Had to buy - '77 Suburban

[Willowrun]

I'm thinking the color is what tipped off Bourbon. They only offered blue in the first and second years they made the G body SS. That limited my search when I was looking for one. What I don't like about this car is it has a TH350C trans instead of a 200-4R (started in '85) so it tops out around 70 mph.
It's a bucket car.
Thanks for the compliments on it fellas. This one is my 11 year old son's favorite.

[Bourbon]

Very nice 84 SS!! As you could tell, I am a bit of a MCSS enthusiast as well. The only colors available in 83-84 on the SS were white and blue. The 83-85s had the tear drop mirrors while the 86-88 had the aero mirrors, T-tops from 85-88 and Aerocoupes from 86 (rare)-88. The notched tail lights (83-86) or smooth (87-88) of course they all has the 305 and minor changes to it and the transmissions available. The addition of black, burgundy, and silver were from 85-88. My buddy says blue was the fastest color!! Haha I own a blue 84 SS and a (currently) white 86 T-top SS along with my 88 Suburban. The 84 has a TPI 350 and the 86 has a 383.

[Willowrun]

Been a while since any updates, but there has been activity as time allows. I parked the Jimmy (it's a '78....I called it a '77 previously) in the 2 1/2 car garage a few months back and picked a way at some of the easy stuff. I purchased this blazer about a year ago from a CL add in Mississippi. 2wd K5's are impossible to find up here and I've always wanted one. The price was low and it "ran" enough to get on the shipper's trailer so I was happy. When it showed up it barely ran. I had to dump gas down the carb just to get it off the trailer.
Engine compartment and overall shot when I purchased it. I think I had put a different carb on prior to this shot and was in the middle of new cap/rotor/plugs/wires.

[Willowrun]

It didn't seem to be running on all 8 when I got it so I pulled the plugs. Found this thing on one of the plugs. A friend of mine said they sell them for fuel economy and/or to stop a bad cylinder from burning oil. I put new plugs in and after tuning it it runs very smooth with good power. I like keeping old drivetrains alive so I'm hoping this one turns out ok after driving it a while. If not, this will turn into an LS swap thread.

[Willowrun]

Other things done:
- valve cover gaskets
- steel fuel line from pump to carb
- crack free dash (wrong color, but works for this build). Also note, the gas gage is pegged at full

Not pic worthy is a rust free battery tray I found at the junkyard (rare in MI) to replace the rusty one, transmission gasket/filter replacement, and a replaced wiper motor I pulled from a low mileage cab I purchased last summer.

[Willowrun]

So with that out of the way, I should explain what I want to do with this thing: I like shiny, clean vehicles just as much as everyone else, but I find myself not driving those ones as often. Maybe it's because I have young kids (people with kids will understand that), or because I'm not one of those "neat" kind of guys that details everything so it is perfectly clean, or because I don't have time to constantly be cleaning, or because I get nervous about dings, scratches, etc. Actually, what I really think makes me like the old, used looking rigs is they have a lot of character...no two are alike. So with that, this K5 will be built with preservation in mind as opposed to restoration. I've done restorations and will do more in the future, this isn't one of them. If you need to see every part painted or powder coated prior to installation, won't happen here. A lowered, safe, 2wd beater is the goal.

So this Jimmy is clean, but by no means rust free. Accumulations of leaves and dirt will rust just about anything after this long. Since it will not get fresh paint I am cutting out the bad, replacing it, and will be spot covering it with matched spray bomb paint after minimal body work.

- Pass rocker needed to be replaced. Note I kept as much of the old as I could.
- A few small holes in fender were cut out and patched.
- Still need to figure out what to do with the driver door. I use old truck hoods for my replacement patches so I'll probably just cut out bad and replace.
- The hood was kinked so I was lucky to find one at the junkyard in a close (maybe the same) color with no rust or kink.
- Swapped in 73-74 GMC grill. I'm thinking it needs to lose the bumper guards

[Willowrun]

