Oh, I also removed the last rotten shock and replaced it with its new counterpart. 3/4ths of the way there. The last one hasta wait until I get my new shock studs. Brown Santa, Brown Santa.
CK5
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The Green Grendel
- Thread starter campfire
- Start date
I'm afraid you've lost me here. What are you saying?
I'm saying, one does not just throw 8lug axles under a Blazer without some intent to wheel it at some point. Blazers with 14bff and 8lug front axles be it, D44, 10b or a D60 look badass. Add to the fact that you stuffed a nv4500 into the mix really should wheel off road well. Just need small boost in altitude and maybe some 33's and you should have a very capable trail rig.
Gotcha. You're probably right. At this point I'm just enjoying the building process without much intent for the truck when it's finished. I love seeing the project come together. This truck still feels like practice for the more important overland rig. Which will see a small altitude boost and 33s. Not sure what's ultimately gonna happen with this one. It's too small to carry the family and a sleeping platform, and I don't think a camping trailer is a good idea on our winding trails. So it's not going to be the awesome self-contained camper that I'm looking for. Plus we both dislike the lack of rear doors. We definitely should have started with a Suburban (hindsight is 20/20, eh?). But this one is real while the other one is imaginary, so it does have that very large advantage.
One big thing this one does have is that I have no problem subjecting it to the relentless salt bath (it's already rusted beyond hope), so I should get some fun snow riding.
My 75 was really rusty by Colorado standards, probably mint by rustbelt standards, but I wheeled the heck out of it. It's different wheeling when you don't care about body damage. Damn the finesse and put the loudpedal down!
Still, the K5 might be a bit tight quarters for a family as an expedition rig. Mine is shaping up that way, but for the most part it's got to carry me and my son or a buddy. I think, with the rear seat folded forward I'll have lots of room to spread out. Heck Campy, you've rolled out on trips in the Pickup, the K5 would be way more room than you are used too. Still, the Burb is that much more but since you got both you can split the duty. K5 for local fun runs, Burb for long distance runs.
Still, the K5 might be a bit tight quarters for a family as an expedition rig. Mine is shaping up that way, but for the most part it's got to carry me and my son or a buddy. I think, with the rear seat folded forward I'll have lots of room to spread out. Heck Campy, you've rolled out on trips in the Pickup, the K5 would be way more room than you are used too. Still, the Burb is that much more but since you got both you can split the duty. K5 for local fun runs, Burb for long distance runs.
Yes, I've used the pickup in several configurations. And I've disliked all of them. Especially when it rains. Which, in this area, is a whole lot of the time.
The K5 is a fine rig, it's just not a self-contained sleeping rig for my size of family. If you don't need the back seat it's a really nice size, IMO. With the back seat folded up you have less than 5' of length (can't remember the exact dimension off the top of my head), so I wouldn't call that comfy. If you take the rear seat out more space appears, but I bet you wind up sleeping diagonally across the space. It's still just 5.5' of total length if you don't push the front seats forward. The Suburban rear has almost exactly the same dimensions, but of course there's an extra row of seats. As the M1009 lacks interior panels, I can use the full 6' of width, but it's amazing how much less room a trimmed-out rig has.
Yes, I've used the pickup in several configurations. And I've disliked all of them. Especially when it rains. Which, in this area, is a whole lot of the time.
The K5 is a fine rig, it's just not a self-contained sleeping rig for my size of family. If you don't need the back seat it's a really nice size, IMO. With the back seat folded up you have less than 5' of length (can't remember the exact dimension off the top of my head), so I wouldn't call that comfy. If you take the rear seat out more space appears, but I bet you wind up sleeping diagonally across the space. It's still just 5.5' of total length if you don't push the front seats forward. The Suburban rear has almost exactly the same dimensions, but of course there's an extra row of seats. As the M1009 lacks interior panels, I can use the full 6' of width, but it's amazing how much less room a trimmed-out rig has.
Mine 91 like yours was originally owned by Uncle Sam. So mine is a stripped down model with no interior panels beside what is on the doors. I haven't installed the rear seat yet and without it I could lie down comfortably. I never tried to sleep in the back of my '75 since a previous owner thought it would be cool to weld in a pair of Toyota 4runner rear seats. I did sleep in the passenger seat on one overnighter. I should say tried to sleep. I love my Silverado seats, but even with the back reclined they do not allow for comfy sleeping at all. I was probably better off on the ground.
Once upon a time I pulled a split bench from a GMT400 truck, and that's what I now have in here (though only the driver's seat is bolted down). But I managed to get one that doesn't lean back at all.
Suffice it to say that reclining seats are on my list of things that would make the rig better.
This is what I wound up doing, but it slowed the flow rate down quite a bit. I think I need larger hose next time. The rear axle didn't need the hose extension and was filled in half the time.
Also, for my future reference, the front axle took 2 1/4 quarts of positraction-friendly Lucas brand synthetic 75W-90 gear oil. The rear took 3 quarts of generic 80W-90 gear oil. It sounds backwards to put the crummy oil in the axle that sees vastly more miles, but the cheap oil wasn't specified for use with limited slip differentials (and it's what I already had, a growing theme for this hand-me-down zero-dollar build).
IIRC the 14BFF in the Suburban took 2.5 quarts of fluid, I'm not sure why the difference.
I just read "decepticons" instead of deceptions
Greg, you'll be happy to know that I did not find any decepticons hiding inside of the axle housing. You can sleep safely tonight.
Installed the final shock tonight and used my new vacuum bleeder pump on the clutch and both front brake calipers. The effort was not a success. The clutch pedal feels firmer now, but it is still not fully engaging. I still feel a little sponginess at the top of the stroke, so I think I'll try it again. But otherwise I'm cornfused. The rod is no longer loose, but I still can't stop without applying the brakes. And shifting while stopped is out of the question. Can someone with a factory setup verify that the pedal does not go nearly all the way to the floor? That seems odd to me.
