The Start Of A Monster...

[Pvt. Maggot]

Well, It will be a monster to me, Even though it won't be the biggest. First to introduce myself. My names jack, was looking around for a k5 site for a good while and finally stumbled across this site, I plan on becoming a full member very soon. I aquired a 1985 Chevy Fullsize blazer from my grandma a while back, my dad was planning on fixing it up but got a 2002 GMC 2500 HD and didn't want it anymore so it passed to me. This was a travel truck. But didn't see much use really. It has power windows ect. dual front shocks. 5.0 V8, The 700r4 was just rebuilt. We added a Holly 600 street avenger carb, and a set of duals with cherry bombs, she purrrrrs, and that carb really woke the little 305 up. The biggest kicker is this truck has CLEANNN interior. It has 66k on it. Which is not bad at all for a 1985 and the only rust is surface! I got lucky on that one . Now for future mods. I'm not sure if I should go for a 6' lift, or the 4' shackle flip and front kit from offroad design. I plan on running 35' tires. I'm going to need to regear so what gears would you guys suggest and where should I get them? I am designing and having custom steel front and rear bumpers made. I'm looking at crager simulated beadlocks, blackkkkk=sweeeet. I'm going to be painting alot of trim and whatnot black as well. The truck will be primer for awhile. But I'll prob be painting it a metal flake blue. More worried about suspension and whatnot before paint. Any other suggestions on parts ect? Any help would be GREAT! Thanks for your time and help i'm glad I found such a great site. Take it easy guys!

Jack.

 

[thatK30guy]

WELCOME!!! To the greatest site known to man on CK-series trucks!!!

You will find this site very, very helpful and knowledgable. Don't be shy to ask questions, not even the dumb ones or the intelligent ones. Everyone is still learning something new everyday.

Again, welcome and hope to see you around the site frequently. Its gonna be hard to get off here once you start.

 

[78 k5]

As far as suspension, I'd go 4 inch shackle flip in the rear, 4 inch EZ ride springs up front (mucho flexo ), IMO the best combo out there without serious mods.

Please don't get simu. b-locks, they look cool but the wheeling community tends to frown upon wanna-bees Find some Eagle 589's or something to better complement your extravagant paint scheme.

Tires totally depend on their use, mostly street= procomp/BFG muds. Mild wheeling/some street= B.Claws maybe? Real wheeler= Anything from Interco.

Gears, 3.73 or 4.10 your call nothing more since your only running 35's. I've run Yukon's and had no probs.

BTW this is all just my opinion, someone may feel differently, but anyway....
Hope this helps and welcome.

 

[PhoenixZorn]

Just a few qualifying questions for you since you are so gung ho to start this build...

1. Do you have intentions of offroading this truck?
2. How long have you researched the choices you have already made?
3. What axles do you have under the truck now?
4. How much time do you have to invest in your truck?
5. How much green do you have to invest in your truck?
6. What is the gear ratio now?

With a 6" lift, you will spend close to $1000.00 for new springs that ride as good as or better than stock. You then have to worry about your shocks not being long enough, total suspension travel, etc. With a shackle flip (even a homegrown one) hardly any money goes into the swap, and no extra modifications are usually required.

You should narrow your tire selection to 3 brands or treads... there is a plethora of information here about tire selection, but if you don't know what you NEED, you can't figure out what you WANT. Whether or not this truck will be a daily driver or offroad king should play a large part in many of your "future mod" decisions.

If your truck plans include being a "Mall Crawler" then your stock 10-bolt axles should be fine... don't go overboard on the number of shocks like most do, and keep the steering on the driver's side of the truck until you have money to get it done right (this advice should be followed for either a Mall truck or a Rock truck.... or anything in between...) There is nothing worse than a nice looking rig with scary steering.

If, on the other hand, you intend to do some ground pounding with your beast, then you'll want to find a set of 4.10 or higher front and rear axles. You'll want at least an 8-lug Dana44 front end (preferably a D60) and a 14-bolt full floating rear end. Both Dana axles can be found under Chevy trucks of various years, but the most luck will be had with finding one under a Dodge. The 14-bolt FF is the axle found under every Chevy and GMC 1-Ton truck. The most readily available I think is a 4.10 or 4.11, but you can also find them with 3.73, 4.56, and I think 5.13 as well.

When I first got here, I was just like you. I don't know how many posts I have now, but when I was at 1-20 posts, I was like a kid in a candy store... finding a bunch of stuff I wanted to do to my truck, all at once, and not able to do anything at all. Just remember you are now working on a Classic vehicle. Parts are plentiful if you know where to look, but they can be expensive. It is always better to finish one project before starting another, no matter how easy the second project might be. The only acception to this rule is safety issues. If you are in the process of upgrading to rear discs and find your upper and lower ball joints are bad in the front, skip the brake job and fix the up front safety problems first.

