Big work on the War Wagon today!

[ElevenBravo]

History: 1982 K5 Blazer 6.2L Detroit Diesel, GM10 bolts regeared to 4:11, rebuilt 700R4 trans.

So the daughter helped me got a butt load of work done on the truck!

A few days ago it got to where it would NOT even start, so I had to park it... Ive also been monitoring a no-charge condition for about 2 weeks. Sometimes, charge... most of the time no-charge.

So, work done today..

Diagnose glow plugs: Found 3 that were dead, by ohming out between lug and ground... three had no short, showing an open circuit... which means, plug is dead.

Also, since the 5 years Ive been driving it, ive not changed the fuel filters... and, after running dry there was the chance of trash getting sucked into the filters.

Work done: Replace all 8 glow plugs, about $90, replace alternator, about $60, replace primary and secondary fuel filters, about $30.

Result: Truck started up BETTER than it EVER has, nice to have 8 strong glow plugs now! I figure with the 3 that were dead, the others were probably weak. The engine idels better than before, Im sure the fuel filters helped a lot! And now have a 100% charge state.

Whew... got a lot done, and with great results. I was simply dreading pulling the glow plugs, I just KNEW they were all gonna be seized and swollen. They all cracked loose no problem and none were swollen, nor cracked and missing any pieces. On replacement, I coated the threads with nickle anti-seize.

That is all,
EB

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Way to go brother! Glad to here that puppy's up and runnin. At least you can do the work yourself, nice to have a helper that knows what they're doing too. Now I guess you and LadyHK are going to have to have a little "Blazer pull off"

[ElevenBravo]

Not unless she wants her S-10 drug all over town, dont think so.. :-)

I was so glad to get this crap done, the worry about things that are broke but need to be fixed is very tiresome.

I was just glad I got it done, and the results were way better than I expected!

I know now, how critical fresh glow plugs are! I never realized having a few down and a few weak would effect the starting.

It started "ok" before, but with 8 fresh plugs, only 30 seconds of pre heat and it startes after say 3 revolutions, no studder or anything, and I did *not* see any grey smoke on cold start, like it used to do!

Wow, just wow! That was a nice $90 investment!!

I am also taking the Delco alt to a local shop and have them rebuild it to 100a output (stock is 65a) and get an extended warranty with it. It will be rebuilt IN HOUSE at this shop, Im so tired of putting junk (remans from Advance or Auto Zone) alts on every friggin year!

EB

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Eeeww, I don't think I'll tell her that. But it sounds like you got it up to snuff. Also nice to have resources like that on the rebuild and upgrade.

[ladyhk13]

Not unless she wants her S-10 drug all over town, dont think so...:-)

EB

S-10 my rear end!!! Boy did someone give you bad info. I have a BIG girl truck!

[bacpacker]

Original Parts rebuilt by true shops typically last much longer than the reman crap you get from the auto zone type stores. We used to have a clutch rebuilder that worked near my grandparents. People brought old plates in from all around for them to rework. Great work on the upgrades.

[ElevenBravo]

S-10 my rear end!!! Boy did someone give you bad info. I have a BIG girl truck!

Damn girl, your right! As long as Ive been here, Ive only glanced at your avatar, and I swear every time I thought it was an S-10.

Okay... so Ill drag your *K-5* all over town, better? HA HA! J/K

BTW, whats the specs on your truck?


I love my K5, still goes places a lot of Jeeps cant get, and Ive got some serious flex on front and back!

I hope to post some videos on how it does off road.

EB

[ladyhk13]

Damn girl, your right! As long as Ive been here, Ive only glanced at your avatar, and I swear every time I thought it was an S-10.

Okay... so Ill drag your *K-5* all over town, better? HA HA! J/K

BTW, whats the specs on your truck?


I love my K5, still goes places a lot of Jeeps cant get, and Ive got some serious flex on front and back!

I hope to post some videos on how it does off road.

EB

I have no idea, just know I have to climb up into it...been totally redone inside with power leather seats, new carpet....all pretty stuff but not girly...all black.
Runs good and sounds great. I'm sure it's not beefed up as much as yours though. Probably not as much torque. But it sure as heck ain't no S-10 ;)

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

I guess i need to reply to this one eh? Well this much I know about the truck without doing a complete tear down. It has a 350 small block with what sounds like a small cam, a medium high rise manifold with a Eldebrock/Carter 650CFM. The tranny is a 700R4 bolted to a NP208 transfer case and 8.5" front and back for the gears.

