78 k10 step side daily driver build

[91samurai]

I was driving the k-truck the other day. And it hit me, how am I gunna strap my tool cart in the back to take it to the dealership? I had to figure something out that could withstand some force and I've always thought stake pockets are good but often not well thought out. Often you cant hook just the top or pass the hook of a strap through the slot.

After cutting the hole the stock sheet metal wasn't going to cut it, so I cut some plates out of 1/8 in flat bar. Hole-sawed, then plasma cut, then ground out to be an oval with a carbide burr.

I marked then cut the bed with a holesaw and an airsaw. Next I tacked the plate to the bed. (excuse the porosity there was a gust of wind right when I pulled the trigger)

Ground the bed to the same size as the 1/8 plate with the carbide burr. I fought the wind the entire time I was welding this side.

I spread some rtv around the inside of the slot, to stop moisture getting in-between the bedside and the plate.

 

[91samurai]

I have been wanting to make a traction bar for my suzuki for a while, and since I've made the decision to keep the current ride height for now. I'm building it to fit the current height. This is the shackle for the frame side of the anti-wrap bar.(pre weld)

Welded up the shackles and mocked up the barnes enduro joint.

I made a big improvement in the comfort of the k10 as well. Used door panels and new window seals. It's going to be very nice to not have to pull over to reset the window in the track.

My dad came up with this idea for cup holders as a joke. I'm planning on using those inserts mounted in a sheetmetal holder on the front of the bench seat.

The slight issue with my plan to build a traction bar was, this. I did get my tools loaded into my tool cart and my tool cart loaded into my truck ready for tomorrow morning.

I added some more tie downs in the bed. This time in the back corners of the floor. The tie down is made of a heavy duty chain connector that hasn't been closed yet. I used this instead of an eye bolt because you don't have to thread an entire 20ft rope through the tie down, you just have to loop it around opening in the back.

 

[91samurai]

This was the start of the shackle mount for the traction bar. The top 2in .120 wall tube is just for mock up, and the bottom is 1.75 .120 for a poly bushing. After the photo I boxed in the sides with some more 3/16 plate.

After loading the samurai on the trailer Friday night I checked the air filter. Apparently during the roll over some oil entered the air box. (cut down air box from ford mini van. Thats a brand new filter on the left.

Oil poured out of the intake tube when I removed it.

Saturday morning at the outpost. Last year I did a lot of wheeling, but I am looking forward to going more this year.

 

[91samurai]

I got these in the mail last week. I also received front and rear window gaskets.

After the car show on Saturday I pulled the seat and roll bar out of my truck, so I could start to make my speaker mounts. I drilled holes to mount the speakers and painted them blue to match the the truck and hide the mounts a little more.

And then I did this! Out with the broken slider and in with the solid back window. Saturday night I cleaned up the flange and painted the rusty spots. I had every intention of installing the back window on Sunday, but I had some serious allergy issues. No photos but my Dad and brother installed the back window for me. (thanks guys)

 

[91samurai]

Finally got a pic of the finished speaker brackets. The cut isn't the best, but the speakers sit behind the roll bar. Not wired yet, still got parts to order!

New window installed. I've noticed a slight difference in the temp of the cab during hot days, but I prefer the security of the solid window.

My brother got me this sticker for christmas. I was just waiting for the final back window before sticking it on.

Installed the driver side hub o-ring. The front axle is finished, well except for a few new hub bolts.(had to drill out some of the old ones, they rusted in to the outer locking hub not the internal parts)

Started to install the new windshield and hit a major problem. Rust. I can't ignore this, It's rusted all the the way through the passenger side (pictured) and the driver side.

I taped up the defrost vents and the speaker grill, and went crazy with the wire wheel. I've got an idea of what i'm working with now and plan on making patch panels for the three bad spots, driver, passenger, and middle. I'm also going to paint the whole windshield channel while the glass is out.



I'll be installing my other speakers soon; since i'm planning on a sub(shallow 10in), I was wondering whats a good cheap wood to use for the box?

 

[skyhighZJ]

Good luck with the windshield channel repair! Always a pain in the ass. I had to do it to an old Plymouth Satellite I owned. FWIW the most solid material for and sub enclosure is MDF plywood. Easy to cut, holds glue well and you can screw all the joints. It will seal up nicely and last a long time.

 

[91samurai]

Over the last week I have been slowly repairing the rust in the window channel.

After finishing the rust repair I painted the entire windshield channel. I also sanded and painted that paint chip on the hood.

