Hammer K5 Resto project

[chevy wrangler]

sounds like you are making progress soon

i think if its going to be more of a "trail rig" you might need that roll cage in case you do "roll"

 

[hammermachine]

Trail rig

sounds like you are making progress soon

i think if its going to be more of a "trail rig" you might need that roll cage in case you do "roll"

You know I was planning on getting one, but I keep getting conflicting advice. Back and forth, plus and negative, at this point I don't know if I will or won't. I don't like rocks so I'm not taking it rock crawling, but....who knows.

 

[hammermachine]

New tool

I bought a small media blaster today from work to use in the ongoing project. I tried to wire brush the scale and rust off the underbody the other day. The thought is to beat off the rust/scale long enough to hit the "trouble" areas with rust reformer and then rubber undercoat. I'm going to try this baby out tomorrow afternoon.

 

[hammermachine]

New tool

Yesterday after work I was able to try out my new media blaster on the K5's trouble areas. Let me first say, if you have never used a media blaster before (like me) be prepared... This is one of the diriest jobs I've done. The small one I bought has a plastic box to store the beads in which connects to the compressor and the the gun. It works pretty good, removing the scale/ rust, and ****, it will even remove the layers of paint, all the way down to the bare steel. Unfortunatly it only hits a very small area at a time, so it takes awhile to do a large area. It also spits out millions of the media beads everywhere....I mean everywhere. I had on a barcarva covering my head and neck, a long sleved shirt, gloves and jeans and it still managed to get into my underclothes. When I got home and showered I still had beads in my hair and private areas. I think it worked better on the underbody it tight places. ( I couldn't photo that work) The tailgate section I blasted could have been done with a grinder just the same , and probaly faster. The media is also everywhere I worked (parking lot) so plan for a massive clean up if you use one in your garage. Later today I'm planning on doing some sheet metal work and replacement. I'll keep you posted.

 

[john toms]

are you sheilding with argon mix on your mig?

 

[hammermachine]

Mig, Mig, Mig!

are you sheilding with argon mix on your mig?

No I'm using a lightweight MIG that doesn't have a gas attachment. The tip and the wire creates the needed "gas bubble".

Yesterday, was a frantic work day. I decided to continue to work on the K5 afterwork to relax... big mistake. I rented a genterator from different Home Depot ( my job moved last Dec) and I think the voltage was quarky and it shut down my MIG right after two welds. It would not feed after that. I'll test it out later today to see if it still works or not. But the plan was to replace a rotted out rocker panel. I used a 4 inch grinder to cut out the rot and to grind back the paint, and surprise surprise I found BONDO! I then measured the needed replacement area and cut the new part to fit. I learned about rosette welds on one of the Spike car shows so I tried it out. It's a cool way to tack weld something odd shaped. They worked great until my welder quit. The welder still had a charge but the wire would not feed... it acted dead. I then used the grinder to cut out the rot on the tail gate until I got fed up by the lost of the welder. It sucks I was making good progress with the new rocker. Oh well. I have to come up with another plan, if my welder is not broken.

 

[blowedupmotor87]

Looks like you're doing some good work, and learning a lot as you go, good stuff!

 

[hammermachine]

Monday!

Yesterday was a good day, after work I rented a generator and went right to work on the K5. I wanted to complete the rocker replacement and at least patch the rust hole in the tailgate.

The rocker I had put in held pretty good, there was some surface rust starting right at the welds, but a little coaxing with the grinder and I was back in business. While i spot welded the forward portion of the rocker I noticed that the sheet metal where the rear portion of the rocker was suppose to weld to was very thin and FUBAR. What was needed was a patch of new steel to weld the rocker to the body. I measured and cut a fresh piece of 16 gage and tack welded it into place. It is ture tack welding works really good for thin metals and just to ensure the piece doesn't destort or move. Once in place and fully welded in I then grinded the welds down. Note I really enjoy welding, I hate the 4 inch grinder. It's a very difficult tool to use to get into tight spaces, not for detail. Anyway to me it looked good (better than before).

I then worked on a patch for the rusted hole in the tailgate. It was a straight forward job, I kinda rushed (I was losing daylight PDQ). I didn't spend alot of time grinding down the spot welds (I can always go back). In the end the patch was complete and it looks alot better than before. The last thing I did before closing shop for the night was to cover all the work and exposed steel with rust converter to protect them. (not in pics).

This project has been alot of fun and very good learning experiance for a novice like me. The next thing that will be done is installing a LOCKER!

 

[hammermachine]

Locked and cocked!!!

I had to farm out the locker install to a mechanic member of the off road club I belong to. Bob from Hell Or High Water 4x4 club offered to install a Powertrax locker in the rear 10 bolt axle of my K5. So over the weekend he managed to get the job done and I now offically had the rear axle done (I'm now saving up to get the front axle done). Bob was helpful and suggested several areas I need to work on. I was also able to bring my truck down to my new home, so now I can work on her at home instead of at work (boy the neigbors are going to love this). I'm hoping to finsh the floors and have them coated this week, this is going to be fun.

 

[hammermachine]

More work done...

This past saturday I spent probally close to seven hours working on the Blazer. I had alot of progress and one major set back. The tailgate continued to plague me and no matter what I did I could not get everything to line up right to weld in place. In the end the lock/ hinge broke and I was left with a tail gate that would not open. So I decided to weld it completely shut. It's not something I wanted to do but I believe the alternative would be to start completely over.

The rest of the repair work went alittle slow but more or less exactly as planned. Just about all of the major holes and smaller ones are patched/covered over and now sprayed with rust preventive. The hardest thing to patch was the pervious owner's four connecting round holes over the transmission. Never did figure out why they were cut in the first place. But I ended up using 22 gage steel and molding it by using a parking bumper. This week I will cover all the welds with seam sealer and then probally paint the entire floor. Still not sure if I'm going to use Durabak or not as a final product.

