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1982 k30, sticking around

Drivetrain has now vanished, that didn't take long to sell hahaha.

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Used up all my energy working in the mud so rather than remove the bed/rear springs today decided to consolidate all the scrap metal, load the front of the truck onto the dolly, and roll it all the way forward so I'll be working on the drier gravel later when pulling those parts.

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Was wondering if the front wrecker bed mounts would have to be modified before being installed on the crew cab because of the frame reinforcement plating I'll be adding, looks like it won't be a problem. The mounts are adjustable, and as can be seen in this pic the reinforcement plates they added to the donor trucks frame are in the same place I was thinking.

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Should have went for the torch first with the bolts hahaha.

Removed the wheel lift first

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Followed by the sling, and split the booms apart

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After alot of cussing and cutting the bed finally let go of the donor chassis

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1st test fit

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Have a few inches of rear frame to chop off and the big suburban fuel tank has to go so the bed can sit flat like it's supposed to.

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The bed mounts in 6 spots. Very rear (was welded to last truck), some angle iron directly over the axle, and this large bracket that was in front of the leaf spring hanger on the donor.

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That’s going to be a tough looking truck when you get done with it.

There is a guy here that has a 4x4 wrecker on 35’s and he makes really good money going where no other wrecker can go around here. Me and my buddies had to call him one night to get 3 of our trucks out of the flooded bottoms that we were in and he left there with $500 that night, Kinda. We didn’t have that much money being only teenagers so we come to the agreement that he was going to take one of the trucks with him until we could pay him. It took us several weeks before we came up with the money to pay him and get the truck back but he already knew that. We called on him a few times when our winches or land anchors couldn’t get us out. I miss those days but I don’t miss having to buy parts all the time for my truck
 
Was that a Flex fan? :wtf:

yep it was. Headed off to scrap with the rest of the engine/frame/etc when I get my hands on a trailer with bedsides.

Work today wasn't as visually appealing but progress none the less. Started off with the front suspension. Leaf spring pin wasn't sitting right on the passenger side so lifted it off the axle, cleaned out the hole in the spring perch and persuaded the pin into place. Then got to work moving the shackle hangers back a few inches, fixed the frame contact issue.

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Springs still have a few inches of up travel before reaching flat so should be good, after a smoother ride with better flex rather than lift height.

Cut the rear part of the frame off the donor truck. Plan is to use the springs on a trailer build and chopping the frame makes it more compact for now.

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Transmission cooler lines installed (just using the radiator one for now) and plumbed in a external filter. Flow goes trans-filter-cooler-return to trans. Might adjust it tomorrow to sit straight, might not hahaha. Using Baldwin BF7633 filters for most of the systems. Final fuel, trans, coolant, power steering will all use this particular model of filter.

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Waiting on fittings to finish the cooling and power steering systems.

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New planned fuel tank, going passenger side. Will match the storage box that's going on the driver side.

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While waiting for parts to make progress up front, went ahead and worked on the rear. The weight of the wrecker bed compresses the suspension about 4 1/2in, so hopefully the truck ends up level now that it has a shackle flip. Chopped the last few inches off the rear of the frame so that the bed will sit with a 1in gap between it and the cab.

Angle iron is there to provide a rear mount for the bed, and serve as reinforcement. 5x3x5/16in.

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Stripped the mount for the wheel lift off along with the original rear mount from the bed (it was cracked through into 3 pieces actually). Alot of tweaking but finally lined the bed up and took care of the middle mounts using the mag drill. Wheel well alignment is close enough that I'm not going to move the axle back any further than the 64"s already did.

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Waiting on the last plumbing parts for the power steering/cooling systems right now. Ended up having to run the longer rear shackles so that the 64"s could fully flex without making contact with the shackles. Also moved the front leaf springs back 1" to center the steering arm travel. Quick test fit of the front bumper as well

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I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to modify the front bumper. The tire tread pusher is good, but the tread doesn’t match the current tires. Uniformity now...

I sure do miss how much extra space is under the hood of those trucks.
 
I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to modify the front bumper. The tire tread pusher is good, but the tread doesn’t match the current tires. Uniformity now...

I sure do miss how much extra space is under the hood of those trucks.

Damnit, guess it will have to come back off then hahahaha. Much easier to work in these engine bays, even with all the stuff being added.


Mounted the alternator, snagged the fuel tank from one of the dump trucks, and went to town cutting off some of the rusted sheet metal to make room for the fuel tank. The bed floor is solid but those outer panels rusted out bad.

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Damn close to being mobile under it's own power again. Finished up the plumbing on the cooling system with the hoses to the filter and heater core, then wrapped up the power steering plumbing. Fitting that was needed for the hydroboost arrived. Ended up having to modify a flange fitting in order to plumb in the inlet for the pump, used the lathe to just stretch out the holes that were already on the fitting. Not the right tools for the lathe, but it worked.

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Then came the fuel tank. Mounts were a hell of a lot more work than I was expecting and are not quite right yet, but need the truck up and moving by the 28th for a quick job.

Initial test fit was with the tank in the normal orientation of step out which didn't work well, stuck out too far for my liking. Slightly wider than the tires with 235's but would be narrower than larger tires. Ended up spinning the tank around so the step slid underneath the boom pivot, which brought the tank in enough that it's narrower than the 235's.

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Electric vacuum pump is wired/plumbed so the trans can shift out of 1st gear. Have it running directly from pump-actuator and so far it's shifting at lowish rpm's which is fine for me. Only gotten it up to about 30mph so far.

Steering. Turning radius and response seems to be normal. The power assist is stronger than before which makes sense with the few hundred psi higher pump rating.

Wired in the upper tail lights, still have the lowers to do.

Suspension is soft, unexpectedly really soft. And in dire need of shocks to control the rebound hahaha.

Downside, not going to be able to finish getting it back to daily driver until either the fall semester starts, or I make some good money this summer. With known finances (until september) it's either finish the truck and be broke, or have some play money and do other cheaper projects.

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That is a sweet rig You built up.
If I was closer, I`d be playing in Your yard all the time. LOL

The steering on My 2000 does not seem to work real well sometimes, like it does not have enough pressure, wondering if I should add a few shims under the bypass spring. I installed a receiver on the front bumper, hooked onto the heavy bumper pull trailer with about a hundred and fifty pounds of winch on the front of the trailer hitch to the bed side and had a rough time steering.
 
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