4 Hour 4" Lift

[special-K]

That sucks even worse, Jim. I got lucky on damage, considering the major way that big tire came apart. I thought a spindle snapped or something else that would drop it to the ground. It happened so fast, I just got it over as fast as I could. I was probably doing 45-50. The steel strands did some wire brushing on the paint and tried to peel that front piece of lower trim off. It slapped the rusty rocker till it collapsed and that black spot is where the paint busted off. Truck has over hardened paint issues. It blisters and pops off real easy.

This was the "5th" tire in the set. I saw them on the side of the road in a pile. It was the 8-lug slots that caught my eye. But the tires were decent, so huge plus, but one was cupped out and worn on one side bad. When I talked to the guy on the phone he said he had anther good tire and this was that one. The guy is a wrench at a rural tire shop, I knew he lived there. I got them crazy cheap and I'm sure they were cast offs but didn't know the issue, other than one bad worn tire and replacements not available. Well, I also had that cracked wheel, so figured that might have been the issue. But this other tire must have been older. I gambled and lost, that's how I look at it. I'd like to get some Swampers, but not right away.

[special-K]

Here is the nasty tire. A good 2/3 tread gone

[Stocker]

Scary looking pics there..... glad it turned out as well as it did. Sure could have been a lot worse. Do you know how old they were? Should be a code on the sidewall.

Makes me glad I took my son's advice and replaced my old BFGs.

[special-K]

I still haven't checked. I'm dumb for going by visual inspection and not simply checking date code. I've gone by that for years and it worked fine, but this newer rubber is another animal. I sold my '71 wrecker with rear tires on it I bought in '89 and the tires I sold with the Turbines I had on this truck I had bought in '91. Those got checks in them, finally, which is why I pulled those off. When I sold my '85 Jimmy last year it had tires I bought in '03 on it. They were ready to be replaced, but the guy who bought it came down from NH and drove it home on them.

I've had bad experiences with these BFG A/Ts. I assume this was age, but I've had the casings go bad on young tires, causing the tread to warp around to the sidewall. I don't recommend them for anything heavy. Good for SUVs and play toys, but not much for the weight is my opinion.

[86454k30]

Thats a bummer they looked good on there. Old tires scare me anymore, those BFG's you had must have been 15+ years old since they weren't the "newer" KO style...now KO2.

[special-K]

Yes, they were old and I had high hopes. I was bumming on them already because the right front rubbed every stinkin time I cut left. With the 9.75" wheels the 4" just didn't cut it. I went with 4" because I actually wanted 2"-3" and just run 285/75-16s on 8" wheels. But since I had these I figured 4" will look fine with that size still. I keep scaling this thing back. I sold the shortbed stepside I was going to build into a badass 4wd. I decided the K2500 would be just as cool with all that stuff (Dana60 Tru-Trac/HO52 No-Spin, 6" lift, 37/12.50 SSRs on 8.25" steelies, TH400/205, etc). Then I looked on down the road and didn't want to be paying for the next set of tires, and those tires would wear pretty fast. Also don't have all the other trucks now, so want it to be for more general use. And another also, these original 3/4t well optioned 4wds aren't get any more plentiful and maybe staying more original and mild is the way I want to go.

I haven't wanted to restore it, other than money, till I have a place to put it inside. Story of my life. I was fine with the not so fresh/but tough look and figured I'd replace the rusted rockers/cab corner and put Rustoleum on. Now my direction has changed. It needs to get under roof restored or not, so doing something about that has got to happen. Then I'll see about makin' her pretty...or at least preserve her better till that happens. By restore I mean do the body, paint, and weatherstrip. Mechanically it's been a rolling restoration. It'll never be a garage queen or stop hauling.

[JIMs70GMC]

Here's the damage to my son's truck and the tire. the date code is 2001!

[special-K]

When you said the amount the repair cost I figured it took a good bite. Ouch! Isn't that something what a bad tire can do? I got lucky there.

Now that I think about it, the same thing happened on the '92 I had on the right rear. Those tires weren't so old, just worn out. I was able to drive it home quite a few miles. It smacked a dent into the bottom of the bedside behind the axle.

