My 1990 Chevy K1500

[CrazyDrei]

Video doesn't work on ExPo but I saw it on their site. Looks like it was a fun trip. I was in the area this weekend but didn't get a chance to hit any trails. I take it you didn't bash your truck in Jericho with them this past weekend? Are you going to Freedlyville Quarry with them in two weeks? I might check it out next week and explore some of the fun trails in that area.

 

[vargsmetal]

Nope, my truck wouldn't do well at Jericho Haha. The class 6 road we took on last years Turkey Trek was hard enough. The next trip we're going on with them is the Syrup Safari in September.

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[jonathon]

So the main problem with the 4wd ended up being the actuator. I must have smacked it on something and broke it internally. It led me to the problem when it started leaking lol. The motor spins but no actuation. Other problem is my linkage wasn't getting the case into 4hi enough so it wasn't engaging reliably. Easy fixes compared to tearing the transfer case apart.

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If you don’t mind having the axle engaged all the time the TCA19 is only $80ish from an eBay seller. I think you break the axle tube before you’d break the TCA19.

 

[vargsmetal]

If you don’t mind having the axle engaged all the time the TCA19 is only $80ish from an eBay seller. I think you break the axle tube before you’d break the TCA19.

I thought about getting it as a worst case trail fix if I ever break the actuator again. For now I just put a junkyard one in to get it going again. FYI the 99+ trucks use the same motorized actuator. Hopefully I'll be able to do the SAS this winter and i won't have to touch it again.

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[jonathon]

I thought about getting it as a worst case trail fix if I ever break the actuator again. For now I just put a junkyard one in to get it going again. FYI the 99+ trucks use the same motorized actuator. Hopefully I'll be able to do the SAS this winter and i won't have to touch it again.

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Are you going the do it yourself route with the SAS or using a kit? How much lift do you think you’ll end up with?

I’m leaning hard towards doing it with a Ford HP Dana 44 with GM 6 lug outers, but I want 3-4” of lift max to run 33’s. I rebuilt my front end with new Moog components and a Red Head steering gear. Drives good for now but off road wheel travel blows and I seem to hit the droop stops once in a while.

Another fix I’ve seen for the actuator is to install the thermal version with a standard length socket in front of it. Back in the day when GM was upgrading them under warranty and didn’t have enough the temp fix was a piece of PVC pipe installed in front of the thermal linear actuator to engage the axle disconnect until the replacement part was available.

 

[vargsmetal]

Are you going the do it yourself route with the SAS or using a kit? How much lift do you think you’ll end up with?

I’m leaning hard towards doing it with a Ford HP Dana 44 with GM 6 lug outers, but I want 3-4” of lift max to run 33’s. I rebuilt my front end with new Moog components and a Red Head steering gear. Drives good for now but off road wheel travel blows and I seem to hit the droop stops once in a while.

Another fix I’ve seen for the actuator is to install the thermal version with a standard length socket in front of it. Back in the day when GM was upgrading them under warranty and didn’t have enough the temp fix was a piece of PVC pipe installed in front of the thermal linear actuator to engage the axle disconnect until the replacement part was available.

I plan on using the ORD kit and ORD crossover steering. I was thinking a Dana 44 because it would do everything I need, but the early Ford HP are pretty expensive here. The Chevy 44 and 10 bolt are easy to find, but unless you get an early 44 with the flat top knuckle you have to get it machined or buy a new knuckle. And with the passenger drop squarebody axles I'd need a new transfer case. I can get a later kingpin Ford 60 fairly cheap, so I'm planning on going that way.

ORD's kit has 4in of lift with stock 47in springs. I'm clearing the 285s now albeit barely because of the wheel offset, but with that setup I should be able to run 35s. I already have a disc brake AAM 10.5 out of a 2500HD to put out back, so I'm going to 8 lug all around.

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[vargsmetal]

A couple weekends ago we took a trip to the Kaaterskill Falls area of NY. We stayed at a campground in the Slide Mountain wilderness. It was a cool trip but no real offroading. We did some hiking, but it was cut short because I sprained my ankle.

