K10: Built HP60/241-205 Doubler/tons of tube

[Avery4jc]

Avery4jc submitted a new Build:

K10: Built HP60/241-205 Doubler/tons of tube

View attachment 230361 After going back and forth about it I thought it would be nice to hop on the build thread bandwagon to be able to keep track of where the truck started, where it's at now and more importantly where it's headed.

I bought this truck when I was 15, I didn't even have my permit at the time so my dad had to drive it home for me.
It was clean, rust free and ran well but had an 8" superlift, 39.5" baja claws and 10 bolts with 3.08's! If I only knew then what I know now.

Read more about this build here...

 

[Avery4jc]

I put the front drive shaft in, changed the grill and basically drove it like that while I was getting my permit/license and eventually driving it to school...

Talk about mall crawlin!

 

[Avery4jc]

At some point along here I decided (thanks to guys on this site years ago) to do a 3/4 ton swap with some 4.10's. It was a daunting task considering the biggest job I had done to the truck at this point was bolt the front driveshaft back in.

But in the end I found a guy on here locally with some axles out of a '78 K20 suburban for a good price so I snatched them up, and started working. I asked a lot of questions and bought a lot of tools during this project.

This was sometime right before christmas so I did the rear axle/wheels first a week or two before christmas break from school...

These are out of order and I don't want to waste time fixing them but you get the idea...

 

[Avery4jc]

Then during christmas vacation I did the front. I know I had hiccups along the way because I was still pretty green, I can't remember them all but it eventually got done. I had a friend come over and grind my calipers while I worked on other stuff, he got my 15's to clear the 3/4 ton front calipers.

 

[Avery4jc]

I drove it like that for a little while and the 4.10's and bigger brakes made a big difference.

The order of the next stuff is fuzzy but it all happened right around the same time. At some point we tried to take it on a trip and the transmission crapped out on us, we managed to limp it home though. I changed the tranny fluid and filter and it appeared to be in good enough order to run locally so I kept driving it for a while. Then on the way to school one day my senior year I was cruising down the freeway and started losing gears. I drove to school then work in first gear.

So the next phase was to get the trans rebuilt. I went with a late model 700r with an upgraded 3-4 clutch pack, transgo jr shift kit, beast sun shell and had the transfer case resealed as well as the rear main seal changed while they were in there. I'm still running this same transmission and it's been great. It runs cool (I have a huge cooler and gauge on it now) and is nice having a low first gear and OD.

Oh I forgot... the shop I ended up at turned out to be a really good bunch of guys and I still go there when I need drivetrain stuff or have questions. He checked my TV cable for me when I changed carbs a while back too. While it was in getting all the trans work done he hooked me up with a new rear driveshaft that was the correct length for the lift and had a 1350 end so I didn't have to run conversion joints anymore.

 

[Avery4jc]

The truck was getting a lot better with all the work that was being done and at some point around this time I picked up some 35" BFG AT's on some nice 8 lug aluminum wheels. With the new trans, 4.10's and these 35's it was finally feeling like a solid truck.

 

[Avery4jc]

In the summer of 2007 I took it on it's first wheeling trip. For some stupid reason I swapped my bfg's out for my baja claws on this trip. Obviously the bfg's would have been a lot better out in the sand but what did I know.

We stayed down on the sand at Oceano Dunes and I met up with chevyin, two brothers and their dad that all used the same username here on ck5. They are probably the reason I got into wheeling and loving the dunes. They showed me how it's done and really got me interested in building the truck up more.
Sadly I met up with them in and out for the next couple years until they moved away and haven't signed back on here. If I could get in touch with them it'd be awesome but I don't see that happening.

 

[Avery4jc]

I'll add more updates this afternoon when I have time...

 

[stumpbuster]

love it

keep em coming
sik truck

 

[big dan]

love it

keep em coming
sik truck

x2, Ive always loved your truck.

It was a nice version of mine

 

[blazinzuk]

I remember when you came on dude, you were definitely green.

Not so much anymore huh?

Nice to see a build thread for ya, will probably be like mine kind of just pics I had trying to put em together

 

[jekquistk5]

I always was envious of your rig, since the sheet metal was so nice. Must be nice to live in cali. Which reminds me, your truck is known by the state of california to cause cancer. Just FYI.

 

[Smokinthehippies]

Bout time avery!

 

[swettysblazer]

Agreed with everyone here, I love your truck man. Looking forward to the updates!

 

[Avery4jc]

So after the trip to Pismo things got slow because I moved to Texas for a while where my sister was going to school. I moved back eventually but nothing really happened to the k10 for about a year, well nothing worth taking pictures of. I did some wiring, lights, fuel pump went out somewhere along there, etc.

Then things started picking up again...

I drove down south to Bakersfield and traded my 38.5" baja claws for some 35/15.5-15 TSL SX's (five of them) and I ran those tires up until a couple weeks ago when I sold them. They were awesome and if I can find some SX's in a bigger size here shortly I'll run them again.

 

[Avery4jc]

Oh, two things you might have noticed in the previous pictures...

I got some Bilstein 5125's out back and 5150's up front.

I still run these shocks (mounted differently) and they've been great. I had them off not too long ago after some years of abuse and they're still smooth through the stroke and are haven't lost any of their charge.

The other thing that happened around that same time was where it all started going down hill. I picked up an '00 K3500 which made the k10 a straight up toy...

It was a good truck for the time but looking back I spent too much. I completely (like $1400+) rebuilt the front end and steering, did a cap/rotor/plugs/wires, put in a big stereo and exhaust. I put on some 305/70-16 Nitto Terra Grapplers on some black steel rims, looked cool and was a neat truck but it didn't like towing up the mountains around here. If I lived in Texas still or somewhere else flat I'd still have it.

 

[Avery4jc]

I welded the 14 bolt before my next trip to the dunes. It's still welded to this day and has been on lots of trips without problems and has let the truck go places it probably shouldn't.

I took it to work because at this point I still didn't have very many tools at the house. I pre-heated it, laid in some weld, post heated and let it cool all afternoon until it was time to go home. I'm sure there's a lot of ways to do it but mine hasn't given me a lick of problems so I guess I did it right.

I don't have any pictures of that trip because I was playing taxi. At the time my dad was the youth minister at our church and we got the bright idea to take them (meaning 50ish jr high and high school kids) to camp for the weekend at the dunes. It was a blast but not a typical wheeling trip.

 

[Avery4jc]

I mounted the spare and hi-lift in the bed...

..and did some work under the hood. I pulled all the HVAC out and tried to clean up the firewall a bit.

 

[Avery4jc]

I took it to Oceano to play in the summer of 2008. I still didn't have my own trailer so I borrowed one. As usual with borrowed stuff it all looked ok but once I loaded up and hit the road the tires started falling apart. I ended up having to replace all four tires in Pismo before we could drive it home.

 

[colbystephens]

Cool to see a concise version of your story! Can you post some more pics of how you mounted your shocks? I need to change out my shocks in the not too distant future and was thinking of going with something like what you've got.