Today I tried to install the windshield and ran into some problems, The gasket went in fine but when I went to install the glass I can't quite get the last side of the gasket over the glass for it to sit in the rubber. Anybody know some tricks that might help? It seems that the gasket bottoms out on the pinchweld before it reaches the point it should. I'm also kicking myself because I didn't realize the windshield I bought was one with the antenna in the glass.(which I didn't even know existed)

 

[HGSR]

Pretty cool truck, nice build.

 

[91samurai]

I've really busy the last few weeks so this is going to be a big update. With a new precision gasket the glass dropped in.

I even did some ac tig practice.

Even got my brother to tig weld for the first time.

I went to uwharrie for the zuwharrie event. I drove through the shallow end of the mud a couple of time and even the exit on the far left of the photo. The whole time my dad kept saying just try the middle exit, just try it, you can back up if its too deep, etc. It was the same depth as the other parts just below the rockers, Then the front dropped in, as soon as I saw that the intake was not going under, It put the hammer down. It started to climb the wall and dropped down as soon as I lost momentum.

It was deep. I was standing in waist deep water trying to engage the free-spool on my winch (which stopped after pulling the zuk 3 feet). I had to stop at a creek and wash the mud out of my boots.

I have been needing a new tool box for work since my cart is packed full. The harbor freight 44in is good for me because I can add to it later (side boxes) and what tech student can afford snap-on box while still building their tool collection. It's a really sturdy box but I can't stand the red (more on that later).

A big problem I found while trying to pull a log through a field, is that I had no 4-wheel drive. The axle shafts turned but the tires didn't spin. I figured out that when I rebuild the axle I installed the locking hub in 60 degrees off, not allowing it to engage.

So I went and tested the 4-low granny gear. It's got some serious torque.

While moving that tree and lots of limbs I wished I had a bigger axe in the truck (all I had was my little hatchet). Last year I was given a collins double bit with no handle and lots of rust pitting. I wire wheeled the head to remove the rust. I took a file to the edge and sharpened the edges in the traditional double bit fashion; less steep of an angle on one side for chopping roots and things near the ground, and a finer edge for felling and chopping. The felling side cleaned up nicely, but the ground side was much more pitted and has some spots I couldn't file out. I would have liked to do what I did on my previous axe and sharpen with a belt sander using a pivot point calculated from the heel and toe of the cutting edge, but I wasn't willing to put a center punch in the middle of the collins logo.

Starting to fit the handle to the axe head. Its a tight fit when you get chips like that getting sliced off. After the photo I filed the handle some more, seated the head and knocked in both the wooden wedge and step wedge.

New axe on the left, old faithful on the right. I sanded all of the varnish off of the handle and treated it with boiled-linseed oil. I took the opportunity to treat the handle of my other axe as well (plumb double bit with hallow grinds that is shaving sharp).

I want the features of a snap-on box but can't afford one, so I decided to make my own writing surface.

And this is the color i'm painting my new tool box, rustoleum safety orange. Ignore the weirdness on the paint thats the reflection of the trees. This was the first time I used a hvlp gun.

 

[91samurai]

I had an interesting package show up at the door one day. Because this is my everything truck (hunting, fishing, and tow rig); and I believe a winch should be the first mod for any four wheel drive, I decided this truck needed one too. I bought the smittybilt because I've had first hand experience with one and think it's pretty good.

I wanted to do this style winch mount, that uses the factory bumper. But I still wanted something to help protect the grille and front of the truck from damage.

Trying to think of a slick way to do the brush guard I remembered the bull horns built into the bumper on the ballistic bronco.

I started by making the bull horns before any thing else. I wanted to have as much done as I could before pulling my truck off of the road. After cutting the ends I capped them with some 1/8 inch plate.

Thursday night I grabbed my 3/8 air impact and removed the bumper as fast as possible. This is as far as I got that night because I had to fight the left frame horn being bent. The truck was obviously in an accident because the frame horn was bent, the bumper bent, and the fender dented. It took some creative use of the press brake but I had two level and parallel mounts to work from.

I reached the point of no return, cutting the factory bumper. I also used some 3/8 plate to build up some shackle mounts.

Even thought the drag shield broke off of the plasma cutter, I can still cut pretty good.

I managed to get the bumper thrown together enough on saturday to set the bull horns on top of the mounts. Also at the bottom of each mount is a small step I built into the bumper.

To give the mounts some more strength I heated and bent some inch and a half 3/16 around the mounts.

I spent several hours sunday night welding up the bumper center, but I ran out of wire at 9:15. And no stores were open.