[special-K]

I never mentioned, because the right front rubbed every time I cut left, I mean sitting still and level it rubbed, that morning before heading out I took the sawzall to the front corner. I thought long and hard, hated to do it, but it did have a dent by the emblem (another story) and came from California with little rust holes I've never been on a truck before up aling the top where it meets the hood. The tire must have slung battery acid up there, the truck is from Modesto. I did a careful cut at an angle across the ridge creating a triangle that folded into itself. I could have welded that up and it would be hard to know anything was changed. Anyway, I went for it so I could drive the truck 5 miles. Now going to 285/75s on 8" wheels that would clear. Go figure. I actually have a sweet fender just like it to go on. It's even white with lower trim holes only.

Been driving the truck a bit, but it doesn't want to start after warmed up. I think it's running a bit too hot and vapor locking on me. I never touched the t-stat in this work I did and I was thinking that's what I get for being cheap and lazy. Both old and new are 180s and both open and close properly when tested on stovetop. I had a cooling issue a while back when pulling hard. Replaced clutch, water pump, and ended up being restricted radiator. I had another 4 core I had an old radiator wizard do his royal treatment on (sweated apart/completely gone through). My buddy was stuck on it being ignition, and he's far better than me with wrenches...but that's over the phone diagnosis. Ok, so it has a new module and it didn't help. Could be old coil, but it starts with starting fluid. So, back to hot/no fuel. Timing had been set at baseline 13 deg adv. I retarded it a bit,, no change. This is a freshly rebuilt q-jet. Runs out fantastic. But pipes are black.

I remembered that it was doing this before, but would start. And, that old carb burned so rich your eyes burned. So, leaner carb and it's worse. I never felt it ran too warm, but now sure seems to be. The air filter housing gets too hot to handle. Did I mention the circuit board is fried and I have no temp gauge? Looking for time one evening to swap out the cluster with another so at least I have that reference. I'm sure it will read 3/4 up when these lay low to the left normally. Meanwhile my ears are on for suggestions.

She pulled a heavy load 75 miles up to Carlisle over two mountains and was a happy machine. Just runs a tad too warm, but no worse working it hard

[Marshy]

Can never be to cautious of the snowball effect. Nice truck.

You Tube

[special-K]

Perfect! Thanks for posting that. How appropriate? He's a funny man!

[Marshy]

We all fight the snowball effect. I took a gamble on some used roller lifters and found out the hard way that 2 or three are bad. Now I'll be going in to change those and I'm awful tempted to pop the heads and install a .020 thinner head gasket because my quench is .060... I'm more than halfway there right? So tempting.

[special-K]

Yeah, better than half. All you need to do is take the motor part way apart. It's not like you have to start all over. It doesn't hurt anything to tear it down. My engines seem to enjoy it

[Marshy]

Originally Posted by special-K

Yeah, better than half. All you need to do is take the motor part way apart. It's not like you have to start all over. It doesn't hurt anything to tear it down. My engines seem to enjoy it

Unfortunately Murphy's law is for real. I had 4 lifters failed and retaining clip is out of the lifter. All parts were accounted for but while removing one lifter the top piece of the plunger feel down the oil drain hole next to the distributor shaft hole. I heard it stop on top of the windage tray. The good news is the passenger head is back on with new gasket and drivers side is next. The bad news is the oil pan will have to come off to go fishing and at this rate I will be done in December. AAAHHHHH! I should of bought an entire gasket kit, I could of changed all of the gaskets while I'm at it lol.

[special-K]

We have the same luck!

Today I stopped at the building supply and figured it sat long enough to cool. I popped the hood open while I went in. Wouldn't start. This time starting fluid didn't help. So, I'm back to changing the coil. I think that's why it starts cold and not hot. I don't think heat is the fuel issue and it's not vapor lock. I've felt it's a combination making it harder to diagnose. Now I'm thinking it's the old coil has been fading out since before the heads. I think the reason it's worse now than before is it sat over a year and it has ethanol issues