Jake's 1990 K5 Build

[jkroberts]

Hello everyone! been lurking for a while and decided to finally join the fun. lets get to the point. I own a 1990 K5 blazer and I like camping and offroading.





lets start with the drivetrain:

It has a 2004 chevy 5.3 with LS6 heads and cam in it.



did the swap in my garage. what a pain! little garage + big truck = no fun



after 4 days of cleaning...







I also swapped the 700r4 for a built 4l60e. my trans guy said it will handle 700hp from the motor

i also rebuilt and did a slip yoke elimination kit on the factory np241c





I also got a 1350 double cardon driveshaft from tom woods.

the axles are a front dana 44 with 8 lug hubs and 4.10 gears, rear 14 bolt full float with factory posi and 4.10 gears.

the next project is to build a spare 14 bolt in my garage. it will be getting disc brakes, detroit locker, and 5.13 gears. looking for a dana 60 front currently to replace the 44.

 

[jkroberts]

Now its on to the exterior additions!

the bumpers, sliders, and roof rack were all built by a shop that i will not name as my experiences were less than pleasant. here is why...

rear bumper





sent it back to get fixed. after next off roading trip





the "rock sliders" AKA rocker panel destroyers

 

[98dango]

Nice truck very clean.

 

[superbuickguy]

I've been impressed with the value of Smittybilt stuff, but honestly, I just build it myself anymore.

 

[sean257]

Nice Blazer! Looks like a lot of fun.

I'd be a little worried about using the winch, given your experience with the fab quality on the rear.

 

[chaos616]

Yeah, i would be a little wary of the winch too, or at least i would be testing the setup before needing it and then being stuck. Too bad about the fab quality. Hopefully it works out for you to find a better shop and have them fix it if possible or rebuild, maybe you can get some money back from the original fab shop.

I'm also with superbuickguy and i like to build my own stuff, it might weigh a ton but it holds up quite well.

Nice truck BTW, i have a gmc jimmy 1988 and i thought about throwing the 6.0L from my 3/4ton chevy into it if i swap a 12V Cummins into that, looks like your swap went very well and looks clean, good inspiration for me, thank you. Can i ask too though, what did you use for a wiring harness for the 5.3L. Did you use a stand alone system or parts off an integrated system?

Cheers,

 

[AA1PR]

nice rig !

good luck on all

 

[arveetek]

Nice K5! Gotta love the Blazers!

Casey

 

[406expo]

nice looking blazer, it's a tragedy what that company did to you sliders and bumper. Wow! Anyway I'm sure that's got some good power in it.

 

[Bojak]

Nice square body, looks great. Bummer about the bummerpers.

 

[jkroberts]

I've been impressed with the value of Smittybilt stuff, but honestly, I just build it myself anymore.

i think smittybilt would have lasted longer lol. i just bought a welder last month so ill be starting to fab my own stuff

Nice Blazer! Looks like a lot of fun.

I'd be a little worried about using the winch, given your experience with the fab quality on the rear.

its a lot of fun! as for the front bumper, its really really beefy. ive been using it and its held up well. the pull points are made up of 3/4" steel plate that are bolted directly to the frame. the winch mount is made up of 3/8" steel and the rest is all 1/4". the rear bumper is ALL 1/16" steel :Wow1: and the sliders are only tied to the frame in 2 places.

Yeah, i would be a little wary of the winch too, or at least i would be testing the setup before needing it and then being stuck. Too bad about the fab quality. Hopefully it works out for you to find a better shop and have them fix it if possible or rebuild, maybe you can get some money back from the original fab shop.

I'm also with superbuickguy and i like to build my own stuff, it might weigh a ton but it holds up quite well.

Nice truck BTW, i have a gmc jimmy 1988 and i thought about throwing the 6.0L from my 3/4ton chevy into it if i swap a 12V Cummins into that, looks like your swap went very well and looks clean, good inspiration for me, thank you. Can i ask too though, what did you use for a wiring harness for the 5.3L. Did you use a stand alone system or parts off an integrated system?

Cheers,

ill be making my own stuff from now on. no more fab shops! as for the wiring harness its just the original harness that came with the motor that was modified.

nice looking blazer, it's a tragedy what that company did to you sliders and bumper. Wow! Anyway I'm sure that's got some good power in it.

thanks! yeah it scoots pretty well. only downfall is the low end. the heads/cam only really kicks in at about 3500 rpms but man the power really comes on! i tell people i have v-tec lol. at WOT i come out of second gear at 85 mph chirping the tires! and i get 15 mpg to boot!

Nice square body, looks great. Bummer about the bummerpers.

Nice truck very clean.

Nice K5! Gotta love the Blazers!

Casey

nice rig !

good luck on all

thanks for the love guys!!

 

[jkroberts]

a little test flex on the local trail. tires rub like mad so gunna need to trip. also going to get some EZ inches to move the front axle forward and the rear axle backwards. other than that i need some longer shocks and my suspension will be just about done.

