My neglected 72

[higgys72]

My dad picked this truck up for me when I was 13. I drove it through my junior year of high school until I blew a head gasket and the engine we replaced it with. 2 years later I joined the navy and the truck sat at my parents house while I squirreled away some money to build an engine and transmission for it. I got it back on the road again and used it as my daily driver until I was deployed. While my dad was driving the truck from San Diego to Northern California the freshly built 700r4 gave out. The “great shop” that built the transmission rebuilt it under warranty and I paid to have them rebuild the transfer case at the same time. They kept the truck for 6 months, didn’t touch the transfer case, and “blew up” the rear end on a test drive. I got the truck towed back to me in San Diego and built a rear end while I was waiting on the truck and installed it when the truck got to my house. Excited to be reunited with my truck after a long deployment I was disappointed to find out the transmission was left untouched for 6 months and was completely inoperable. After this the truck has sat and kinda been picked apart for other projects and left neglected until I game up with a decision on what to do with it. As the years have gone by my hobbies have changed but my passion for exploring the mountains and difficult trails has only grown. Many won’t like the direction I’m taking a classic and say I’m ruining it, but at the end of the day it’s my truck, it’s been part of my life for almost 19 years now and will be with me until I die. At that point it will be my kids problem to deal with me ruining it. Last February I sold my duramax and started funding a big budget build on this old truck. Last month I finally got the last of the parts I have been waiting to come in on back order.
Here’s the build plan.
Dana 60 front arb locker Yukon chromo axles and super joints. Yukon hubs.
14 full float arb locker
40x13.5r17 nitro trail grapplers on method beadlocks
14 in travel king coilovers with ORD 4 link
14 in travel king smooth body with custom 63 in leafs (may link later)
West Texas steering box and redneck ram hydraulic assist
ORD cross over steering.
Ruff stuff 7/8 heim high steer
Built 350 with Holley sniper efi
Nv4500 with np203/205 doubler
Tom woods drive shafts
Internal roll cage with prp suspension seats.
Vintage air
Dakota digital cruise control
Raptor lined paint
Custom built bumpers

[higgys72]

Here’s some pictures from being neglected back to being love and back to neglect.

[72Teeroy]

Thank you for your service truck is in good shape I think it’s going to be bad @ss truck keep us posted on the process.

[higgys72]

Went to ruff stuff Black Friday and picked up the tie rod and hemis. Also got the hydraulic assist in from West Texas Offroad. Some other parts that I’ve started collecting for the build this summer.

[higgys72]

Took a couple of days off the other week and made some pretty good progress. Front clip and bed removed. Had the carriage bolts spin in the bed and didn’t have help coming until the weekend. I tacked the carriage bolt to the bed and got the nuts off the bottom. Then I used a cherry picker to lift the bed and pull it out of the way.

[higgys72]

Originally Posted by 72Teeroy

Thank you for your service truck is in good shape I think it’s going to be bad @ss truck keep us posted on the process.

Thanks, I’ll keep posting results of the build. All my big money stuff besides tires and wheels I have bought and received. If all goes as planned I’ll be hitting the trails and driving it to the carpool by late June.

[higgys72]

With the front clip out of the way I was able to start removing the old suspension and getting the link brackets from Offroad Designed tacked in place. The drivers side jigged it self in good using that spring perch and bolts from the Dana 60 diff housing. The drivers side took quite a bit of time to get tacked in at the same angle as the passenger side. After a little swearing and some taps with a mini sledge I got the two link brackets tacked in place within 0.05 degrees.

[Louisvillekytruck]

Thank u for your service nice truck

[higgys72]

Originally Posted by Louisvillekytruck

Thank u for your service nice truck

Thank you

[higgys72]

Originally Posted by Louisvillekytruck

Thank u for your service nice truck

Thank you

[BigBird05]

I didn't see what trans you are going with?

[higgys72]

Originally Posted by BigBird05

I didn't see what trans you are going with?

Early nv4500 with advanced adaptors bellhousing and np203/205 doubler

[higgys72]

Got a couple hours in on it tonight. Need to get some more drill bits and an air hammer so I can get all these old rivets off. Hopefully will have the frame side link mounts installed tomorrow. Then I can start working on the new steering and pan hard bar.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very cool build and nice truck! I wouldn't call it ruined. Build it how you want it and enjoy it! Also, thanks for your service!

[higgys72]

Having the front clip removed made changing the steering box with West Texas Offroad box super easy. Got off road design crossover steering installed and realized the high steer from ruff stuff specialties will interfere with the pan hard bar. I’ll have a Dana 60 drivers side high steer arm for sale soon.

[higgys72]

After getting the steering in last night, it was time to get the suspension set to full bump. This was a lot harder than anticipated due to the weight and and noting to keep it from rolling. After dropping a dana60 a few times and some redneck ingenuity with some ratchet straps I finally the axle pretty close to where I wanted it. Taking the longest of all the link measurements I cut the links and tacked in rock jock Johnny joints. Now all 4 links are cut and installed and the axle sits right where I want it.