[Gunfixr]

I had a War Wagon, once.
F 250 4x4 with a 6.9L diesel, C6 trans.
I personally, with hand tools (meaning no air) took out the front and rear axles, converting the front from twin beam to solid axle. I installed axles from a Kaiser military M715 1 1/4 ton truck. The rear differential got a Detroit Locker. Since the military axle had the front differential on the passenger side, as opposed to driver side like Ford standard, I had to swap the transfer case. So, I took out the Borg Warner 1345 aluminum housed chain drive case and installed a NP 205 cast iron gear drive case. It was a divorce unit, meaning the truck now had 3 drive shafts. Since the new transfer case sat almost dead center of the axles, the front and rear drive shafts were now the same length. I made all three of them, using 1/4" wall pipe. I made all the custom brackets, and the new transmission rear sealing plate.
I them had to make custom center plates to install in my old rims to fit the new axles. At first she rode on 38"-16"-16.5R" Interco Super Swampers, but later the change was made to 44"-18"-16.5R" Monster Mudders. At some point, the tranny took a crap, and I rebuilt it, getting in all the extra clutch plates that would fit.
I made a custom steel front bumper from a single piece of 10" structural I-beam, side bars and hand rails, and a custom rear hitch, which used 2 1/2" square hole instead of 2", and two hitch pins. The front bumper contained an integral 10,000lb winch. The Ac had gone out, and being young and not caring about such things, I set up a different compressor to make compressed air, feeding a tractor trailer air tank mounted in the frame over the rear axle. It had some other custom niceties, but you get the idea.

Oh, the axles had 5.88 to 1 gears in them, factory.

I have broken numerous K5 Blazers with it, along with other vehicles. I still have a video somewhere around here of it hooked up to the back of a Peterbuilt road tractor with a 650 Caterpillar engine. They gave him that win, but I made him earn it.

Aaahhhhh, the good old days ..................................

[ElevenBravo]

Damn Fixr... sounds like a REAL War Wagon to me! If you find pix, pls post them up!

I like the work you did, esp. getting rid of the TTB... whatever Ford "engineer" came up with that should be killed, then shot & hung.

I had an '89 Bronco, C6 & 351W... and dreaded TTB and 3.08... At first glance, when I looked at it at the lot, I thought it had a solid axle.

Only AFTER I bought it, did I learn of TTB. If I had a gas oven, I would have put my head in it that day...

It was a nice truck... a few thousand more dollars, it might have been worth keeping... 'cept the gas engine, it was thirsty, and the C6 slipped... so bye bye.


EB

[Gunfixr]

I got pics, somewhere, but they are pre-digital.

I might be able to scan them or something.

It took several years of working here and there to get it done, but she was tough once I did.
Sold it almost 10yrs ago now. Just didn't drive it anymore, there are neighborhoods everywhere I used to off-road. My back isn't too appreciative of climbing into big trucks these days either.
I do still have an '89 Bronco, running a .351, sitting on 35" tires. But, it, too will probably leave before much longer. The drive to work is too far for a lifted truck with that much V8 at today's gas prices, and paying insurance and the rest to let it sit and watch it rot just isn't right.

[Stormfeather]

I had a War Wagon, once.
F 250 4x4 with a 6.9L diesel, C6 trans.
I personally, with hand tools (meaning no air) took out the front and rear axles, converting the front from twin beam to solid axle. I installed axles from a Kaiser military M715 1 1/4 ton truck. The rear differential got a Detroit Locker. Since the military axle had the front differential on the passenger side, as opposed to driver side like Ford standard, I had to swap the transfer case. So, I took out the Borg Warner 1345 aluminum housed chain drive case and installed a NP 205 cast iron gear drive case. It was a divorce unit, meaning the truck now had 3 drive shafts. Since the new transfer case sat almost dead center of the axles, the front and rear drive shafts were now the same length. I made all three of them, using 1/4" wall pipe. I made all the custom brackets, and the new transmission rear sealing plate.
I them had to make custom center plates to install in my old rims to fit the new axles. At first she rode on 38"-16"-16.5R" Interco Super Swampers, but later the change was made to 44"-18"-16.5R" Monster Mudders. At some point, the tranny took a crap, and I rebuilt it, getting in all the extra clutch plates that would fit.
I made a custom steel front bumper from a single piece of 10" structural I-beam, side bars and hand rails, and a custom rear hitch, which used 2 1/2" square hole instead of 2", and two hitch pins. The front bumper contained an integral 10,000lb winch. The Ac had gone out, and being young and not caring about such things, I set up a different compressor to make compressed air, feeding a tractor trailer air tank mounted in the frame over the rear axle. It had some other custom niceties, but you get the idea.

Oh, the axles had 5.88 to 1 gears in them, factory.

I have broken numerous K5 Blazers with it, along with other vehicles. I still have a video somewhere around here of it hooked up to the back of a Peterbuilt road tractor with a 650 Caterpillar engine. They gave him that win, but I made him earn it.

Aaahhhhh, the good old days ..................................

I would LOVE to see that video!

[Gunfixr]

LOL. It was taken by an old home movie camera, and is on VHS.

