72 k20

[57taskforce]

Yea Pete, there was so much crap in there when I first brought it home, bullets, 20+ year old pvc cement, old beer cans, and a whole lot more junk.
Got a good bit more done over the last couple days. Gonna head to the shop tomorrow morning to use the heated power washer to clean the frame and drive train. I'm gonna pull the motor next week and begin working on a few frame issues next week.

[57taskforce]

And a few more after I washed it today...


The hero of the day in the background...



All ready to pull the motor Monday evening and start frame work tiuesday.

[joeydurango]

Looking good Tyler!

[Dieselwrencher]

Man, that shop, gantry, and pressure washer, make it look like you're cheating! Nice work on it!

[57taskforce]

Thanks guys! Yes Ryan I'm definitely cheating no doubt about it. There's even more toys at my disposal that I've not shared yet. I will reveal them soon enough. I pulled the motor after work today. After looking the frame over I noticed it's twisted some at the driver side body mounts. I'll attach a picture of the bad area. The motor only had the passenger side mount bolt in it... nothing in the driver side at all. No other big surprises today. Not sure how I'll fix the frame yet.

[Dieselwrencher]

Redneck frame machine? I've had to do this before.

[57taskforce]

Yes sir it's definitely gonna get the redneck treatment. Just haven't decided what kind of torture rack the old girl deserves yet. I'm sure part of the problem is from it being driven with the frame broke at the steering box. Nothing the torch and probably a fork lift won't fix.

[Nomadicflyer]

Boy, it sure is nice to see what's going on underneath! Been peeking in on the project for a while, nice to see the progress! Great place to do the work!

I'm working a 72 C20 for rust, since pulling it out of the desert to Nebraska resulted in the first rust she's had in 30 years. Maybe next year I'll get to the driveline and frame. Looking forward to seeing the next steps in your work! Good luck!

[Jeff's bowtie's]

Nice work Tyler it sure is a lot of work but in the end it's well worth it

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by Nomadicflyer

Boy, it sure is nice to see what's going on underneath! Been peeking in on the project for a while, nice to see the progress! Great place to do the work!

I'm working a 72 C20 for rust, since pulling it out of the desert to Nebraska resulted in the first rust she's had in 30 years. Maybe next year I'll get to the driveline and frame. Looking forward to seeing the next steps in your work! Good luck!

Thanks for checking in!!

Jeff,
Yea it is a lot of work but your right it's worth it in the end.

The woman and kids went out of town for a few days to visit the inlaws so I hung out at the shop most of tonight. It turns out the frame wasn't twisted. The transfer case crossmember is bent pretty bad and it pushed the frame rail out. I pulled the top bolts out And the frame popped right back into place. I took a lot of measurements tonight to check square and to diagnose a seriously weak left front spring. Even with the drivers front horn being a little off, the frame is still less than 1/2 inch from square. When I get that horn fixed it should be in real good shape. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. The aforementioned left front leaf spring is sagging about 1 3/4 inches comprared to the right front. I'm replacing the springs any way so no biggie. It did have me scratching my head for a minute or two though. Here's some more pictures from tonight.

[57taskforce]

I pulled the trans and transfer case last night. I also beat the body mounts straight tonight and pulled the steering box to get an idea what I need to do with the frame. Not to much to show picture wise but progress non the less.

[57taskforce]

After some thought I do believe it's time for some 4" springs at all four corners??? I kept telling myself I was gonna keep it stock but, ooh the temptation!!! I'm thinking stock wheels with tall and skinny 35 10.50s and stock caps. What you guys think?

[joeydurango]

Who makes a 35x10.50? Could look sweet, but I lean towards no lift or 2.5" lift. 2.5" looks beefy but stock, you should be able to fit 35s under that... I'm now running 33x10.50 on my stock-height K10.

[57taskforce]

Sorry that was a typo should have said 35 12.5. And by stock wheels I'm talking stock appearing wheels that will take caps not the 6" wide factory steels.
As for he 10.5s I do believe super swamper still has some.

