Let's Build A 1 Ton Crew Cab 4x4

[NastyBuzzard]

I picked up my tcase and pedals. I did end up trading the 01 Z71 tcase i had for this NP208 32 spline, I searched his entire inventory and only found 2 32 splines. Both Np208, I found a couple NP241s but were all 27 spline. He took my trade and the pedals were $100. I am happy with that deal.



It fits



Now I need to find a xmember!!

[NastyBuzzard]

So I think I need an 85-91 4x4 crossmember, supposedly any will work and doesn't matter if 1500,3/4,1 ton... Just to mount it inside the frame. I also need to figure out if I will be using the 2pc driveshaft or not. I prefer not but I have to wait to get it all together to measure the length I will need. Otherwise I will need to trade down a front shaft of the 2 piece that will slide into the 208
tcase.

I didn't even step foot in the shop on Saturday or Sunday due to it being Easter weekend. It was kind of a nice break but I really missed it.

Also need to see about drilling holes in the firewall for the 80s hydraulic clutch master, as well as modifying the floor pan for the NV4500.

[NastyBuzzard]

I finally got to go out and work on the truck some this weekend. I spent 2.5 hours in the pouring rain searching the junkyard for the trans xmember Saturday morning. I came up empty handed. It was a little disheartening and killed my motivation for the weekend. Luckily I have a few friends with square bodies in this state. I put the dilemma on facebook and within an hour had someone that was gonna bring me one and do some parts swapping on some bench seats of mine.

So that motivated me to pull interior from the truck. Needs a good cleaning.







I started seeing about how the taller trans tunnel fits in.





Then I finally got the 6.5 off the tire and onto an engine stand. I wanted to pull oil pan and check out a few more things.

Harmonic balancer wasn't rotted which is a nice surprise, which means my crank is probably still in good shape.



I do need the starter brace.



Starter was missing a bolt though?



It looks clean in there! I even see some paint marks still.





After rotating it over several times and checking every where I only found 1 crack. These are typically cracked a lot worse so hoping this is still good to go, maybe not build up but good to run stock.



So my friends showed up with parts, this was his rig. 454 SM465/241 Dana 60 front & 14bolt ff rear w/ 4.10 gears, crew cab long bed with rear frame shortened and axles moved forward. He is going to eventually build a tube bed w/ headache rack. 37" tires on H1 wheels. I love this thing. It provided me with some more motivation!



Here are the parts he brought and the elusive xmember!







I also got these fancy seats that were in a choo choo customs or southern whatever truck. Bolt in like factory.



Rear seat folds down like a bed.



So I have parts to proceed finally It feels so good, motivation is there too! However, all my $ is going to getting my 01 TA back on the road and when parts roll in all my time will be too. I don't plan to stray too far away from the truck though. I want it together!

It looks like I am using the k5 tank in the rear as well, just need to mount it and convert to using diesel.

[daddyjeep]

Keep after that Blazer tank and post up what you find. I found a Blazer tank over the weekend that I would like to use and have the same concern with the shock mount.

[68Timber]

Is there room on the axle to move the mounts outside the frame?

[daddyjeep]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php?p=4288283

This thread may help with the Blazer tank.

[NastyBuzzard]

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I miss working on the crew cab though!

I was going to sell a spare driveshaft I had from when I built the 06 ext cab 4x4 Silverado.. Then I noticed that it looked close to the correct length that I may need for this crew cab. Anyone know the measurement necessary for driveshaft for a 4x4 crew cab shortbed? This pic is the 06 driveshaft in front of the 79 4x4 crew cab longbed drive shaft, it appears to be around 12-14" shorter than the 79 driveshaft.




Also still looking for more info on blazer tank, trying to avoid moving shock mounts.

[daddyjeep]

This is the route I went.. I already have the frame and axle painted so I didn't want to deal with relocating the shocks. This really wasn't a bad project though. It just took a couple hours.

[IMG][/IMG]

[NastyBuzzard]

She is back together just working on the tune.









It's alive!!!



More tuning needed to be drivable will be working on that Saturday. I miss the crew cab!!

[NastyBuzzard]

It is driveable now, made it to my 10 yr reunion as planned Excuse the mess, been soooo busy.



It is time to get back on this crew cab! My wife has surgery this weds, so hopefully after she heals up and is back on her feet maybe I can make some more progress with this build. I miss it!

[daddyjeep]

I hope all goes well with the surgery. It will be good to see you working on the crew again. You can catch back up to me and my build

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

I hope all goes well with the surgery. It will be good to see you working on the crew again. You can catch back up to me and my build

You and me both! Hope it doesn't bankrupt me either!

Yeah I definitely have some catching up to do but at least no rust to fix . I think the diesel is going to give me the most problems. We shall see.

[COS399]

hoping and praying all goes well. Keep us updated when you get a chance.

Good job on the car. I missed my 10 year reunion, went to my 20 and everyone seemed the same, this year is my 30 and don't have plans or interest in it.

[Dieselwrencher]

Great job on your car! I also hope all goes well with your wife tomorrow too!

[daddyjeep]

I believe the 40 gallon tanks are longer than the 31 and 25. You could move the rear cross member back to make a little more room. For the shocks, you could run another cross member with some tabs and fun both shocks to it.

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

I believe the 40 gallon tanks are longer than the 31 and 25. You could move the rear cross member back to make a little more room. For the shocks, you could run another cross member with some tabs and fun both shocks to it.

If rockautos measurments are correct on their tanks. The 40 gal is 6.25" longer than the 31. I can't move the rear xmember back bc I converted to shortbed and will actually be cutting that extra off so it doesn't stick out past tailgate.