Monday afternoon I grabbed some mig wire on my lunch break. I finished welding the bumper monday as soon as I got home. I even built a mount for my rebel flag. Don't hate to much that was my fist time welding two pieces of aluminum together with tig. I painted the bumper as soon as it had cooled off and installed it around 9 o-clock monday night. Then I drove it to school on tuesday! The bumper is secured by 7 grade 8 bolts per side. 5 1/2 and 2 3/8.

The truck turned heads before but it does it even more with the bullhorns.

It's not finished yet. I still need to extend and re-angle the support brackets so that I can eliminate the stacked washers. I also haven't wired the winch yet. I need to make a mount for the control box as well. The flag is also crooked, as are some parts of the bumper. I plan to make all the small adjustments so that every thing is level and looks right, but for now it works on a truck that every thing else is crooked too.

 

[91samurai]

Today I detailed the truck, washed, waxed, tires shined. All because I have my high school graduation tomorrow!

 

[91samurai]

I got the chance to install my new carb! It's a quick fuel slayer 600. The truck starts up no matter what now on the first or second crank with no pumping the gas.

 

[91samurai]

Its hard to see in this photo, but the rear of the zuk is sitting lower than the front. The right rear leaf spring has started to S slightly from axle wrap.

Today I made the mount for the traction bar i'm building; but I hit a snag, if I welded in the mount I would have 2 inches of up travel before the bracket hit my muffler. So that I can still wheel the zuk i'm going to mod the exhaust before installing the traction bar.

 

[91samurai]

Update on the tool box project, i've been working out of it for ~a month and it's awesome. I'm totally happy with the color.

\
I redrilled the holes for the sill plates and mounted the new door seals.

A few days later I decided it was time to install my new floor mat and sound deadening/heat control mat, sitting in traffic the inside of the cab gets HOT!

Three layers of various sound deadening and heat control mats, and a 1/8 inch thick vinyl floor mat. It's much more quiet in the cab on the highway now, and nowhere near as hot when there is little to no air flow. I also had my seat cover patched while the seat was out.

The latest project is rebuilding the transfer case. I was refilling the gear oil once a week before pulling the t-case, so hopefully it doesn't leak when I reassemble it.

 

[91samurai]

I Finshed rebuilding the 205 and a installed it. Lately I been chasing a no spark problem with the samurai that is no longer intermittent. With It just sitting dead in the yard I tried replacing the coil(old one was way out of speck). But when that didn't work I narrowed it down to a bad igniter.

Yesterday I mounted my new trailer brake controller, with enough room for a cb next to it.

I also made a mount for the 7way plug. Now all that's left for the trailer brakes is to hook up the wired

The front bumper needed some more attention. The paint was destroyed, and I wanted to put the factory carriage bolts back in.

I spent some time with a carbide burr and a grinder to make the cable not hit the fair lead mount.

All buttoned up, with the winch finally wired. I still plan on putting the carriage bolts in the outside bumper pieces later on.

 

[XJsavage]

It's nice to see a build thread with this much effort and thought put into it. Very cool truck!

 

[91samurai]

It's nice to see a build thread with this much effort and thought put into it. Very cool truck!

Thanks, I try to think how I want the truck to be when it's done as i'm planning.



When you daily drive a square body chevy and this comes into the GMC dealership,

Guess who got to work on it, me! Intake gaskets, trans pan gasket, a/c recharge, speedo cable, etc

 

[91samurai]

I spent 2 hours sitting on the side of I-77 Wednesday night. It started to surge on acceleration; I got it to clear out several times, but it stopped being able to hold 65. Then it couldn't hold 60, then 55, then 50, then 45. I finally pulled over and couldn't even make it to the on ramp. it would crank and run, but die immediately. I called my Dad and he picked me up with the trailer. And to top it off, I backed it off the trailer under it's own power. On Thursday night I bypassed the switching valve and took it down the road, No dice. It still fell on it's face in 3rd gear. I've got two new sending units and gas tanks on order. I believe that the pickup in the driver side tank is clogged up. I currently only have one tank installed, the driver side tank with the passenger side sending unit in it.

Since I started driving the truck, I've been hauling the spare tire around in the back of the truck. This is a real pain, especially if you have a short bed stepside. There have been several times I've had the bed full of stuff and had to find a place for the spare. I didn't have the factory tire holding stuff, only a broken off piece that was stuck. So I decided to upgrade; I bought the spare tire winch off of a '96 2500 and built my own mount. Sorry for the sideways pic, but you get the idea.

