Larry's 1978 K10

[Larry]

Any updates Larry? Post some pics if you can. I love pics!

Ah, yes! :elkgrin: In fact, we have lots of pictures from our trip to Utah last week. We ran 7 days with a total of just under 1,500 miles from home base and back. The only trail damage was the sway bar bracket bolt at the frame broke and tore up the bracket. Also discovered the ORD twin stick 205 shifter is a POS and doesn’t work well on a long distance runner. Rock crawler maybe…. Either way, I’ve got to find something more durable than that twin stick shifter.

On this trip was ColoradoBill and his Ram Charger and 1leglance with his Toyota HZ45 Troopie.

Here are a few pics from last week. First up is the Kokopeli Trai to the Top of the World

Camping at the Top of the World.

Top of the World

Coloradobill’s Top of the World picture turned out much better as we took his the first evening with the sun behind me to the West. Mine were taken in the morning with the sun to the East right in the way of the camera.

More from Canyonlands Island in the Sky later…

 

[Larry]

Here is one video from the Kokopeli trail headed towards the Top of the World

[video=youtube;Pin2QewDLgM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=Pin2QewDLgM[/video]

 

[chilliwak]

Absolutley awesome pics and video Larry. Keep them coming. I love to watch them...

 

[Larry]

Fresh pictures from a quick overnighter this weekend. Bolted on my other set of tires and wheels to see how well they would handle the weight of the camper. These bias ply Super Swamper TSLs handle the camper extremely well, better than the Kumho all terrains that are on the black steel wheels. Let the air down to 15 psi or so and it rides like it is on a cloud and grip like suction cups.

Nature’s own leveling blocks

 

[Dixie27]

I dont post much.....but this is one of the coolest rigs I've come across.......well done.

 

[dd76522]

gorgeous truck! i looked thru some other threads of yours and didn't see it mentioned i don't think but how much lift and what size tires are you running? did you ever manage to sell the topper?

 

[Larry]

gorgeous truck! i looked thru some other threads of yours and didn't see it mentioned i don't think but how much lift and what size tires are you running? did you ever manage to sell the topper?

Thank you Dixie27 & dd76522,

The lift is actually a cornucopia of a few things. The front lift springs are 6” Superlift springs with ORD HD shackles that yield an extra half inch of lift or so. The rear suspension is made up of stock height 56” leaf spring packs from a ‘85 ¾ ton long bed 4x4 mounted to an ORD rear shackle flip with their HD rear shackles. Believe it or not, it rides like a Cadillac and flexes like crazy (Hard to believe but it rides much better than my stock Silverado 2500HD). With my bumper jack the camper hits the shop ceiling before the tires come off the ground. I plan to add an extra leaf or two to the rear spring packs this winter as the weight of the Phoenix camper has left it a bit sagging in the rear.

I run two different tire and wheel combinations depending on the destination. The set for the Colorado mountains are Super Swamper TSL Q78x16’s (35.5x10) on 7” wide aluminum wheels. The other set I use for long distance trips to Utah & Arizona are LT315/75R16 Kumho Road Venture AT’s on 8” wide steel wheels. These tires will soon be replaced with BFG AT’s of the same size. There just isn’t a one tire fits all occasions on the market. The Swampers rock in the snow but are horrendous for a 2,000 mile trip to the desert and back.

I decided to keep the Snugtop topper but if someone wants it I am open to talk about it.

Pics of the rear suspension....

 

[Cody1771]

nice choice with the lift amazing kit, amazing quality! love your rig man. i think ive said that 3 times now in this thread? haha

 

[Larry]

Breath of Fresh Air

As the adventure season begins I’ve been busy addressing a few annoyances on the old dog before hitting the highway to OX12. First up was to address the air intake tube that I’ve never really liked since the 8.1L swap 4 years ago. I help a forum friend on another website with an 8.1L conversion into a 2wd dually truck a while back. When it was all done he had a much better idea on the air intake design than my modified Silverado air intake so I borrowed his well thought out recipe. Next up will be replacing the A/C header at the compressor and building new A/C lines with a cleaner routing path. I’m not happy with the A/C line routing or the leaky header at the compressor.

I could care less about the shinny chrome but the concoction of air intake pieces worked out well.

Old pipe (truck was running an older MEFI-4 Ram Jet 502/ GM Marine type engine management system at the time too which is why there is less harness laying about. Before hydroboost brakes too.)

 

[Larry]

Another item that had to be dealt with before this season gets underway were the engine mounts. If you listen to any of the Top of the World and White Rim videos from last summer you will hear the fan rubbing on the fan shroud every now and then. That was the beginning of the couple year old Napa “Big Block” engine mounts starting to cave in. They finally completely caved in this winter on a snow trip. I must have had horse shoe up my ******** this day because I was pretty lucky not to break the cast aluminum oil pan.

Ouch!

Junk Napa mounts (I had already taken the nut off before I thought about taking a picture)

OEM shells with Energy Suspension inserts vs. Napa big block mount

Much better! To my surprise I don’t feel any engine vibration as you would expect from a Polyurethane mount.

Got plenty of room now.

Poor oil pan has some scars on it now. Luckily it didn’t cause a crack or leak.

Here all of that banging. That would be the oil pan banging on the crossmember. :Wow1:
Here too. Crunch, rub, crunch...

 

[shultzie]

Very nice truck!!! My first truck was a '81 Chevy and wish I still had it!!

 

[Larry]

Today I got the RAM POD mount installed for the netbook in order to run Delorme GPS software this year. The RAM Pod is clean nonintrusive mount but it is pretty wobbly by itself. I had a couple GM serpentine belt support brackets laying around that worked great for additional support brackets. I absolutely HATE drilling holes in old trucks so I able to use existing points but I had to drill one in the center console. No more wobble! Next step to run a new clean power source to an additional 12 volt receptacle mounted to the console, as I don’t trust the original cigarette lighter as a clean power source. :coffeedrink:

 

[LIVEanimals]

I absolutely love this rig Larry. When you did the 56" spring swap did you retainthe factory hanger mount in the front and just add the reversed shackle flip for the rear mount? We are going to do this to my buddies K5. How much lift did you get out of the springs?

 

[Larry]

I absolutely love this rig Larry. When you did the 56" spring swap did you retainthe factory hanger mount in the front and just add the reversed shackle flip for the rear mount? We are going to do this to my buddies K5. How much lift did you get out of the springs?

Thanks LIVEanimals,

Yes, I retained the front spring hangers. I installed the ORD rear 4” shackle flip for 52” springs years ago but when I swapped in the 56” I had to swap the brackets side to side (to flip them around) and use their long HD rear shackles to make the 56” rear springs fit. ORD does not recommend using the long HD shackle with the 4” shackle flip but with this truck being so heavy in the rear it works well and drives like a stock truck. I wouldn’t recommend this combination for an empty truck or K5 as it can be over flexy and spooky at highway speeds. This combination almost got it to set level with 6” springs in front. Recently I added one more spring blade to the rear packs to bring the rear up a tad but it could probably use one more blade per side. What I really need to do is hook up with a good spring shop and have good set of custom rear springs packs built. My home grown spring packs have plenty of room for improvement. It actually rides very nice though. Rides like a Cadillac compared to my stock ’01 Silverado HD.

 

[brut4s]

Sounds like it's time for some Deavers springs. I love your truck. Great seeing old rigs on the road!