FYI i have tuff country ez ride 4" front springs with heavy duty shackles. rear is a shackle flip with stock springs. shocks are 10" travel bilsteins. they are okay when crawling but fade very fast when im out in the desert going fast.



im also collecting parts to do my crossover steering. i found some flat top knuckles for my dana 44. had them machined for the steering arm and then i powder coated them. found out i am not a good powder coater!



also finished a 4 can jerry can holder

 

[Larry]

Sweet K5 Jake! Bummer about the rear bumper and sliders. The front bumper looks good from here anyway. I wouldn’t mind having that same front bumper for my K10. Actually, your rear bumper doesn’t look much different than the homemade bumper/tire carrier/ can carrier that a buddy and I made for my K10. So far, it’s worked flawlessly for years and been all over the Southwest back country.

In working with Durability Test Engineers at work on field testing UPS trucks in the AZ desert about 10 years ago I learned that high hertz frequency vibrations such as driving too fast on washboard roads, cobble stone roads, etc. especially when tires are at high pressure will cause metal to fatigue and break just like what you posted. If your one of those guys that doesn’t air down and flies over washboard roads to smoothen out the ride stuff like this happens. Ideally, dropping tire pressure and slowing down stops a lot of things like that from breaking by simply slowing down the hertz frequencies. I’ve ran across a lot of things that have broken off other peoples trucks on wash board roads like this. Last trip to Toroweep which is like 60 miles of washboards there was a Smittybilt tire carrier laying on the side of the road then on our last trip up to Chaffee County, CO we found a Surco cargo basket lying next to the fence where the brackets had fatigue cracking and fell off. Guess the owner didn’t care to pick it up and just kept on going. Yeah, we brought the basket home with us

Anxious to hear how you like the crossover steering. Seems everyone I know that has done that mod on a non-trail exclusive rig has major bump steer afterwards. The idea behind crossover is appealing though.

This is what my gate swings look like. Basically trailer spindles.

 

[jkroberts]

Sweet K5 Jake! Bummer about the rear bumper and sliders. The front bumper looks good from here anyway. I wouldn’t mind having that same front bumper for my K10. Actually, your rear bumper doesn’t look much different than the homemade bumper/tire carrier/ can carrier that a buddy and I made for my K10. So far, it’s worked flawlessly for years and been all over the Southwest back country.

In working with Durability Test Engineers at work on field testing UPS trucks in the AZ desert about 10 years ago I learned that high hertz frequency vibrations such as driving too fast on washboard roads, cobble stone roads, etc. especially when tires are at high pressure will cause metal to fatigue and break just like what you posted. If your one of those guys that doesn’t air down and flies over washboard roads to smoothen out the ride stuff like this happens. Ideally, dropping tire pressure and slowing down stops a lot of things like that from breaking by simply slowing down the hertz frequencies. I’ve ran across a lot of things that have broken off other peoples trucks on wash board roads like this. Last trip to Toroweep which is like 60 miles of washboards there was a Smittybilt tire carrier laying on the side of the road then on our last trip up to Chaffee County, CO we found a Surco cargo basket lying next to the fence where the brackets had fatigue cracking and fell off. Guess the owner didn’t care to pick it up and just kept on going. Yeah, we brought the basket home with us

Anxious to hear how you like the crossover steering. Seems everyone I know that has done that mod on a non-trail exclusive rig has major bump steer afterwards. The idea behind crossover is appealing though.

This is what my gate swings look like. Basically trailer spindles.

interesting you say that about the hertz... the second time the carrier broke I was chasing for my buddies 1400 truck in the desert. you can see where we tried to weld a crack that had started with a way underpowered welder. after about 80 miles of rough dirt roads at high speeds it cracked even more and was barely holding on. I used a bunch of ratchet straps to hold it on till I made it home. the first time it broke I was on a trail in big bear rock crawling all day. the scary part is with the swing arm empty and open, when I push down on the end of it I can make the corner of the bumper flex a little bit...

as for the cross over steering, I haven't heard that too much at all. I can see the theory behind the thought though. you are changing your steering geometry from front to back to side to side. I plan on running hydro assist but there will be a time period where it will just be the cross over.

I like your tire carrier. good idea on the trailer spindle, ill have to look into that in my re-design!

 

[jkroberts]

still working on this beast little by little. been doing a lot of night wheeling though trying to see how far i can push the limits. im planning a 3 week off road trip with my buddies through Canada. lots of little things need to be done! anyways since its always dark by the time i get home from work or school i wheel at night! i LOVE my led light bar/pods. they really make a difference. i need to move my roof bar more forward though, the roof line cuts off a lot of the usable beam. i plan on moving it over the windshield so that way i can focus the beam more in front of the truck.
some pics, not very good ones. cell phone camera :/





also got me a new super beefy diff cover