1972 Chevy 4wd Longhorn Project: Never Ending Changes

[Dieselwrencher]

Above is a picture showing the new spring compared to the old spring. The new springs are skyjacker 4" lift springs. The old ones were rough country 4" springs. These springs are probably 15 years old or older. They still were holding the weight of the cummins pretty well for used old springs IMO.

Once the front end was done, I had to move to the rear of the truck. I never installed my air compressor and air tank. I decided to mount the compressor to the inside of the frame under the front of the bed. I made the brackets to mount the compressor out of SS and bolted them directly to the boxing plate of the frame rail. This should keep it out of the elements. It is a Viair 480. I put the air tank on the outside of the frame behind the bed side and it is mounted to the bed supports. You can just barely see it hanging below the bed side. It fit pretty well.

Next up was something to control the air bags. I originally was going to use a leveling valve with the dump valve integrated in to it from a semi. Then I found the little larry valves and got the Touche'. It is their 2 way valve. They make a 4 way too. This little valve is actually pretty fast. I made a wooden box to house all this stuff. I have a dual needle pressure gauge for bag pressures, an air pressure gauge for the tank pressure, the air valve, and 4 toggle switches too. I will need to come up with a better, more compact box later. I may also switch to quick connect air line fittings to make working on it easier.

Another thing that was driving me nuts was not having my breather hoses hooked to anything. I got a good sized catch can/breather tank off of ebay and then was having a hard time trying to decide where to place it. I finally decided that the LH inner wheel well was the best place. I wanted it up high so I can route the drain back to the engine eventually. I had trouble fitting it in between the hood hinge and the proportioning valve. I had to tilt it slightly to keep the hood hinge from hitting it when the hood closes. I used some new stainless steel mirror brackets I had laying around to make the mounting brackets for the catch can.

[Dieselwrencher]

Here is a picture of under the hood now. I still have to finish installing all my Dakota digital sensors and modules. I will be removing the RH wheel well for some work as well as replacing the leaking heater core. This thing was new from napa 4 years ago. These parts suck anymore I swear!

Pictures of without and with the 1.5" front spacers.

I also got the GSI Machine billet door handles installed.

I still have to make a fan shroud for it, and eventually finish the ac system. I'll get the trans controller installed, finish the tcase shifter, get the drive shaft built some time, finish building the tail pipes, install my boyd tank, finish the bed patches in the floor, and that maybe the stopping point on this truck. Nothing another 500hrs won't fix. I have to get back to my 76 before fall. My main goal was to get this truck drive able this year and it's getting closer. I still have to mount my front shocks. I'm not real thrilled about that. Haha

[Dieselwrencher]

Here is a bad pic of the rebuilt front end.

Last, a pic of it at the camp grounds from this past weekend at Good guys. I need to remove my suspension bars and paint them black. My rattle can orange paint hasn't held up too well.

We probably put 50 miles on it this weekend. I'm excited to get it finished up so I can start driving it farther away. I have 2 other trucks to get finished up and then I can get back to work on it again.

[COS399]

Looking good Ryan. What's the saying, one step forward and two steps back? I avoid NAPA parts anymore for that exact reason.

[6BT 56]

Love the steel wheels . Nice to see your getting miles on it . Funny how the list gets smaller then you put 50 km on it and just like that the list is up going strong again lol.

[Dieselwrencher]

I keep telling everyone this truck will never be done. (That's why I'm trying to quit adding to the list) Haha

[lower50's]

Sweet dude You must be happy to be driving it. It may never be done just do smaller things so it's not off the rd very long.

[projectking]

+1, nice to see your able to enjoy it!

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Sweet dude You must be happy to be driving it. It may never be done just do smaller things so it's not off the rd very long.

That's what I'm going to try to do. I can't drive it right now. My local insurance guy left off a 0 in the quote so I'm working on getting insurance through Grundy for it. They're beyond reasonable.

[Dieselwrencher]

Yesterday the front shocks showed up. I put them on this morning. I might get some different spring plates from ORD to gain some extra clearance on the shocks.

We're going camping this weekend so I won't get around to installing the heater core shut off valve or the trans controller. Maybe next week. We'll have to see.

[mcbassin]

Looking good Ryan!

