crawler#976
Expedition Leader
I purchased quite a few products from LMC for my old 1970 GMC short bed 4x4. I found the truck here locally with under a 100k on it in 1987. It had 280,000 on it when I sold it years ago, and I got more than I payed for it. That K5 will only appreciate in value as well.
http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cb/t.aspx
They all fit fine, and were very close to OE quality. Most of the parts I needed were interior related and all the window gaskets/door seals required replacement in the mid 90's.
Getting good quality leaf springs for the old K5 may be difficult. I bought several brands over the years, and ended up cobbleing together a set from parts of all of them to get the lift and ride quality I wanted. Most of the 4" inch springs are very stiff. I only wanted to clear 32's, so a 2.5" lift worked well with very minor trimming. Perhaps a set built to your specifications by Alcan or Deaver would fit the bill.
The steering box mount to the frame is very prone to failure - they crack very easily. There are weld on braces/patches available. The whole frame is prone to severe flex when off highway. The Blazer is less so due to the solid body, but none the less it bears watching. Mine was so well worn and flexible I was stripping cab mounts off the body...
The front 10 bolt and asscociated steering gear is also a weak point. I went thru ball joints and tierod ends sometimes on a semi-annual basis. The front axle also tend to bend pretty easily, especially the shortside tube. Even the tie rod itself was hard to get, and bent several over the years.The rear 12 bolt isn't much better - I went thru several over the years.
I assume it's the standard 350/350/NP205 combo? If so, that's a bullet proof T'case for sure. I cracked the Turbo 350 case on a trail just by diffin' the front end on rock at about 8 MPH (I didn't notice how deep the well worn ruts were, and caught a rock that only stuck up about 3" out of the swell - DOH!).
All in all it looks like a great project!
Mark
http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cb/t.aspx
They all fit fine, and were very close to OE quality. Most of the parts I needed were interior related and all the window gaskets/door seals required replacement in the mid 90's.
Getting good quality leaf springs for the old K5 may be difficult. I bought several brands over the years, and ended up cobbleing together a set from parts of all of them to get the lift and ride quality I wanted. Most of the 4" inch springs are very stiff. I only wanted to clear 32's, so a 2.5" lift worked well with very minor trimming. Perhaps a set built to your specifications by Alcan or Deaver would fit the bill.
The steering box mount to the frame is very prone to failure - they crack very easily. There are weld on braces/patches available. The whole frame is prone to severe flex when off highway. The Blazer is less so due to the solid body, but none the less it bears watching. Mine was so well worn and flexible I was stripping cab mounts off the body...
The front 10 bolt and asscociated steering gear is also a weak point. I went thru ball joints and tierod ends sometimes on a semi-annual basis. The front axle also tend to bend pretty easily, especially the shortside tube. Even the tie rod itself was hard to get, and bent several over the years.The rear 12 bolt isn't much better - I went thru several over the years.
I assume it's the standard 350/350/NP205 combo? If so, that's a bullet proof T'case for sure. I cracked the Turbo 350 case on a trail just by diffin' the front end on rock at about 8 MPH (I didn't notice how deep the well worn ruts were, and caught a rock that only stuck up about 3" out of the swell - DOH!).
All in all it looks like a great project!
Mark
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