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Offroad toy?

I really like the K5. Only thing they are missing is a full roll cage, and they are not that hard or expensive to add.

And either 6.5 or the gasser is awesome in them. Honestly I prefer a 400 sbc with big rv cam and 10.5:1 build in it. They are so fun to blast through mud and creeks in just tearing rubber off the rims...
 
Agreed, they are just about the perfect wheelbase for most offroad terrains. Was pretty funny on the last offroad trip going up one of the hills. The other 2 rigs had lockers front/rear with good tires and were struggling to get up the soft hill in their land cruisers. Then here comes the k5 with semi bald tires, open diffs, and a loose nut behind the wheel going right up the hill hahaha. My friend said the front wheels got a few inches of air.

No plans to do much to it even though it looks like it's sticking around for the long term. Stay with the 32/33" tires just get some better ones, locker in the rear, upgrade the fuel filter setup, extra trans cooler (leftover from the crew cab), roll cage and maybe a soft top.
 
I really like the K5. Only thing they are missing is a full roll cage, and they are not that hard or expensive to add.

And either 6.5 or the gasser is awesome in them. Honestly I prefer a 400 sbc with big rv cam and 10.5:1 build in it. They are so fun to blast through mud and creeks in just tearing rubber off the rims...
I happen to have a 400 SBC setting in the shed, and, the bores cleaned up at .030. LOL
Dont know yet what to do with it, the 400 in My 78 K20 runs just fine so probably will never need it for a spare for that truck, the 78 gets only about 20 or 30 miles a year.
 
My old 79 k5 had a 327 small block in it, rpm happy little thing hahaha. Seems to be a pattern of me beating the ever living hell out of offroad toys haha. I was pissed when my parents sold it while I was in basic training.

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No interior panels, had to wire the window motors directly to the battery, both doors from different vehicles, tailgate window was held up by 2 bolts drilled through the tailgate, oh and this for a driver seat hahahahahaha

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Pic from before the doors swap.

The m1009 has a better drivetrain for my driving style, and it's a fuel sipper averaging around 22-23mpg (US) on winter fuel. Crew cab gets to enjoy the nicer treatment while this k5 serves as backup/offroad toy.

Oh, and the windshield wipers work now haha. With the wiring fiasco in the column I decided to just wire up the wipers to a toggle switch on the dash.
 
K5 got some basic maintenance done for the first time since I bought it hahaha. New water separator fuel filter, engine oil filter, topped off the power steering fluid, and swapped to Amsoil 5w40 for the engine oil. Engine is quieter/smoother running. Leaking power steering fluid but haven't bothered to track down what the cause is yet (from the pump area).

The front springs from the blue donor truck (4 leaf packs) will get swapped in eventually netting maybe 2" of lift.
 
I miss my 85 K5, it was a fun toy with the top off. Nice project truck though.



I had a 72 4x4 with a mildly built 350 and 4 speed with granny and the top came off all the way to the windshield like a Jeep and I loved driving that thing. I drove that thing for years. It was my daily driver in 2008 When gas prices hit almost $5 here. Traveling 80-100 miles a day for work back then. I had to find another job or sell it and get something else. I wound up selling it because I love my job.
 
See, thats why we need to get you guys off the ds4 and into wvo or wmo. When your fuel costs you about 5 hours per month plus less than $1 per gallon-you get to drive your 6.5 more.
Of course to be fair, a Suburban instead of pickup means you need a small trailer too, the harbor freight one will do.
My thing was wmo cut with gas. I didn’t like the mix and test things or having much waste product. And no extra tanks or anything different in the truck.
Then you get to drive your the big boy engine where you want because it’s cheaper!
 
Now that it's warming up again I'll go back to running waste oils in both vehicles. Mounting the waste oil filtration stuff in the service trailer so it can be filtered as it goes into the storage tank, then filtered again on it's way out to the truck. Also have 60 gallons of clean veggy oil that expired sitting here waiting to be used.

The 6.2 is cheap to maintain, but the Isuzu in the crew cab is actually cheaper.
 
New tires on the front, 33x12.5"s instead of the 33x10.5" because I can get the 12.5"s cheaper. Does rub on the driver side front fender some which is easy to trim.

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Rears and spare need replaced as well. Looking into cargo control stuff right now so things can be secured. Liking the idea of using E track for a few reasons. Strong, secure, lots of options, cheap, and it's easy to move things around if needed/wanted. This would be used for both trucks and the trailer.
 
Gin pole stuff got delayed temporarily. Need electrical power to run the lathe and currently having problems with electric at the shop so had a few choices. Buy a generator, fix the Miller Big 40 diesel welder, move the welder to the crew cab's PTO, or setup a alternator welder onto the k5. Buying one isn't cheap, fixing the Miller could be quite expensive between engine work and maybe electrical, same with moving the miller to the wrecker. So setting up a alternator welder on the k5 it is.

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Using an externally regulated alternator is the easiest way to do it since you don't have to tear open the alt and bypass the voltage regulator. Started off with a 13302N from a 90's era Dodge with the Cummins 12 valve. Little bit of plate steel, some pipe, 3 bolts and a belt.

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There's 4 terminals on this alt model, and good luck finding a wiring diagram of them (not marked either). Through researching the external regulator on the Dodge truck manuals a friend found enough info for us to figure it out.

On the output side (these were obvious) there is the case ground which is where the phillips screw is, towards the bottom left of the rear housing. The positive output is on the bottom right and has it's own plastic housing.

There are 2 inputs at the top. One on the left that my finger is touching requires a ground (that's the odd one). One on the right, closer to the positive output post, requires a positive input.

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Sitting at idle of about 600rpm, output of 31 volts and up to 130 amps available. Higher revs deliver more volts.

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The output won't be wired into the truck and this alt won't have a input signal except when needed. Gotta make a little box for the 120v plug, welding leads, remote throttle control, and a switch to activate the alt when needed. There's a few companies that make kits for these, but I'm not throwing around $1000 into one of those kits.
 
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