[Dieselwrencher]

This weekend I drove the Longhorn to the next town down the road to get some wood and I got pulled over on the way out of town coming back. The officer just wanted to check out the truck. It was a nice visit! It was a nice 30 mile trip with no real hiccups. It'll be even nicer when the over drive and lock up are operational. A/C would have been nice though. Haha

[84chevyguyid]

Thats cool!! Wish mine was that far along. I walk by it several times a day and try not to look too close at it for fear I will stop and work on it, no time for that right now...

[70custom20]

I've neglected to look at this build for some time now. All I can say is WOW! the truck looks great. With every page I click on it just gets better. As far as the seat from the Dodge, how was mounting it, did you have to do a ton of fabrication to get it to bolt to the floor? Is that seat from a standard cab truck? Thanks, keep up the great work! What front springs are under the truck? as I see the shackle is kicked back on an angle. Thanks again.

[70custom20]

I've neglected to look at this build for some time now. All I can say is WOW! the truck looks great. With every page I click on it just gets better. As far as the seat from the Dodge, how was mounting it, did you have to do a ton of fabrication to get it to bolt to the floor? Is that seat from a standard cab truck? Thanks, keep up the great work!

[70custom20]

Sorry for all of the questions, but the aluminum wheels you show in some of the pics, are they 8 on 6.5 BS? I need to start looking into new wheels one of these days.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by 70custom20

I've neglected to look at this build for some time now. All I can say is WOW! the truck looks great. With every page I click on it just gets better. As far as the seat from the Dodge, how was mounting it, did you have to do a ton of fabrication to get it to bolt to the floor? Is that seat from a standard cab truck? Thanks, keep up the great work! What front springs are under the truck? as I see the shackle is kicked back on an angle. Thanks again.

Thanks. It was suppose to be a quick easy simple truck that kept turning into wow, that's cool, I want that too.

As far as the seat from the dodge. The seat is from a 04 2500 Quad cab/crew cab. I didn't modify the floor at all. I cut the factory dodge seat brackets off and modified them by welding angle and flat strap to them and used the factory chevy bolt holes to bolt the seat to the floor. I also added some bolts just in case. I wish the seat was from a standard cab truck because these don't fold fully forward down and it makes it hard to get to things behind the seats.

The front springs are skyjacker 4" lift springs for a 73-87 chevy. I used those because I had a pair back when I started the build.

Originally Posted by 70custom20

Sorry for all of the questions, but the aluminum wheels you show in some of the pics, are they 8 on 6.5 BS? I need to start looking into new wheels one of these days.

The polished ones or the painted ones? They were both 8 on 6.5 bolt pattern but I can not remember the back spacing on them. The polished 18s were 4.5 0r 5" if I remember correctly.

[Rodzzilla]

I was talking vehicles with a guy today. Got onto the Diesel subject. He pulls out his phone and says he was at Goodguys and saw... Before he could finish, I said "A Diesel Powered Vette?" His eyes got big. Said I knew you. I am pretty sure my street cred just rose substantially.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by Rodzzilla

I was talking vehicles with a guy today. Got onto the Diesel subject. He pulls out his phone and says he was at Goodguys and saw... Before he could finish, I said "A Diesel Powered Vette?" His eyes got big. Said I knew you. I am pretty sure my street cred just rose substantially.

Very nice! How have you been any way Rod? I hope all is well!

[Rodzzilla]

Not bad. Things are going well. Need to stop in sometime. I am in the area a lot more now.

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Thanks. It was suppose to be a quick easy simple truck that kept turning into wow, that's cool, I want that too.

ha HAHA ha.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

ha HAHA ha.

Here's one of the instigators now!

[c10-72 II]

What year 4x4 donor chassis did you use for the front leaf spring hangers? BAd ass truck! You got me wanting to convert my c20 now lol

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by c10-72 II

What year 4x4 donor chassis did you use for the front leaf spring hangers? BAd ass truck! You got me wanting to convert my c20 now lol

They came off a 72 K5 Blazer I parted out. Thanks. It is getting harder to find 4x4 trucks in these years.

[Dieselwrencher]

I haven't had anymore time to do anymore work on this truck. But, I have gotten some work out of it. I hauled a small skid loader for a neighbor, and a small tractor for a friend. I used it today to load a frame on my trailer and I got it muddy and stuck. I got it back out and moved, but I really need to get the front drive shaft built, and finish my tcase shifter.