Larry's 1978 K10
- Thread starter Larry
- Start date
87GMCJimmy
Adventurer
Gorgeous truck and great pics!!! You are making me miss my square body GM! (it was never near as nice as yours though!!!)
Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
Thanks BigTex! As the crow flies, Pikes Peak is about 40 miles North West of my house. On a cold crispy morning you can practically see trees from Pikes Peak to the Spanish Peaks to the South near La Veta.
Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
Well, we are 1 week away from departing for Death Valley and I have been real busy doing maintenance and getting things dialed in. One thing I recently had to change were the fender flares as the new tires and wheels are just wide enough wreak havoc on the old front WARN flares when turning and hitting a bump so I upgraded to Xenon flares. I originally wanted Xenon flares 10 years ago when I installed the WARN’s but the Xenon’s were on intergalactic back order at that time.
I love these Xenon flares but they are extremely finicky to install as they must be installed on a nice sunny day to allow some latent heat absorbed into the flares and fenders. On the other hand, you don’t want them to soak up too much sun or they are like trying to mount a wet noodle. It took 3 tries to get the right front flare mounted and twice for the right rear. I even called and spoke with a really helpful guy at Xenon to seek advice. At the end of the day, I ended up buying a fresh roll of ½ 3M double sided tape from the local auto body supply store which between the fresh tape and a warm sunny day to install rubbery flares cured the install issues. All hassles aside, the Xenon’s are worth it. The part number for the flares is (73-80 C/K) 8390 and cost $361 through 4WP. The old rear WARN flares are going on the Suburban and I’ll have to order a set of new front ’81-91 flares to match.
Think they look pretty cool. I really like the port hole for the side marker light. Notice how the Xenon flares do not have a splash guard, of sorts, that sticks down past the rocker panel like the WARN’s did in the pictures above.
I ran by the scale today as well. It came in right at 7,800 lbs with two full tanks of fuel. By the time the gear and supplies are loaded we’ll be pushing well over 8,000 lbs again this year. So much for trying to shave weight off this thing…..
With the truck now ready for the road it is time to start loading up the camper. In order to open the top in the garage the truck has to be parked in the middle to staddle the lights.
You can’t slide even a piece of paper between the ceiling and roof rack :coffeedrink:
I can’t wait until next Saturday to get here to get out of town! :sombrero:
I love these Xenon flares but they are extremely finicky to install as they must be installed on a nice sunny day to allow some latent heat absorbed into the flares and fenders. On the other hand, you don’t want them to soak up too much sun or they are like trying to mount a wet noodle. It took 3 tries to get the right front flare mounted and twice for the right rear. I even called and spoke with a really helpful guy at Xenon to seek advice. At the end of the day, I ended up buying a fresh roll of ½ 3M double sided tape from the local auto body supply store which between the fresh tape and a warm sunny day to install rubbery flares cured the install issues. All hassles aside, the Xenon’s are worth it. The part number for the flares is (73-80 C/K) 8390 and cost $361 through 4WP. The old rear WARN flares are going on the Suburban and I’ll have to order a set of new front ’81-91 flares to match.
Think they look pretty cool. I really like the port hole for the side marker light. Notice how the Xenon flares do not have a splash guard, of sorts, that sticks down past the rocker panel like the WARN’s did in the pictures above.
I ran by the scale today as well. It came in right at 7,800 lbs with two full tanks of fuel. By the time the gear and supplies are loaded we’ll be pushing well over 8,000 lbs again this year. So much for trying to shave weight off this thing…..
With the truck now ready for the road it is time to start loading up the camper. In order to open the top in the garage the truck has to be parked in the middle to staddle the lights.
You can’t slide even a piece of paper between the ceiling and roof rack :coffeedrink:
I can’t wait until next Saturday to get here to get out of town! :sombrero:
Last edited:
chilliwak
Expedition Leader
Wow:Wow1:Larry, you allready have me wanting to be on that trip! Your truck is looking cherry as usual and I like the look of the new fender flares. With a truck as nice as yours I would be scared to take it off-road! Thanks for posting those pics and here is hoping you have a great trip. Have a cold one:beer: while you are sitting beside the campfire:campfire: and thats hope the steaks are juicy:steak: cheers, Chilli...
Jr_Explorer
Explorer
Wow! I would kill to have a garage that would take a lifted truck with camper AND let me pop the top up! Just how high is your aircraft hanger?!? :Wow1:
Chevrolado
Cruisin'
Those flares look fantastic on there! Very nice. I hear what youre saying about the sun to warm them up on the install. I ran into the same issue when I was helping install the Xenon flares that are on my Tahoe. Tough to get things to form just right.
Great looking truck bud! Glad to see it getting prepped for the fun trip.
Great looking truck bud! Glad to see it getting prepped for the fun trip.
my1stcummins
Adventurer
Larry, those flares look fantastic. Any plans for front mounted aux lighting?
I'd like to see a map of where your trip will take you. Also looking forward to seeing photos of the trip.
I'd like to see a map of where your trip will take you. Also looking forward to seeing photos of the trip.
Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
Wow:Wow1:Larry, you allready have me wanting to be on that trip! Your truck is looking cherry as usual and I like the look of the new fender flares. With a truck as nice as yours I would be scared to take it off-road! Thanks for posting those pics and here is hoping you have a great trip. Have a cold one:beer: while you are sitting beside the campfire:campfire: and thats hope the steaks are juicy:steak: cheers, Chilli...
Thanks Chilli!
Thanks! It is a 10 ft. ceiling with a 9 ft. door. When we built the house I actually was aiming for a 12 ft. ceiling but we could not get a variance from the local committee of architecture for the exterior height. The builder did a great job of hiding the 10 ft. ceiling in a detached garage that looks short from the outside and no taller than anybody else’s garage. The ceiling is about 2 foot taller than the soffits on the outside.
Those flares look fantastic on there! Very nice. I hear what youre saying about the sun to warm them up on the install. I ran into the same issue when I was helping install the Xenon flares that are on my Tahoe. Tough to get things to form just right.
Great looking truck bud! Glad to see it getting prepped for the fun trip.
Thanks guys! Yeah, we’re excited for the trip.
Thanks, no….no plans for aux lighting as I don’t drive at night. Nighttime is for enjoying :beer: with friends around :campfire:. The upgraded headlights do just fine for what nighttime driving I do.
I’ll have SPOT map summary once we get back.
BBslider001
Diesel Head
Anxiously looking forward to the rest of the trip info! I agree with the garage being totally dope. We just moved into a house that has a nice 2 car and we will NOT be parking cars in it. I have deemed it my personal shop for doing projects. :wings::sombrero:
