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Phil's '88 Big Blue Build Thread

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Phil513

Phil513

Freakin' Sponge
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Phil513 submitted a new Build:

Phil's '88 Big Blue Build Thread

Hello all. Phil from Las Vegas here. As of this afternoon I re-entered the world of the square body. Back in the 90's I owned a 77 K5, a 77 K20, and a 88 K 'Burban. But I have pretty much forgot everything by now.

Today I picked up what seems to be an 88 retired USGS truck. Has the SM465, which is very cool. I have been lurking on this site for quite awhile, it is so full of great info. Hopefully you guys will be able to steer me straight as I start fixing it up!

I think you have to have a few posts before you can post a pic, but I'll give it a shot.







View attachment 230297
Click to expand...

Read more about this build here...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Linking pics to photobucket overides the "post needed" thing. You need 5 posts to upload directly to the forum.

Looks like a great rig! Clean too!

What are the plans?
 
Yeah, I'm pretty stoked.

Basically, I want a rig to explore the desert around this area, in my younger days (I'm 49) I spent a lot of time bombing around Anza Borrego and the high Mojave (Johnson Valley) in California. (And many trips to Glamis).

Plans include (unless you guys think of better ones)

33 inch tires.
Just enough lift for said tires, I'm thinking 2"
Paint job (gonna do that myself)
upgrade to the 31 gallon tank
Possibly a rear locker
clean up the interior.

Beyond that, i dunno yet.
 
Oh, as for my goal, a fairly comfortable, streetable rig that can do some decent desert 4 wheeling. I'm not going up Jackhammer.
 
Im in the same boat dude!

I did ORD custom front springs, with nice shocks and air bumps and shackle flip in the rear.


IMO rear locker is a must. Made the biggest difference over any other drivetrain mod IMO.
 
Cool! Yes, I have learned about the shackle flip reading about it here, definitely what I'm going to do. My problem right now is I can't buy tires AND a lift at the same time, can't afford it. So I'll probably just be collecting parts for now. lol. Sucks driving around on cookie cutters, but so be it.

Apparently my rig has the 3.42 gears, but I should be alright with 33's, i think.

As for a locker, that Powertrax No Slip looks interesting. I'm pretty mellow, so I'm pretty sure it will hold up for what I want to do.

Here is a crappy pic of a pic of my old 77. This is the paint job i want to duplicate on this one.

 
I have the no slip up front, and it seems to work pretty nice and smooth.

I did a detroit in the rear and that is by far the nicest locker I have ridden in a vehicle with, both on and off road.

That paint job looks nice. I dig it.

IMO i would try and ditch the 3.42 axles though if you can find cheap replacements. Your engine and trans are gonna work really hard off road. BUT, you will prolly be right in the money in 4 lo offroad in the sand.
 
The detroit doesn't bang and clunk too much on the street?
 
Phil513 said:
The detroit doesn't bang and clunk too much on the street?
Click to expand...

Ive heard of people with 14b full floaters having issues with clunking and banging. But that is a drop into the stock carrier.

In my 14 bolt semi floater, it is a full case locker that replaces the carrier. Not sure if that made the difference, but I can turn circles on pavement and never have any clunking or banging.

Only time it ever made any noise was one time coming out of corner on the road when i mashed the skinny....
 
Well, I'll keep the detriot in mind then.

I was hoping to avoid going to 1 tons and regearing and all that. But perhaps it's inevitable. Maybe finding a couple 10 bolts with 3.73's wouldn't be too tough.

I can see I'm going to be spending money hanging out here. lol.
 
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Yes this place likes to spend your money.

I have my 3.73s I removed from my front axle if you would like them. Just pay me shipping and they are yours.

FYI i am running 10 bolt front and 14 bolt semi float (3/4 ton rear axle).
 
Cool! I'll PM my info. Thanks! Never tackled a gear swap myself, but I'm pretty mechanical, I can probably figure it out.
 
I never touched one until last winter. I have done 6 of them in the last year. Super simple. Just go by the instructions, take your time, and keep everything clean. Any questions, shoot me a pm.
 
Apparently I can only post a message every 10 minutes.

But yes, no rush at all. Won't be tackling that for awhile.
 
Thank you! I'm pretty jazzed about it so far. Occasionally when i start it after it has sat a bit it puffs some blue smoke, probably going to have to have the heads gone through eventually, but it's not bad.

Having limited funds I'm having to really plan ahead. If i buy big tires first, i can't really use them without the lift. And if i get the lift first, it will look ridiculous. So, methinks I'll just collect the lift parts, save them in the spare room until I can get tires and do it all at once. In the meantime, start with bodywork and paint.
 
Oh, and I called a place to price doing a front and rear gear swap (for when the time comes). They quoted me $1700!!!!

Holy crap. I think it's time I learned to tackle this myself.
 
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