Larry's 1978 K10

toddz69

Explorer
I've often wondered too what happened with Larry's rearend.....so to speak :). I watched all of Gale's videos as they came out too. Of course I figured it was going to be a prelude to a new product but the science is sound. I checked out the new covers at SEMA last fall and they're pretty cool.

Todd Z.
 

edlaffoon

Adventure Every Day
"The answer would be to slow the hell down on the Interstate, which I am not going to do." -Larry

Think I'm gonna tattoo this down my left arm so that every time someone tells me this is the remedy for all my woes I can just point at it... should save me about 17 hours a year worth of heated debate.
 

zoomad75

K5 Camper guy
"The answer would be to slow the hell down on the Interstate, which I am not going to do." -Larry

Think I'm gonna tattoo this down my left arm so that every time someone tells me this is the remedy for all my woes I can just point at it... should save me about 17 hours a year worth of heated debate.
He don't let any moss grow under his tires while on the highway. He sent me a pic from somewhere in Utah on last year's trip I missed of the speedometer pointing at 85mph. It's half the reason I'm putting an 8.1 in mine so I can keep up with him.
 

edlaffoon

Adventure Every Day
He don't let any moss grow under his tires while on the highway. He sent me a pic from somewhere in Utah on last year's trip I missed of the speedometer pointing at 85mph. It's half the reason I'm putting an 8.1 in mine so I can keep up with him.

Oh I'm sure, probably (like me) been called "turbo" a few times in his day.

My K5 will do 100 no problem, straight as an arrow the needle passes 85 and pegs out pointed straight down. All of this takes about 20 minutes and 1/2 a tank of gas of course, but I do have 4.10's on 35's with a 700R4 which helps a lot at the top. All I got is a little carbed crate engine. That said I've always envied the 8.1, I would LOVE to have all that torque on demand to move my barn through the tornado.

All of this has been addressed with the Silverado, which is a tuned 6.2. The torque isn't as good as a turbo diesel or the 8.1 (or even the new 6.6 I think), but it makes retarded horsepower for a truck. Just stupid. I love it.

All of this at the cost of a 10mpg average of course. That seems to be the sweet spot for me no matter what type of truck I have. They always end up getting 10mpg...
 

zoomad75

K5 Camper guy
Oh I'm sure, probably (like me) been called "turbo" a few times in his day.

My K5 will do 100 no problem, straight as an arrow the needle passes 85 and pegs out pointed straight down. All of this takes about 20 minutes and 1/2 a tank of gas of course, but I do have 4.10's on 35's with a 700R4 which helps a lot at the top. All I got is a little carbed crate engine. That said I've always envied the 8.1, I would LOVE to have all that torque on demand to move my barn through the tornado.

All of this has been addressed with the Silverado, which is a tuned 6.2. The torque isn't as good as a turbo diesel or the 8.1 (or even the new 6.6 I think), but it makes retarded horsepower for a truck. Just stupid. I love it.

All of this at the cost of a 10mpg average of course. That seems to be the sweet spot for me no matter what type of truck I have. They always end up getting 10mpg...
I'm cautiously optimistic that I might eek out a little better fuel economy over the K10 since mine should be 1,500 pounds less than his and running 4.10's vs 4.56's. But then again I may be pissing in the wind over that thought.

Going over a pass in a gear higher than 2nd like I do now would be a bonus for sure.
 

Larry

Bigassgas Explorer

Did the new axle solve the problem?
Maybe it's the diff cover? Banks has a series of videos on this.

Wow, I almost had forgotten about that issue…..Yes, the new axle did fix the axle. The guy that bought the axle put it in a rock crawler and never had a problem with it, but its trailered everywhere and doesn’t see any highway. I’m confident the issue with the old axle barfing oil out the vent tube was a stack up of tolerances between the 4:56 thick gears, Detroit locker, 35’ tires, heavy weight and highway speeds all mixed together caused it to have multiple orgasms. The axle replacement axle I built for it was also 4:56 but with an ARB. Like Rob said, its been on 3 long distance trips with no issues.

He don't let any moss grow under his tires while on the highway. He sent me a pic from somewhere in Utah on last year's trip I missed of the speedometer pointing at 85mph. It's half the reason I'm putting an 8.1 in mine so I can keep up with him.

Hehe, you only got a picture of 85 MPH because that is as high as it will show….
48045505788_ba46c5320a_z.jpg



The actual was :geek:
48045487018_491435f18b_z.jpg





Geesh, looking back it appears I haven’t been keeping this thread updated. Really no huge things have been done lately other than added a front ARB airlocker last year and restored a period correct Warn winch bumper modified for a Warn M12000. Don’t worry, the old Hickey Sidewinder isn’t going far. It will probably end up on the Polar Bear Suburban.

ARB’d
46950951601_4c7dfc429c_z.jpg



I never like the way Warn and the other companies that were building bumpers for these back in the day had them mounted so low. They looked odd with the bumper top being below the lower grill lip. With that, we made a Z bracket to raise the bumper up a bit.
49439531736_e584933b78_c.jpg


Then added some reinforcements since the new mounting point would not be a straight pull to the frame
49439067048_e013503cd8_c.jpg


Then sprayed it with rattle can bed liner and the same SEM rubber bumper paint that is on the rockers and fender flares
49439220668_2db118319d_c.jpg


49439222638_bb3f164ee2_c.jpg


I like the way it turned out ?
40827035433_a042331021_c.jpg



Then ran it 2,200 mile round trip to Death Valley and back. That was a fun trip!

