"Hardcore" 89 (Black and Blue). IT RUNS, DRIVES, AND STOPS. BUILD ON HOLD

[MTBLAZER89]

MTBLAZER89 submitted a new Build:

My "Hardcore" 89 Build (Black and Blue).

So it seems to be the new thing here at CK5 so I have been putting pics in an album for some time now and decided that I would do one on my truck as well. I bought my Blazer in 2001 and I am the second owner. When I bought it there was literally nothing wrong with it. Perfect body and interior. Ran and drove great. I got 21 MPG with it on the first long trip i took with it Looking back i would get a different one to build, but can't undo it now.

The day i got it home. Coincidentally the same day my youngest son was born 2 years later.

This was fine for awhile and we did some family camping trips in it and some day trips into the cascades. I joined CK5 around this time too, but it wasn't anything like now. So I opted for the ever popular 4" Springs and some 33x12.50 tires on 15x10 MT Classic II's

Later in 2001 i got transferred to Nevada, and got bit by the wheeling bug. I wanted bigger tires and such, but after the research on here decided it would be a good idea to start with the axle upgrades. I got a 14BFF rear for $50 and 8 lug 10b for $75. The 14B was geared 3.73 so i picked up a set of 4.11's to match the front from a guy in town. He said it had some kind of locker in it. SCORE Detroit with 4.11's for $100. Rebuilt both axles and set up the new gears and loved it.

Pose

Ran around this way for quite awhile and the truck did pretty good with 33's. Found a guy selling some 36" TSL Radials for $200 so I picked them up. The were the most out of round non balanced tires ever, but they worked great in the dirt. Did my first fender trimming at this point along with zero rates.

Went on a short detachment to Key West for work and when I came home I had an awesome Fathers Day gift.

9500Ti

Now I had to come up with a mount. Limited budget so i figured i would make one. Bought a chunk of 1/4" plate and some cut off wheels. tedious, but it was all I had....

Read more about this build here...

View attachment 230872

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Testing out the 37's

Testing the Warn

This whole set up worked great and besides a few axle shafts up front i didn't change much for a couple years.

I got transferred to Cali in 05 and progress slowed way down with deployments.

I needed a rear bumper, so I figured I'll build one again. I had scrapped an old truck in NV, but kept a couple chinks of straight frame sections of scrap.

Trimmed the ends and welded them together. Tapered each end as well.

Then i filled all the holes and ground it smooth. Filling holes sucks!

Bought a piece of 3/16 steel to enclose the other side of the channel. This will be the side everybody can see. Cut holes for a reciever.

Capped the ends and started tacking it together.

Not the best looking welds, but this project made me much better at it, and cost very little.

I used my old stock reciever, but recessed it so the pin goes in the back.

Built some brackets to mount it and ground it all smooth.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Got the bumper painted and mounted up.

Decided to trip the quarter panels so I built some short sliders off the bumper.

Also picked up some sliders for the rockers around this time along with some DIY4x diff goodies.

Will post some more tomorrow.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

I had picked up some 56's around this time cheap from Esteban86k5 so I figured I would do that swap along with an Echobit flip as well.

The shackle angle turned out horrible and I was getting ready to deploy again. I threw my Superlift rear springs back in and left the shackle flip swap for another time.

Enjoyed a few small trips into the Sierras before I left and stumbled across a guy who had a "big" front axle out behind his barn. I went to take a look.

Ask him what he wants and he ponders and says I don't know $400 So I picked that up of course. Only downfall is he said it was 3.73. Oh well I guess I'll re-gear it. Price was right.

Had a little time before I left so I figured i would take it apart and check out the condition so i know what I need to save up for on cruise. Bearing hubs looked great and had lots of fresh grease. Kingpins were a different story. Shot some primer on it and left it that way ready to be rebuilt when I got home.

Also had a broken stud in the housing so i pulled that out.

Came back from cruise with some dollars and orders to WA state. This brings us to my current rebuild phase.

56's out back with Echobit flip.
kerts USDR rear shackles
52's up front the old fashioned way
7.25 DIY shackles
Dana 60 rebuild including kingpins
Driveshafts
Shocks
Brakelines


Got moved in to a new place with a nice big garage and got to work.

Old dirty parts

Removing Kingpins..difficult with a loose axle on the floor

 

[MTBLAZER89]

1/2 inch drive tools proved to be unsuitable for this task

Casualties
1 napa breaker bar
1 Craftsman breaker bar
1 3/4 to 1/2 step down
1 pass side door when the first breaker bar broke

OOps

4x4High sent me a piece of 7/8 stock and I got a 3/4 drive socket and got them out finally

New shiny parts.

Kingpin rebuild kits
Wheel bearing rebuild kits
Spindle rebuild kits
Calipers and pads
DIY4X spring plates
Wheel studs
Rotors
Sky steering arm
Spicer U-joints

Also picked up a CV rear shft and long slip front shaft

Pro Comp 15" travel shocks and U-bolts

New perches for the rear

 

[1978Blazerk5]

do you have any more pictures of that rear bumper?

 

[73redblaze]

nice work

yes!!! love all the picks!! nice fab work. i liked the 4 cases of beer in the pick

 

[supersize75k5]

just wanted to say your approach and cost effectiveness to your projects rocks, I always liked your blazer when it was on the 37's, clean..well I liked it for everything it was but the yellow accent paint

 

[rdn2blazer]

As bad ass as your build is, I liked it as a stock K5. It was too clean to wheel. I would have kept it as a DD and built another K5 as a crawler. There are so few clean K5's any more I hate to see super clean ones like your tore up. Not knocking your build by any means, your doing a great job. There's no turning back now.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

do you have any more pictures of that rear bumper?