Go slow and don't get burned out, and you'll be a member for life.

 

[tRustyK5]

With a 700R-4 i'd go with 5.13's. Of course you don't want to spend any significant money on 10 bolts...so you might as well pick up a D60 and 14 bolt FF right away. Might as well add Detroit lockers front and rear while you're regearing those to 5.13. Add some 15" travel mono tube shocks to your suspension set-up......




The above might be funny if it wasn't the reality for a lot of us here. We start one modification/project and it snowballs into the mother of all build ups. End result is that we're always broke and never go wheeling.

My honest advice is to take all the time you want reading, daydreaming, plotting and scheming here while enjoying your truck in near stock trim for a while. The first real project should be to expose the rust. Unless that truck spent it's life in AZ it has rust, and not just the fru-fru stuff you can brush off either. Unscrew the door sills and lift up the carpet at the door openings. Now look where the front seat belts anchor near the floor. I'd remove that kick panel and have a good look there. In the same area is the rear footwell, the 'wall' there where the floors transition also rots badly.

Now open the tailgate, remove the carpet trim at the back and lift the carpet up.

welcome to CK5, and please don't take my reply the wrong way...but you should be keenly aware of the common rust issues as well as the potential for this to become the never ending project.



Rene

 

[Pvt. Maggot]

Thanks for the quick replys! I've had all the interior out of this truck. and there is noooo rust besides the outside surface rust, the body is SOLID! This will not be a mall crawler I do intend to do some nice 4 wheeling. We have alot of nice trails and whatnot around here, I was building a dropped s15 with a 350 but that wasn't exactly gonna work for my tastes, I'm now selling that truck btw , Around how much will the d60, and 14 bolt ff run me? So its just an all around bad idea to regear using my stock setup and offroad with it? I was kinda thinking maybe doing that untill I break something? But i'd rather do it right then half ass and have to miss out on wheeling. This will also be my daily to school driver, and if anyone messes with me, my car crusher hah. Will I be able to clear 35's with the 4' shackle flip and whatnot? I'm gonna trim the fenders up and get some fender flares. I guess I could run a body lift as well if it was needed? but I'd rather stay away from them. I have as much time as needed for this truck. Cash is iffy. I'm trying it keep it somewhat cheap. But I know i'm gonna blow alot of cash on this thing hah. Thanks for the help guys!

Jack

 

[clarkjw24]

A set of axles (D60 and 14bolt) straight from a cucv will run you from $1000 to $2000. Or you could get lucky and get them alot cheaper. They'll come with 4.56 gears and a detroit in the rear. PA and NY has lots of these axles. A guy at pirate4x4 sells the D60s for $900 everyday and I don't know what he gets for the 14bolts. Then you can do crossover steering at $375. Will need 8 lug rims and your 35s (<---will eventually morph into 40s). If your willing to do a little fender trimming 4" flip and TC 4" fronts is what you want. Bam! $4000 in and you've got an awesome 1ton wheeler that is still streetable in a matter of minutes.

 

[tRustyK5]

A D60 and 14 bolt combo usually go for $1500-up in good shape, much depends on gears, lockers or other goodies that may or may not be included.

Seriously, chuck some 32's on it now and enjoy it. Learn to wheel with smallish tires and open diff's and stock suspension...it's a ton of fun, and you'll have a much better idea of what your truck needs to make it better as you go. While doing that do your research on here and elsewhere and figure out exactly how you want to build the truck.

I've had my Jimmy for 8 1/2 years now and I'll give you the very short version of how the build went.

Bought it, 350 Q-jet, SM465, NP 208, 4" lift, 33" MT's, 10 bolt front and 12 bolt rear with 2.73's.

Replaced Q-jet with Holley

Replaced Holley with Edlebrock

chucked the 465/208 as well as the 10/12 bolts and installed a D44 front and 14 bolt FF rear with 3.73's.

installed SM465/NP205

Got 35" General Grabber MT's.

Got 36" TSL's (used)

Welded 14 bolt

Added 57" Ford spring to rear with homebrew shackle flip.

Chucked the D44 and 14 bolt

Installed D60 front and 14 bolt rear with 4.56's and rear detroit

Rear disc's

Added anti wrap bar

Chucked the 350 and installed 6.2 diesel

Added 39.5" TSL's

Added crossover steering

Converted to full convertable

Added roll cage

I'm still collecting parts so I ca install the Alcan springs i have for the truck...

Replaced 90% of the body. Some parts of the body 3 and 4 times.

I hate doing stuff two and three times, but at the same time The truck grew as my knowledge grew and as I could afford it. I never did have it 'down' and undrivable until I did the diesel swap. At that time I didn't drive it for about 3 months. Other than that it has always been my (somewhat) daily driver.

