Minnesota Daily Driver

[400/400]

Well, I said in my intro a few weeks back that I'd like to start a build thread of my project from the last 4 or so years. The overall project goal was to have a solid daily driver, to also use for plowing, getting to the fish house, going hunting, and towing. Here it goes............

I'll start with a little history of the truck.

During the winter of '09-'10 I had the opportunity to buy a friend's grandfather's truck. I already had two square bodies, a 78 K10 and 87 V10, and wasn't necessarily looking for a whole vehicle, but I did want a plow. The truck was an '85 K20 Silverado, Indian Bronze Metallic, with a 350, TH 400, NP208, 14 bolt rear, and 10 bolt up front. Most important of all it had a plow on it.

Both gas tanks were rusted through, it hadn't been started in quite a few years, I think all the tires were flat, rear brake lines were rusted through, and there wasn't a rust/ dent free panel on the truck.

So on New Years Eve Day, December 31st 2009, I went over to look at the truck with my friend and struck a deal with his grandpa who had bought the truck around 1987. He told me he thought it had a cracked head and probably wouldn't run but I was fine with that as I planned on using the plow on the '78.

I called up my cousin to give me a tow a few miles back to the shop and started digging the truck out from the two or so feet of snow around it.

While waiting I filled the tires, surprisingly they held air, and threw a battery in it. One gas tank would hold a little fuel before it started leaking out the rust holes so I put a gallon in it. If I recall correctly it was around 10 degrees that day. The truck did turn over but wouldn't fire. The hydraulics, however, on the plow worked so I was able to raise it and get towed to the shop.

Once I got it inside and started thawing it out I started inspecting what I got my self into. The plow did raise, lower, and turn both directions without issue. Power locks were in-operable and only the passenger side power window worked, very slowly. The analog clocked worked while giving a nice growl, it still works and growls to this day, and all gages seemed to work.

Once everything was warmed up a bit I decided to see if she'd fire. To my surprise with a couple revolutions she roared to life through an exhaust system that was rusted through at the cross-over. I threw it in reverse and she moved under her own power out of the shop. Being January 1st, 2010 at this point with some snow on the ground I figured why not do some plowing around the parking lot.

The engine ran rough but was solid enough, tranny worked smooth, and there was no issue with the t-case/ 4-wheel drive. The front brakes worked well enough moving around the parking lot and I had 1 working head light.

After a couple months of it sitting while I was contemplating what to do with it, I decided to fix her up and use it as a plowing/ ice fishing/ hunting rig. I started by replacing the radiator, t-stat, & water pump. Rebuilding the alternator, installing new window motors, fixing some electrical issues, got the brakes up to snuff, installed headers with true duals, and threw a fuel tank in the box.

I used the truck like this until the end of spring and started looking into it a little further. The front end was completely worn out from carrying the plow and the front drive shaft was hitting the passenger header from weight of the plow. So I decided to rebuild the front axle and install a 4" lift.

This is the point where I started taking picture of the progress. Here's a couple pics just before I started the tear-down to put the lift in: