CK5
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Bases of this build:
So my k5 was trashed. If your interested in that story search up boostedk5 on the driveway build section.
This purple jimmy was my sisters daily for 5 years and my moms car dating back to 96. Well back in September the water pump went and my sis kept driving on it till it pegged the temp gauge and blew the 4.3.
She got a new rig and I needed a wheeler. So my thought process was take the left over parts from boosted k5. Get a new 4.3 and build this thing. This is that build.
When I first pulled it in the shop and started tearing out the ifs. I had already picked up a set of 37” military mtr’s and mounted them to my recentered h1’s from the k5. I rolled them up to get the ideas flowing early.
Here she is with the engine out and most of the control arms and other components gone. Plasma and a big 9” harbor freight grinder where my best friends for the whole weekend.
Everything removed from pass frame
Driver side frame cleaned off. I later ground off the excess.
Then I stitched in a piece of angle on top and bottom to keep the rails straight and cut the center crossmember up. To finish off the weekend I rolled the 60 under it for mock up. Was not thrilled what so ever with how far out the tires where.
More to come throughout the day stay tuned.
So my k5 was trashed. If your interested in that story search up boostedk5 on the driveway build section.
This purple jimmy was my sisters daily for 5 years and my moms car dating back to 96. Well back in September the water pump went and my sis kept driving on it till it pegged the temp gauge and blew the 4.3.
She got a new rig and I needed a wheeler. So my thought process was take the left over parts from boosted k5. Get a new 4.3 and build this thing. This is that build.
When I first pulled it in the shop and started tearing out the ifs. I had already picked up a set of 37” military mtr’s and mounted them to my recentered h1’s from the k5. I rolled them up to get the ideas flowing early.
Here she is with the engine out and most of the control arms and other components gone. Plasma and a big 9” harbor freight grinder where my best friends for the whole weekend.
Everything removed from pass frame
Driver side frame cleaned off. I later ground off the excess.
Then I stitched in a piece of angle on top and bottom to keep the rails straight and cut the center crossmember up. To finish off the weekend I rolled the 60 under it for mock up. Was not thrilled what so ever with how far out the tires where.
More to come throughout the day stay tuned.
Next up was mocking up the links. I made a lower link crossmember from 2x4 square tube. Most of the tabs and joints are from Barnes that I bought off a friend who sold off everything from a build he had in process. So insert the pvc mock up links
Things definitely could be fit better but being my first link suspension I just kept it simple trying to make sure my geometry was correct.
Ordered up the rest of the stuff I’d need from Barnes.
Third link was tacked in pending being moved when the motor and trans got mocked up for clearance.
Panhard brackets getting tacked in place
As you can see above I already knew the stock s10 box wasn’t gonna work so I swapped in the Astro van box to flip the pitman arm forward.
Things definitely could be fit better but being my first link suspension I just kept it simple trying to make sure my geometry was correct.
Ordered up the rest of the stuff I’d need from Barnes.
Third link was tacked in pending being moved when the motor and trans got mocked up for clearance.
Panhard brackets getting tacked in place
As you can see above I already knew the stock s10 box wasn’t gonna work so I swapped in the Astro van box to flip the pitman arm forward.
Lower panhard bracket tacked in place and joints tossed in to “eyeball” where I may or may not need to clearance the frame.
Then I dropped the blown engine and trans back in to check link clearances and build engine mounts and crossmember.
Panhard bar and drag link where made. All clearances where checked. Had to mildly notch the frame for both. Welded in some leftover driveshaft tubing that I notched to fit.
Everything ended tucking in pretty nicely. More luck for me than anything else really.
Was initially working on fabing a pitman arm but this would later change. Not terrible with the tig but I was a lil to hot I believe. Either or it wouldn’t end up going on he truck. Pretty happy with my Eastwood 200 though.
Btw don’t mind the ring gear. Old carnage from the k5. Disappears soon enough
Then I dropped the blown engine and trans back in to check link clearances and build engine mounts and crossmember.
Panhard bar and drag link where made. All clearances where checked. Had to mildly notch the frame for both. Welded in some leftover driveshaft tubing that I notched to fit.
Everything ended tucking in pretty nicely. More luck for me than anything else really.