Plan the work, work the plan. 10 bolts are fine as long as they're near free.

Rene

 

[BigCountryx]

With a 700R-4 i'd go with 5.13's. Of course you don't want to spend any significant money on 10 bolts...so you might as well pick up a D60 and 14 bolt FF right away. Might as well add Detroit lockers front and rear while you're regearing those to 5.13. Add some 15" travel mono tube shocks to your suspension set-up......




The above might be funny if it wasn't the reality for a lot of us here. We start one modification/project and it snowballs into the mother of all build ups. End result is that we're always broke and never go wheeling.

My honest advice is to take all the time you want reading, daydreaming, plotting and scheming here while enjoying your truck in near stock trim for a while. The first real project should be to expose the rust. Unless that truck spent it's life in AZ it has rust, and not just the fru-fru stuff you can brush off either. Unscrew the door sills and lift up the carpet at the door openings. Now look where the front seat belts anchor near the floor. I'd remove that kick panel and have a good look there. In the same area is the rear footwell, the 'wall' there where the floors transition also rots badly.

Now open the tailgate, remove the carpet trim at the back and lift the carpet up.

welcome to CK5, and please don't take my reply the wrong way...but you should be keenly aware of the common rust issues as well as the potential for this to become the never ending project.



Rene

Preach it Brotha!! Wish it wasn't true, but I'm sitting on a bout 6 Grand of parts, still collecting, and my truck still looks the same as when I brought it home. And I thought 4" w/ 35's was gonna be plenty. We need a snowball Smilie!

 

[Pvt. Maggot]

Well, i'm gonna have to stick with the stock front and rear end, so I guess i'm going to be needing to regear...Can anyone suggest the best gearing for 35's with the 700r4 and the 5.0? For lift I'm going to do the shackle flip in back and the 52" front spring swap, I'm looking to have alot of ground clearance and not have the tires look like they barely fit, will this lift be enough or should I go bigger? I was thinking if I added an add a leaf on the front and rear would I get even more lift? suggestions ect? Sorry I don't know much about k5 suspension lifts and whatnot. Well as for an update, I have my k5 almost fully primed, looks so much better now, did a few color changes and now shes looking much better, I'll be adding new pics ASAP! Another question, I've seen most trucks on here arn't running inner fenders, mine rotted out so they were removed, whats everyones opnion on this? With or without? Any major drawbacks or anything? Thanks for the help guys! Heres a before pic of my truck

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[Pvt. Maggot]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rear...33584QQitemZ8007647835QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Those are 52" springs correct? Good deal? Thanks guys!

 

[Pvt. Maggot]

bump?

 

[PsychoticDeadGuy]

yep, those look like 52s to me.

 

[Pvt. Maggot]

Anyone else?

 

[BozoWise]

With a 700R-4 i'd go with 5.13's. Of course you don't want to spend any significant money on 10 bolts...so you might as well pick up a D60 and 14 bolt FF right away. Might as well add Detroit lockers front and rear while you're regearing those to 5.13. Add some 15" travel mono tube shocks to your suspension set-up......




The above might be funny if it wasn't the reality for a lot of us here. We start one modification/project and it snowballs into the mother of all build ups. End result is that we're always broke and never go wheeling.

My honest advice is to take all the time you want reading, daydreaming, plotting and scheming here while enjoying your truck in near stock trim for a while. The first real project should be to expose the rust. Unless that truck spent it's life in AZ it has rust, and not just the fru-fru stuff you can brush off either. Unscrew the door sills and lift up the carpet at the door openings. Now look where the front seat belts anchor near the floor. I'd remove that kick panel and have a good look there. In the same area is the rear footwell, the 'wall' there where the floors transition also rots badly.

Now open the tailgate, remove the carpet trim at the back and lift the carpet up.

welcome to CK5, and please don't take my reply the wrong way...but you should be keenly aware of the common rust issues as well as the potential for this to become the never ending project.



Rene

Boy and that is all to the T of what happened to me. Heck check my mod post in my signature. Went to change out the transfer case and now 1 tons and beyond.

Whatever you do just do it for yourself. If you like it great but be ready for people here to tell you what they think. That is what is great here.... it is a pretty open place just don't take offense. Heck I don't and I get hammered daily for my tires But once again THEY WERE FREE lol

 

[mini_mull]

IIRC, if the center pin is in the center, they are probably 52s, if the center pin is offset 24/30 then it should be a set of 56s. You can swap in 56s up front to. There are a few threads on it. If you want to read them and can't find them let me know I think I have them saved somewhere.

