My new build thread: Stage 4!

[swyfor5]

I was wanting to mount my old school pair of KC daylighters on my new custom front bumper, but they will not look right. I have a Four Wheeler magazine from 1984 with a awesome K5 in it that has some lights mounted on the drip rail on the front windshield frame. They said they were "Trick Hickey windshield mounts". Anybody know what I am talking about or know where I can find a set of these to mount up two offroad lights to the windshield frame? Or, has anybody used something else to mount them up there on a 1st Gen? I was thinking with them mounted up there, I could angle them down for maximum light support. Anybody?

[mcmlxix]

Originally Posted by swyfor5

I was wanting to mount my old school pair of KC daylighters on my new custom front bumper, but they will not look right. I have a Four Wheeler magazine from 1984 with a awesome K5 in it that has some lights mounted on the drip rail on the front windshield frame. They said they were "Trick Hickey windshield mounts". Anybody know what I am talking about or know where I can find a set of these to mount up two offroad lights to the windshield frame? Or, has anybody used something else to mount them up there on a 1st Gen? I was thinking with them mounted up there, I could angle them down for maximum light support. Anybody?

I was thinking of a similar idea... I might have some tabs welded to the windshield frame that I can build a light mount bar for...

http://brochures.slosh.com/frame.shtml?blazer/hickey

[swyfor5]

Yes Sir, those are what I am looking for! If I can't find any, I may talk to my friend John at CHAOS offroad about fabbing me up a pair. Good idea bro! Anybody else got pic's of lights mounted up there?

[swyfor5]

Sombody has a set of these stashed away somewhere, come forward! I will pay!

[swyfor5]

Been working on my electrical gremlins. I switched the alternator over to a 1 wire setup, and now I do not have any headlights? I got all the side marker lights figured out. Passenger taillight/turn signal works. Drivers side taillight the bulb housing was shot. Just ordered up one from LMC. This k5 is a wiring mess, and I am not an electrican! I do have the new painless kit, but not ready to tackle that project yet. Anybody find any of those Hickey light brackets yet?

[swyfor5]

Still looking for those Hickey mounts!

[Flick]

I pride myself in my online searching skills. But I tried every possible way to find these brackets and got no luck. Depending on how much your heart is set might be easier and cheaper to just get some L brackets and mount some generic ones or ones from LMC or the other common sites.

[swyfor5]

Thank's for looking Flick! I think I will end up going custom on this. I did drive the K5 some this weekend and everything worked good. Brakes felt good, steering worked great-way better with the crossover/high steer! Still have some issues with the battery/charging system, and the QJ carb. Chasing down a couple of small fluid leaks, but all in all feel real good with getting this step done!

[swyfor5]

Yes! I talked to John today, after he got back from Trucks Gone Wild last weekend. Bus and jeep survived the trip, with a little carnige to the bus's rear driveshaft. All good! Got my headlights to work-after I hooked up my dimmer switch-Duh! Also got my new taillight housing from LMC today, so will wire that up tommorrow and should have all my outside lighting back again!

[swyfor5]

Still trying to figure out the taillights. Got a new flasher for the fuse box, but did not fix. Wiring mess! Did get the headlight bezels repainted and installed in the 72 grille. Got some pic's ! Oh, Got the rear top brackets bolted back in, with antisieze! Those rear top bolts are a real pain in the you know what! I had to cut my top up to get it apart in the first place, but am making it easier every time I work on it! Pic's of the front end-with some shackles mounted on the d-rings. Pic's of my rear shackle flip, and my frame-to new rear bumper bracket plates! yes!

[swyfor5]

Went to Rocks and Valleys Off Road park today. One of my daughters boyfriend wanted to take us there. Jeep broke the front driveshaft about 20 minutes in, wheeled in rear wheel drive for about 10 minutes,broke that, and ending up leaving it in the parking lot until he can find a trailer to drag it home! I love my GM trucks!

[swyfor5]

Well, I have some trouble with the build again. Since I got the rear top holdowns bolted back on, I figured I'd check out my front top mounts. I have had the top off once, and had issues getting it back on years ago. Went to pulling the front visor/top mounting brackets off-and I have the drivers side encaplasted nut broke loose inside the top on the drivers side. Passenger side all good, also all other screws and the the passenger side bolt/nut came out ok. Very bad design by GM! I will do some searching and try to figure out how to fix that! I do feel pretty good that out of 2 bolts-and 8 screws only one is a problem so far! The nut inside that is broke loose is the one that holds the long bolt in from the visor bracket to the top. Lucky enough, I got the bolt out!

[swyfor5]

Did some more work on the visor area today after work. I bought a real nice set of black replacement visors awhile back from Sharpie. Did a little rework on them, and they are nice. Decided to try and clean up my originals that I removed yesterday, and they actually are in really great shape also! Gotta figure out how to fix the mounting nuts in the top, and decide which set of visors to use? Just trying to set and stash up some cash for the next trip up to CHAOS OFF ROAD for the next upgrade!

[swyfor5]

A little bit of progress! I had a gear oil leak somewhere at the rebuilt np205 transfer case. After driving a couple miles, oil seeping on the bole barn floor. Duh, never hooked up the speedometer cable! Hooked it up, Washed all under and will take for another test drive! Also think I might have killed one of my electrical demons. Reworked the wire replacing my fusible link-to positive battery post, and seems to have stopped my battery drain?

[swyfor5]

Got a little done tonight. Replaced the little 3/4" pipe fittings I used to drop my transfer case down with some steel square tubing. Looks way better! Also, left the battery hooked up two days in a row, and it held a charge-started up, Yaaaaa!

[swyfor5]

A lot of activity on the forums lately about rear hatches. Mine needs major rework. Here's pic's of my original and one I picked up from Sharpie years ago. Any advice?

[swyfor5]

Here's the pic's!

[swyfor5]

More pic's!

[swyfor5]

Rest of pic's!

[swyfor5]

More!

[Tom Vogel]

Originally Posted by swyfor5

A lot of activity on the forums lately about rear hatches. Mine needs major rework. Here's pic's of my original and one I picked up from Sharpie years ago. Any advice?

Both look fixable to me.

[swyfor5]

Thank's Tom! I do have a bunch of extra parts also to help rebuild them. Just not sure if those skills are in my bag of tricks!

[swyfor5]

Since the t-case, axle swap I have been chasing down some fluid leaks. All new seals and etc, should not have tattoo marks on the pole barn floor right?Thought I had it solved when I hooked up the speedometer cable, but still had some drips here and there. Went through and tightened up some of the case input and output shaft cover bolts tonight, think I may have fixed the seepage! Spent a lot of time on the creeper the last couple of days trying to figure this out! Hope I got all the drips stopped!

[swyfor5]

Nope, still have a leak or two! Damn!

[hgs_notes]

To fix the hatches, dismantle, split the halves (inside and outside), get a fiberglass repair kit, some wood shims, and start patching. Clean out the cracked and broken areas. Use the wood as a backer and to add some strength. Lay your glass in and coat with the resin. Repeat until built up, repaired, patched, what have you. Clean around the edges again and paint them with resin, have a bunch of clamps and wood boards handy to clamp the halves together again (sandwich the hatch between the boards) Sand and spray a coat of textured paint. Fiberglass is easier to mess with than rusty steel repairs. Mistakes just cut out or sand out. No biggie.