I want the Jimmy low but not so low as to cause other problems such as the rear pumpkin hitting the bed floor. Flip kits seem to be the way to go but after doing a lot of research it seemed like most K5 owners that had done flips complained about being too low after the flip. Once I took some measurements between the axle and the frame in stock configuration it was apparent that it would in fact be sitting close to the frame with a flip.
My initial thought was to remove the factory lift block (shown below) and the overload spring to see what that would do. It only dropped it an inch statically and sagging/axle wrap over time would be a concern also so that wasn't going to work. I contemplated some lowering shackles but I still didn't think that would be low enough and I don't feel like messing with the filler neck interference that occurs on Jimmy/Blazers.
After more research I found a few posts by lolife99 stating that people had used a flip and then installed 4x4 rear spring hangers to lift the back end back up a little. That sounded interesting to me and would allow me to use lowering shackles without filler neck interference if I needed to go a little lower. Surprisingly, I found some on ebay at a reasonable price as I didn't not want to have to remove these at a junkyard (there would be plenty of time for rivet grinding/chiseling in my future). Comparison between 2wd (left) and 4wd (right) hangers. Looks like a 3" difference in shackle hole height.

[Willowrun]

The gas gage hasn't worked since I purchased it....pegged above full. First check was the pink wire and tank grounds...all checked good. I did notice when test driving that every now and then the gage would move to the correct tank amount. The PO had replaced the tank prior to me getting it....he couldn't have reused the old sending unit I thought. Well, after crawling under there with a flashlight I confirmed he did so that is what I suspect is causing the fuel gage issue. The rear bumper is bent and now the tank needs to come down. I guess I'll be going with the 4x4 hangers in the rear if all of that is out of the way.
So yesterday I decided to tackle the task of getting the axle pulled and rear hangers removed. In order to remove the axles the e-brake cables need to be removed from the backing plates. Already planned on new brakes but this just confirmed it. Sorry about sideways pic.

[Willowrun]

I drained gear lube and replaced rear 12 bolt cover gasket, unhooked exhaust after the muffler, unhooked brake line, unhooked driveshaft, and then after I couldn't procrastinate with medial tasks any longer I pulled the rear axle in preparation for the dreaded task of removing the rivets that hold the rear spring hangers to the frame. Speaking of the number 12, there are 12 rivets that need to be removed. I used a cut off wheel to cut an X in the head of the rivets and then used an air chisel to cut them off. But you're still not done....the rivets need to be ground as smooth as possible and punched through the frame. Glad that's over with.

Red dirt was falling on me throughout the process. I'm all about wearing PPE but I still got some stuff in my eye that bothered me the rest of the night.

[Willowrun]

A few other things of note: Rear window didn't work so I had to replace cable and motor in tailgate with ones I pulled from a newer K5 gate I've held on to for years. Also seen are some like new door seals I pulled from the same cab I got the wiper motor from.
The door panels are shot. I have some used ones but not in this style so I'm on the lookout for some of them. Thought that would be easy but not proving to be.

[Willowrun]

OK, last post in this update. Here's how it sits now. I was going to try to bolt the hangers up and get the axle mounted tonight but I'm torn as to whether or not I should pull the springs and replace the bushings while I'm this close to them.
I forgot to mention that I picked up some 8' wide rally rims a few months back on the cheap off of a 2wd suburban at the junkyard. Two of those and two of the 7" wide rally rims off of the Jimmy are currently at the blasters. I've researched rally rim and tire size combos and I like the looks of the set up BigMike608 has on his SWB (shown) although I would go black out on this pile. My plan is to run a 3" drop spindle (the backspacing on the 7" rim allow this without rubbing) and cut 3/4-1 full coil off of the springs. Any thoughts/concerns with this combo and the amount of drop I will have?
The only other thing I am pondering is what my pinion angle will be like with the rear 4x4 hangers as although I've heard it has been done, I haven't heard if there were issues with the pinion angle.

[68Timber]

Cool save, love the plan for it.

[UKNOWME]

Slam the burb and be done with it already!

[Willowrun]

Originally Posted by BRUISER

Cool save, love the plan for it.

Thanks Bruiser!

Slam the burb and be done with it already!

I'll hopefully get to it in the spring. I moved away from my big shop that I use for storage about a year ago so I'm working in this little attached garage now until I can afford to build a new shop out back. Way too tight a fit trying to wrench on a burb in here over the winter.

