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So ya wanna daily drive your K5/10/20/30. What would be your ideal setup?

my daily driver is my 85 K20 6.2 diesel, SM465/208, 3.73s, Detroit in the rear, open front, rear discs, 37 BFG A/Ts on H2s. I daily drive it here in sask. I do have a new truck that the old lady drives which is nice and I do drive a service truck spring to fall so its not like I have to drive it all year, everyday but I do drive it all winter.
Gets solid 20mpg on the highway,2 huge batteries and manual glow plugs makes it start in -45 even without being plugged in. All terrains and detroit are awesome on ice and in deep snow thats common is sask.
Definitely for a daily k5 I would make it quieter (sound deadening, weatherstripping, etc), put a 6spd in there, turn the pump up and turbo it, 4.10s, nice seats, but pretty much the same deal.
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If I were gonna DD it:
91 fully loaded, auto, 350TBI.
3" ez rides up front, shackle flip out back, Bilstien 5100's
crossover steering and a custom swaybar setup
rear axle swap, probably a 14 bolt semi floater (though a custom Ford 9" with 35 splines would be pimp!) with an ARB, regear front and rear to about 4.10 or maybe 4.56
frontend- stock except some good manual hubs
35" KM2's on some nice looking 15x8 wheels, with a little bit of fender trimming
SYE on the 241, custom rear drive shaft.

My K5 has this suspension setup and when I was just running 33's and half ton axles it rode very nicely and was good up to about 80mph in comfort! A fully loaded K5 is nice and quiet and has comfy seats (IMO).

I think this would make for a very comfy daily driver K5 that wouldn't totally break the bank!
 
DK5 said:
ttt

Looking for more ideas :thumb:
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I dunno...I DD my '76 K5 beater. I mean every day. And I do mean beater.

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Stock 350/350, NP203, Dana 44/12 bolt, 31 x 10.50 BFG A/Ts, no radio, no carpet, no heater (too lazy to change the heater core) and a good amount of rust. Oh yes, and a fat Flowmaster to annoy the neighbors. With the exception of some carb problems a few months back, the thing has run like a top for the last 5 years. Gets about 13-15 MPG around town if I don't have it loaded down with tools.

I take it hunting/fishing/camping all the time, and while it's no rock crawler, it handles FS roads and two-track just fine. 80% of the miles it sees are on asphalt anyway. Parking in most public garages is not a big issue with no lift.

Upgrades? Bedliner the interior and add some carpet up front. Slap in a no-name CD player/radio. Swap the hashed front buckets for something less hashed. Add a locking console. Oh, and fix the heater core.

Further upgrades? A SM465 and NP205. Fix the rust. Replace all the weatherstripping, door & top seals and door fuzzies.

Maybe I'm too old school, but any '70s K5 with a manual trans and a V-8 would seem like the perfect DD for me.
 
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My 91 Suburban is the Perfect DD for me , Nice interior 4" lift 35" tires 6.2 gets great mileage!!


the only things I would change :

1-ton swap and H2's
P400 6.5 with banks turbo and DB4 pump
NV4500 or 4L80E
Fresh Paint
 
I DD my 91 K5. Silverado edition, 350, 10 bolts, 700R4, 3.73's and 35" KM2's on a 4 inch rough country lift. It is definitely not the smoothest ride, but it could be A LOT worse. Pioneer head unit, and a pretty good sound system. Hedman Hedders and a flowmaster 40 on it, a little loud but it sounds good :cool1:

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DK5 said:
Cool! Never thought of that. Keep 'em comin!

Here are some of my ideas:
-Bedliner with removable carpet on the floor.
-sound control mat of some sort
-Pickup conversion kit (or bolt-on half-cab conversion)
-definitely a diesel motor (i have a 6.2, but it needs rebuilding)
-some sort of manual tranny or an auto 4L80E
-soft springs with street performance shocks (road ride quality matters) or coil-over conversion
-black leather 40/20/40 seats out of a newer silverado
-not sure if I would stick with the 10 bolts, I have 3.42s now
-marine speakers

thats all I can think of right now..
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let's face it, most DD's are on the "road" 98% of the time. build something that excels at that and would be capable in some off road situations. is this a wish list or a build sheet? do you have any type of budget? i might have missed which truck you want to upgrade, the '88?