Was initially working on fabing a pitman arm but this would later change. Not terrible with the tig but I was a lil to hot I believe. Either or it wouldn’t end up going on he truck. Pretty happy with my Eastwood 200 though.
Btw don’t mind the ring gear. Old carnage from the k5. Disappears soon enough
That is nice and tight.
At this point I made a engine crossmember and than pulled the engine and trans back out for welding.
This for the most part solidified my front suspension at full bump minus shocks.
Witch showed up the week after
Unfortunately my pics get kind of vague for the shock hoops but I built both of them and tied into the frame with horizonta tube that was welded in with a fishplate overlay. Also dropped in the replacement engine along with the trans. I’m running a passenger drop NP241 with a sye on the back mated with a diy4x clocking ring.
Next in order was bumps. For now I’m running a set of daystars that I got dirt cheap. Here they are can fully welded. Can somewhat see how the shock hoops are tied into the frame a bit better also.
Front end going back together. All stock there.
Drilled and tapped the Astro box using the write up here on pirate.
Then I took a pause from the front end and knocked out the rear suspension. Basically a ruff stuff 14 bolt simple swap kit. Built shock hoops and tied them into the frame like the ones up front. Just running some 12 travel bilsteins for now from my k5 until I save up the coin for a decent rear shock setup.
Ant wrap bar installed using a left over diy4x engine mount welded to the frame and an extra Barnes joint. Anti wrap bar otherwise was already built and set on the axle from my k5.
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This for the most part solidified my front suspension at full bump minus shocks.
Witch showed up the week after
Unfortunately my pics get kind of vague for the shock hoops but I built both of them and tied into the frame with horizonta tube that was welded in with a fishplate overlay. Also dropped in the replacement engine along with the trans. I’m running a passenger drop NP241 with a sye on the back mated with a diy4x clocking ring.
Next in order was bumps. For now I’m running a set of daystars that I got dirt cheap. Here they are can fully welded. Can somewhat see how the shock hoops are tied into the frame a bit better also.
Front end going back together. All stock there.
Drilled and tapped the Astro box using the write up here on pirate.
Then I took a pause from the front end and knocked out the rear suspension. Basically a ruff stuff 14 bolt simple swap kit. Built shock hoops and tied them into the frame like the ones up front. Just running some 12 travel bilsteins for now from my k5 until I save up the coin for a decent rear shock setup.
Ant wrap bar installed using a left over diy4x engine mount welded to the frame and an extra Barnes joint. Anti wrap bar otherwise was already built and set on the axle from my k5.
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Yeah space was very limited but it all ended up fitting nicely.
wow just crushing it eh, looks so rad! will be a wicked rig when its done. Inspires me to do something similar someday. I love my blazer too much to do damage to it and by the time im ever close to finishing it ( which is never haha ) I wont be able to find squarebody parts up here in canada anymore. S10s everywhere though! would be fun to wheel something i dont give a **** about body wise and could just bash up and have fun. Cant wait to see more of this build.
Continuing on
On my k5 I went through 3 psc rams just because of it being located right behind the Tierod and my wonderful driving skills of constantly plowing it into rocks. The tierod itself was 1.5 .25 Wall Dom. Witch held but began bending over time. I didn’t want to go high steer in fear of eventually trashing the knuckle so rather I built a 2” .25 Wall Dom tierod that is sleeved over 1.5 .25 Dom. Extremely excessive and heavy but this should hopefully hold up for a while. And I relocated the ram above the tie rod, mounted to the ruff stuff diff cover and tie rod via a 2.0 I’d tubing clamp from ruffstuff.
I buttoned up most of the Underhood electronics and engine components. Then built a cross bar between shock towers and mounted the shock reservoirs to it.
Built a simple mount for the psc reservoir and ran the intake down behind it.
Next up was exhaust routing. Built it out of the factory tubing and what was left of a system from a k5 I had for parts a while back. Use a 44 series flow master muffler and retains the cat. (Going for as few engine codes as possible)
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On my k5 I went through 3 psc rams just because of it being located right behind the Tierod and my wonderful driving skills of constantly plowing it into rocks. The tierod itself was 1.5 .25 Wall Dom. Witch held but began bending over time. I didn’t want to go high steer in fear of eventually trashing the knuckle so rather I built a 2” .25 Wall Dom tierod that is sleeved over 1.5 .25 Dom. Extremely excessive and heavy but this should hopefully hold up for a while. And I relocated the ram above the tie rod, mounted to the ruff stuff diff cover and tie rod via a 2.0 I’d tubing clamp from ruffstuff.
