Guess who's back!?! Atl-atl's K5 Blazer + Four Wheel Camper "The Crawlin Cabin" documentation thread!

[nitro_rat]

What is the current drivetrain? 350, TH350, NP203 with a part time kit?

My vote if you really plan to use it is to snag a 700R4 and NP208 or NP241 out of an 80's vintage truck. You can even make a TBI 350 look almost just like the original carbureted motor. The fuel injection and overdrive will really help with driveability.

IMO a NP203 with a part time kit is a ticking time bomb. There are several different kinds of kits to disable the differential in the transfer case. The cheap ones have blocks that replace the differential side gears. The better ones replace the entire assembly with a blank shaft. The common denominator with all of them is that once the kit is installed the tailshaft bearings only get oil when the box is IN 4WD!!!

Here's a good article that shows the difference in the kits that are available:

Mile Marker NP203 Part Time Kit

Mile Marker NP203 Part Time Kit I really liked Full-time 4wd on my 1975 Jimmy. Full-time 4wd worked great in poor weather conditions such as ice, snow, or heavy rain. This truck always felt solidly planted on the street but Full-time does have...

ck5.com

All that said, I really like the way the full time case works as designed. You may pay a small penalty in mileage but it's worth in in my opinion. If you feel that you need a part-time case, I'd recommend that you swap in a part time case, be it the 205, 208, 241 or whatever.

Also with the 203, a factory service manual to adjust the shift linkage properly will address a lot of the complaints with this case!

Lots of guys bad mouth the 208 but it's fine for 90% of people and has a much deeper low range than the 203 (2.61:1 vs 2:1). The 241 is a little bit stronger and has more aftermarket support as far as slip yoke eliminator kits and lower ratio planets. It has a 2:72:1 ratio I believe.

While you're working on the drivetrain, I would suggest upgrading to a 9.5" 14 bolt semi-floater rear end. This will give more strength and weight carrying capacity. A unit from a 88-98 (GMT400) truck is best. The "heavy-half" and light 3/4 ton axles are 6 lug. Make sure you get a unit that is from a 4x4 truck as the 2wd variant is narrower by several inches. This will also let you move up to a 1410 u-joint on your driveshaft. If you get a steel shaft from the donor it can be cut down inexpensively to fit your K5.

I would recommend upgrading the front shafts and u-joints as they are a weak spot with the added weight of the camper. Aftermarket shafts and the newest version of the u-joint (don't know the number off hand but they changed it again when the JK Wranglers came out) but it's much stronger than the originals.

As far as driver comfort, the biggest thing for me is that the wipers and washers on these trucks suck big time! Detroit Speed now makes a modern windshield wiper conversion that is sweet. You get IIRC 7 speeds and an electric washer pump. HUGE upgrade and pretty much looks stock except for the wiper motor under the hood.

I'm sure there's more but that's my take from daily driving and wheeling these trucks my whole life...

 

[billiebob]

very clean and original. Hope you keep it stock.

 

[Atl-atl]

What is the current drivetrain? 350, TH350, NP203 with a part time kit?

My vote if you really plan to use it is to snag a 700R4 and NP208 or NP241 out of an 80's vintage truck. You can even make a TBI 350 look almost just like the original carbureted motor. The fuel injection and overdrive will really help with driveability.

IMO a NP203 with a part time kit is a ticking time bomb. There are several different kinds of kits to disable the differential in the transfer case. The cheap ones have blocks that replace the differential side gears. The better ones replace the entire assembly with a blank shaft. The common denominator with all of them is that once the kit is installed the tailshaft bearings only get oil when the box is IN 4WD!!!

Here's a good article that shows the difference in the kits that are available:

Mile Marker NP203 Part Time Kit

Mile Marker NP203 Part Time Kit I really liked Full-time 4wd on my 1975 Jimmy. Full-time 4wd worked great in poor weather conditions such as ice, snow, or heavy rain. This truck always felt solidly planted on the street but Full-time does have...

ck5.com

All that said, I really like the way the full time case works as designed. You may pay a small penalty in mileage but it's worth in in my opinion. If you feel that you need a part-time case, I'd recommend that you swap in a part time case, be it the 205, 208, 241 or whatever.

