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CO Not mine 86 k30 4sp 454

That thing is freaking sweet. Drool.
 
I wish I would have purchased this K30. The posting is expired now... I wonder if it ever sold.
 
shima said:
MAN I am super excited. Thank you!!

EDIT: A bummer that the price was raised by $500, but I feel like this is still a smoking deal.

EDIT #2: Do we have anyone in Grand Junction?
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Just from looking at people's callsigns there should be a bunch of them. Good luck man! I hope that truck makes it to a good home
 
Felt bad calling him on Thanksgiving, but I just had to. I left a voicemail.

Some challenges that I have to figure out:
  • I have to get to Grand Junction and back (with a friend). 4 hour drive.
  • I don't have a lot of experience driving stick, so preferably said friend would be one particular close buddy who happens to be out of town until Monday.
  • It needs a driver's side window, which could mean that I'd be driving back to Denver with cold air flooding into the cab unless I tape it off with a trash bag or something.
  • There is a long bed K10 near me that is for sale for $1500 cheaper, which is sort of on my mind. The K30 is so much cooler though... and it can support a camper for snowboarding trips. The K10 probably cannot do that.
 
learn to drive stick real easy on a sm465 :waytogo:

k10 over k30 at the 1500 buck price difference = the cost of the dana 60 front alone in a lot of area's . you also get the benifets of all the k30 stuff . bigger frame / higher gvw for camper use / bigger rear axle / bigger brakes . . . .

duct tape and clear bag = trip home other than wind flapping the bag .
 
I got a call back - definitely some positives and negatives, but I'm still really interested.

All of the emissions stuff was removed, so I'd have to get that stuff on if I want to register it here in Denver. Not the end of the world but definitely an extra lump of cash. He also says there is a bit of a death wobble sometimes. He claims it is fine on the highway. Seemed a nice and honest guy. We chatted for about 15 minutes about it. We shall see.

EDIT: If anyone from Grand Junction sees this and is willing to check out the truck for some $$$ let me know. I'd love to figure out what is causing the supposed death wobble.
 
death wobble mostly is 30-45mph thing and even more 35-40 mph . i have had it happen and even fixed a lot of rigs with it on dana 60's .

86 k30 shouldn't be much emissions ? ? ?
 
shima said:
I got a call back - definitely some positives and negatives, but I'm still really interested.

All of the emissions stuff was removed, so I'd have to get that stuff on if I want to register it here in Denver. Not the end of the world but definitely an extra lump of cash. He also says there is a bit of a death wobble sometimes. He claims it is fine on the highway. Seemed a nice and honest guy. We chatted for about 15 minutes about it. We shall see.

EDIT: If anyone from Grand Junction sees this and is willing to check out the truck for some $$$ let me know. I'd love to figure out what is causing the supposed death wobble.
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Do your best to make friends with somebody in a non-emissions county. That's how I've worked around having my setup. I'd say this k30 is worth the money, hands down. You never see 85-91 k30's that are 4 speed very often. If you have to go be emissions compliant also, I've heard the Denver emissions people are easy to fool
 
I went out and looked at this thing today. Two buddies hopped in with me and we cruised all the way out to Grand Junction from Denver. I bought them breakfast and lunch to (hopefully) make it worth their while.

Holy cow this truck was cool. 454 / SM465 / NP205 / D60 / 14B FF... I was in awe. The body was rough but it was mostly mechanically sound. The dents in the body sort of made it cooler to me anyhow.

Sadly, I didn't end up purchasing it. Despite how badly I wanted it, the truck had problems that were just outside my skill level:
  • "Death wobble" at about 30-40 MPH - owner thought the axle kingpins may need to be rebuilt / redone. We felt this in person during the test drive and it was definitely scary.
  • Fell out of gear quite commonly when in 2nd. It probably happened 5-ish times during the test drive.
  • A hole in the floor pan. It wasn't a tremendously pressing problem (I could live with it for a while), but I don't know how to weld.
On top of that, it needed tires pretty badly and as stated earlier has no emissions equipment on it. I figured it would take me forever just to make it roadworthy. The drivetrain (aside from popping out of gear) was rock-solid. It took some work to get it fired up but once warm it ran like a champ.

It was so f***ing cool. I will be thinking about this one for a long time. I am glad we didn't end up having to drive it back to Denver though because it was snowing on the way home and the road was pretty sketchy. If the wobble started in that mess we'd be in a heap of trouble. No driver's side window as well so that would have been rough with the snow.

I may look into shipping quotes - if I could have it show up at my doorstep for a reasonable fee, perhaps I'd feel better about it. It just seemed like I would be in over my head so I passed.

Here is a picture of this magnificent, beautiful beast:
'86 K30

'86 K30

 
If you decide to get it, ask for help on here. If we can line up an open weekend, I could help with the king pin. Likely the old tires are a big culprit of the death wobble; tires have always been the cause of death wobble in my personal experience.

I can help with welding but our welder isn't set up well for sheet metal. It would depend on how bad and where it is.
 
mrk5 said:
If you decide to get it, ask for help on here. If we can line up an open weekend, I could help with the king pin. Likely the old tires are a big culprit of the death wobble; tires have always been the cause of death wobble in my personal experience.

I can help with welding but our welder isn't set up well for sheet metal. It would depend on how bad and where it is.
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Thanks so much, Scott - knowing I have some friends on here who can help was a big sway toward getting the truck.
 
king pin springs on top and nylon bushings fix them most of the time unless the pin is trashed or the tappered bearings on the bottom are worn out . fixed a LOT of dana 60's in my days .
 
How often do you get second chances like this? I think the work that this k30 needs is reasonable and I think taking the chance would be well worth it
 
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