project blue whale *2wd to 4wd questions*

[original balzer]

So i found a crew cab close and cheap. Its a 1979 GMC c30 with a flatbed and swapped in 6.2 it has a sm465 with a PTO box but the PTO doesnt go to anything. And it runs but i dont know how well yet. (literaly 2 miles away frome house and $200). Ill get some pics when i get it home on my days off.

First i thought id put the cab on the frame of my 83 diesel, but had a new thought and heres where the question comes in. One of my best friends has a 2005 stupid duty f*&d. He lifted it 6", so now he has the stock leaf springs sitting in his garage and said i could have them if i wanted them. My questions are:
1) are these springs useable? (they look to be about 63-65 inches long and 3.25"-3.5" wide")
2) should i just use the frame it has and shorten the rear since i would be useing the longer springs and buildin lift into the spring mounts and shackles anyway or use the K20 frame and use parts of a body lift to make it fit?

The plan for the truck is to have a SHORT flatbed. weld in rect. tube for rocker panels among other body armor mods. Use my D60 14b axles a doubler x-case and possibly a nv4500 behind a 12v cummins. or the cheap route and use a sm465 behind a mild small block. I want to keep the lift relitively low and use 40-44" tires. You all know the rest of the usual mods. I want to keep it street legal. It would end up multi-purpose off road/hunting/camping/ect.

Thanx for any answers ideas sugestions
Balzer

consept pic**

 

[original balzer]

What nobody has Any imput?

Balzer

 

[original balzer]

Is it because i said ford? Did i piss everyone off? What gives?

balzer

 

[chevy wrangler]

im waiting for pics!LOL

 

[gmc4cw]

I have no input other then if someone offered to sell me a running anything for $200 I would buy it. the fact that its a crew cab means I would have bought it the second it was offered for sale.

 

[original balzer]

well im going to go get the beast today ill post progress later

Balzer

 

[chevy wrangler]

now if it looks like that it is gonna be kick a$$

 

[CDA 455]

That rig would look great with a set of 46" Michelins like these:

Mounted to a set of 2.5 ton Rocks !

 

[original balzer]

pics

 

[original balzer]

more Yea its basicaly a pile of crap but in my mind it will be bad a$$ when its done. Its not gunna be an EXTREEME HARDCORE rig just a purpose built rig built with tough parts.

Balzer

 

[lectric80]

I notice the most important part of any truck is there around the shifter, duct tape.

 

[original balzer]

lol its probably the most valuable part anyway

Balzer

 

[chevy wrangler]

are you gonna shorten the frame or use a 4x4 regular cab lwb frame??

 

[trollporter]

I'm acctually in the process of building a '88 Crew Cab, 2.5 Steerable Rockwells, tbi350/sm465/Div np205, 4 link F&R, 47" LTB's, 16.5" Dean Reed Double bead locks, full exo. It will be bobed right behind the cab and should end up around 147"-150" on the wheelbase. The only suggestion I have to offer is boat siding. That really is alot of cab to be draging around if you are doing any rocks. Do a search for Willyswanter on here, probaly one of the pimpest Crew Cabs ever.

troy

 

[original balzer]

IT RUNS!!!!!!!!!!! and very well at that i might add. runs as good as a good 350 would I guess. The trans pops out of 3rd real bad you gotta hold it in. got the bed off and the grill gaurd, 2 new batts. cut the exhaust off and its alive. I havent desided if im gunna shorten this frame or use the reg cab LB frame. from what i have seen the front needs body lift to fit a LBRC frame. My friend said i could have his stock super duty springs but i still dont know if those will be what i want to use. to add to the SCORE! value there was a NEW 10' extention cord and both tanks are full of diesel.

new pics** my faithful assistant "Festus" at bottom

 

[original balzer]

well they wont load ill try later


balzer

 

[RootBreaker]

The trans pops out of 3rd real bad you gotta hold it in.

yeah..... when you figure that out... lemme know.. mine does that.. when you say 3rd do you mean...


1-2-3-4 or L-1-2-3 ???

min pops out on the first one.....If I am driving it and in say 2nd... (second one as that is what my shifter says)... then I let off the gas and not holding the shifter in.. it pops out...

 

[original balzer]

Yes its a common problem in sm465s it happens in 3rd or alternatly 2nd in this pattern L-1-(2) 3 i know what part to replace but dont know what its called. I have been told theres other adjustments that can be made inside but i havent ever done any of it myself. I do belive my other sm465 (in the k5) pops out of third as well but no where near as bad.

balzer

 

[original balzer]

Well i desided to use the 2wd frame and shorten it. i got the forward rear spring hangers off another frame i have. Those will be mounted 25 inches forward and 3 inches lower than the originals. The original forward rear spring hangers will be moved back, and down, to adjust for good shackle angle, and pinion angle, then reinforced. (el-cheapo shackle reversal) I will build a custom crossmember for both areas after that. Then chop the frame off 4-6 inches behind the rear spring hangers. That should give me a 5 foot bed. The area under the cab where the fuel tanks used to be will have a muffler on the pass side and an air tank on the drivers side. The frame is tall enough im going to cut a 4" round hole then weld in a 4" pipe and box the back side for the exhaust to run though and into the muffler and from the muffler into a 5"x5' chrome "stack". Im going to keep the 6.2 as i already made the deal to get the turbo and related hardware from a 6.5TD. We will see if he holds up his end of the bargain, but im gunna use the 6.2 either way, because it runs strong. I ran into a slight delema though this crew cab has 40" spring centers and my blazer has 42" spring centers. The ff14b in the crew cab is 4.11 gears and the ff14b and d60 have 4.56 gears so its either swap the gears in the 14b's or cut and move the spring perches. I kinda figured that would be the case anyway. Im going to use the 52" springs off the K5 because the ford super duty springs are wider and would cause a bunch more figuring and fab work. Also i know the springs on the K5 ride well and flex good enough, as this isnt going to be an extreme rock crawler. But the biggest reason is im trying to keep this a low budget build at first, and why buy stuff when i can make do with what i got right? So thats all i have to update right now and i still cant seam to upload pics for some reason. Once i get the pic thing figured out ill post some (yay me! im actualy takeing pics as i go this time)

Balzer

 

[lectric80]

What size tires are you planning on running? I would think if you were thinking 33's or 35's that the 4.56 might be way too low for the diesel. It may give you really high rpm's at highway, and that won't work real well for the diesel. Just my thought's on this.