Made some progress last night and today. First thing I did was what I figured would be an enjoyable task of bolting on the 4x4 hangers to the frame. All went well until I went to bolt up the lower support brackets. Line up the existing holes and the shackle bolt didn't line up. Always something....

Luckily the frame was wide enough to line up the shackle bolt and be able to drill some new holes in the frame. You can see my marks showing where the holes needed to be and then the final locations in the second shot.

[Willowrun]

With the hangers out of the way I slid he axle in place. Shown is the hole I drilled in each spring plate to clear the lower portion of the spring center bolt.
I was finally able to determine how much drop was achieved with this set up and in my case it was 4.25 inches. I have about 2.5 inches between the top of the axle and the bottom of the frame. Note this is without a gas tank but with the factory spare tire mounted in back. I'm happy with it at this point and will wait to see if it bottoms when driving before deciding whether or not a drop shackle makes sense for a little more low.

[Willowrun]

Driveshaft angles aren't bad but not the best. Maybe I should call it the lack of driveshaft angle. Only have about 2-3%.
Final shot is how it sits now. Rear tires are the 31's it came with so it's not the final look. Decided to get started on the front and was able to get one of the spindles pulled. I suppose I should get the drop spindles on order but I may wait a week or two as I still need to put the new brakes and axle seals on once they arrive Monday. I was looking for this to be a low buck little project this winter but everywhere I turn it's $50 here or $300 there.

[lolife99]

Great job!
Thanks for the info and pics.

[Willowrun]

It's been a while, but progress was being made. Since last update the lowering and other undercarriage work is 90% complete. I try to have my shop at least 32 degrees when working in it, so with the little heater I have struggling to keep it there I did lose several days during the last couple months. With that said, several layers of clothes plus carhartts do dampen the harshness of crawling around on concrete so I guess the cold does have an up side.
Since last installment I've installed all new brakes, ball joints, entire steering system from box down (tie rods, steering arm, etc), and u-joints, along with changing out the trans speedo bullet and shift selector seal. What took me 30 seconds to type took me 2 months to actually complete....sigh.
Something that slowed me down a bit was the drop spindles I purchased. I purchased CPP 2.5 inch spindles and installed them. Once I went to install the tie rods it was apparent that the tapered hole was undersized. I searched on here and yup, it's happened to others. I called Summit and they offered more expensive Western spindles as a replacement and got to them to me quickly. I have to admit the CPP's machined surfaces looked much better and were better looking castings, but the Western's had the right sized holes so back went the CPP's to Summit.
Still need to install shocks and front sway bar and then it's on to finishing some bodywork and getting the interior up to snuff.
Here are some pics from today with the new shoes. I cut one coil up front. Seems just a slight bit nose high so I'm contemplating cutting another 1/4 coil.

[Willowrun]

It will get beauty rings and caps once alignment is done. Couple more pics...a year ago and today.

[lolife99]

Looks great!

[68Timber]

Sweet!

[Low Elco]

Lovin' it! Great thread!

[Willowrun]

Thanks for the kind words guys! I pulled it out of the garage today and asked my son (11 years old) if he thought the stance was ok and he said it was so based on that and me having only a little more than an inch before hitting the front bump stops I'm going to leave it as is for now. Just need to throw rear shock extenders, front sway bar, and shocks and then suspension is done. A little bodywork (being sure to maintain "original" look) and then on to the interior. Need to get this thing at least presentable and drivable in the next 3 weeks or so as a couple dune rigs need some attention.

[lolife99]

If it was mine, I would remove the bumpstop and the metal bracket that it's attached to and trim 1/2 coil up front.
That should drop it another inch up front.
Just MY 2 cents,...

[Willowrun]

Originally Posted by lolife99

If it was mine, I would remove the bumpstop and the metal bracket that it's attached to and trim 1/2 coil up front.
That should drop it another inch up front.
Just MY 2 cents,...

Exactly what I needed to hear....an experienced opinion. Thank you for the advice, I now have my marching orders for tomorrow. So another 1/2 coil?