[Richard]

I understand the truck connection to your dad. Another thanks for serving us. Great you are making progress. You are somewhat going the route I am with my build. Looks great. I know how much work it is. I am in the midst of finalizing my front four link, check out my build if you would like. Getting parts seems to take some time fir me. Why using heims on steering? Is this a competition rig? IME they require lots of maintenance and may only last a few thousand miles on a driver. Am ditching the Heim on at least one end of the ORD trac bar myself. An x cut in head of rivet and hitting with long stroke air hammer has rivets out quickly as I have found out.

[52napco]

First and foremost...THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE..freedom is not free.
I like your build plans, especially since I'm an old rockcrawler from back in the
day.. it's your truck so do whatever you like..I've included a pic from "back in the day" when I won the world Supercrawl in Farmington NM

[higgys72]

Richard, I took your advice and borrowed a better air hammer from my father in law and it made all the difference in the world removing these old rivets. I was going back and forth on using heims or TRE on the steering and got a killer deal on heims. I may just use the bigger heims I got for replacements on the track bar and still go TRE on the steering.

52napco Thank you. I’ve done a few jeeps and Toyota wheeling rigs and found I really enjoy crawling so I figured I might as well build my favorite truck to go do my favorite activities. Farmington is on my bucket list.

[higgys72]

Had to do a little bit of rework as I moved the axle too far forward and was getting the track bar and coil bound up together. Now that those clear I’ve started cutting the shock hoops. Axle to frame and shock height are set at ride height. I’m going to have to run brake lines and power steering lines a little different. Shock is going to be very close to master cylinder to get the 3 degrees needed for shock placement.

[JT_Trucks87]

Awesome truck! The truck is going to be great when its done! My dad bought me a 1972 K20 as my first truck when I was 14. Sadly we did not keep it and moved onto other various projects. Its the one vehicle that I have had over the years that I wish I would have kept! Good for you for keeping the truck around through all that BS, making it your own is the best decision a guy can make.

[higgys72]

Originally Posted by JT_Trucks87

Awesome truck! The truck is going to be great when its done! My dad bought me a 1972 K20 as my first truck when I was 14. Sadly we did not keep it and moved onto other various projects. Its the one vehicle that I have had over the years that I wish I would have kept! Good for you for keeping the truck around through all that BS, making it your own is the best decision a guy can make.

I have a few cars I really regret getting rid of. My 71 k20 is on the top of that list. When I was in high school I almost traded my 72 for a samurai, because gas was $5 a gallon in California, but my dad blew the motor up in it before I met up with the guy. Never thought blowing a motor up would a saving grace. I think my dad felt bad and traded me a good running 79 Camaro for the truck. I drove the Camaro until I joined the navy and decided I wanted to build the truck and not deal with smog stuff so I traded him back. I spent what was a small fortune for me and decided I would never get it back out of the truck and made my decision then I’ll keep this truck for ever.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by higgys72

Had to do a little bit of rework as I moved the axle too far forward and was getting the track bar and coil bound up together. Now that those clear I’ve started cutting the shock hoops. Axle to frame and shock height are set at ride height. I’m going to have to run brake lines and power steering lines a little different. Shock is going to be very close to master cylinder to get the 3 degrees needed for shock placement.

A good air hammer makes all the difference in the world. The shock pic reminds me of the one in my thread, lol. Not trying to tell what to do on your build. Are you planning to trim fenders? From what I have found in my build I am thinking that running 40's at your highest travel position will require quite a bit of fender trim. A lot more than I did. Might want to throw a fender on and at least measure before finalizing bumps and shock hoops. Am setting my hoops up to pretty much bottom out shocks at full bump with tires not hitting, axle flat or articulated. I see no reason to leave shock travel unavailable.

[higgys72]

Originally Posted by Richard

A good air hammer makes all the difference in the world. The shock pic reminds me of the one in my thread, lol. Not trying to tell what to do on your build. Are you planning to trim fenders? From what I have found in my build I am thinking that running 40's at your highest travel position will require quite a bit of fender trim. A lot more than I did. Might want to throw a fender on and at least measure before finalizing bumps and shock hoops. Am setting my hoops up to pretty much bottom out shocks at full bump with tires not hitting, axle flat or articulated. I see no reason to leave shock travel unavailable.

Yes I plan to trim a lot off the fenders. Probably fallow the factory arch and take 4 inches off if needed Im also willing to narrow the front clip at the radiator support a few inches on each side. My goal is to keep the truck as low as possible to allow full wheel travel with 40s.

[higgys72]

After a long Saturday I got the shock hoops cut and tacked in and the shocks mounted. I’ll be working on the tie in today. I haven’t ordered my tires yet so I’m going to barrow my buddies spare and get the suspension cycled.