1 ton K5 - now with even more mischief and bad decisions

Mojones915

Mojones915

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 16, 2018
Location
Saxapahaw
So I am finally at a point I am comfortable starting a build thread because work has been done (and I need people pestering me to keep the progress going). As the title states I am building up a K5. Major wants are to have something that is fairly drive able around town, mostly to and from work and trails, and a fairly dependable wheeler. There are definitely future plans for the drive train, but that is a story for down the road.

The Vehicle:

1991 K5 - fairly rust free and in good shape. I am the 3rd owner and it was bought new at Parks Chevrolet in Kernersville and stayed in Walnut Cove until I bought it last fall.

I drove it almost daily until it got parked to begin the build earlier this spring.

The parts list:

Axles - Dana 60 and 14 bolt from a 1986 CUCV
Front Suspension - 52in spring swap with DIY4X B52 brackets
Rear Suspension - 63in spring swap/ shackle flip again with DIY4X long spring kit and ORD shackle flip brackets
Engine - 5.3 ls swap from a 2000 suburban - acquired due to dad getting in an accident and the insurance company totaling out his Yukon
Transmission - th400 - from the same CUCV as the axles
Transfer Case - 203/205 doubler - scored from craigslist, using NWF kit and cable triple stick shifters

Misc parts from Barnes, Ruffstuff, ORD and DIY4X as well

Now on to the pictures because that's the only thing everyone wants to see anyway.
 
So here is the K5 and CUCV in the driveway before I rendered them both in-opperable, because that's just how it goes and who doesn't like vehicles on jack stands with puddles of dead dinosaurs under them. Special thanks goes to @Falko for coming out in the cold and rain over Thanksgiving or Christmas (can't remember which) to help pull the tons out of the CUCV

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Next up was to continue the parts collecting. Scored a set of 24 bolt H1s with pretty much new 37s. They got re-centered and rock rings from Trailworthy fab. Then I started laying everything out and parked the K5 to get it into hover mode.

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I decided to start on the front suspension first, as I figured it would be the most involved. I decided to go ahead and swap to 3/4 ton brakes from Lugnut 4X4 and picked up a new PSC box ported for assist. I went with the ORD crossover steering kit, and a diff cover and HD tie rod from Barnes. Again, special thanks to @Falko for the use of his press to swap out rotors.

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Last weekend I finally got the front mostly done (for now anyway) and sitting on its own weight again. Started trying to flex it as best I could and check for interference.

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rodney eppes said:
Big Project! Might be easier to work on that Coupe, sitting in your way. :D
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@rodney eppes That is dads 30. It's an original steel body with the fuel tank still in the cowl. Has a mild built 400 sbc and th350. Doesn't take much to get out of shape. I had it over the winter to put new dynomat in the interior and fix the windsheild frame. Here's a pic of it with the offspring driving. Don't worry though she like's the "blazer monster truck" too

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Mojones915 said:
@rodney eppes That is dads 30. It's an original steel body with the fuel tank still in the cowl. Has a mild built 400 sbc and th350. Doesn't take much to get out of shape. I had it over the winter to put new dynomat in the interior and fix the windsheild frame. Here's a pic of it with the offspring driving. Don't worry though she like's the "blazer monster truck" too

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Hey, I have the same shirt! Awesome!
 
It's not much but it's progress. Tore into the 14 bolt today and got it ready to start putting parts on. Used a Barnes diff cover/ shave kit (only took about 10 minutes and 2 cutoff wheels) and have their pinion guard to put on as well. Spring perches have been cut off and drum breaks removed too since the pictures were taken. Just waiting on the USPS to drop off my rotors. Next steps are put the 14b back together and start the 63 swap in the rear of the blazer. Have a few rivets to cut off...

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Pennsylvaniaboy said:
I would recommend against the cable shifters....they suck IMO.
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@Pennsylvaniaboy what issues have you had? I was planning on using them because everything had already been set up for them. Haven't gotten into this part of the build yet so not sure where everything is going to be placement wise or what kind of room I am going to have in the cab.

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IMHO, NWF's cable shifters are just fine... however, there's potential to fawk it up doing the install.

I got in a rush when installing mine and rather than rebuilding the linkages on the TC so the cables connected from the rear, slapped together cable mounts from the front that reused the OE shifter mount. That means rather than the cables PULLING back into Low (pulling against the cable where it's real strength is), they're set up to PUSH into Low (think pushing wet noodle). The old D20 which LOVES to pop-out (rear output into neutral) is now pushing against the cable, which has little resistant in that motion...
 
Another night in the shop, a little more progress.

Got the 14 bolt almost back together, just need to install the axles and it's ready to put under the blazer. Also picked up some 2x4 to help with the "rust repair" on the rockers and 2x2 for front/ rear bumpers. Looks like it's time to get all the brackets off the rear of the frame and start the 63 spring swap.

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Caver Dave said:
IMHO, NWF's cable shifters are just fine... however, there's potential to fawk it up doing the install.

I got in a rush when installing mine and rather than rebuilding the linkages on the TC so the cables connected from the rear, slapped together cable mounts from the front that reused the OE shifter mount. That means rather than the cables PULLING back into Low (pulling against the cable where it's real strength is), they're set up to PUSH into Low (think pushing wet noodle). The old D20 which LOVES to pop-out (rear output into neutral) is now pushing against the cable, which has little resistant in that motion...
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@Caver Dave I am hoping I don't need to do much but give them a once over before installed and do a little adjusting. The seller said that everything in them had been working fine before he pulled it, they were parting some of their J truck drive train because they were switching to an ls/4l80/atlas.
 