-upgrade the 6.2 and put a turbo on it
-3" spring lift with good shocks. if you have money to burn have some custom springs built for you. swaybar disconnects
-a decent 33" AT tire for snow. i'm looking hard at Goodyear Duratracs
-sound deaden the interior
-good sound system...not sure why you want marine speakers
-there is nothing wrong with a well built 700R4
-i can't imagine why you'd be needing different axles for a DD if you have the 30 spline 10 bolts. gear it so the diesel gets the best mileage with whatever tires you buy...
-selectable lockers in both axles....think snow driving

this sounds very much like my wishlist....only i have a TBI 350. i like these threads....there sure are some sweet trucks in here too. this is only my $.02
 
Well I will add to the thread.

The Jimmy I just bought is what I wanted to daily drive, Engine will never change, its a 6.2 it may eventually get a turbo but its a long ways off.

Trans 700, tcase 241 thats a great drivetrain IMHO.

Truck has a 6" all spring lift, down the road I will do a coil conversion on it. A daily driver is so much nicer when it rides as good as a newer half ton truck does.

As far as axles I am not sure, I don't mind having the 10 bolt front, but the rear I don't like, I may look for a 14b semifloat. But the cost of reagearing these to what I want I may just look for a set of tons from a cucv, already has good gearing for 37s which is what I would run.

One very important thing to me as far as a daily driver is the fact everything works as it should. No dead gauges, wiring is solid, all the windows go up and down, nothing loose or falling off.

Another thing is lighting. I will do an HID conversion on my headlights, I have dual headlights so the wiring will be such that the low beams stay on with the highs so no problem switching from brights back to dims.

Alot of what others have said, some sound deadening, nice seats, good stereo. I will probably build a center console that is slightly larger that has actual cupholders, nice carpet.

Just really make everything nicer, some things alot nicer, make sure everything works and do whatever I need to do to make it ride very very nice.
 
Awesome thread! I DD my 88 K5 (350TBI/700R4/3.73/31'S) and other then some exhaust work and maybe some comfier seats, she does pretty good. I'm due for a tune up to get my MPG a little better, but so far, so good!
 
I dd my 90 Burb, but there are a few things I'd change. Namely the exhaust (the glasspacks are getting annoying) and I'd convert the power windows to manual. My window motors suck and changing them is a PITA. And with the ice buildup we get at times, a manual can be armstronged to roll up/down whereas an electric wont budge. I stripped the interior of headliner and flooring because it was too hard to keep it clean and nice looking. I dont mind it except wintertime. Those floors get cold!

Right now I have 350TBI/465/205 with 3.73 10 bolts and 33's. Front fenders are trimmed and I have 2x add-a-leafs in the back. Rides very rough, but I think all my bushings and shocks are toast. Might be better if I fixed those. With the drivetrain combo I have, it's easy to drive and if I stay under 60mph, I can squeeze 20 mpg unloaded.

All in all, I have good ground clearance, but still low enough to tow. Decent economy but vast amounts of seating/cargo space. She's not fast or pretty, but she's rugged and reliable, and that's what counts for a DD!
 
Ok, 19 to be more exact. I drove from Wichita, KS to Sioux Falls, SD on 29 gallons of gas. Comes out to 19mpg and all I had in the truck was my toolbox, tow bar, backpack full of clothes and a few jugs of misc fluids. I dont know the exact speed I drove since my speedo doesnt work, but by the calculations on grimmjeeper.com, I was anywhere from 53-57 at 2100 rpms. Not bad for an old peice of rusted junk.

And the 90 didnt come with the 465/205 combo. A 76 pickup donated the drivetrain as I had gone through 2 700r4's in about 2 years and was sick of slushbox trannies.
 