Also with the 203, a factory service manual to adjust the shift linkage properly will address a lot of the complaints with this case!

Lots of guys bad mouth the 208 but it's fine for 90% of people and has a much deeper low range than the 203 (2.61:1 vs 2:1). The 241 is a little bit stronger and has more aftermarket support as far as slip yoke eliminator kits and lower ratio planets. It has a 2:72:1 ratio I believe.

While you're working on the drivetrain, I would suggest upgrading to a 9.5" 14 bolt semi-floater rear end. This will give more strength and weight carrying capacity. A unit from a 88-98 (GMT400) truck is best. The "heavy-half" and light 3/4 ton axles are 6 lug. Make sure you get a unit that is from a 4x4 truck as the 2wd variant is narrower by several inches. This will also let you move up to a 1410 u-joint on your driveshaft. If you get a steel shaft from the donor it can be cut down inexpensively to fit your K5.

I would recommend upgrading the front shafts and u-joints as they are a weak spot with the added weight of the camper. Aftermarket shafts and the newest version of the u-joint (don't know the number off hand but they changed it again when the JK Wranglers came out) but it's much stronger than the originals.

As far as driver comfort, the biggest thing for me is that the wipers and washers on these trucks suck big time! Detroit Speed now makes a modern windshield wiper conversion that is sweet. You get IIRC 7 speeds and an electric washer pump. HUGE upgrade and pretty much looks stock except for the wiper motor under the hood.

I'm sure there's more but that's my take from daily driving and wheeling these trucks my whole life...

Wow, thanks, thats a ton of great info! That wiper upgrade looks amazing. I do have the 350/350/203 combo but thankfully have warn manual hubs. I do have the drivetrain "clunk" that is common with these. Eventually I will do a 60/14 combo and probably a 205 at the same time. Im just going to start acquiring those parts as I work on smaller projects with the truck. As far as motor swaps go, Im not worried about it looking original, if Im going that far its getting an LS.

very clean and original. Hope you keep it stock.

The camper is going to stay stock. Or at least be able to be put back to stock. The truck...

 

[SexyExy]

I honestly think that if Four Wheel Campers started make new campers for the old K5 Blazers, they would sell a ton of them.....even with the footnote that there may be sealing problems between the back of the Blazers cab and the camper. I know if they started them back in production, I'd be looking for a K5 Blazer right now. The size and platform would be an epic overland truck.

The K5 platform is just so easy to modify and pretty easy to work on compared to most modern SUV's.....I miss my K5.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Same thing goes for 79-96 full size Broncos.

 

[Atl-atl]

Same thing goes for 79-96 full size Broncos.

My neighbor across the street has a bronco dying for some love. Youll probably see it in the background of lots of my driveway shots. He only drives it once a month or so.

 

[locrwln]

Great looking rig. Can you take a close up picture of the Blazer's SPID? That is the blue and white sticker that has all of the options that the Blazer came with when it left the factory.

I love looking at them to see how they were optioned out.

Thank you,

Jack

 

[Atl-atl]

Well I spent an entire 8 hours today cleaning up a literal rats nest. My front right turn signal wasnt working even after a new bulb so I pulled the housing out to find this...

A rat had chewed through the wires and there was a nest underneath the battery tray. There were chunks of wood, twigs, thorns, lots of actual ********, fur, dirt, you name it.

After cleaning it up this is what it looked like. I had noticed a damp spot in this area under the coolant overflow. Now Im curious if there is a leak or the nest was holding onto moisture. Obviously the nest was there for a long time because it rotted through the sheet metal which sucks but I guess its not that big of a deal since its not noticeable when everything is put back in place.

These two chunks of wood were inside the fender

Nothing a little solder and shrink wrap cant fix!

Then I went to town on the rest of the wiring, mostly the battery terminals. I had planned to get a little more wiring done but the rats nest delayed my plans. I did manage to replace a few chassis grounds, replace some random ring terminals, degrease and clean the crap out of the terminal ends, battery tray, cables and some other misc. items in the area. The amount of sticky gunk on the terminals was something Ive never seen before. I wonder if it was actually used to keep them from corroding because there isnt any real corrosion, just a lot of gunk. I used some citrus degreaser from my bicycle tool box and it worked like a charm.

