Larry's 1978 K10

[Larry]

Well, I counted my chickens before they hatched... No stepside for me...
I always assume things are rougher than pictures show or the seller says, but in this case, it was JUNK. After getting some fairly poor pictures (of the least damaged parts of the truck, it turns out...) I decided to drive up Sunday to check it out. (With cash and trailer, of course, since it's three hours one way from here...)

Upon closer inspection, someone beat the crap out of this truck, then added about twenty pounds of bondo and paint not long before this guy bought it. Most of that bondo is now separating. Frame cracked and repaired at steering box, frame cracked about half way through just in front of the trans crossmember (not seen that before, but that bolt was loose, so possibly cause...) Front of box smashed into back of cab, cab pushed in ~3", front of box junk, cab junk too. Pass side front body mount rotted out near the sill, floor rotted through both sides at the sill, cab corners probably rotted then covered with bondo, same for doors. Whatever wasn't bondo'd rust was a bondo'd dent. I decided that with it needing a new cab and frame, and probably doors, fenders and hood, and tailgate, and front of box, I'll just find another truck.

Larry, it would make a decent mountain beater project, but the guy said he won't go less than $1500... He also won't sell it, as it's worth about $500 IMO. Could make him a standing offer... Might get lucky. On Western Slope CL if anyone is interested, look for "1978 Chevrolet stepside pickup 4x4m". (The "m" is not my typo...)

I'll just keep looking and hoping I find something some day.
Until then, I'll get my fix by checking back here to see Larry's glorious truck.

That’s a bummer! Craigslist people as of the last few years are totally out of their mind with prices. I blame in on all the car shows on TV (Barrett-Jackson, Fast N Loud, etc.) that give people the false illusion any old vehicle is a pot of gold. I’ve ranted about that before. Seems like every day I can find several vehicles on CL that would have been $500-$1000 vehicles a few years ago where people are now asking a $2500 on up. Totally crazy. To think I paid $1500 for my Polar Bear Burb and $400 teh 91 K5 that Zoomad75’s now has. Now you can’t even find anything nearly as clean as either of them for under $2500…even with dead drivetrains or missing titles. People are nuts!

 

[FBJR]

Larry, send me a PM if you would. Have an off topic question.

thx

 

[Larry]

Little by slow the big tank is coming through its latest surgery just fine. Still waiting on a few more fittings to plumb the compressor to the tank and finish up the compressor wiring.

The new rear is all settled in. Still need to mock up the Bilstein 7100’s and glue on the shock mounts then paint everything

Probably hard to tell the rear axle is much wider now but when you see the truck every day the rear seems really wide now.

Decided on a Viair 2.5 gallon tank to run the air locker and air supply for tires, etc.

Found some real estate to mount the tank and ARB Twin compressor between the outside camper floor wall and inner bed wall

Compressor mounted down in between the camper and inner bed wall

Outside air hose port

A second gauge viewable from the driver seat. This was a last minute idea as I was cobbling fittings together so I made a quick run back to the farm store for a second gauge. Sure beats running a gauge into the cab as I hate drilling more holes in the firewall. Just hope those gauges live out there in the weather and vibration.

The nifty ARB air hose reached all four tires too!

Also, while I was perusing Amazon for compressor fittings and what not, this ARB Differential Breather Kit struck my fancy. It has four ports so you can connect both axles, the trans and tcase to it then mount the head somewhere up under the hood. ARB Breather Kit, 170112, BUT…. As I discovered during install it only comes with 26 ft. of tubing, which isn’t near enough tubing to plumb up a full-size truck. If you order up a breather kit plan on ordering an extra tubing kit 170113 kit as well. The pisser is by the time you buy the breather kit then the extra hose you have over $100 in venting....hmmm, not so sure their fancy dealeo is worth that much. Also, the tubing is obviously made for little foreign vehicles as it has a pretty small I.D and does not fit over any of the vent ports on our old rigs. They say you can heat up the tubing with hot water but I doubt the tubing would stretch that much. I used a piece of 3/8 oil compatible hose as a union. Still have to figure out a place to mount the actual breather under the hood

That is it for now….

