64' K10 Project Long Bed

[Captainfab]

Thanks for documenting your installation Les. I'm sure this will be very helpful to others with K series trucks.

[aotte1]

Going with a Borgeson collapsible steering shaft and two universal joints, for safety and tighter steering.

The 1983 K10 gear box steering shaft has 30 splines, the rag joint will be replaced by a lower universal joint. The steering shaft will be shortened to accept the collapsible universal shaft. The upper universal joint has a double D connection to original shaft, and the original upper part of the steering shaft will be modified to accept the double D universal joint end. This modification is easily reversed by replacing with an original shaft. Will post photos of set-up when complete.

Les

[_mg]

Thanks for the detailed steps Les, I am learning as you go through it.

[aotte1]

Tach pics

[aotte1]

Pics of tach

[aotte1]

More photos of gauge cluster with tach, that I plan to use. Believe it is out of a BIG truck, the two red warning lights in lower part dash say "Over Speed" and the other says "Tand M Lock"

Not sure if "EB9A" in yellow is original and/or what it means.

Les

[aotte1]

A few more gauge cluster photos.

[_mg]

Not sure if the marking is original but EB9A refers to the tachometer transmitter.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=392461&page=3

[aotte1]

MG,

Thanks for the information on the yellow "lettering" (EB-9A) and reference. Read it and need to read again. Need to confirm if read correctly that Chevrolet tachs maybe do not need transmitters. The back maybe looks different then the ones referenced in Mark's thread.

The above tach is:
o model RD-5C; and
o Part No. 3771216
Les

[aotte1]

Photos of tach insides.

From information provided by Jon, this tach appears to have been added to this gauge cluster. It is a 61 to 62 tach per the part number. Also based on information from 60-66 all tachs were made by Sun for both GMC and Chevy.

[aotte1]

Photos of KH - NT wheels from a 1966 truck, they are 15 x 5.5. Will post the full coding from the rims later ( it goes something like the following from memory "Made in the U.S. KH NT 5x5.5 K 5 , Logo of KH"). Is the "K 5" stamped in the wheel, a date code of November 1965? The paint stick in orange of "927" , could that be the truck build number on the assembly line? The valve stems are the smaller size referenced by 60-66 in earlier post, which would be correct for a 1966 wheel. The last photo shows a "GM" stamping, which is hard to see, on the raised area of the wheel.

Note: Tried one rim on the Dana 44 w/disk brakes and they seemed to fit and not hit the caliper.

Now to find skinny tall 15" tires.

[aotte1]

One more wheel photo.

[aotte1]

Actual lettering inside of rim is:
"Made in USA 15X55 K NT 5 (Circle KH logo)"

Will try to get photo later when cleaned up a little more.

[_mg]

Originally Posted by aotte1

Actual lettering inside of rim is:
"Made in USA 15X55 K NT 5 (Circle KH logo)"

Will try to get photo later when cleaned up a little more.

Interested in your photo. I bought these wheels a few weeks ago (still have to pick them up).
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...43&postcount=1

[aotte1]

MG,

Nice, the wheels look to be in good condition.

What do you think, do they look the same? Two areas that may be different, hard to tell from photos.
1). Valve stem diameter, older wheels had larger valve stems ( the wheels in my photo have the smaller diameter); and
2). the back spacing may be different.

The above wheels are in storage now, will check back spacing in next few days and report it.

The reference for the valve stem diameter information came from "60-66" reported in another thread, he also reported additional information on decoding the KH information stamped in the wheels.

Note: The above wheels came off a 1966 truck, look to be original to that truck. However, no way to be sure.



Les

[aotte1]

Back on the Front Axle Replacement

I just got the clean AZ Dana 44 which is the axle I will be using.

Will test fit it in the truck before cleaning it and doing any repairs. The steering arm and drag link assembly were modified. So will be putting them back to stock. Will be changing out the hubs to locking ones too.


Believe it to be a 78' axle, will confirm that in the next few days.

Got the original 64' Dana 44 front axle over in storage for any future needs to put back in truck.

[aotte1]

Have the bed off and panels taken apart. Their are a couple of welds on the rear that need to be ground apart. Will be doing some bumping to dings and few small dents, along with some welding up of extra holes and a few cracks.

You can see the small weld area that needs to be removed in the first photo. It is where the lower part of the rear panel connects to the side panel. I used the die grinder to cut the weld.

Les

[aotte1]

Additional photos of panels.

[aotte1]

A few more photos of truck with bed removed, and rear panel ready to do some welding.

Used a plastic hand held blaster and black beauty media to clean the areas to be welded.

[RANDY COX]

Looking good you got that thing torn down I haven't even started on my bed yet... I was thinking that the 3 nub wheels wouldn't work with disc brakes that you had to use the later 4 nub wheel to clear.

[aotte1]

Randy,

But my 292 sure isn't looking outstanding like yours.

On the three nub wheels, did a rough test, and they worked, turned with out rubbing. Will do a more complete test, includes bolting them on, and report back results. Once I get the Dana 44 installed. The earlier preliminary test was holding them on the Dana 44 by hand and spinning the wheel.

Hope to start welding up the extra hole in the rear bed tomorrow.

Les

[aotte1]

No expert on bumping the body panels, however , here is a photo of the tools used on the bed side panels to straighten them.

The little truck in the photo below, fell out of the bed side panel pocket!!!

Les

[aotte1]

Started welding up some cracks in the bed side panels. Just started to weld. Using a Miller Diversion 180 model. Added a couple extras to the torch. A special gas distribution head to give a bigger bubble of gas, while using less. Also added a flex head too. Flex head is very help full for hard to get areas.
Still learning about filler rod size, etc. Photos below of welder and welded up seam. It was a hard to reach area, with little torch access.

[aotte1]

Another weld repairing a factory brace weld in the wheel well area that had pulled apart, pretty big gap. Not the best for TIG, learning how to float the puddle.

Welded up the ends of the gap/crack first. Then did a small spot, skipped some and did another weld. The puddle needed to be big to bridge the gap. Let each one cool. Over time got it all filed in.

[aotte1]

Last weld today, rear corner of the bed side panel at the bottom. Really tight area, with several different areas needing welded. Not pretty but fixed. Next time will use the stubby end for torch and short red head tungston tip. I did more floating of the puddle, versus dragging, as I had no room to move the torch. Pretty much held it by the cable as no room for my hand. As it shows did small areas, let cool then, did another small area.