As an added extra headache I decided to build my own tire carrier (since I own two spare tires) I'm using 3x3 square tubing and will probally order a 3x4 or 3x6 square tube as a bumper for the carrier to fit on. And now that the tailgate doesn't open I could make the tire carrier and bumper one piece instead of having a swingling carrier. More to come.

 

[hammermachine]

Tire carrier

As you probaly know I have decided to build a rear bumper and tire carrier as a extra headache to this project. The carrier will not have to swing out since i am welding the K5's tailgate shut (like the temple of doom). The tire carrier will have to support one 35" BFG (I have two spares). I've been using 3x3 square tube and been cutting it with my new chop saw (best tool ever). Yesterday I did alot of welding and created a support and a arm that will hold the tire. I still have to build two more supports and the plate which will have the bolts attached. The bumper will be made out of 3x6 rectangle steel and it will have shackle points for recovery.

 

[mnstrburbon]

its hard to see the welds in the pics but the first one you posted try turning the speed down i have found it helps alot on these welders with no gas.
It does not sound right as if you are getting studdering wile welding that the speed needs to go down not up.
i have found between 2 .5 and 3.5 on a 5 speed dial heat setting c or d

 

[hammermachine]

welding!

its hard to see the welds in the pics but the first one you posted try turning the speed down i have found it helps alot on these welders with no gas.
It does not sound right as if you are getting studdering wile welding that the speed needs to go down not up.
i have found between 2 .5 and 3.5 on a 5 speed dial heat setting c or d

Maybe I'll try that. I had it set hi and at the quickest speed because of the thickness of the metal compared to sheet metal. I'll trun down the speed and see if the welds are better. You use to be able to post up larger pics but not now. The welds aren't that bad but you can't see them in the pics.

 

[mnstrburbon]

good luck nice preject hope it helps if you host the pics some where else you can post larger ones.

 

[hammermachine]

Tire carrier

I worked yesterday on it, I got alot done. The 1/4 plate was drilled for the bolts to fit to. A C Channel was used to support the carrier arm, and some of the tack welded spots were welded up. The K5 gate is fubur and for me it's a write off (for now) so I will not be using it. And since I won't be using it the carrier does not have to swing out. The 3x6 steel rectangle I ordered will be in tommorrow, this will replace the rear bumper and will have tow points and the tire carrier will bolt ontop of the bumper. That's the plan, which is always subject to change.

Again I am the king of ugly welds!

 

[hammermachine]

Carrier test!

There hasn't been any time to work on the bumper or carrier this week plus it was too hot (99+) too. But last night I decided to do my own product testing, mostly to see if everything would work, and if my welds would hold up. I guess a novice style static test. I tied the carrier to a basketball hop and mounted the tire on the carrier like it would be on the Blazer. I'll let it sit with the full weight of the tire for a couple of days to see if it will hold the weight of the 35". I'm hoping to get to work on the bumper this weekend, and maybe being able to mount the entire project up too.

I do think I over did the mounting bolts, way too long...

 

[hammermachine]

Sunday...

Yesterday I planned on removing the stock bumper and installing the 3x6 steel tube which would be the base for mounting the tire carrier. I had soaked the rusty bolts on and off for a week with Knocke'm loose. But when it came time to remove them I was only able to remove five out of eight. Finally after wasting two hours trying to remove the bolts I finally cut them out and pulled the bumper off.
Thirty seconds after I pulled the bumper off I got a call from Bob, one of the guys from my 4x4 club. "Hey we're getting together for a ride" 'When?" "NOW!"

So here I am, tools and parts all over the place, no bumper... and now a ride setting up. SH*T! some how I was able to scramble and threw all the parts and tools back into the garage, I tied my rear plate to the bumper mount and off I went to fuel and ride.

It was a blast the others had a mix bag of vehicles; a 2500 Chevy ( with a caddy engine), a late model Bronco, a Jeep wrangler and a Montaro. There were tons of mud hole (it rained very heavy three times this week). The Blazer held up pretty good, it got stuck several times but it never had to be towed. It also stalled out alot, but she held her own, I even got some air time coming out of acouple of holes. The ride made all the suffering and planning and rebuilding worth while. I cannot wait to go again!

 

[hammermachine]

Repairs

The follow up on the ride from the week before is that I have damaged the replaced tailpan. I guess I didn't tighten down the body bolts enough and the movement popped the lame ass welds I had. So now I have a bent tailpan. I replaced the bolts with satinless 1/2 bolts and will weld better stronger steel to the tailpan. It's not pretty but this truck will never be a show truck.

 

[mnstrburbon]

you need to get that welder dialed in or get another...
the spare will brake off too and become a hazard on the trail to you or on the road i know you hung it to check it out. but get the welder dialed in it looks like the speed is still way to high turn it down mor and the temp up can you post a pic of the welder settings. and a bigger one where are you hosting the pic i host on photobucket free and they are large and they give you the direct link so it easy.

 

[hammermachine]

welder

you need to get that welder dialed in or get another...
the spare will brake off too and become a hazard on the trail to you or on the road i know you hung it to check it out. but get the welder dialed in it looks like the speed is still way to high turn it down mor and the temp up can you post a pic of the welder settings. and a bigger one where are you hosting the pic i host on photobucket free and they are large and they give you the direct link so it easy.

You think I'm running the speed too high? I'll have to check that, do some test runs at a much lower speed. there's only two settings for temp min and max. I think I need a new camera, the one I'm using is very limited. After the last outing I'm rethinking the tire carrier.Thanks for the advise.