 

[IdaSHO]

Looking good Larry :ylsmoke:


That diff breather kit, does it mention max suggested tubing length?

I've always tried to limit my diff breather tube length due to potential condensation build up.

I seem to recall testing and reports (years ago) that claimed that if the vent tube was too long, then it had a tendency to actually feed the diff moisture, as it condensed in the tubing, then drained into the diff.

Shorter vent tubes had much less of an issue simply due to reduced surface area.

 

[Larry]

Looking good Larry :ylsmoke:


That diff breather kit, does it mention max suggested tubing length?

I've always tried to limit my diff breather tube length due to potential condensation build up.

I seem to recall testing and reports (years ago) that claimed that if the vent tube was too long, then it had a tendency to actually feed the diff moisture, as it condensed in the tubing, then drained into the diff.

Shorter vent tubes had much less of an issue simply due to reduced surface area.

If it did mention maximum length I didn’t notice it. Good thing I live in the desert. Condensation isn’t an issue around here or anywhere I go even on a rainy day :ylsmoke:

 

[sean257]

Looks great, as usual!

 

[squarebodyaddict]

Are you concerned?

Larry, I cannot tell by the angle of the pic., but looks like the bracket may stick out beyond the front of the bed, are you concerned that it may come in contact with the back of the cab during extream flex?

 

[Larry]

Larry, I cannot tell by the angle of the pic., but looks like the bracket may stick out beyond the front of the bed, are you concerned that it may come in contact with the back of the cab during extream flex?

Nope, not concerned at all otherwise I wouldn't have put it there. The outer bedside actually sticks out about a .25 more and my L bracket is flipped where it is inboard of the cab b pillar. When the bed flexes that portion moves inward. Hard to explain but a lot of thought goes into this truck before anything gets execauted. This isn't my first rodeo....last time I was the clown :sombrero:

 

[pappawheely]

Thanks for the wealth of information you provide. With a wider rear end it should do better in sand while in 2wd. That way the rear tire is in the track created by the front tire instead of in the berm. You can tell a chevy by the 4 sets of tracks they leave. :sombrero:

 

[Larry]

Thanks for the wealth of information you provide. With a wider rear end it should do better in sand while in 2wd. That way the rear tire is in the track created by the front tire instead of in the berm. You can tell a chevy by the 4 sets of tracks they leave. :sombrero:

Thanks Pappa!

Well, the K10 got a small test drive yesterday. The Big Bad Wolf blew down our fence last week then we've had nothing but rain and snow since. Yesterday the ground was finally dry enough to winch it back up without pulling the poles out of the ground. The fence is trashed….poles bent, 2x4's and pickets broken everywhere but at least it is standing up and will make due until I have time to rebuilt it in a few weeks. Always something!

The truck idled for about an hour while I tugged on the fence and almost ran out of gas. Poor thing hasn't had a drink of fuel since last June. It still doesn't have shocks but I took it for a slow stroll to the gas station anyway. Sure is nice to do U-turns in the gas station parking lot now without 3 point turns. I almost forgotten how short of turning radius short beds have when not armed with a Detroit locker

Once the fence was pretty close to straight up the poles had to be pulled to the West

Then today we got this! So glad I got the fence back up before this big soaker came in.

It was heavy wet soaker that we desperately needed. Also a good excuse to saddle up the Polar Bear to take the little one to daycare with detours along the way :sombrero:

Made a lame little GoPro along the way too. This hill is actually really steep and greasier than Danny's hair in Greased Lightening

 

[pappawheely]

Looks like fun. All of it.

 

[UHAULER]

Larry, maybe you can make new fence posts out of old 14 bolt housings

 

[chilliwak]

Hey Larry good to see the polar bear out chomping up some fresh snow. Too bad about the fence falling down but at least you have the workhorse Chevy to help right it up. I am looking forward to hearing about your new breather system and if it helps your diff problems. Thanks for posting pics. Cheers, Chilli..

 

[ADTR14]

This thread makes me want to ditch my XJ. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[bknudtsen]

Digging back through your thread Larry. Good stuff! I bought an '83 K10 SWB, and it needs some suspension sorting. Just ordered an ORD rear shackle flip and some shock mount bits.