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[vargsmetal]

I haven't been working on the truck much since I sprained my ankle, but I have been making some plans. My neighbor does bodywork for living and with some horse trading he's going to help me fix the body rust and paint my truck. I've got rust free front fenders and a hood for the truck so the only areas left are the cab corners and the bed sides around the wheel wells. The cab corners are an easy fix, but one of the bedsides is pretty tweaked. It would take an entire panel to fix it right. Considering I tweaked it on some tight trails in NH, chances are it will happen again.

So I'm considering building a flatbed with side rails and uprights to support the RTT. This will throw a lot of work on the current rack and bumper away, but I think it would be a lot more functional and much more resistant to trail damage compared to the pickup bed. This is kind of what I'm thinking:

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[vargsmetal]

I haven't done anything to the truck but drive it recently. I've got a new windshield washer pump and front brakes for it but that's all pretty boring maintenance.

It did break 18mpg combined on the last fill up. 5.3/4L80e is a great combo for this truck.

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[vargsmetal]

New front brakes, adjusted the rear brakes and now the truck stops like it should. It will need rear shoes soon but hoping they last until the solid axle swap. At that point the rear will go from the 14 bolt 9.5in semi float to a full float AAM 10.5 with disc brakes from a 00-07 2500HD.

I also wired up some cheap LED strips for bed lights. They give off plenty of light for cooking at night so hopefully they last through the rest of the season.

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[vargsmetal]

We have trips planned through October so once we're done with that I'm planning on taking the truck apart for rust repair, paint and hopefully the SAS. That gives me all winter to get it ready for next year. A lot of things have to fall together for it all to happen, first thing being finding the right front axle for a price I can tolerate. I want a Dana 60, and it has to be Ford so I can keep my drivers side drop NP241. The engine and trans sits off center to the passenger side in these trucks so sticking with drivers side drop makes it nicer to package everything in there while keeping the amount of lift low. It's not uncommon to see people end up with 6-8in of lift doing an SAS depending on the springs and brackets used. I want 4in. Additionally, I want a kingpin axle instead of balljoints for the reliability and the ease of bolting on crossover steering. 78-79 narrow Ford 60s are stupid expensive, so that leaves 86-91 with the wider spring mounting width. I don't envision going over 37in tires on this truck so the wider Ford D60 is ok as far as tire clearance goes. I've found some in the $400-500 range.

I had rust free fenders and a hood set aside so I started painting those to see the color. It is high quality, heavy duty marine paint. This was my first time using a HVLP gun so I started with the underside of the hood and it's been a learning experience, but I think it's an awesome color.

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[CrazyDrei]

I haven't done anything to the truck but drive it recently. I've got a new windshield washer pump and front brakes for it but that's all pretty boring maintenance.

It did break 18mpg combined on the last fill up. 5.3/4L80e is a great combo for this truck.

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vargsmetal,

What gears are you running to get 18mpg, has to be 3.73 right?

 

[vargsmetal]

vargsmetal,

What gears are you running to get 18mpg, has to be 3.73 right?

Yes, 3.73. That was the best I've seen it do, it's been averaging 15 per tank.

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[vargsmetal]

We got a spot on Fourwheeler magazines Overland Adventure east! Going to be a busy October between that and trips we already had planned.

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[vargsmetal]

I finally got some time to work on my tire swing out. I'm using Ruffstuff's heavy duty spindle and more 2x2 1/8 wall tubing. I sunk the spindle all the way through the 1/4 wall bumper. I'm just tacking everything since my little 115V mig welder is not powerful enough for the main joints. Once I have the rest of the frame fitted and tacked I'll bring it all to my future father in laws shop to use his welder.

There's going to be room for up to a 37in tire and the tire mounting plate will have multiple stud patterns so there won't be re-work later if I go through with the 1 ton SAS.

Also need to make a basket for water and fuel jerry cans that will bolt on, and a drop down table for food prep etc...

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