The after picture of these terminals is ridiculous. Things were so incredibly dirty. Even if it didnt change how anything works with the electrical system, Im happy because of how much nicer it looks. The white wire you can see is the positive wire going to the relay to charges the house battery for the camper which lives on the other side of the radiator. The small red wire goes across the radiator and then back through the firewall, I have not traced it yet but its definitely not factory, obviously.

My turn signal is now lit up but its constantly on the bright half of the dual filament bulb. I think I crossed two wires. Does anyone have a wiring diagram so I can figure out which ones I crossed. There are three wires going into the bulb; black, brown and blue.

 

[zoomad75]

I honestly think that if Four Wheel Campers started make new campers for the old K5 Blazers, they would sell a ton of them.....even with the footnote that there may be sealing problems between the back of the Blazers cab and the camper. I know if they started them back in production, I'd be looking for a K5 Blazer right now. The size and platform would be an epic overland truck.

The K5 platform is just so easy to modify and pretty easy to work on compared to most modern SUV's.....I miss my K5.

They are epic overland trucks. Mine gets tons of looks out on the trail in a sea of Jeeps and Toyotas. Extremely capable, easy to modify and repair and get parts for.

As far as the sealing problems between the camper and the cab go, there is an easy fix. Get a second stock K5 top. I found one for free on Craigslist somebody wanted hauled off. Cut off the very front section that interfaces with the cab with the seal. We mounted the section on the cab, slid the camper back in place and locked it down with a couple of screws to temporarily hold it in place. Pull the camper back away from the cab and now drill the holes where the stock top normally bolts to the cab from the front side. We ended up pulling mine back off to skin that will with aluminum and remounted the section back on. A small bead of silicone was used to seal the backside of the top section to the aluminum. New seals were installed, one on the top section and one on the cab and then the stock bolts for the top were fed in from the inside of the camper to the cab to lock it all in place. I have zero leaks from this area and no longer have the camper trying to lift in this area at highway speeds since the original mounting did not use any bolts into the cab to retain the camper. FWC only used bolts down the bedrails on each side.

Here's the section we installed during the build out process on mine.

Any Blazer running one of these campers needs to do this since leaving the channel open where the factory top seal normally sits will funnel drainage right into the inside since there is a hole at the bottom on each side.

Great progress on the wiring Atl-atl!

 

[Atl-atl]

They are epic overland trucks. Mine gets tons of looks out on the trail in a sea of Jeeps and Toyotas. Extremely capable, easy to modify and repair and get parts for.

As far as the sealing problems between the camper and the cab go, there is an easy fix. Get a second stock K5 top. I found one for free on Craigslist somebody wanted hauled off. Cut off the very front section that interfaces with the cab with the seal. We mounted the section on the cab, slid the camper back in place and locked it down with a couple of screws to temporarily hold it in place. Pull the camper back away from the cab and now drill the holes where the stock top normally bolts to the cab from the front side. We ended up pulling mine back off to skin that will with aluminum and remounted the section back on. A small bead of silicone was used to seal the backside of the top section to the aluminum. New seals were installed, one on the top section and one on the cab and then the stock bolts for the top were fed in from the inside of the camper to the cab to lock it all in place. I have zero leaks from this area and no longer have the camper trying to lift in this area at highway speeds since the original mounting did not use any bolts into the cab to retain the camper. FWC only used bolts down the bedrails on each side.

Here's the section we installed during the build out process on mine.

Any Blazer running one of these campers needs to do this since leaving the channel open where the factory top seal normally sits will funnel drainage right into the inside since there is a hole at the bottom on each side.

Great progress on the wiring Atl-atl!

Man, that is exactly the info I need for an item that is like #37 on my to do list hahaha.


As for wiring, I found a link to wiring diagrams thanks to CK5, brochures.slosh.com. Looks like I crossed the brown and blue wires for my turn signal. This makes sense since black is typically the ground in automotive wiring.

 

[Atl-atl]

Great looking rig. Can you take a close up picture of the Blazer's SPID? That is the blue and white sticker that has all of the options that the Blazer came with when it left the factory.

I love looking at them to see how they were optioned out.

