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Need feedback, two days to pull the trigger...

K

K5dreamer

1/2 ton status
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Location
Alexandria, Va
or pass.

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3169613#post3169613

I'm feelin it for the current selling price... BUT

1. Can I drive 180 miles in 4HI on the front axle alone due to rear driveline angle issues?

2. whats the plate welded on behind the starter motor?

3. is the rust really way worse than I think and I'm being blinded by infatuation?

Sorry for reposting a link to a small forum in the general forums, but i need as much feedback as I can get, and told the lady I'd call her in two days to give her the yay or nay.

Thanks all.
 
If the front end is open or LSD I'd drive it in FWD without much worry...however if the axle U-joints are even a little crusty they may destruct on the way home.

The rear is a case of incorrect straps.

Tailgate align...easy 20 minute job.
Door align looks normal
Rocker boxes look like a fairly easy fix, they're pretty solid!

Windshield frame...gonna need to remove the glass and do some surgery. It looks quite save-able though

The chatter off the line is likely a case of too tall gearing. Did you find out what gearing it supposedly has? With 38's I'd want to see at least 4.10's with the SM 465. Once a clutch has been chattering for a while it'll need to be replaced. It'll just keep chattering, and more than likely the internal wave springs in the disc are already damaged. I had a disc come apart due to chatter. 2.73's and 33's.

With half ton diff's that truck could easily have 3.08's or 3.42's.

If it does have tall gears use "L" instead of 1rst to get it moving and treat it like the 4 speed it is. Just consider 4th OD...I drove mine for 3 or 4 years like that.

Overall I think it's not bad for $3500, the full verts are harder and harder to come by.
 
K5dreamer said:
or pass.


http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3169613#post3169613


I'm feelin it for the current selling price... BUT

1. Can I drive 180 miles in 4HI on the front axle alone due to rear driveline angle issues?

2. whats the plate welded on behind the starter motor?

3. is the rust really way worse than I think and I'm being blinded by infatuation?

Sorry for reposting a link to a small forum in the general forums, but i need as much feedback as I can get, and told the lady I'd call her in two days to give her the yay or nay.

Thanks all.
Click to expand...
You could drive it in 4HI because its physically possible......... buuuuut I wouldnt!! It looks like a good buy with fixable issues especially with a full vert top:thumb:
 
tRustyK5 said:
If the front end is open or LSD I'd drive it in FWD without much worry...however if the axle U-joints are even a little crusty they may destruct on the way home.

The rear is a case of incorrect straps.

Tailgate align...easy 20 minute job.
Door align looks normal
Rocker boxes look like a fairly easy fix, they're pretty solid!

Windshield frame...gonna need to remove the glass and do some surgery. It looks quite save-able though

The chatter off the line is likely a case of too tall gearing. Did you find out what gearing it supposedly has? With 38's I'd want to see at least 4.10's with the SM 465. Once a clutch has been chattering for a while it'll need to be replaced. It'll just keep chattering, and more than likely the internal wave springs in the disc are already damaged. I had a disc come apart due to chatter. 2.73's and 33's.

With half ton diff's that truck could easily have 3.08's or 3.42's.

If it does have tall gears use "L" instead of 1rst to get it moving and treat it like the 4 speed it is. Just consider 4th OD...I drove mine for 3 or 4 years like that.

Overall I think it's not bad for $3500, the full verts are harder and harder to come by.
Click to expand...

Always good to hear from you Rene, I did think to ask her about the gearing after I left via text message, but she really doesn't know about cars in general, let alone the specs on the truck. She said she'd try to get back to me on it.

as to the rear axle flipping up like that, you mention incorrect "straps".... educate me please. is that an easy fix? Like something I could do in a parking lot before I undertake the drive home? and reattach the driveshaft? or is that once I get home and have a cherry picker to lift the rear end of the truck to unload the axle?
 
doonjumper said:
You could drive it in 4HI because its physically possible......... buuuuut I wouldnt!! It looks like a good buy with fixable issues especially with a full vert top:thumb:
Click to expand...

yeah, i totally get ya, its absolutely not my first choice, just no other means to transport it. :doah:
 
It might even be that it was the wrong U-joint in the first place...but either way with the yoke cracked it's fizzucked and will need a new yoke.
 
i just recently cleaned up a cab for my 2wd build.

looked perfect when i pulled the winshield to get ready for media blasting .

then when it returned i found a few big holes and lots of small holes. pics show the holes and repairs. there was no signs of bad spots before glass pulled. yours is WOW rusty . :doah:

the amount of rust on the body the vehicle in the link is showing i would RUN AWAY . !

i have lived and worked in the rust belt for over 10 years and that one by just the pics looks real bad .

then all the messed up driveline problems and its even got a weld in repair plate on the frame at the steering box . ( not a death item but been road hard )

there is better stuff out there and requires a LOT LESS WORK .