I buttoned up most of the Underhood electronics and engine components. Then built a cross bar between shock towers and mounted the shock reservoirs to it.
Built a simple mount for the psc reservoir and ran the intake down behind it.
Next up was exhaust routing. Built it out of the factory tubing and what was left of a system from a k5 I had for parts a while back. Use a 44 series flow master muffler and retains the cat. (Going for as few engine codes as possible)
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With the exhaust done I threw the tires on and buttoned up the driveline. I had 1350 cv driveshafts built for the front and rear from driveshaft superstore in Arizona.
Then it was outside for the notorious first flex pics
Then two days later it was off for a break in day trip to rausch creek. The truck was built starting nov 5 2017 to January 28 2018. At least this portion. All in an effort to make my first trip to Johnson valley California for KOH. But first some more rausch pics.
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Then it was outside for the notorious first flex pics
Then two days later it was off for a break in day trip to rausch creek. The truck was built starting nov 5 2017 to January 28 2018. At least this portion. All in an effort to make my first trip to Johnson valley California for KOH. But first some more rausch pics.
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Then four days after rausch I built some quick two by two box tube sliders and loaded it on the trailer for koh.
the red F150 my buddy brought is a half way decent build too. 3 link front, 37 pits locked front and rear on half tons with chromo’s.
We left jersey at 11pm on a Thursday night and made Vegas in 42 hours arriving late Saturday afternoon.
3 guys rotating driving every fuel stop made the trip not that bad and getting to sprawl out in the back seat and sleep was a plus
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the red F150 my buddy brought is a half way decent build too. 3 link front, 37 pits locked front and rear on half tons with chromo’s.
We left jersey at 11pm on a Thursday night and made Vegas in 42 hours arriving late Saturday afternoon.
3 guys rotating driving every fuel stop made the trip not that bad and getting to sprawl out in the back seat and sleep was a plus
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42 hours worth of bird chit on the windshield really puts the length of the drive into perspective. 
Things looks killer wheeling!
Things looks killer wheeling!
Sorry little bit of and absence but back at it. Where was I? KOH
When we got to Vegas we stayed the night for the super bowl to watch my eagles win and because we couldn’t pick up the rv till the next day. Naturally had to stop at welderup and counts customs m.
From there it was finally time to get to Johnson valley.
By the time we got in and unpacked we missed the shootout Monday night so we cruised over to backdoor to catch some recreational action and no sooner do we get there and caught two rigs locked together.
Plenty of badass rigs out there. I’ll let the pics do the talking
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When we got to Vegas we stayed the night for the super bowl to watch my eagles win and because we couldn’t pick up the rv till the next day. Naturally had to stop at welderup and counts customs m.
From there it was finally time to get to Johnson valley.
By the time we got in and unpacked we missed the shootout Monday night so we cruised over to backdoor to catch some recreational action and no sooner do we get there and caught two rigs locked together.
Plenty of badass rigs out there. I’ll let the pics do the talking
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But enough of that unfortunately I don’t really have any pics of my truck wheeling cause we where always in it.
After KOH I brought it back home and jumped on a set of 40’s. Was getting pretty tired of the double beadlocks and the major offset they had. So a picked up a set of 40” Mtr’s on 17” h2’s.
Finally got back out wheeling in April to rausch creek.
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Truck worked absolutely amazing. Was pretty much point and shoot at this point and the 40’s made a huge difference over 37’s
Crawl daddy is what did me in. Found out that my front “high angle” 1350 cv shaft was maxing out and it finally blew apart. Cracking my Np241c in the process. Then I shredded the side wall and two mtrs. Trying to get back out. Left there with a nice little parts list.
So that pretty much catches everything up.