Thank you,

Jack

Here you go!

 

[SexyExy]

They are epic overland trucks. Mine gets tons of looks out on the trail in a sea of Jeeps and Toyotas. Extremely capable, easy to modify and repair and get parts for.

As far as the sealing problems between the camper and the cab go, there is an easy fix. Get a second stock K5 top. I found one for free on Craigslist somebody wanted hauled off. Cut off the very front section that interfaces with the cab with the seal. We mounted the section on the cab, slid the camper back in place and locked it down with a couple of screws to temporarily hold it in place. Pull the camper back away from the cab and now drill the holes where the stock top normally bolts to the cab from the front side. We ended up pulling mine back off to skin that will with aluminum and remounted the section back on. A small bead of silicone was used to seal the backside of the top section to the aluminum. New seals were installed, one on the top section and one on the cab and then the stock bolts for the top were fed in from the inside of the camper to the cab to lock it all in place. I have zero leaks from this area and no longer have the camper trying to lift in this area at highway speeds since the original mounting did not use any bolts into the cab to retain the camper. FWC only used bolts down the bedrails on each side.

Here's the section we installed during the build out process on mine.

Any Blazer running one of these campers needs to do this since leaving the channel open where the factory top seal normally sits will funnel drainage right into the inside since there is a hole at the bottom on each side.

Great progress on the wiring Atl-atl!

Wow, that is a great solution. Boom....another problem solved!

 

[zoomad75]

Man, that is exactly the info I need for an item that is like #37 on my to do list hahaha.

Wow, that is a great solution. Boom....another problem solved!

That fix should go along with replacing the particle board FWC used on that cab wall and in the cabover floor. Mine was swelled and rotten due to a roof leak, but I wouldn't trust sleeping up there on particleboard as it lacks support over a larger area than other FWC model campers like a Grandby.

 

[Atl-atl]

That fix should go along with replacing the particle board FWC used on that cab wall and in the cabover floor. Mine was swelled and rotten due to a roof leak, but I wouldn't trust sleeping up there on particleboard as it lacks support over a larger area than other FWC model campers like a Grandby.

I have some rot in my cabover floor also so I will need to replace that. Its not bad enough to be concerned about right now but its there nagging. Ive done it twice before, its probably my least favorite thing to do on an FWC, Id rather replace the canvas or lift panels. Ill do the cabover floor, front wall and install a piece of the top as you showed all at the same time when I just cant leave it alone any longer.

Speaking of replacing things. When I pulled the coolant overflow bottle yesterday to clean out the rats nest I disturbed the trans cooler lines enough that when I took the truck for a spin today it started leaking trans fluid like crazy. I got to a gas station, diagnosed and went straight back home, womp womp. I decided to go ahead and replace the soft lines. They were completely dry rotted, cracked and stiff. Its no wonder they gave out. I think this solves the problem of where the moisture was coming from underneath the overflow bottle. None of the radiator related components show any moisture so I think Im good to go. Although I will be replacing the heater core hoses soon because they are quite stiff. One odd thing I noticed is my trans cooler must have been replaced because one of the hard lines has a similar fitting and flare to a brake line but it had a rubber hose just clamped to it. I couldnt find the correct adaptor at the parts store so I decided to just redo the same hose clamped onto the pipe that was there and it seems to be holding. ?


You can see the fitting left of center in the picture below.

Little fixes like this make me very happy.

 

[arveetek]

One odd thing I noticed is my trans cooler must have been replaced because one of the hard lines has a similar fitting and flare to a brake line but it had a rubber hose just clamped to it. I couldnt find the correct adaptor at the parts store so I decided to just redo the same hose clamped onto the pipe that was there and it seems to be holding. ?


You can see the fitting left of center in the picture below.

Little fixes like this make me very happy.

That is an aftermarket transmission cooler. The original transmission cooler was located inside the radiator and used no rubber hoses; it was 2 steel lines from the transmission to the radiator and back. Whoever installed the aux cooler in front of the radiator simply cut the OEM steel hard line, and then spliced the rubber lines from the aux cooler in line to that original steel line. The fitting in your picture above would have actually been part of a complete one-piece steel line from the transmission to the radiator.

Casey