Larry's 1978 K10

[Roadhazardguy]

I have about a million different forums I'm already a member of but I had to sign up over here to follow this thread. This is one of my favorite trucks. Hopefully one day I can hit some trails with you.

Tony

(I'm 1985-GMC over on 67-72chevytrucks)

 

[Sponge]

Hey Drummond,

I use Van Sickle satin black on most everything with an occasional use of gloss black (brake baking plates & drums for ease of cleaning). It is an oil based paint you can buy at the Big R farm store here in Colorado by the quart, gallon or spray can. They have red or gray primer too. I mainly use the spray cans but I have bought their paint in quarts before to spray through a cheap Harbor Freight gravity feed gun. The stuff is tough as nails (next best thing to powder coating) and with being oil based you can practically paint over a grease ball bearing with perfect results. You will never buy an acrylic like Krylon from Walmart ever again after you use this stuff

Any opinion on POR 15 paint?

 

[Larry]

Any opinion on POR 15 paint?

We don’t really have rust issues around here as we don't use roadsalt so no real experience with POR 15. I brushed on a very small area of POR15 on my buddy’s K5 on the floor board where it had a small area of surface rust that wasn’t near bad enough to cut out. Time will tell how well it holds up.

Well, Desert Trip 2017 starts at O’dark 30 tomorrow morning (Sunday, June 11th) so I won’t be back for a while.

Adios

 

[colierar]

Come on Larry...we have been waiting almost 2 months for some pictures and videos. Lets go you slacker! :coffeedrink:

 

[Larry]

Come on Larry...we have been waiting almost 2 months for some pictures and videos. Lets go you slacker! :coffeedrink:

Tell me about it. LOL.. Life hasn't given me a break in a long time. I swear I feel like I've been running a race for 15 months straight between life, work and work travel. Sooner or later one of us will get a trip report with the full details of Desert Trip 2017 generated. Hell, we just got some of the pictures loaded last week

Until some report gets created here are a few pics…. Mine was the single truck of 5 trucks that came out completely unscathed without any damage or issues along the way. Everybody else suffered everything from overheats to slashed tires to axle shafts failures and minor body rash. I'll say this, the Devil's Racetrack and Eva Conover Trail loop in San Rafeal Swell definitely keeps your attention. Don't go there without expecting to use winches, suffer body damage or both…and certainly don't do that loop alone. Luckily, I only ended up on the hook once. We covered a lot of ground in 7 days for sure…. From the Swell to the Hole in the Rock and everywhere in between. My ole rig turned something like 1,800 miles that week and pulled down an average of 10.6 MPG complete trip average. Probably just as good if not better than Don's new Power Wagon.

Twisty! Even the decades newer trucks with box frames were flexing out and lifting tires badly in this spot

Even made it South to the Hole in the Rock trail for a night

Someday soon one of us in the group will get a trip report cranked out. Great time had by all!

 

[colierar]

Good stuff, your truck is my favorite by far. I think even over my own square body! Thanks for posting!

 

[zoomad75]

Got to say the trip was Epic. My first desert run. Larry's right, the Devils Racetrack is no joke. Fact was we didn't even know what the hell trail we were on until we got to the end of it on day 2. We really didn't care as we were having too much fun. We all had enough food, water and beer for a week (well I think Don had enough beer for two weeks. LOL) so we figured we would link up to another trail and find our way out.

Mine being the most recently finished build it was a hell of a test of our work. Gladly my K5 proved it wheeled great despite running hot and dealing with the exhaust pre-heating the fuel causing issues. Broke my stub axle shaft on day two in a sandy wash. Again, I was having fun and only have a general idea where I did break it. What I do know is where we figured it out.

I know this, I was so jealous of Larry and Ty's campers (read sleeping in a bed and not the ground) I just went out and bought a 4wheel pop up for my Blazer. It's got some damage, but next years trip is going to have me popping the top like the big boys and not worrying where to plant a tent at. Utah rocks suck to sleep on by the way.

 

[edlaffoon]

Larry I'm so glad to see that your truck has only improved over the last year and a half. I had no idea you were running an XRC and I'm a little surprised. They are for mall crawlers. I'm also interested in an update on your ARB issues. I've already decided on Viair and Eaton for the respective components but am still curious if you have had any more trouble.

 

[MTCK]

Glamping is the way to go for sure, Rob! I'm dying for a trip report and some FWC blazer pics.

 

[zoomad75]

Glamping is the way to go for sure, Rob! I'm dying for a trip report and some FWC blazer pics.

Working on the trip report. But I went out and tackled 3 passes last weekend with a few jeepers. Going to try to get caught up this weekend. But I'm going to work on the camper too. So who knows.

But here's a teaser pic when we brought the camper home.

IMG_20170813_150733505 by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

 

[Roadhazardguy]

I just came across these sweet looking fender flares...
https://m.ebay.com/itm/321599350448?_mwBanner=1

 

[Larry]

Hehe, those are nice. I have a set just like that.

Yeah, I gave Xenon approval to use my pics in advertising as they did not have any good pics of the front of 73-80 GM trucks wearing their flares

 

[Roadhazardguy]

Haha nice, it's definitely good advertising for them!

 

[ratkin]

Larry - awesome trucks! I've followed your builds for the last several years! Great job!

Quick question for you: what is the thing between the cup-holders on the center console that seems to say, "CAMEL" on it. is this something that helps keep drinks in place?

Thanks,
Richard

 

[Larry]

Larry - awesome trucks! I've followed your builds for the last several years! Great job!

Quick question for you: what is the thing between the cup-holders on the center console that seems to say, "CAMEL" on it. is this something that helps keep drinks in place?

Thanks,
Richard

Cool! Thanks!

Hehe, good eye! That Camel thing is a Camel Snus metal can. I glued a big magnet under the cup holder to hold it in place. It serves as an ashtray for the passenger as they cannot reach the ashtray with the computer stand in the way. It can easy be picked up and used but held in place by the magnet to keep it from getting lost. I usually do not smoke or allow smoking in my rigs but this ole thing has mostly metal interior, easy to clean and doesn't hold the stench. The Cabela's seat covers go through the wash after every big trip anyway.


Also, took the rig out for probably the last trip of the season. A quick overnight fishing trip to the mountains about an hour from home. Fishing wasn't that great but it was better than being home wishing I was fishing

A bit chilly Sunday morning. A thin layer of ice over the East corner of the lake

You can barely see the truck hidden in this picture. Not another sole at this lake the entire time. The clouds rolled back in and got chilly again but it was time to go home anyway. The road up there is pretty rough. Just rough enough to keep most people out but not a full-on lockers and winches type trail. What people I have seen up there in the past are day trippers on ATVs. This is also the place where I almost slid off the snowy trail back in June and broke my rear winch trying to get the ******** end back up on the trail.

Oh, and Zoomad finished up the Desert Trip 2017 Trip Report. Fun read!