from? and how do you like the vortec tbi motor in your blazer? i have a chance to pick up a complete vortec motor that hasn't ran in 2 years for about $75