I’m going back to rausch this weekend so new front shaft, New tcase, and new tires where in order
First up was the front shaft. I figured I’d test a couple ideas I had with the cracked tcase so I wouldnt risk hurting another one. Searching on pirate I got an idea for a high angle front shaft without a cv. I would build the upper joint out of two old 30spline Dana 60 stubs. Leave the actual stub on one of the yokes and cut it off the other and weld a flange to it that would mate to the tcase.
Yoke with the stub cut off.
Other stub I’m using.
The machined portion at the base of the stub is an 1.5 inch diameter. So I pressed a piece of 2” .250 wall DOM onto it to use as the driveshaft tube. The stub doing the job of keeping it true to the yoke. As for the flange I made a call to a buddy of mine who has access to a water jet and cnc mill. In short work he had two flanges for me. One for spare. It had a bore that perfectly fit the driveshaft flange pilot. And the other end got pressed onto the cut axle shaft yoke.
Than I burned it in and put a ujoint in.
Ended up giving me about 40-45 degrees of usable angle. For the slip I just reused the 1350 setup and the yoke on the axle was clearanced. The slip stub stayed in about 2 inches of the original driveshaft tube. I than used an extra ruffstuff Heim tube adapter as a slug, to slug the two tubes together. Being that it had the perfect offset in diameter to mate the 2” .250 Dom to the 2” of driveshaft tube that had a center bore of 1.689 rather than 1.5 like the DOM.
Burned together
Full shaft
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Crawl daddy is what did me in. Found out that my front “high angle” 1350 cv shaft was maxing out and it finally blew apart. Cracking my Np241c in the process. Then I shredded the side wall and two mtrs. Trying to get back out. Left there with a nice little parts list.
So that pretty much catches everything up.
I’m going back to rausch this weekend so new front shaft, New tcase, and new tires where in order
First up was the front shaft. I figured I’d test a couple ideas I had with the cracked tcase so I wouldnt risk hurting another one. Searching on pirate I got an idea for a high angle front shaft without a cv. I would build the upper joint out of two old 30spline Dana 60 stubs. Leave the actual stub on one of the yokes and cut it off the other and weld a flange to it that would mate to the tcase.
Yoke with the stub cut off.
Other stub I’m using.
The machined portion at the base of the stub is an 1.5 inch diameter. So I pressed a piece of 2” .250 wall DOM onto it to use as the driveshaft tube. The stub doing the job of keeping it true to the yoke. As for the flange I made a call to a buddy of mine who has access to a water jet and cnc mill. In short work he had two flanges for me. One for spare. It had a bore that perfectly fit the driveshaft flange pilot. And the other end got pressed onto the cut axle shaft yoke.
Than I burned it in and put a ujoint in.
Ended up giving me about 40-45 degrees of usable angle. For the slip I just reused the 1350 setup and the yoke on the axle was clearanced. The slip stub stayed in about 2 inches of the original driveshaft tube. I than used an extra ruffstuff Heim tube adapter as a slug, to slug the two tubes together. Being that it had the perfect offset in diameter to mate the 2” .250 Dom to the 2” of driveshaft tube that had a center bore of 1.689 rather than 1.5 like the DOM.
Burned together
Full shaft
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For what the driveshaft is it actually runs pretty true. Of course it’s not balanced but for the $75 it cost me to make I’ll take it. For tires I picked up a set of 5 used 39.5 pittbull rockers. Freakin wide almost makes the truck look like a moon buggy.
I’ve been meaning to build a true front bumper so I conquered that this past weekend.
Old you can see above and here’s the new. The two upper tubes going through the core support and tying into the shock towers. Hoping to help solidify the front end a bit more.
Up for tonight is remote mount the battery in the back and replace the tcase. Hopefully be able to get a bit more in depth for you guys now that I’m all caught up on here with the build stay tuned.
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I’ve been meaning to build a true front bumper so I conquered that this past weekend.
Old you can see above and here’s the new. The two upper tubes going through the core support and tying into the shock towers. Hoping to help solidify the front end a bit more.
Up for tonight is remote mount the battery in the back and replace the tcase. Hopefully be able to get a bit more in depth for you guys now that I’m all caught up on here with the build stay tuned.
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And for those who know him these 39.5’s originated off a certain old k10 I wheel with after going through two other owners. 
