Thoughts on a 1974 Jimmy - UPDATE with MORE pics

[K5dreamer]

Been truck shopping, found one I may be interested, thought I'd run it past y'all for thoughts. its a 350/465/205 setup, new 38in tires, 3in body lift, 5in suspention lift,"edelbrock top end" on the engine. served as guys daily driver and now he's deploying so his wife wants it gone. fresh rebuild on 12 bolt rear end.

- I noticed the blocks, I have a set of 6in lift springs I can swap in to get rid of those.

- Shiny paint... damn. and yes, i plan to repaint it something less 80's fantastic

- no inner fenders/wheel wells. plan on installing some, just bolt in I think.

- looks like some rust on the rocker boxes, but not a lost cause

- anyone know what the deal is with those bolt on shock mounts?

asking price is currently $5200, lowered from a starting $6000, I told her about my concerns and possible costs to fix, and hit her with a low ball $2800, she talked to her husband, and said they were willing to deal a little, but not that much, and they still want me to come out and look at it.

anddddddddd go.

 

[ashman]

I'd buy it just to get that barber poll driveline!

I don't see anything obviously wrong from the pics, but the real problem areas aren't shown.

I don't think those are shock mounts. Looks like the stock ps shock mount is still there. It looks like they are just attached to the shock mounts. Those look like mounts for traction bars or something.

*edit* actually, if you look at the side pics of the truck, you can see the front mounts for the bars under the doors. The bars aren't there, but the mounts are.

 

[K5dreamer]

haha, actually I will totally leave the barber pole driveshafts

and thanks for identifying the traction bar mounts, I totally missed those front mounts.

 

[72blazerguy]

Looks pretty good for a 74.. Seems like the 38" tires might be an issue with the 12 bolt and a manual tranny (perhaps the reason for a recent rebuild??).

 

[Deuling]

I think your offer is pretty reasonable. The price they want is way high imo. That paintjob is butt ugly lol.

 

[K5dreamer]

Looks pretty good for a 74.. Seems like the 38" tires might be an issue with the 12 bolt and a manual tranny (perhaps the reason for a recent rebuild??).

Yeah I thought that too, lucky for me Ive got a Dana70HD that will be going under there if I can ever get around to finishing the frankenaxle build and getting those darned disk brakes on, and have the spring perches/shock mounts moved. Might be worth it to go pick up a 6 lug semi float 14 bolt to toss in in the mean time, sell the 12 bolt to a hot rod guy or something. Would be easy to swap while I am doing the spring install to get rid of those blocks.

 

[K5dreamer]

I think your offer is pretty reasonable. The price they want is way high imo. That paintjob is butt ugly lol.

Yeah, its the normal, "we just dumped alot of money into it and want to get it all back" deal. They just bought the tires, Ive never bought 38's but I figure thats gotta be 1200-1500 bucks right there right? then they paid to have the rear end rebuilt, say.. 500 there. so they've got $2000 dumped in fairly recently, so basically from their viewpoint, they feel like Im offering $800 for the truck, once they get back their recent spending. I was in car sales, and had to deal with this all the time. I figure Ill have to come up a bit, but what would y'all say is a fair price ceiling on the thing? I was thinking no more than $3500-4000 for it. If they dont agree, i can always leave my info and ask them to call me if it doesnt sell.

 

[K5dreamer]

Ok, drove down to see it and drove it. I have more truck porn too, but its kinda of the ugly stuff. Overall the truck is solid, in far better shape from a body perspective than my M1009. The pretty paint job does hide some of the normal rust in the windshield frame, door skins, and tailgate hinges. But the rockers are solid, the rocker boxes are overall solid, floor pans and bed, wheel wells, etc are all clean. But there are quite a few body panel alignment issues.

front of driver side rocker box....

rear of driver side rocker box

front of passenger rocker box

rear of passenger rocker box

driver side cowl area under the windshield

driver side windshield frame

passenger side windshield frame

passenger door alignment

tail gate alignment


I also checked the frame for cracks around the steering box, and didnt find any cracks, but there is some sort of reinforcing plate welded in place, between the box and the frame, and i cant tell if its factory or not, the welds look kinda ugly for a factory job...

my hand is blocking the glare of sunlight off the road surface. the weld in question is right above the tip of my ring finger.

Now... with the mild cosmetic stuff out of the way, the big issue....

 

[K5dreamer]

So, my goal was to buy a "ready to drive" truck. overall this truck fits the bill, I did indeed drive it around the block a few times, and took it out on a side street and back... but there was an issue... In my crawling around under the truck I noticed paint transfer from that barber pole driveshaft on the exhaust pipe

paint on driver side tail pipe.

Then I figured that the only way that could have happened was for the driveshaft to disconnect from the rear axle and twirl around... crawled back and found....

I took one look at those cracked bolt holes in the pinion yoke and knew the driveshaft would come out the first time I drove it. let alone driving the 180 miles from Newport News to D.C. Sure enough, I made it 15 feet before it popped loose. I took the driveshaft all the way out in the street, put it in 4HI and locked the hubs, and drove it around on the front axle.

Drives good, shifts good, transfer case works great, handles good, brakes good, the steering wheel is turned 90 degrees to the right to go strait, which I'm hoping is just an alignment issue.