Yeah I think that would work for shocks but was hoping to be able to run outside of frame. No clue yet but that's an idea.

[NastyBuzzard]

It is definitely the 40 gal, I measured it. So now to find 31 gal.

Started messing around with Trans/tcase/driveshaft and where I need to put my Trans xmember. The dang NV4500 is so heavy and hard to move sprung with 1 person. I'm trying to get it up and mounted inside frame without having to sit the diesel back in. Any tips on where it will need to go? For some reason I thought like the furthest bolt hole in frame away from engine bay would line up then drill the 2nd hole after. Also, does this xmember mount under frame, inside or have the spacers?

Bottom xmember is the 4x4 one.



On bottom





Really hoping this 1 piece dshaft will work, it looks like it will.

[NastyBuzzard]

So yeah... I definitely had the 40 gal tank! I was scrambling to find a tank to be able to do some mockups. Luckily I have a friend close by with a tank and the skid plate but no straps. So I used the skid plate to set the xmember distances.



First try and something wasn't right...



Apparently I had the skid plate backwards, which is a thing!! I flipped it and tried again.







Here is the distance for anyone trying this to make it a lot easier.



So next I moved onto trying to mount the pedals finally, they have given me nothing but problems. This process took hours longer than it should have for sure. I didn't quite understand how the little mounts went to the firewall, if just the stud/threaded part went through the firewall or if the stand off went through.

First I tried to just get the threaded part through and it wasn't working, it was like the spacing was off, I could just barely get threads through the firewall and definitely couldn't get it lined up where steering column bolts to. It was sticking out to far.

So I figured the stand offs must go through the firewall so I drilled holes larger. Later I checked online for pictures and I must be doing something wrong, I even had to go back and slot the hole of one of the mounts and still fight to get it in and bolted down.

I am just sad it isn't pretty, but should still work.





Holes where the brake master going through still aren't lined up.





Next was the trans hump, I won't be doing a body lift so had to cut it.



I mounted it in temporarily. Got to find where to drill hole for NV4500, also got to figure out what shifter I can use for the NP208 that will work or weld up the hole that is in the hump and move it.




Next I got to buy me a diesel blazer tank b/c apparently it is different than the gas one? Sending unit as well. I also need to buy that $400 advance adapter bellhousing that moves clutch fork to drivers side.

So what I need to know:

What should I do for fuel lines? Currently have the TBI lines for duel tanks.
Tcase shifter?
Will my clutch master work as is you think?

Oh yeah, another piece of useful information. IF you plan to do the 4x4 swap, use the 4x4 crossmember from a 1500/2500 or single cab frame. The mounts that the motor mounts bolt to isn't as tall and can be made to fit inside the frame easier than the tall ass crew cab 4x4 ones. I was looking at doing this but would have to redrill all my holes and screw that.

[NastyBuzzard]

I went back and looked at other peoples firewalls where their clutch masters are mounted and mine just doesn't look like it is in the right spot at all................

[jott_06]

Originally Posted by NastyBuzzard

Oh yeah, another piece of useful information. IF you plan to do the 4x4 swap, use the 4x4 crossmember from a 1500/2500 or single cab frame. The mounts that the motor mounts bolt to isn't as tall and can be made to fit inside the frame easier than the tall ass crew cab 4x4 ones. I was looking at doing this but would have to redrill all my holes and screw that.

I used the towers/mounts from a Half ton short bed pickup and still had to do quite a bit of work to make them fit.

[DieselRat]

I saw them for 3 bills on ebay. I'll find something else to make work before I spend 300 bucks!

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by DieselRat

I saw them for 3 bills on ebay. I'll find something else to make work before I spend 300 bucks!

Exactly! It is crazy the price they ask, I have seen people on the facebook groups selling for around 200 + shipping. They are hard to come by though, but that could be because people are jacking them to sell for high prices.

[jott_06]

I measured the distance between the eye of each motor mount while the towers were still on the old frame. Then ground a little off of the inner top edge of the frame to be able to get the right distance between the towers. And then notched the towers so the top edge that originally slid inside the frame rail could sit on top of the frame rail. Once I was happy with my measurements I just welded them in place. At this point in my build I was tired of drilling holes. haha

I also used the crossmember that bolts to the towers to help verify that my spacing was correct because I could see the marks where the bolts had been

[NastyBuzzard]

Yeah that looks like what I did for the most part!

My reverse shackles are coming together. I got them cut out by a friend with his plasma cutter and now another friend is going to weld them up. I even put my little nasty buzzard emblem on them but in the pic it is facing the wrong way.



I tried spacing down the front spring last night to see if it would help my shackle angle and pinion angle... Doesn't seem to be doing much good at all, may have been a waste of time/effort. Doesn't have the weight on it though. IDK... I guess I will leave this issue alone until later. Tired of beating this damned dead horse.

[DieselRat]

Originally Posted by jott_06

I measured the distance between the eye of each motor mount while the towers were still on the old frame. Then ground a little off of the inner top edge of the frame to be able to get the right distance between the towers. And then notched the towers so the top edge that originally slid inside the frame rail could sit on top of the frame rail. Once I was happy with my measurements I just welded them in place. At this point in my build I was tired of drilling holes. haha

I also used the crossmember that bolts to the towers to help verify that my spacing was correct because I could see the marks where the bolts had been

Any chance you remember what that distance was between holes on the motor mounts?

I hear ya on sick of drilling holes. I've probably got 50 7/16" holes drilled in mine at this point