1991 V3500 Project Heavy Hauler

[Ski-me]

Just found your thread...very nice build! Love the stance and overall truck itself.

[MTCK]

Thanks guys. Sorry haven’t been around much.

I’ll have to go back and look at my cam specs. Are you going to swap a gen 6 big block in?

Open diffs front and rear. Needs something. I’d like a pair of true-tracs. Maybe I’ll try one out on the plow truck...

Haven’t diagnosed the tcase yet. 4hi works fine so I’m rolling with it for now. We run the same tires siped on all our work trucks and they aren’t half bad in the snow. Way better than not siped!

[farmall]

See page 4 for shift fork info.

This is the thread I followed to rebuild mine.

[kacy]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Thanks guys. Sorry haven’t been around much.

I’ll have to go back and look at my cam specs. Are you going to swap a gen 6 big block in?

Yeah I picked up a complete swap from a 98 with 180k on it for a song, just either have to convert the 2wd 4l80 to 4wd or find another. i already picked up a np208 and adapter/mount from a 3/4 with th400/208

[MTCK]

Hey Kacy, I still owe you cam specs.

I finally got tired of taking my crappy radiator in and out to have the shop fix the latest leak it sprung. So I went to Napa and got a part number NR 2071 Napa brand radiator coming. No more spectra Chinese radiator! They only wanted $50 for freight and the price was right.

Imagine my surprise when I picked it up today and it was a spectra CU774. Same freaking part number. This one is made in Japan though and survived the trip over the pond much better with no dings. So I thought Larry had one from Canada, and now I have China and Japan covered.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Hey Kacy, I still owe you cam specs.

I finally got tired of taking my crappy radiator in and out to have the shop fix the latest leak it sprung. So I went to Napa and got a part number NR 2071 Napa brand radiator coming. No more spectra Chinese radiator! They only wanted $50 for freight and the price was right.

Imagine my surprise when I picked it up today and it was a spectra CU774. Same freaking part number. This one is made in Japan though and survived the trip over the pond much better with no dings. So I thought Larry had one from Canada, and now I have China and Japan covered.

That is awesome! Ya, all three of my CU774’s were made in Canada, eh. You probably remember the story of my Suburban during the 8.1L swap where I got 3 CU774’s and each were beat to smithereens in the same spots thanks to their pisspoor packing. Even the last one I got as a freebie from the Spectra rep needed work. Hopefully the made in Japan CU774’s are better quality than the Canuck radiators. The last one I got still needed work as the upper radiator port was so close to the side tank pinch weld you couldn’t slide a hose clamp on it. I had to have a radiator shop to some tweaking to make it work. Outside of that and the shipping woes, Spectra usually builds top notch goods! We reworked one of the other CU774's I had left over and it is now in Rob's K5.3 Blazer albeit it may be too much radiator as now the little 5.3 struggles to get up to temperature

The truck is looking good Markus! Glad to see you are putting it to work

[sweetk30]

with out scanning this massive thread MTCK how did you like those 255/85/16 tires ?

were they squirrely on the road ? seem o.k. handling ? what did you think ?

I am thinking of this size for 1 of my trucks .

[MTCK]

Cam specs:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=589&sb=2

[kacy]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Cam specs:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=589&sb=2

Thanks.. although now I am thinking I put to much cam in my 350

[v30crewcab]

last few years parts store rads are junk. I have been using the aluminum summit racing ones with success. just have to sift thru their sizes and find one that fits.

[kacy]

Did I read on another forum that you had to do some work to the heads for your cam?

[MTCK]

Larry, I remember your woes well! It’s not fair to blame all the problems with my first Chinese on its origin. It got beat up in shipping, run into by a house sitter before installation, and has been repaired 3 times at the local rad shop. I was just over the whack-a-mole with the leaks. The new version looks very solid.

As far as the 255/85R16’s they were great on my V3500. Now they are great on my K30 in the summer. They tracked well in slush and rain, had enough sipes to be good on snow and ice, and wear pretty well. I’d do an ST Maxx in that size if I was buying a new pair for the K30. Those have been solid on the V3500 and we put them on all our work trucks with good results.

[sweetk30]

thanks buddy on the tire info .

ebay has there sale again with discount tire .

i just got 4 255/85/16 bfg mud km2 tires to my door for 804.00

[MTCK]

That’s a screaming deal on tires! Here’s what I believe is the part number? Let me know if not.

[sweetk30]

truck is a roller now . time for driveline install.

[Myers horsepower]

MTCK
thanks for the info on the B&W

[MTCK]

Looks real good! Is that a 4” shackle flip?

[sweetk30]

yep . off road design .

coming out tho as with this truck its going to sit to high for my end goal .

[MTCK]

Finally got some maintenance pulled on the big truck. I installed the new radiator, harmonic balancer, and did an oil change. I lose about 5 gallons of coolant every time I do that move, and frankly I’m tired of it. Old radiator is going in the trash.

[MTCK]

I also installed my new longer shackles from ORD. I’m a little worried about my pinion angle now. If it vibrates I will get some shims and move the axle forward a hair all at the same time.

DOT&PF has recently started salting the roads more frequently during snow events close to freezing. It is tough on all our rigs and I’m bummed at how much surface rust the v3500 has on it’s underbelly. Oh well that’s what I get for driving them...

[MTCK]

My math says I can get the camper out of the tent with these pizza cutters installed.

[Dieselwrencher]

I feel your pain on driving them in winter. I made the mistake of driving my 72 half of the winter of 17. Save that radiator and take it to a metal recycling yard. You might be able to get $20 (or more) rather than nothing. Those in camper jacks sure can be sketch city can't they? The manufacturers don't want them in very high trucks as far as I could tell. We did see some new in bed campers at a camping show this winter. The jacks were electric and would auto level but that camper was $55k. Yikes!

[watahyahknow]

he might use it as a trade in and get more for the radiator as a core

[MTCK]

$55k without the truck! Before I found this used Hallmark I had accepted the fact I was going to have to spend $30-40k on a new FWC or Phoenix pop up. Crazy what the market will bear.

The camper jacks are straight up scary. Mine are electric and I blew a fuse or something and had to lower two of them manually. I’m glad they are electric! It took forever. I need to figure out a better way both to go in and out of my tent and to remove the camper from the truck. I think Larry is on to something with just leaving it installed.

Unfortunately I’m in BFE AK and there will be no core, no scrap, no recycling. I will get some satisfaction chucking it into a dumpster. Not sure anyone would want to recycle that fine chinesium material anyway...

Here we be at the end of the day. Still need to hook up lights fill water etc. the longer shackle leveled the truck but I need to play with the zero rate to get the tire centered in the wheel well and probably shim the pinion down.

[MTCK]

488 miles over a few passes with a pretty stiff headwind and pulled down 9.3 mpg (gps miles). New radiator leaks around the weld between the filler neck and end tank. The weld there has an obvious thin spot and it weeps right before your eyes. I’ll go do battle with Napa when I get home. No obvious shipping damage. This looks like poor craftsmanship or QA/QC. I’m done with Spectra. Aluminum aftermarket next?