 

[jarheadk5]

I guess i'm going to be needing to regear...Can anyone suggest the best gearing for 35's with the 700r4 and the 5.0?

Either 4.11 or 4.56. I'd lean toward 4.56 myself. With the 700 in OD, you're looking at about 1840rpm @ 60mph with the 4.56's and 35's. In Third, you're looking at about 2630rpm @ 60mph, same gear & tire.

For lift I'm going to do the shackle flip in back and the 52" front spring swap, I'm looking to have alot of ground clearance and not have the tires look like they barely fit, will this lift be enough or should I go bigger? I was thinking if I added an add a leaf on the front and rear would I get even more lift? suggestions ect?

The 52" swap seems to net about 2-4" of lift from stock, depending on the condition of the springs you use, and whether you keep the overload leaves in place. I know ORD's shackle flip will get you either 2.5" or 4", depending on which you want.
4" of lift with 35's is plenty IMO; a little fender trimming will take care of the minor interferences.
Your lowest-point ground clearance is set by your tire height and axle selection. Taller suspension will keep the T-case further off the ground, but will also raise the truck's center of gravity (CG), making it more likely to roll during off-camber 'wheeling or an emergency maneuver to avoid a**holes on the roads.
An add-a-leaf will likely kill any improvement in ride quality you'd get from this type of lift.
Something else to consider - the rear shackle flip makes axlewrap and wheelhop worse. You may need to fab some sort of traction bar setup; there's plenty of ideas here on CK5. Search "axlewrap", "wheelhop", etc. - you'll find it.

Another question, I've seen most trucks on here arn't running inner fenders, mine rotted out so they were removed, whats everyones opnion on this? With or without? Any major drawbacks or anything?

Most guys here w/o inners are rockcrawlers, or at least they stay off the street. I don't think you'll pass PA insp. without them (I could be wrong here though), and you wouldn't want to drive in the rain/snow/mud without something to deflect the spray away from the carb/air/cleaner/distributor.
Oh... If your stock inners were rusted out, you've got rust in other places; I guarantee it. Especially being a PA truck. Ask me how I know this, and why my K5 hasn't been on the road in over 2 years...
Look underneath the back of the truck, under the tailgate, by the rear-most bodymounts and tailgate hinges. This area is called the tailpan, and it had NO rustproofing of any consequence from GM. The same crap that your front tires kicked up and caused your front inner fenders to rust out, is the same crap that got kicked up by the rear tires. Think about it...

 

[monster man]

With a 700R-4 i'd go with 5.13's. Of course you don't want to spend any significant money on 10 bolts...so you might as well pick up a D60 and 14 bolt FF right away. Might as well add Detroit lockers front and rear while you're regearing those to 5.13. Add some 15" travel mono tube shocks to your suspension set-up......




The above might be funny if it wasn't the reality for a lot of us here.

that's true, the most cost effective plan is to save up and go big from the start. Now, if you're impatient and have a lot of money, redoing stuff over the years is OK. Me, I wheeled my '73 for ten years with only 32 inch tires cause I couldn't afford the whole setup to do it right- big meats, then you need a lift, then you need to correct the steering, driveshafts, brake lines, shocks, and pinion angle, then you need new gears for the bigger tires, but probably need bigger axles as well. It's best to do it all at once. When I got my uncle's truck I new it was a good base and I had the money saved so it's rock ready now

I suggest no more than a 4" lift- that will allow for tires as big as 40" with major cutting, no need to go higher in lift. If you go 6" lift and 35's with no cutting, you're still lower than 4" with 40's and a lot of cutting, I'd much rather have the improved axle clearance and lower center of gravity.

I'd suggest as a starter goal having a vehicle you can drive on the street daily for a long time, so maybe true 33's and a 2.5" or 4" lift. With 33's you could use a 12 bolt and EZ-Locker with light throttle, and won't require much suspension gemoetry correction. Also is a pretty mild investment. That combo will get you over most obstacles and cause the least problems.

 

[jekbrown]

One of the cheaper ways to get axle beef but not $pend a fortune is to get a set of 3/4 ton axles. The 10 bolt rear is a real piece of crap of an axle. The 10 bolt front on the other hand, isn't really that bad. You can definitely wheel on it. With 3/4 ton axles you get a ff14b rear (BEEF) and a D44/10b front that has 8-lug outters (good so the front/rear match!). Anyway, you can find sets of 3/4t axles very cheap, compared to D60/ff14b combos. Just an idea for the budget-minded.

The 52" spring swap is a good way to lift, but keep in mind that unless you already have crossover steering, it can be expensive.

Lastly, don't worry about the paint... if you really wheel it won't last anyway. Nothing worse than wheeling with a guy that has the $2000 paint job and every time a tree branch brushes the side of his rig scratching it he practically starts crying. lol!

j