They had this monster truck event at a local speedway. They also invited local 4x4 owners to come and play. They had a "tough truck" course, where you go around this little track and drive over little humps, over loose logs, through a mud pit of sorts, and over some cars like the monster trucks do. They been pre-crushed down some. I've done that also, and it is fun. Everybody that has a lifted truck and driven it much in traffic, with regular cars, feels the frustration from what other drivers do to those with big trucks. There's something pretty satisfying about driving across some cars. Actually, when I did that, a few years earlier, the truck was still factory stock, and they said I was the first ever diesel to do a tough truck event. Then, a friend put the first ever Suzuki Samurai they ever had through it on the same night. We didn't win the cash, it was time with possible "extra points". You got a lot of extra points if you rolled your truck. This other guy we didn't know did it, both nights, to get the cash, which was a couple hundred dollars. This was inside the Coliseum.
I didn't want it that bad.
Anyway, they'd also have a back-to-back pull. So I'd entered and won the pull, taking everything they put behind me. These were single elimination, when you lose, you're done. Last truck still going forward is the winner. I had won by beating this Chevy 4x4, also on 44 inch tires, but he claimed it had a Keith Black racing engine. I don't know. I did know it was paid for by his dad, who owned a local beverage distribution company, and they built it in the company garage. I also saw it turn over all 4 of those 44s at the same time, so it had power.
Broke his front axle, ripped the steering gear right off the frame. He left on a rollback. Come to think of it, I don't really remember seeing that truck much if any after that. Maybe dad was mad.
But, the competition had ended quickly, too quickly, and they wanted more of a show. So, being the victor, they came and asked if I'd hook up to anything else, just for show. Said the money was mine, anybody extra couldn't take it. While they're hooking me up to this tow truck, the announcer gets on the mike and asks if anybody in the audience has anything they want to try. Of course, most of the audience wants no part of my truck now, they're loading up the big bad racing truck on a rollback. My truck looked like any you'd see in a driveway, except for the lifted part, nothing fancy at all, no chrome, no fancy paint. Sure enough, this older guy yells he has something, and about 5 minutes later, smoke is coming from the stacks we could see out in the parking lot. I'll not lie and say I wasn't worried. But, I knew if I didn't try to push my truck beyond its limits, I'd still drive it home, which was what mattered to me the most.
What a lot of people failed to realize is that once you start going backwards, your wheels will start "hopping", with it being more pronounced depending on ground traction, vehicle weight, etc.
Every time the axle bounces up, wheel speed takes off, then the axle comes back down, and the tires suddenly grab. This wrenches the entire drivetrain a lot. When you see a back-to-back that ends with a broken u-joint, driveshaft, or axle, this is often the cause, although you can just wring these off, given a heavy enough vehicle with tires that have sufficient traction and a powerful enough engine.
I didn't break anything doing these, although the rear u-joint always needed replacing after, usually had to be done in about a week. I drove it daily. As described, it was heavily built, but I put cheap u-joints in the front and rear axles. This way, the most likely part o break was a cheap part, and easy to replace. I had spares and the tools in the truck, and could do it anywhere.
So, in the video, you can see my truck pull his back a bit, sitting in the drivers seat it's hard to tell how much, and then he finally gets "dug in" a bit. He does have 8 wheels in the rear, and said he had the interlocks engaged, which mean they were all hooked in. Plus, his truck weighed in at around 17,000lbs, versus mine at just under 7,000lbs. Then there's his 650 Cat and tractor trailer trucks have a very low 1st, versus my C6 with only extra clutches. Once he dug in a bit, my rear axle started hopping, I think it jumped twice, and I got out of it. Winning these things only ever brought bragging rights, or maybe some pocket cash, never enough to pay to get towed home. You can only barely see the axle hop, but a friend watching from the side said the axle twisted around far enough to point the axle u-joint flange almost straight up, and it feels more pronounced from inside the vehicle. Soon as I let off, he pulled me back. So they called him the winner.
Just before that, they had brought out a regular tow truck, and hooked me up to that. That almost looked silly. I think that's on the tape also, because I watched it somewhere, as you don't really see anything as the driver, you either go forward, or go backward, and you feel the truck working. Anyway, his hookup point wasn't centered, and basically, I just drove away with his truck, kind of like pulling away from a stoplight, only with this tow truck tied to the back being dragged diagonally. I couldn't even feel it.
But then, is the fact it took a Peterbuilt road tractor with an exponentially stronger drivetrain and more than twice the weight to stop your personal 4 wheel drive truck something to be ashamed of?

BTW, my wife was pissed. We all went to the even, and I had said I wouldn't enter it. We were pretty broke, and I drove it to work every day, so breaking it wasn't an option. She's sitting in the stands when out comes my truck, with me driving it.
To make matters worse, they only gave me half the purse. Said that fewer people had entered than anticipated, but they were sorry. Not only had I won, and earned it, but then had given them the extra show I didn't need to.

[ElevenBravo]

Fixr, I read the whole thing. Cool story.

PM me if you want, I have the capacity to transfer your VHS to DVD. :-) Yeah, Im a closet nerd. Send me the VHS and Ill put it to DVD and MP4 on data disk too... and send it all back to you if you wish.

EB

[Gunfixr]

I'll have to find it. I still have somewhere around 100 to 200 VHS tapes, and at least half of them are homemade.

I think there's some other stuff on there, maybe some local back to backs, stuff like that.