1971 K10 Stepside - Getting a Roller Roadworthy

[pjmoreland]

I also installed a set of Bilstein shocks. The rears are for 73-up because Bilstein doesn't make a set for 67-72 K10 trucks. Had to replace the upper mounting studs with sleeves. Pressed the studs out by pressing the sleeves in on top of them. Supported the shock eyelet with an open end wrench. Also had to spread the rear axle shock brackets to get them to accept the wider lower bushings.

[pjmoreland]

Also painted an ORD steering box brace.

[pjmoreland]

Spent the evening wrestling with the ORD steering brace. The small front brace did not sit flush against the crossmember, so I put a double bend in the brace to jog it over to the crossmember.

[pjmoreland]

Then I started working on the larger rear brace. It is not designed to work with the stock brake line routing, so I spent a couple of hours bending the lines so that they were sitting against the inner wall of the frame rail. I had to grind a couple of notches in the wide end of the brace to make room for the lines. I also discovered that the front crossemember was bent upward along the rear edge, so the lip was preventing the brace from sitting properly against the crossmember. I was able to straighten the crossmember with a large Crescent wrench and a couple of small steel plates. I also had to grind a radius on the top corner of the upper bolt boss so that it would fit into the upper corner of the frame rail.

[pjmoreland]

Here are the notches I ground in the brace. I repainted the brace, and I will bolt it into place tomorrow.