On the brakes side of things, one of my bleeders plugged. So the pump did not work on that side. I'll give it another go later. I drove it around with its new front gears. Still have unhappy groaning from the transmission, but the rest of it is all starting to come together. Test drive 2:
I now have U-joint straps, so the next step is cleaning up the slip yoke and mounting the rear driveshaft for real, matching 4x4 operation. Oh, and getting some tranny lube.
One piece at a time...
On the brakes side of things, one of my bleeders plugged. So the pump did not work on that side. I'll give it another go later. I drove it around with its new front gears. Still have unhappy groaning from the transmission, but the rest of it is all starting to come together. Test drive 2:
I now have U-joint straps, so the next step is cleaning up the slip yoke and mounting the rear driveshaft for real, matching 4x4 operation. Oh, and getting some tranny lube.
One piece at a time...
I also caught my new GP relay failing today. The contacts stayed closed when I removed power. This happened twice, and the second time around I was not able to get it to disengage, so I removed the power feed (which was noticeably hot!) and I am now in the market for yet another relay replacement.
I was able to capture some footage of the miniature lightning storm inside the relay housing while playing with a clip lead. It was neat to watch.
You can hear the difference between a loud click (good) and a soft click (bad). At the end it just stayed closed and that's when I disconnected the battery wire.
I am glad this happened when I was pay attention and not during the 98% of the time that this truck sits.
I was able to capture some footage of the miniature lightning storm inside the relay housing while playing with a clip lead. It was neat to watch.
You can hear the difference between a loud click (good) and a soft click (bad). At the end it just stayed closed and that's when I disconnected the battery wire.
I am glad this happened when I was pay attention and not during the 98% of the time that this truck sits.
I also caught my new GP relay failing today. The contacts stayed closed when I removed power. This happened twice, and the second time around I was not able to get it to disengage, so I removed the power feed (which was noticeably hot!) and I am now in the market for yet another relay replacement.
I was able to capture some footage of the miniature lightning storm inside the relay housing while playing with a clip lead. It was neat to watch.
You can hear the difference between a loud click (good) and a soft click (bad). At the end it just stayed closed and that's when I disconnected the battery wire.
I am glad this happened when I was pay attention and not during the 98% of the time that this truck sits.
My truck has the separate relay and controller being an 82 but I was having a similar issue where the relay would suddenly turn on/off rapidly. I ended up wiring a "master" switch in line with the switched ground that turns the relay on. I did eventually replace both the relay and controller but kept the switch just incase the issue ever happens again.
This relay is controlled by a manual button. I was having some problems with button continuity last week (or so it seemed), but this week the button was fine and the relay was flaky. The relay is loud enough to easily hear it from the cab. On my K10 I've had onlookers ask me if my solenoid was shot when cycling plugs. I can't say that I blame them, the sound is similar enough. But today I was hearing it at half volume, and looking at the arcing I'm pretty confident that it was sticking closed and not opening properly (no noise because the switch wasn't actually flipping). Arcing like that is unacceptable, the relay will be replaced. I thought about a mild short in the switch causing the relay to be half-energized, but the film clip was shot with the 12V feed to the button disconnected, the clip lead was the only power source in play.
When I got the truck, the button was in line with the ground as you described. The P.O. said it was because the controller stayed on while the engine was running, but my observation was that the controller didn't always come on when I wanted to start the engine. So when I replaced the old relay I rewired it to directly control the relay with no controller in play. Part of me kinda likes the automation of the stock controller, but most of me doesn't. And in 2010, when I wired my first one, I didn't feel like messing with the timer settings in the controller (I'm running slow-heating AC 60G plugs). So I wired up a momentary switch and have been happy with it ever since.
I'm not sure why this relay is acting differently than the other 2 do. My only guess is that I'm drawing more current than the relay can handle. I thought I did my homework properly last winter, but I have been known to make mistakes.
The relays have always been loud in my truck. I have noticed that most only last a few years before needing replacement. I've changed it about 5 times in 16 years of ownership. The 60gs are slower to heat up but they pull no more amps then any other glow plug far as I know. what kind of condition is the glow plug harness in? Mine worked a ton better when I put a new harness in the truck.
How old is the relay that's currently on the truck?
How old is the relay that's currently on the truck?
The current relay was installed last winter and has been through about 6 (yes, six) starting cycles. It should in no way be worn out now. I replaced Big Blue's relay in the fall of 2010 and it's still happy as a clam 20,000 miles later. Ditto for the Suburban (which has only seen 5,000 miles so far). This one has seen zero miles.
The 60G plugs do certainly draw more power than my old burned-out plugs did.
I can't picture a crummy harness causing the relay to stick closed like that. It should always open and close, regardless of how well the plugs are working.
I will probably redo at least the line feeding the relay. The OEM solution of feeding 24V through a resistor bank leads to premature GP failure. I'm not a fan, and it will be set up for 12V like a standard civilian truck. This seems like a good time to do that, since I'm redoing the relay anyways.
Course they draw more power, they're all working, lol. I never checked the amp draw difference from standard glow plugs and the 60gs, as I put the 60s in when I first bought and have always run them. I'd say if the truck has some funky wiring since it was a cucv and you need to fix some of it anyway you'll be time ahead to just wire like one of your other rigs.
If you just bought the relay I'd take it back if you can. Always possible it was bad in the box.
If you just bought the relay I'd take it back if you can. Always possible it was bad in the box.
It may have been bad in the box, but I bought it last year. Pretty sure it's too old to return even if it did have some form of warranty.