The only thing I had an issue with was starting from a standing stop, there was alot of hop in the truck, which I at first thought was the clutch, But I think it may have just been a symptom of launching with FWD and the wheels turned.

After talking to the seller about what all it needed, and having the driveshaft come out durring my test drive, She dropped from her asking price of $5200, to a selling price of $3500, and she showed me the paperwork proving she cant go lower than that, because that will pay off their existing loan from when they bought the truck, and she needs at least that much for it.

So Im thinking Im good to go here, I think its a fair price, but the issue is how to get it back home. Can I drive that far safely on the front axle alone?

When the driveshaft came out, I should have got a picture, but i seem to remember the yoke tipping upwards by maybe 15-30 degree's. which I'm thinking is what destroyed the yoke. replacing the yoke will be easy, but I have to address that upward force or it will just break the new yoke too. Im thinking the traction bars were an attempt to control that force, and when the axle was rebuilt they neglected to put them back on. Do yall think that could be related to the 5in block lift? or am I looking at something more severe?

Im planning on getting out the blocks and putting in my 6in springs in there, and I was thinking of just getting a junkyard/craigslist 14 bolt SF 6 lug, to swap in. So im not too terribly worried once I get it home. But If I can fix something simple, and just put a new yoke on there and drive it, that would be best.

Thoughts?

 

[kgblazerfive]

Run away..........

Not worth it. To many seen painted over rust issues, what is unseen?

You are already planning on modifying it, start with one for that price how you like it.

That rear drive shaft either is the wrong size u-joint or the straps are to small.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Steering wheel is a drag link issue bet it still is running the stock one. Also the pitman arm is probably stock. Guessing it went like three turns left lock and two turns right lock, or something like that.

 

[kgblazerfive]

If the rocker boxes are rusted what does the floor look like.

 

[kgblazerfive]

The frame issue is a weld on bolt on cracked frame fix for the steering box frame mount. Very typical for chevy trucks.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Flex fan and an electric fan??? Where is the fan shroud???

 

[K5dreamer]

Run away..........

Not worth it. To many seen painted over rust issues, what is unseen?

You are already planning on modifying it, start with one for that price how you like it.

That rear drive shaft either is the wrong size u-joint or the straps are to small.

Totally understand the hidden rust issue, as to finding one "how I like it", it doesn't exist brother. This has the SM465/205 I want, Its a full convertible, and already lifted. I have yet to see a diesel/manual/1ton/H1 beadlocks rig with limited rust issues for sale anywhere, let alone in my neck of the woods.

If the rocker boxes are rusted what does the floor look like.

I pulled up the carpet in several places, and crawled underneath, the floorboards and bed are solid, didnt see anything that looked like more than surface rust from the bottom. including the body mounts.

Steering wheel is a drag link issue bet it still is running the stock one. Also the pitman arm is probably stock. Guessing it went like three turns left lock and two turns right lock, or something like that.

Didnt even think to check lock to lock, and didnt even think of the drag link causing that. I didnt get a picture, but the drag link was parallel to the ground front to back, with what looked like a raised steering arm on the D44.

The frame issue is a weld on bolt on cracked frame fix for the steering box frame mount. Very typical for chevy trucks.

good to know.

Flex fan and an electric fan??? Where is the fan shroud???

totally missed that.... wonder if they lost the shroud and had overheating issues, put the electric fan on to try and fix it?

 

[kgblazerfive]

$3800 seems to me like alot of money to spend on that rig. It is shiny but not special.

My $.02 look around find a rust free one out here CA, OR, ID, what ever buy it for $2000 fly out and drive it home.

I lived in NJ for years, no way I would ever buy a vehicle from back east after seeing what is out here, and we have rust, to buy for alot less.

 

[kgblazerfive]

http://www.ksl.com/auto/listing/14649955

Not a 205 but is a stick.

 

[tRustyK5]

http://www.ksl.com/auto/listing/14649955

Not a 205 but is a stick.

I'd take that '74 over that '87...

That being said I'd count on having to sink some time and cash into the '74. I personally don't feel a lifted truck is gonna save me any money when looking. It's generally not done properly, or not the lift type I'd want anyways.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Rust belt POS that you don't want to deal with. Maybe a bit better than average but still has body rot issues you're going to have to deal with and still may plague you for years.

 

[K5dreamer]

http://www.ksl.com/auto/listing/14649955

Not a 205 but is a stick.

Yeah, thats the issue, Im at the point where I'm taking out a loan for a truck... its either gonna go towards trying to put the Griz back together (in and of itself a rusty wrecked mess, although in different places than the 74) or buying what I want.

Full vert - SM465 (or NV4500 if I'm dreaming) - NP205 4x4.

Its apparently a magical combination. and I've been looking pretty solid for the past few months from multiple sources. and on and off for years.

where I'm at, the trucks available are normally $1000 "parts trucks" where the body is so rusted only a total frame off restoration could possibly save it, if at all, and they are selling it for the drive train I'm after. Or they are $12k-$25k "restored" trucks that there's just no way I can afford.

EDIT - ****... im just so on the fence here. I really didnt think it was nearly as bad as yall seem to think... but then again thats why I asked in the first place.