[52napco]

My preference is a 2.5 softride and 255 85 16

[52napco]

Hurry up and finish so you can take it to choke cherry canyon 😄😄😄😄

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by 52napco

My preference is a 2.5 softride and 255 85 16

That is a good looking truck and stance. Funny you say that, we've got some gas wells back there. I'm up in the hills around there pretty frequently. I'll probably be a sissy when it's all done and be scared to beat on it to hard haha.... the 57 is another story.

[DeadheadNM]

My running Blazer has a 4" lift with 33" tires and I'm not a fan. It's tough for my wife to get inside. I'd vote for 2.5" lift at most. For the Blazer I'm restoring now Allcan is building stock 0" lift springs.

[Nomadicflyer]

37's? Only on my jeep... couldn't imagine them on my truck! Heh heh. That's the fleet. Together, combined age of the fleet is 130 years old. With a truck full of tools, I'll keep 'em going for another 130 years! How weird is that?

[Dieselwrencher]

Stock with pizza cutters? Honestly, it's hard to beat a 2.5" lift with 33s or even 285s for looks on these trucks. IMO these trucks set way too low stock. But I don't restore to keep it all original so my opinion doesn't matter in this case.

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Stock with pizza cutters? Honestly, it's hard to beat a 2.5" lift with 33s or even 285s for looks on these trucks. IMO these trucks set way too low stock. But I don't restore to keep it all original so my opinion doesn't matter in this case.

Thanks for the input guys. I still haven't decided what I want to do. I did fix the wallered front drivers spring hanger this afternoon. I will post some pics up of it tonight or tomorrow. I'm gonna pull the engine crossmember so I can get it cleaned up better and inspect it more closely for cracks/damage. I noticed tonight a couple of the bolts holding it in are loose so it's hard to tell what I'll find when I pull it.

[RedRoad]

2.5 TC EZ rides in front, with blocks in rear. 1 inch zero rates front and rear and HD front shackles. 315/75/16 BFG ATs on WV 8x16s

The pic with the smaller tires is just the 2.5 lift by itself and a zero rate in the rear. 255/85/16 BFG KMs on late steel rims

[57taskforce]

That's a really good looking suburban. If I remember right the 315's on my 98 measure at like 34.5 tall. They really fill the wheel wells up nice on your rig. I appreciate the visual. I've got a little more time before I HAVE to decide so I will continue to think on it. Any other opinions are welcome. Here's some pictures of my spring hanger repair.







And the final:

All I had was a 1/2" bolt long enough for tonight so tomorrow I'll get the proper 9/16 bolt sourced and installed. One more box checked off but still a lot to go haha. The pictures make it look like I welded it with no bolt in it, I in fact did keep it bolted up tight at the bottom of the ovaled hole. Obviously this is so it would all stay lined up and tight against the hanger.

[57taskforce]

Here's some more small progress. Blasted and repaired engine crossmember. Had a few small cracks and areas where the motor mounts had worn the metal down a bit. Nothing the welder didn't fix.












So as you can see I pulled the rear end tonight. The perches look like top notch work huh? Those are scars from a previous owners rear end reassignment surgery gone wrong haha.
I got my new perches and shock mounts from ruff stuff. Hopefully by the end of the week the rear will be back at home. You can also see that centering bolt in the drivers spring was broke. No biggie. I picked up the tail gate and 4x4 shroud from Pete on Saturday. It was a good time hanging out and looking over his collection of beautiful trucks! After looking his K/20 over I do believe I've made my spring choice. I'm going to keep it stock height.

[57taskforce]

I've been pretty busy the last few weeks with getting the last of the frame work finished up. I'll post some pics of it up soon. My chassis saver paint got damaged in the mail so I'm still waiting for it to come in. The biggest news however is a little nugget I've kept pretty quiet until now.... I acquired a 6.0 out of an 08 Silverado that I think I'm gonna run with a 6l90e and my 205. I've gone back and forth over this for probably 9 months or more now but I think I'm gonna do it. It's To the point that I've started building the stand alone harness and gathering parts for the swap. 08 ly6 6.0 with vvt, 6l90e, less than 100,000 on the clock. paid 100 bucks for the combo with complete harness. Missing the computer and a few other small things. (Now gathered)