72 k20

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

Drove the ole girl for the first time down the road since the middle of last summer. Had to haul a load of home renovation junk to the dump. It ran good. I’ve used it all fall and winter around the house moving firewood from the piles out side up to the house. As soon as the weather gets a little better it’s going to get the 4” lift kit and axle swap I’ve been planning for more than 2 years. I’m pretty excited about that.

I drove my red and white C10 to Florida a few years ago. I was coming back across the Pensacola Bay Bridge and the truck developed a miss and a hell of a peck peck peck. I nursed it over to my sisters on Navarre Beach. It had pulled a rocker stud. I was going to get a local to work on it but The little woman found out we had some friends on down in Florida with an empty car hauler. She called them and they hauled us home. How lucky is that?

[57taskforce]

Sorry Larry I haven’t been around this thread in quite a while, didn’t mean to leave you hanging. I don’t think a guy could get any luckier!

I plan to bring my ‘69 k10 back home this week and also to try and get the 4”(actually should be about 5”) lift along with the front dana 60 and disk brake 14 bolt axle swaps done on my K20 this week.

Unfortunately the Monday before Christmas, my wife and I found out at a routine checkup that we lost our fourth kid at 20 weeks in the womb. It’s been a rough nearly 2 weeks, but we are trying desperately to get back on the horse of life. We know definitively that our baby boy doesn’t want us to be sad any longer than is necessary. That said, my dad is coming this week from Virginia to hang out so I want to try and get some things done while spending some quality time together. Family is the best medicine.

[davischevy]

So sorry to hear about your child. Prayers sent.

Enjoy the time with your dad.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

Sorry Larry I haven’t been around this thread in quite a while, didn’t mean to leave you hanging. I don’t think a guy could get any luckier!

I plan to bring my ‘69 k10 back home this week and also to try and get the 4”(actually should be about 5”) lift along with the front dana 60 and disk brake 14 bolt axle swaps done on my K20 this week.

Unfortunately the Monday before Christmas, my wife and I found out at a routine checkup that we lost our fourth kid at 20 weeks in the womb. It’s been a rough nearly 2 weeks, but we are trying desperately to get back on the horse of life. We know definitively that our baby boy doesn’t want us to be sad any longer than is necessary. That said, my dad is coming this week from Virginia to hang out so I want to try and get some things done while spending some quality time together. Family is the best medicine.

Terrible news, my sincere condolences!

[DeadheadNM]

Tyler that’s awful, I’m sorry. Hope 2024 brings blessings to your family.

[Louisvillekytruck]

Sorry for your loss

[57taskforce]

Thank you gentleman I appreciate the thoughts and prayers. They certainly do help.

[Dieselwrencher]

Tyler, my thoughts and prayers go to you and your family. If you need to chat give me a call. Unfortunately we've been there too. Here's to wishing 2024 brings much more joy for you!

[joeydurango]

Hey Tyler, that's terrible to hear. It happens often - my mother and sister have both been through that - but that probably doesn't make it any easier. Feeling for ya.

[57taskforce]

I haven’t checked this thread since my last post. Thanks Ryan and Joey. Ryan, I’ll shoot you a text soon, it’s been too long.

With everything going on I wasn’t able to accomplish anything when my dad was here. We spent quality time but the weather didn’t cooperate very well for wrenching.
That said I’ve got some work going on now that it’s warming up some.
Note the incoming dana 60 in front of my ‘69. The original drivers front spring is out. The passenger side has the normal stuck shackle bolts. I’ll deal with it this week. All in I’m going to run 5” and 35’s.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

I haven’t checked this thread since my last post. Thanks Ryan and Joey. Ryan, I’ll shoot you a text soon, it’s been too long.

With everything going on I wasn’t able to accomplish anything when my dad was here. We spent quality time but the weather didn’t cooperate very well for wrenching.
That said I’ve got some work going on now that it’s warming up some.
Note the incoming dana 60 in front of my ‘69. The original drivers front spring is out. The passenger side has the normal stuck shackle bolts. I’ll deal with it this week. All in I’m going to run 5” and 35’s.

So sorry to have read about what happened. Will keep praying for healing. Flip for your pic. Hope all goes well with axle swap.

[57taskforce]

Thanks Richard for the flip and the prayers both are very much appreciated. The trucks and Camaro’s are a bit of therapy for me, so wrenching time is always nice even if it doesn’t always go as planned.

[57taskforce]

Houston… we have a problem….


And…. ORD should be sending the solution soon enough. I bought there front shackle hangers, HD 3/8” thick X 1/2” hole shackles for the front, with the greaseable spring bolt/bushing kit for the whole truck. I love desert trucks. This is the first leaf spring truck that I didn’t have any major issues getting at least all of the spring eye/shackle bolts out of

[57taskforce]

Here’s some beefy bad assery from ORD. If the weather cooperates I’ll try and get the front done tomorrow.

[57taskforce]

Got a little more done today… I’m pretty happy with the install of the shackle hangers, but one beef I do have is that the holes didn’t line up well with the factory rivet holes. I had to drill them all from 3/8” to 1/2”, and they were still a bit of a fight to get in right. To their credit, ord does mention this is possible in the directions but they blame it on differences in frames. I call BS on that. There’s no way the frames could be that far off on a mass produced part and still be “in spec” a couple of the holes were 1/2 a bolt or more off. You also have to open up the big hole in the frame where the hanger passes thru but that was no big deal with a carbide bur bit on a die grinder. The other small issue I had is that the shackles were all drilled to 1/2” on both ends. When you do the ord hanger it changes the bolt and bushings on the frame side to 9/16” and uses the same bushings as the front eye of the front springs. So I had to drill the one hole on each shackle to 9/16”. That was a bit of pain in the ass, 9/16 isn’t a terribly common drill bit size but I got it done. I ordered the shackle kit for the ORD FUSH(that’s what they call there shackle hanger) I think they just shipped the wrong shackles… All in all I’d give this whole thing an 8/10. The bushings and greaseble bolts are really really nice.
Once I swap the brake hoses for the lengthened ones I’ve got, I’ll be ready to finish putting it back together.

I had hoped to stab the springs and axle but the company I work for had a 65th anniversary party tonight with a private concert with Easton Corbin so I had to pack it up early in the afternoon.

[Richard]

Good to see removal went easier than expected. Was praying for ya! Seems there are always slight modifications to made on aftermarket parts that are supposed to fit. I am satisfied with the ORD stuff I purchased and the companys customer service is pretty good. A lot of modifications had to be done to the ORD D60 4 link kit to make it fit my truck. Granted some of the mods were made necessary by me.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work Tyler! It's about time someone made a proper sized bushing hanger for these trucks. I have had the same problem with ORD on the last 2 square body big bushing hangers I've installed. The shackle holes were too small. They suck to drill when your drill bit is a pos.

[57taskforce]

Ryan, my drill was ok but my bits sucked royally, I was burning more than drilling lol. The 18v cordless Milwaukee took the abuse like a champ.
I got the 60 in it yesterday afternoon, I need to go back over it all and make sure everything is tight. The brakes are bled and the steering is back together, I am going to buy a dropped pitman I do believe though. Trying to stay away from the steering arm spacer on the 60 if I can. Still need to order shocks for it too. Slowly making some progress anyway.

[57taskforce]

Front is 95% done, onto the back now. Got the passenger rear spring out, the spring and shackle bolts fought me a bit but in the end my BFH, penetrating oil, and patience prevailed. Ill be able to use the bolts again if I choose too. I installed my 1” ORD zero rates on the 4” rough country springs too. I’m very happy with them. I moved it around so I could get it in a good spot to start the rear, the brakes definitely have a different feel to them with the 60, but they still stopped just fine. I’ve seen this before, so I’m not really surprised.

I’m just picking at this thing a few hours at a time just enjoying wrenching more than anything. I’ve done lift kits in way less time in the past but there’s just something therapeutic about it all this time around. I don’t ever intend to sell this truck and I’ve enjoyed creating the memories I have with it over the past 9 years. I was thinking today my oldest daughter wasn’t even 6 months old when I bought it, she’s going to be 10 in November. Where does the time go?

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice progress! I hear ya on where does the time go? My kids will never let me sell the orange truck. They fight over who is getting it and I tell them I'm willing it to my brother if anything happens to me and none of them think it's funny. They all grew up playing in it but they can get their own.

[57taskforce]

lol I know that feeling, pretty sure some days my kids are counting down the days they get to plant me in the ground. Their “conversations” on who is getting what of my vehicular hoard are quite entertaining

Well I got the passenger side rear all but done, and about 1/4 done on the drivers rear today. Little more bad news I found. That right rear f$&king upper shock mount stud is really loose in the bracket so I’m gonna have to remove the bracket from the frame and weld it back up. It definitely could be worse I suppose.

Tomorrow I’m going to try and get the rest of the rear done except for the shock bracket.

[57taskforce]

I’ve got everything mostly buttoned back up spring wise but haven’t had time to mess with the rear shock bracket yet. Still need to order shocks, tires, and a dropped pitman arm, but I may just go crossover honestly.
I experimented some with moving the rear axle back an inch to center it in the wheel well, but ran out of rear drive shaft. It looked better but I’m also kinda worried if I ever haul something heavy or flex it out off road, that it’s going to put the rear tires pretty close to the back of the wheel opening, possibly rubbing. So back to the factory position it went. I may have to look at getting the rear driveshaft lengthened but we’ll see how it does once I get some miles on it, the rear should be around 5” with the zero rates I added to them. I’ve always noticed the front 60’s tend to pick the front up an inch or so, but I don’t think I got as much out of it as I thought I was going too, that or the front springs didn’t quite hit the 4” mark.
thinking I may add zero rates to the front as well as it does have some rake that I’m not totally crazy about.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

I’ve got everything mostly buttoned back up spring wise but haven’t had time to mess with the rear shock bracket yet. Still need to order shocks, tires, and a dropped pitman arm, but I may just go crossover honestly.
I experimented some with moving the rear axle back an inch to center it in the wheel well, but ran out of rear drive shaft. It looked better but I’m also kinda worried if I ever haul something heavy or flex it out off road, that it’s going to put the rear tires pretty close to the back of the wheel opening, possibly rubbing. So back to the factory position it went. I may have to look at getting the rear driveshaft lengthened but we’ll see how it does once I get some miles on it, the rear should be around 5” with the zero rates I added to them. I’ve always noticed the front 60’s tend to pick the front up an inch or so, but I don’t think I got as much out of it as I thought I was going too, that or the front springs didn’t quite hit the 4” mark.
thinking I may add zero rates to the front as well as it does have some rake that I’m not totally crazy about.

Looking good. Maybe delete the zero rate blocks from the rear instead? Always disliked blocks on the front, even if connected to the leafs. They increase wrap and hop under power and add negative caster to the front axle under heavy braking.

[Dieselwrencher]

Looking good Tyler! I still prefer the rear wheel more centered in the wheel well than OEM. Longhorns are even worse than K trucks and it drives me nuts. I've got a truck I want to put a 8" lift on and I'm trying to leave the big hub D44 but I have all the stuff to put a D60 in it with cross over steering. I know it won't stop there. Haha

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by Richard

Looking good. Maybe delete the zero rate blocks from the rear instead? Always disliked blocks on the front, even if connected to the leafs. They increase wrap and hop under power and add negative caster to the front axle under heavy braking.

Those are good points. I'll see how it goes once i get it all completely back together. I may buy 6” springs for the front down the road if I don’t do zero rates. I’m not a really huge fan of them up front either. I want to see how it looks with the 35’s under it before I get too much more crazy.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Looking good Tyler! I still prefer the rear wheel more centered in the wheel well than OEM. Longhorns are even worse than K trucks and it drives me nuts. I've got a truck I want to put a 8" lift on and I'm trying to leave the big hub D44 but I have all the stuff to put a D60 in it with cross over steering. I know it won't stop there. Haha

I think down the road I’m going to get the drive shaft lengthened a bit (it’s really close to not being long enough at 5” lift in the rear) and move it back to the centered position. The biggest reason I moved it back was certainly the drive shaft. I agree they do look a lot better that way. I’m in to see you build one with an 8” lift and a crossover 60! It definitely never stops there.

I bled the brakes a little more yesterday and added oil to the front axle today. It still stops great but I still may swap to a K30 master cylinder for a better pedal feel. I ran it around in 4x4 and everything works great. When I bought this truck someone had removed the double cardan yoke and u joint from the front driveshaft. I’m definitely going to round up the parts to re-install them. I’ll never be able to run at any real amount of speed in 4wd with the angles it’s running right now. But for just driving around the house and crawling in the hills it’ll be fine.