48129815478_29b174d4a8_c.jpg


48129793011_06e7210430_c.jpg


48045398202_bb07c1c3c4_c.jpg


48046606028_e7ce0231f3_c.jpg



Nothing huge planned for it any time soon other than getting ready to upgrade the sound system and communications systems as a CB isn’t cutting it anymore. Other than that, it just works as is. Just use it, clean it, use it, clean it… But, eventually, I want to improve the craw ratio though as the later model NV4500 with a 205 has a pretty sucktastic crawl ratio. I’ve been in a few situation over the past few years where a deeper crawl ration would have surely been helpful. Not sure if I’ll go the route of an ORD Magnum box or dump the NV4500 for a Tremec TR-4050 or both…. Time will tell. I’ve been sidetracked with a few other projects so the ole K10 hasn’t been the top priority lately. Its pretty much in maintenance mode
 

Larry

Bigassgas Explorer
A few other updates that are new around here is the K10 and Polar Bear Burb have gained a stable mate. I’ve finally begun building a 1985 K5 Blazer for myself. I’ve always wanted another Blazer since I sold my ’72 K5 over 25 years ago!

This K5 will literally be like building a 1:1 scale 1:25 model truck, as there is nothing to it other than a stripped rust-free tub, a rolling chassis and a clean Colorado title. Even the wiring that is there all needs to be replaced as it was cut up badly. I’ve been collection parts for it and building components one by one in the garage. Once all the pieces are ready to bolt on, I’ll drag it in and start the assembly process.

The actual build thread is HERE.

This is the K5’s current state.
45806469875_08b5a5ef19_c.jpg


45806460795_1744911fff_c.jpg


When it’s done it will look like a mashup of both of these K5’s. It will have a modest 2.5” lift with cutout fender flares on 315 tires……with a snorkel! ?
45814950795_495c28ff2a_c.jpg


32855438208_4af8c961c7_c.jpg


83/84 grills are my favorites of all slope nose squares so it will be wearing this grill and headlight bezels
49081386101_880ca07d61_c.jpg


Hand renderings of how she’ll look minus the fact this is the wrong grill and the cut out flares are missing
32852953438_7d28de0da5_c.jpg


The idea of this K5 is to be the opposite of the K10 and Suburban where I want it to be light and CHEAP! I had planned to use a 292 I6 for it running on a Holley Sniper EFI system but when I opened the 292 it was toast. The cam lobes were practically worn off in half and the rod and main bearings were total onion skins. It really made no sense to toss money into rebuilding a 292 when I had a ready to run TBI 350 out of a donor truck and engine harness left over from the Suburban.

With the idea of being “light” and “cheap” I prepped a 4:10 semi floater from a cheap farm truck I bought for the doors and front clip. Might toss in a lunch box locker later or an Hummer H2 E-locker if I can ever find one of those axles in a bone yard. Normally, I throw these axles away and go straight to a 10.5" full floaters
46003427304_977518a3e3_c.jpg


The TBI 350, 465 and 205 have all been opened up and reconditioned. By the time I actually bring the K5 in the garage the 350 and 465 may change to a L29 454 and NV4500. We’ll see. I built the 205 with twin stick shift rails and converted it from a slip yoke to a fixed yoke
48938994098_6f375eb569_c.jpg


Before
49040932721_6d2b68fba7_c.jpg


Of course, it will have hydroboost
48998638582_1ec232790f_c.jpg


In process of building a Dana 44 for it now with an Eaton TrueTrac
49039987501_6a4c17bae6_c.jpg


Tried some Mevotech balljoints on this one. Very impressed with the intial quality of these balljoints. Time will tell how good they actually are.
49069862863_10c67edb98_c.jpg


This farm fresh $200 C20 donated its doors, front clip and rear axle to the K5 parts pile.
30422578957_2f3ba04b53_c.jpg


Even made about $50 in profit scraping the left overs
31487116868_350d5d1b2d_c.jpg


Then bought this K5 last summer for 120 bux to pirate the top, TBI fuel tank and interior harness as well as some small dodads. All these parts turned out to be free as well and I made enough money selling the carcus for scrap to buy a burrito on the way home
49040981331_338eebbd25_c.jpg



Picked up some decent front seats for it the other day. These came out of an International DuraStar Forestry Service brush fire truck some ladies bought to turn into a tiny home. The arm rests need to be reskinned though. For a $100 for the pair I couldn’t pass on these. The plan is to get a pair of black GMT900 SUV 3rd row seats for the rear.
49549623413_625fb30d53_c.jpg



Oh, and I bought a new Power Wagon! Its about to turn 2 years old next month. Just put 35’s on it 2 weeks ago. Dig this truck! (I still have the 2001 Silverado pewterpuff with the 8.1 and 6 speed manual)
49495309372_d28a7c4493_c.jpg


That’s all that is new around here
 
Last edited:

zoomad75

K5 Camper guy
So when is the order go in for the fresh equipment to go boom-boom with? I'm excited to help set it up. Should sound awesome in the cab.
 

Larry

Bigassgas Explorer
So when is the order go in for the fresh equipment to go boom-boom with? I'm excited to help set it up. Should sound awesome in the cab.
Maybe today. I need to take the part numbers from the Amazon links you sent me and find a different vendor. I don’t want to order these from Amazon because there are some things I don't want the CFO of the house see what they cost ?
 

toddz69

Explorer
Man, you've been busy! Love reading all the updates and of course had to go check out the Blazer thread too.

Todd Z.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,533
Messages
2,875,602
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top