Seeing how I want another K5 for a daily driver I guess I'll chime in. I already had 3 of them as DD's. I would want a 89 to 91 with 33" BFG AT's and just a little lift. Maybe zero rates and a 1" body lift. I would go with a 44 and 12 bolt with 4.56 gears and a set of ARB's. Get a set of good shocks to help with the ride. Also a good set of seats from PRP or TS. All poly mounts through out. Interior would get gutted and the floor would get some sort of spray liner and then the carpet to help with sound. I would also think about some sort of roll bar. I would add a soft top too. As far as the engine I would look into a 5.3 swap or just some mild mods to the tbi 350. Trans would stay a 700r4.
 
Im going to be dding my 82 K25, it has a 6.2/465/208 in it with 3.73 gears and a gov-loc in the rear. Im in the process of installing a 4in lift and 37 Hummer tires, when it was still stock on 285's it got 17 mpg around town and hoping it will be better on the highway with the 37's.

 
seems to me, on the lift situation, guys are doing the 3" deal, or AAL/zero rate and maybe 1" BL. But overall, 3" lift and under.

so....which would ride better- 3" Ez rides or stock w/ zero rate? (assuming stock springs are in decent shape)

Also, can cross-over be done on such a low lift???
 
I daily drive my 87 Jimmy. Its stock. 31" all terrains and no lift, and I'm happy with it. I do want to replace all the window seals cause the wind noise is bad. Also would like to squeeze a little more mpg out of the tbi 350. I probably will get a mpg tune from tbichips.
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JeffsJeep04 said:
There is no freaking way man...you sound like the cummins guys with that statement there :D:D

I'm jealous of your drivetrain...I didn't realize they put the 205 in that late though.
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They Didn't in the Burbs or Blazers ( they got an SM465/NV241) but the Crew Cabs got the 205 and you could get the SM465 4-speed all the way to the 92 model year. In 93 they introduced the NV4500

as for 20 MPG I could see it I get 20+ with my Diesel Subby on 35" tires with a big winch bumper and "fuel sucking" Lund Visor and thats on Alaska roads with ****tarded Valley traffic

LOL and you must be a Ford 7.3 or 6.0 driver with the Cummins comment I always hear those guys whining about sub-teen mpg's and how theres no way a Cummins or D-max can get better then they do :haha:
 
COCHEV said:
seems to me, on the lift situation, guys are doing the 3" deal, or AAL/zero rate and maybe 1" BL. But overall, 3" lift and under.

so....which would ride better- 3" Ez rides or stock w/ zero rate? (assuming stock springs are in decent shape)

Also, can cross-over be done on such a low lift???
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i just called ORD and asked this question....Chris told me that a crossover setup would be fine on a 3" or 4" lift. any lower and you end up with cross member and bump stop problems. soooooo, now i think i'll be doing that eventually for the handling benefits you'll get. probably upgrade the shafts at the same time too.

my guess is that a 3" lift requires the least amount of modifications and gives the most bang for the buck on a capable daily driver. 3/33 should have been stock from Chevy. i've never ridden in an "EZ ride" rig, but i did get my old 2.5" setup to ride much better than stock. AAL would make it worse i would think.
 
yellowK20 said:
...LOL and you must be a Ford 7.3 or 6.0 driver with the Cummins comment I always hear those guys whining about sub-teen mpg's and how theres no way a Cummins or D-max can get better then they do :haha:
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HELL no I don't drive a powerstroke. I had one for one trip out when I was working on the road setting up plants when I was between trucks and it was TERRIBLE. Pure interstate, one fuel stop to the next, cruse set at 65 and a tail wind going through central Illinois I squeaked out 16 with it. Other then that, it was 12-14 all the time. I just laugh at the cummins guys who all get 25 mpg on the highway and 21 in town and 17 while towing 10k behind them. Sure....you MIGHT get 25 in a cummins (if it's just the right configuration and all the stars line up), but you sure won't get it regularly enough to even begin to say that's what your truck gets. I just don't understand why folks need to brag about the outlandish mileage their vehicles get. I had one cummins guy straight faced tell me he got over 30 with his regularly. I read the diesel power article, I know exactly what it takes to break 30 in a cummins, and it's not happening in any normal truck.
 
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