Yeah I think I have some more. If not I'll take a few. It needs to be re-painted. I'll try and get them up tomorrow.

Thanks Shawn sometimes its more fun to try and build things on a budget than buy the bling parts. haha Yeah that Yellow didn't last long. I wasn't crazy about it either. I imagined a different look when I painted it.

 

[supersize75k5]

As bad ass as your build is, I liked it as a stock K5. It was too clean to wheel. I would have kept it as a DD and built another K5 as a crawler. There are so few clean K5's any more I hate to see super clean ones like your tore up. Not knocking your build by any means, your doing a great job. There's no turning back now.

thats the problem.. its too late once you figure that out..

When your starting a build with a nice and clean K5, its like playing the game of just the tip with a virgin.. you just eventually go to far..

 

[shaun89]

thats the problem.. its too late once you figure that out..

When your starting a build with a nice and clean K5, its like playing the game of just the tip with a virgin.. you just eventually go to far..

VERY NICE BUILD! and im doing a balancing act with my truck, i want to get it rust free and nice and shinny black and go wheelin,i could care less about scratches or deeeep scratches,but if theres a single tree in my path,for my bodys sake, its coming down if i have no other options. some people may get mad but, i like my body lines... u can always re paint it and put stock axles in and stock bumpers back on and it will be a perfect restored rig.i want a girl that can take a beating and still look beautiful kind of like a lot of guys do with jeeps, VERY capable but still and straight body. but its not easy.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

As bad ass as your build is, I liked it as a stock K5. It was too clean to wheel. I would have kept it as a DD and built another K5 as a crawler. There are so few clean K5's any more I hate to see super clean ones like your tore up. Not knocking your build by any means, your doing a great job. There's no turning back now.

Yeah I definetly look back and wish I would have picked a different K5 for a build, but by the time I realized i got bit it was too late. I still plan on a clean K5 or shortbox to build as a DD

 

[MTBLAZER89]

thats the problem.. its too late once you figure that out..

When your starting a build with a nice and clean K5, its like playing the game of just the tip with a virgin.. you just eventually go to far..

Haha thats sig material right there

VERY NICE BUILD! and im doing a balancing act with my truck, i want to get it rust free and nice and shinny black and go wheelin,i could care less about scratches or deeeep scratches,but if theres a single tree in my path,for my bodys sake, its coming down if i have no other options. some people may get mad but, i like my body lines... u can always re paint it and put stock axles in and stock bumpers back on and it will be a perfect restored rig.i want a girl that can take a beating and still look beautiful kind of like a lot of guys do with jeeps, VERY capable but still and straight body. but its not easy.

I really don't have much for body damage and the worst thing about the paint is how faded and oxidized it is. Being stationed in nevada for 3 years and CA for 3 years didnt help that. The dent in the door will pop out I'm sure. I kissed a tree with the right front fender so it has a small dent. but I try and keep it somewhat straight.

I always have my V3500 to make pretty.

here is a nice clean pic of my K5 before the paint got bad.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

do you have any more pictures of that rear bumper?

Here ya go. This is without the small sliders under the corners.

Tomorrow the clean up and start of the 60 build!!

 

[hot dawg]

Nice build and Nice Crew Cab

 

[h0wl0ngcanitbe]

sweet build! and on the subject of building on a clean blazer, picaso didn't normally paint on old sheets and vegetable crates. look how his stuff turned out! once again beautiful k5

 

[carpeonnel]

thats the problem.. its too late once you figure that out..

When your starting a build with a nice and clean K5, its like playing the game of just the tip with a virgin.. you just eventually go to far..

definitely sig worthy

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Thanks for all the compliments guys. Ok back to the build. Got those Kingpins out and started cleaning up the rest of the 60.

Spindles and knuckles cleaned up

Housing cleaned up nice and ready for primer.

Oh found out something during all of this. The axle was geared 4.56 not 3.73 so I decided to leave the front alone and just find a matching rear or re-gear my current one.

4.56

Carrier out. I used the rag method.

Big socket and a couple extensions.

Inner seals out

New seals in after i cleaned the tubes out good.

All cleaned and primes with new seals!

New Spindle bearings.

Bearing hubs, shafts and misc harware cleaned up and getting painted.

New Spicer joints.

Hubs and rotors together

Diff cover and knuckles dark blue just for some contrast.

I am doing most of this project alone. A few of my buddies come over and help me wrench, but I am terrible about letting other people do things on my truck if I am unsure of their ability. Do to limited man power in the garage the next phase will be the 52" swap up front . I plan on hanging the springs then the axle housing then putting it together so it's not so damn hard to move around

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Hmmmm 10 bolt and 4" Superlifts for sale

Axle came out fairly easy so on to the springs

Now the crappiest part of them all. Me vs rivets

These ones arent too bd cause you can actually get to them with a cut-off wheel and notch them first.

These ones up front SUCK!

Thank god for the air hammer. Still not a pleasant task though.

I built a template from some scrap aluminum I got from work for the frame mount shackle hangars.

I used the lower forward hole as a refrence on both sides. You could also use the upper forward hole, but it made the mount lower. I am using the 7.25 shackles so I wanted to keep it up a bit to prevent any castor and driveshaft angle issues.

Bracketry all cleaned and primed

springs cleaned up a little with new center pins.

Rear shackle mount.

Front mount

Shackles hung. I welded the 1/4" washers from Kert to the shackles.

Springs going in.

Swap complete now its time to get that 60 hung from the springs.