Help with a budget.

[MotoDad883]

There is a coil over option with everything if you have a big enough wallet and a welder to put it together with

Welder
Big wallet, still working on that part

 

[MotoDad883]

All things considered, what gearing would be recommended?

 

[Bent77]

What tire size and HP?

 

[MotoDad883]

What tire size and HP?

At least 38's, somewhere around 400 HP. Some around town driving, mostly 4 wheeling. If memory serves, CJ7 had 3.73 gears and did fine off road and medium crawling. But the tires were only 33"

 

[imiceman44]

It sucks to get in the back that way

I haven’t seen three rows in a k5
If there is, the back row has zero leg room, and the bouncing being the axle will probably make your kids puke

Should be fun!

I have seen someone put a 60/40 split bench seat from gmt400 extra cab, easy access to the rear and nice bench

 

[imiceman44]

Yeah as someone who that camps out of a K5 there’s no effing way I could carry 4 small kids, spouse and all the gear needed in one.

I’ve got a 4 wheel pop up camper and it’s suited for two at the most. With all the gear it’s overweight for sure.

Which gets me back to the original question of 6 in a K5 for camping. Ideally you’d put a bench up front and three kiddos in the back seat. Leaving the back cargo area open for gear storage. Even then when I think of the gear needed that cargo area is going to fill up quick. Family size tent, sleeping pads and bags for 6, cooler, camp stove, cooking gear, duffle bags for clothes, other camp gear, tools, etc is going to fill the area. Adding a roof rack while increasing the cargo capacity it’s also adding weight as high as you can get. Which speaking from experience makes things VERY interesting as you get into steep climbs and off camber stuff.

I’ve done a lot to keep my weight as low as possible, but it’s still got a heavy rear bias and as such it has a tendency to to wheelie on really steep climbs. It’s something to factor into your plan to spread it out but on a short wheelbase K5 it’s very hard to overcome. That’s where a suburban wheelbase shines you’ve spread out the load over a longer setup.


And as others have noted, the 4 kiddos are only going to be small for so long. It’s going to get almost impossible to squeeze all 6 of you in there without 100% cooperation from the kids. All parents can predict the madness that could turn into. “Stop touching me!” Along with fighting. This where you really have to take a hard look, short term and long term. You want to do it right one time. Why go through process on a blazer and then have to move to a larger burb later when the kids get bigger?

I’d try and go through a mental checklist of gear you would bring on a camping run and see how you can stash the gear and still fit the kiddos.

Yeah I have 3 kids in my suburban and I'm always playing tetris getting everything to fit for a trip.
I am building a suburban for trips longer than 4 days and it has a lot of stuff built in to save space

 

[imiceman44]

At least 38's, somewhere around 400 HP. Some around town driving, mostly 4 wheeling. If memory serves, CJ7 had 3.73 gears and did fine off road and medium crawling. But the tires were only 33"

I am going with 37" tires and 4.56 gears but I will be running the 8.1, a little more torque to help the moving.
I had a k5 with 37" and 4.88 and a 350 tbi and it was just right once I put the 700r4 instead of the th350

 

[Stephen]

I did this in the early 2000s but with 3 kids of my own and a lot of taking their cousins, dogs and/or other grown family members with us. I built a 'burb. Don't fight it. Find a decent barn door burb and you'll be happy. They get around just fine for anything short of hard core 'wheeling and that's not what you're after anyway. Even if you're backpack camping, the space is nice to have. I routinely had an ARB fridge in it and most of the time our gear fit under the window line which keeps the weight lower and lets you see better. I also hauled the spare inside (sometimes undersized).

I also had kids that grew, and even when I tried fitting them all in my K5, it was for a very limited time. Again, with potentially gear intensive hobbies and a large family, just get the 'burb. I get the fun of the K5 and no top, etc but it's not going to check the other boxes effectively.

Mine was a '88 1/2T that went through a lot of different steps because we sell stuff for a lot of different levels. At the end, it was on a GM D60 and 14 bolt with our coilover kit up front and a set of long travel-ish leaves in the back. Lift was 4" and I had 35s on it. Drivetrain needed help and would have been swapped if I kept it. It had the stock 350/700R4 and a SYE241. Super weak and not very fun to drive. A 6.0L swap would be good and I would consider an 8.1L/4l80 (or a man trans) now. If you can find a factory 2500, start there.

This drivetrain will let you cover rough terrain quick and comfortable and drive comfortably on the road to get there.

I had a front bumper and winch and never got to a rear bumper for it and never did sliders. Obviously all are on the table but I got by OK without the extra protection. I'm not a roof rack fan so I didn't put one on it and the couple times I needed them the factory roof bars let me tie some bags up there and get by.

Budget? Starting with a 89-91 burb that's somewhat mechanically together and hopefully a 2500, you could have a pretty good ride with a 20K parts budget. Engine swap, suspension and a rear locker is realistically all (-ish) that you need to start using it for outdoor transporation. This gives you room for nice suspension, a good powertrain, reasonably strong axles and all working well with 35-37" tires on non beadlock wheels.

Getting it to being a 'wheeling rig is where the bigger steps happen. Bigger tires need hydro assist. Insert another $2K. Beadlocks? Insert another 2K. Tires over 37"? Insert more money for the tires themselves. Bigger tires also want stronger axles. A stock D60 is pretty usable with 37s as is. Want more, buy 4340 stuff.
You can absolutely check all the boxes (Willomet fab) but it takes more on a non linear cost vs. results curve.