Here it is finished up and painted without the winch installed.

I threw the spare in there and started to winch it up. I also flipped the tire upside down so I could access the valve stem.

I didn't want to use the factory tire iron set up because I didn't have one, so I decided to use my lug wrench. It's also the same size as my lug nuts. There is one problem, If I had a trailer hooked up I would have to use a ratchet with a 3/4 socket instead because I have to take the hitch out to use the 4-way.

This is all that shows of the spare winch when its not in use. a 3/4 nut, welded to the end of a rod.

 

[91samurai]

I took the samurai to the flats open ride. It ran great and I ran way more of the actual trails than I ever have before.


Then I took the samurai to uwharrie a couple of weekends and broke what I thought was either the spool or a rear axle shaft on daniel.

Pulled the rear diff drain plug and this is what I found. A ton of metal on the magnet. Maybe the mud-burnouts in 2-3 gear 4lo with the hubs unlocked, was a bad idea.

The splines are fine, but lots of metal paste. The spool was a cheap unit I dropped in after breaking the welded spider gears. I ordered a yukon one.

Tonight I removed the spool and wanted to install the new one. Almost like it was machined

I was all set to install the new unit and I found a broken cross pin. I'm gunna try order a hardened cross pin, so I can make uwharrie on sunday.

 

[91samurai]

I slapped the samurai together in time to make it to uwharrie; I even used my new kaufman trailer and the k10 to tow it. It towed great, just a little slow on the hills.

The previous owner of my truck though it would be a great idea to mount 39 ford tail lights on the back of the step side fenders. I removed them immediately and bought a used set of stock lights. Until now i've been just driving around with the holes in the fenders, you can see the marks from mud coming out of the hole.

I welded a patch panel in the big cut out and filled the bolt holes with weld. Next I started to use the body hammer to straiten the back of the fender. There were a lot of small dents from gravel roads. Then I laid down some filler and sanded it all down. I gave it a coat of primer because I ran out of day light. Now it needs some glaze and a coat of paint to be finished.

 

[91samurai]

I patched the other fender and body worked/ painted them both. It looks 1000 times better.

I also finished wiring my tach, not bad for no overdrive.

Then I decided that I needed to build the tire carrier i've wanted for a while; i'm using the high-lift mounts I already had on the cage for the top mount, and I slugged the rear bumper with some 3/4x.120 wall dom.

But I had to stop halfway through building the tire carrier to work on my daily driver, the k10. It started to have a really bad bog and a ticking noise. I re lashed the valves and tuned the carb, I finally got rid of that rich idle problem. I couldn't help but clean up the valve covers and the air cleaner lid. Right now it runs the best it ever has, idles at ~600 rpm.

 

[91samurai]

A while ago I went and found some mud with the k10. It did pretty good for a mostly stock truck.

I also drove up a really steep hill. The carb did great.

I made it to the flats open ride with the Samurai, even towed it up there with the k10. I was a little worried about running I-40 with a heavy trailer but I never dropped below 55mph.

I spent a lot of time doing this; pulling out my brothers cherokee. My wheeling was cut short by mud from the gas tank clogging up the carb.

I also welded up a harness bar for my brothers el camino.

This was what I found in the carb of the samurai. I also cleaned and flushed the entire fuel system to clean out any sediment.

I've been planning to link the front of my suzuki for a little while now and I decided to take advantage of the barnes4wd black friday sale. Hopefully I can knock it out sometime after the January ride at the flats and before uwharrie opens next year. My plan is to lower the ride height, raise the fender flairs on the body, stretch the wheel base, and add a rear traction bar.

 

[broncosbybart]

I recognize those vehicles! Cool thread. I saw the K10 on the trailer a little while back. Was wondering what happened.

Keep up the good work!

 

[91samurai]

I recognize those vehicles! Cool thread. I saw the K10 on the trailer a little while back. Was wondering what happened.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks, I think some trash from the old gas tank got past the fuel filter and clogged the carb. I revved the engine and held a rag over the carb and that got it cleaned out.

 

[91samurai]

I recently got a kick to do a little bit of engine work so I started disassembling the tracker 1.6 engine I have to swap into the suzuki.

Then I started the next big project on my k10, rebuilding my sm465; It was easy to remove with custom plates that bolted to the pto mounts.

Although it is difficult to remove the trans when it is this tall and you don't have a lift in your driveway, I managed to barely lift the truck high enough to get the trans out with it still on the trans jack.

The sm465 all together ready to install. That top cover was a major pain to install.