Small update after this weekend.

I got the 14bolt temporarily in place. I needed a new way to support the blazer so I could pull of the rear bumper, hitch and drop the tank to prepare for rivet cutting and access to the inner frame.

Had to move into the shop when the rain started so I decided I would gut the CUCV doors and start cutting them up. Hopefully this thing is driving this year while it is still nice enough to use them.

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Caver Dave said:
IMHO, NWF's cable shifters are just fine... however, there's potential to fawk it up doing the install.

I got in a rush when installing mine and rather than rebuilding the linkages on the TC so the cables connected from the rear, slapped together cable mounts from the front that reused the OE shifter mount. That means rather than the cables PULLING back into Low (pulling against the cable where it's real strength is), they're set up to PUSH into Low (think pushing wet noodle). The old D20 which LOVES to pop-out (rear output into neutral) is now pushing against the cable, which has little resistant in that motion...
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sooo care to post pics of how you set up the NWF cable fisters to pull into low? the package they use is push into low, and when combined with a blackbox, things are pretty tight
 
Do you reach highway speeds or plan on it? Because the 5.3 will send it on down the road a whole lot easier than that TBI motor. Before the 5.38s and running 4.10s I cruised at 70-80 the whole way to uwharrie on 38.5s and 52s up front. I really think the people that complain about the excessive body roll, try to drive these trucks like sports cars and don’t understand you can’t. Nv4500 is next for me, even though an 80e out of a junkyard with a shift kit does sound enticingly cheaper.

Curious how your springs do for you. Ive started to wrap my 56s, been debating on doing 63s outback and definitely traction bars. But can’t wait to see more of the build looks awesome dude.
 
OnlyOneDR said:
Why the TH400 instead of the (presumably) 4L60E that was in the Yukon? TH400 has a crappy (taller) first gear and no overdrive.
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@OnlyOneDR There are a few reasons: I got a running driving CUCV with a trans that had less than a year on its re-build so when I pulled the axles I kept the trans too. It already has the output shaft and stickout needed to mate up to my 203 on the doubler with a factory adapter, I would either have to change the output in the 4l60 or find a 4l80 plus by an aftermarket adapter on top of this. There is no computer to worry about tuning, I am debating putting a manual valve body in though and trying to figure out what torque converter to go with. As far as the 1st gear goes, with the doubler and 4.56 gears I am going to have enough low gear for what I need, this is a full size chevy on leaf springs and not a comp crawler. As far as highway speeds go I don't plan on cruising too far or fast in it. I agree that a lower first and overdrive would be nice, but the additional cost and time finding these parts just isn't appealing when I think about it's intended use. Plus I can always swap to a 6.0l and 4l80 down the road if I end up finding a deal on one.
 
iwaxmyjimmy said:
Do you reach highway speeds or plan on it? Because the 5.3 will send it on down the road a whole lot easier than that TBI motor. Before the 5.38s and running 4.10s I cruised at 70-80 the whole way to uwharrie on 38.5s and 52s up front. I really think the people that complain about the excessive body roll, try to drive these trucks like sports cars and don’t understand you can’t. Nv4500 is next for me, even though an 80e out of a junkyard with a shift kit does sound enticingly cheaper.

Curious how your springs do for you. Ive started to wrap my 56s, been debating on doing 63s outback and definitely traction bars. But can’t wait to see more of the build looks awesome dude.
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@iwaxmyjimmy Not planning on a lot of highway driving at this time. Still need to get it finished and see how it handles. The H1's still have the rubber runflats in them, I am thinking about switching to PVC and hopefully get them to halfway balance out. Depending on how that goes and handles will dictate the speeds it reaches. The plan is definitely for it to get to Uwharrie or Gulches and back under it's own power (and hopefully make decent time and gas mileage all things considered). For body roll I have my eye on the sway bar for crossover steering ORD just released a few months ago, but planned on driving it around first before I started throwing more parts at it.

I'm excited to get the rear swap done. Shooting to have a picture of it on the new springs and 37's by the end of next weekend. Need to get it back on its weight to check ride height and see what degree shims I need in the front and whether or not I need EZ Inch blocks anywhere. Then I can get the shocks/ mounts figured out and move on to the LS swap.
 
Mojones915 said:
Transmission - th400 - from the same CUCV as the axles
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Plan on buying a converter.The snout on the diesel converter is too big in diameter for a gas crank,at least when I used one it was.
 
Mojones915 said:
@iwaxmyjimmy Not planning on a lot of highway driving at this time. Still need to get it finished and see how it handles. The H1's still have the rubber runflats in them, I am thinking about switching to PVC and hopefully get them to halfway balance out. Depending on how that goes and handles will dictate the speeds it reaches. The plan is definitely for it to get to Uwharrie or Gulches and back under it's own power (and hopefully make decent time and gas mileage all things considered). For body roll I have my eye on the sway bar for crossover steering ORD just released a few months ago, but planned on driving it around first before I started throwing more parts at it.

I'm excited to get the rear swap done. Shooting to have a picture of it on the new springs and 37's by the end of next weekend. Need to get it back on its weight to check ride height and see what degree shims I need in the front and whether or not I need EZ Inch blocks anywhere. Then I can get the shocks/ mounts figured out and move on to the LS swap.
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I guess it comes down to personal preference but I didnt notice any difference w or w/o the sway bar.I have crossover w hi-steer,zero rates in the front and the axle is forward an inch.
 
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