Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

I love the consistent progress! What's next on the list to tackle?

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

Good call on the honed out bearings. That may be in my future if the front or rear gears are noisy.

I was under the impression that the gears in my truck were the original gears since 3.73 was standard equipment, and the SPID doesn't list the ratio. I was reading the optional equipment list in the sales brochure for 1971, and it says a 350 engine gets 3.07 gears. My SPID lists a 350 engine. It is obvious that someone has worked on both the front and rear gears on this truck, so it was probably to swap the original 3.07 gears for 3.73 gears.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

I'm not claiming to be a total expert, Pat, but from what I've gathered; the 3.73 Ratio was standard for Manual Transmission trucks, while the 3.07 was for Automatic Transmissions.
:chevy:

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

Hmm. My SPID lists a 350 engine and a 4-speed transmission. Here's the table from the 1971 sales brochure that had me wondering about the gears. The brochure also says that 3.07 will be included with a 350 engine.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

OK. IDK.
My '71 GMC Jimmy K/1500 was originally equipped with V8 350/SM465/NP205/ 3.73 w/Posi.
I have a 1972 Chevy K/5 Blazer Tub/Chassis out the 'Back Forty'. While it has no Engine, Transmission, or Transfer Case, and no Glove Box Door [ergo, no SPID], the Rear Differential was a 3.07 when I opened it up and counted teeth. This Blazer was originally an Auto Tranny truck.
Flint build.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

Does your '71 Jimmy still have the SPID, and does it list 3.73?

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

Yes it does. OK. I get it. The Original Buyer _opted_ for 3.73 in his differentials.
Since White Fang and 919 both were 3.73 trucks, I made the assumption 3.73 was always STD.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

That makes sense.

The funky shims in my rear diff, and new bearings in the front diff point to a gear swap.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

I wish my SPID were as clean as yours. Mine has been exposed to the weather for who knows how long because the windshield was missing.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

It is surprizingly clean. The paint shop that shot Maui Blue over the Factory 522 Medium Bronze took pains to mask over the SPID. I think the PO's FIL owned the shop and the blue paint job was a wedding present. They were from LA. [Venice Beach, and their PO was in Newport.]
As an inner-city security feature, the Door Lock Knobs and relay rods had been deleted. The doors were kept locked and when picking up the spouse, she/he had to user their key to open the door, they told me.
About 4 or 5 years later I made a road trip up to the Bay Area, and Jerry Moss gave me a pair of Relay Rods, when I bought a Blazer Windshield Frame from him.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

I finished a batch of dummy filler necks two days ago and had some two part epoxy paint and primer left over that needed to be used up. This evening I cleaned up the front brake caliper brackets/dust shields, some little parking brake parts and some original stepside rear bumper gravel shields and painted them.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

It's hard to find those dust shields still intact. Yours look solid, there usually rusted away or damaged.
Gary

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

I straightened out a couple of bent corners on them, and one appears to have detached partially from the caliper bracket at some point and got welded back on. The metal is still thick and solid though. I noticed that the single mounting screw for each dust shield is missing.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

If the threaded hole in the knuckles isn't there, then I would suspect either the knuckles or front axle have been changed at some point. You could look up the axle numbers.

My dust shields were in about the same shape.
Gary

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

The threaded holes are there, and thankfully there aren't snapped off bolts in them, which is what I was half expecting to find.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

The truck should be down off of jack stands soon.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

Nice, so that's most likely the original front end. After 72 those holes were no longer.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

This evening I installed the rear brakes. Lubed up the parking brake cables and installed new rubber boots on them. Installed the shoes and hardware. I was missing one parking brake strut spring, so I had to run to the auto parts store to buy some. Installed 67-70 style drums because i had an extra set already. The rear wheels are back on and sitting on the ground.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

As shown on this NOS 360046 passengers side knuckle currently on everyone's favorite auction site!

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/rPgAA...3/s-l1600.webp

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/MAkAA...C/s-l1600.webp

This part number is used from 1971-74 in the later parts catalogs.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

Looks like it would be easy to add the missing dust shield tapped hole.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

Except the boss in the casting is no longer there.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

Isn't this the boss?

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

It looks like maybe the spindle studs are in the wrong orientation relative to that boss though. On mine, one of the studs is lined up with the boss.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

Oh yeah, I was thinking it was on the other side.
It does look like the studs are clocked a little different.

Re: 1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy
 

The Ebay knuckle might be a 1969 or 1970 knuckle. That is the problem with converting the open knuckle 1969 and 1970 Blazers/Suburbans/trucks to disc brakes. The studs are clocked wrong to mount the caliper bracket.

Here is a purported 1969-70 NOS knuckle 360048

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Mf8AA...m/s-l1600.webp

My 1972 donor knuckles had the single 1/4"-20 threaded hole to support the splash shield.