0526121340a.jpg

0526121526a.jpg

0526121526b.jpg

0526121526c.jpg

0526121526d.jpg
 
Never mind. Pass on it.

My 73 had the same bubbles and rust on the window frame, and both a pillars were rusted to almost tin cans, I had to cuts bunch out and repatch just so my doors didn't rip off. You can kinda see from the pic. Probably rusty were the top bolt on fender is, and down to the bottom of the a pillar , to the floor
 
I agree, the paint is likely hiding a good deal of rust, but I was pretty thorough on the whole rig, and it really isn't that bad rust wise overall. at least as Rene pointed out, for my price range and location. I did the thumbnail press test all around the windshield frame, and only where there were bubbles did it give. But I dont know how expensive that repair work is. If I buy it, before getting to far into it, I was gonna ask my friends at a local body shop to give me a quote to strip the body of paint to find out the extent of the real rust, take pictures of it all, and then primer it while I figure out what Im gonna do with it. I had the doors open and checked the doorjambs and A pillars and they were solid. Keep in mind I just posted close up pictures of the bad spots I could find for this second go around, the whole truck is more solid than those pictures may present it as.

as to the driveline issues, it drove great, just has the rear axle issues. which to me isnt too bad. thats just spinning bolts and nuts, i can do that easy.

But then again, whats the point of asking for advice if I'm not open to whats being laid down... :rolleyes:
 
i circled the areas that my blazer had the exact ones. And mine was a Cali truck . Just those 2 holes

And damn i cant find pictures of my truck at that spot... But basically my a pillar was nice and good looking. i hit it a few times with a screwdriver and all this bondo fell off and i was looking at holes everywere. All around both door hinges. So look there.

rust was 99% of the reason i sold my blazer when it comes down to it. I was were you are now. I liked the truck, saw a few rust spots and said ahh that is no problem. then when i started hitting panels the bondo fell off and its true colors shone. especially with that nice shiny paintjob it is probably a disaster under all that.

rust.JPG
 
That is a valid point, I did just do a quick glance for scale, bubble, wavy surface, in the door jambs, especially when the wheel wells and front floorboards passed with flying colors. But I never even thought about the A-pillars and windshield frame being rebuilt with bondo. I did the fridge magnet test on the doors, fenders and quarters and it stuck everywhere I put it. But it does look like the majority of the rust on this rig is centered around the windshield, and I didnt do any magnet tests because I figured the rust damage was pretty visible.
 
Run away. I've seen dozens of trucks like that in the rust belt.

Since you're already talking about swapping major bits of the drivetrain over into your next K5 start with something that doesn't require body work like that POS.

It's a POS. Stop trying to unconvince yourself of that. It's in better shape than the usual K5 in the rust belt but that thing is a turd still. A shiny turd, but a turd none-the-less.
Save some more cash, find something out west with the help of the guys on here, and drive it back. Probably cost less than you'd spend buying that thing and FOR SURE cost less than fixing all that rusty bull****. **** that nonsense.
 
thats just it, I didnt think I was trying to convince myself. Ive been looking at a few of these trucks, and have seen massive rust, with whole body panels like the rocker boxes, rockers, floor panels, door panels, just GONE. I rolled out on this one today and was actually excited by the condition it was in.

Im just confused, I know the windshield is gonna need work, and there is some rot in the rocker boxes, and some along the lower edges of the doors. but the rest of the truck is solid... how is it a complete rustbelt POS? I honestly thought that was pretty light for one of these things unless you live in the desert. :dunno:

Its just really hard, I absolutely respect what you guys have to say, but the combination of full vert / sm465 / np205, in a non rusted out hulk, that's driveable and inspected, for less than $4k, is something I'm having a hard time letting go of. :doah:
 
You can get a 90-100% rust free truck out west for half that. The drivetrain you can buy for less than the difference.

Personally I don't give a **** about full verts.

I see all that painted over rust and the holes...it's got more rot than you can see and I'd bet money some of it is structural. Going to take time, work, money, and regret to fix it.
 
70jimmy said:
Here's one local to me. I haven't looked close at it but you get the idea.

http://pueblo.craigslist.org/cto/3261553295.html
Click to expand...

hey man I appreciate it, but like I said, Im hunting for a full vert. I get it, its not important to everyone, but its what I want. that ad also doesnt say if its auto or manual, and no idea if its rust free. Its a lifted 80's blazer for $3000, likely with a th350 or 700r4, neither of which appeals to me. and im not crazy about doing a manual swap. to me thats not even in the same relm of awesome as that 74, even with the rust issues... :dunno:
 
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