1980 Chevy K20 Farm Truck

[willem445]

Oh and have a Eaton Detroit Locker for the 14 bolt rear and new springs from General Spring on the way!

Since I want this for towing, went with 4 leaf front springs (1900 lb capacity) and 8/1 56" (3500 lb capacity) leafs for the rear. Was a little surprised that my truck had 56" springs but I measured at least 3 times to confirm. I'll snag a pic later but the front springs have a pretty nasty negative bend in the by the front eye.

Also got a YesWelder on sale for Black Friday so hopefully can get some patch panels ordered at some point and get some of these holes patched up.

It's coming along!

[LT7A]

Nice work! For some reason it's always cool to me to see new parts on a well used truck. It gives a feeling that things are now headed in the right direction. Glad you hung on to this and getting back after it. Cool truck.

[willem445]

Making some progress. Got 3 out of 4 leaf springs installed yesterday. Really sore today so we'll see if I get to #4.

Old rear pack vs. new. Old leaf packs are still decent, will save them for potential other projects


Rear leaf in place


Front old leaf removed:


New front installed


I gained 3" of lift with the new leaf packs, very happy with things so far!

[willem445]

Side note, has anyone figured out how to improve these rear spring hangers? The bolts were a nightmare to remove (cut them out with cutting disc and sawzall). Crap just piles up inside that cavity and rusts the nut to the bolt really bad. And since the bolt is guaranteed to be seized up in the bushing, it's impossible to get the nut off or hammer out the bolt.

Thought about cutting a hole in the backing plate to gain access to the nut and then welding up the top of the hanger to seal it from the elements

[Getter-Done]

Yeah that spring hanger is a big issue on these trucks.

I replaced some years ago on a 78.
They was really bad.

These front springs also sag over the years.
Thode are nice looking new springs.

[willem445]

@Getter-Done For sure! It's definitely one of those designs where you curse the engineers that designed it with some not so pretty language

[willem445]

Powered through the soreness and got leaf spring #4 installed, really fought the hanger bolt on this one. Honestly replacing the springs isn't that bad, except for that one bolt!!

Here are some pics from the final spring install







Bought the pictured Harbor Freight 12 ton jacks stands a year ago. They were super overkill but I wanted something tall enough to support the frame. These were spendy but my goodness what a good investment! I've used them a bunch and since they are so big, they are super stable. I feel much safer with 24 rated tons keeping the truck above me and not on my head!

[willem445]

Between this project and my '77 K20 teardown, I'm ready to be done with leaf springs for a while! Here is my little collection/graveyard of springs



On a side note, I've got a bed full of patch panels. Excited to put my Black Friday welder to work!

[willem445]

Here are some comparisons of before and after

Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Before:


After:

[Getter-Done]

That is some Great progress.

It reminded me of powering thru my 78 frame build.

I Like the sheetmetal Stach you have.

That welder will work great.

Just remember Spot and move around/ away from the heat so you do not warp the panel.

I have a Spring ( Haven ) Junkyard also.

I may take them to a swap meet or find a Knife maker.

[willem445]

Small update today. A while back I mentioned that I removed my driveshaft to replace the seal in my NP205 tail housing. I'm still planning on having it balanced but I realized that I basically need to rebuild the entire thing.

Some wear on the slip yoke


Got the housing off the 205. (Looking at this image now, it almost looks like the housing is out of round, ill have to check that ).




I've got

- 205 output housing seal
- 205 housing bushing
- 2 sets of Spicer 1350X U-Joints
- Dana slip yoke

ready to go. I'm hoping the balancing shop can just rebuild it all to save me a bit of time.

Also drained the rear diff. Working up the courage to tackle installing the Detroit locker

[willem445]

I've also got

- Longer rear u-bolts (only could thread nut on half thread when doing the rear leafs)

- Longer rear shocks (driver side shock was maxed out, passenger wasn't even long enough after new leafs)
- Rear AC Delco brake hose

On the way and should be here Friday.

I also made a impulse decision and went ahead and ordered the Lugnut 4x4 rear disc conversion kit Near drums and shoes would have been ~$200 and the disc conversion came out to like ~$450. Hoping to get brakes operational again soon. Should be here Friday as well.

[willem445]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

That is some Great progress.

It reminded me of powering thru my 78 frame build.

I Like the sheetmetal Stach you have.

That welder will work great.

Just remember Spot and move around/ away from the heat so you do not warp the panel.

I have a Spring ( Haven ) Junkyard also.

I may take them to a swap meet or find a Knife maker.

Thanks for the tips! Ironically about a week after I bought the patch panels, Puddin's Fab Shop on YouTube put up a video on doing some patch panels on a squarebody. Was a good training video. Not sure when I'll get around to that, still have all the other welding gear to buy yet.

[willem445]

Todays update, was planning on getting more done but my wife's car decided to die (likely alternator, hopefully) & after eating pizza for supper, didn't have the energy to keep working.

Got the Lugnut 4x4 kit! Very well packaged, impressed so far!

Some progress pics as of now:

Got new u-bolts and longer shock installed yesterday


Started on brakes today




Studs and hub came apart way easier than I thought

[willem445]

On a side note, did a bit of welding yesterday to test out the new welder! I don't think I've mentioned but it's a Yeswelder MIG-205DS. For not welding in years and it being a cheap (but apparently good) welder, I think my first bead came out nice! Just doing stick welding for now until I make it to town to buy wire, argon, etc. for mig welding.

[Getter-Done]

Nice Progress.

Yea That Pizza will slow a Person Down.

[willem445]

Pizza wore off so I made some progress today



For those of you using the Lugnut 4x4 kit, little lesson learned from me. I had an issue with the disc backing plate. It wasn't quite flush with the axle so I thought torquing down the bolts would snug it up, well it just warped the plate.... I don't have a great picture of it not flush but can kinda tell it's warped from this picture



I learned that you have to really clean up the axle well and add a little bevel to the new backing plate for it to actually snug up.

Pic of the bevel I added with a dremel


And here it is flush


I think I managed to bend the warped plate enough to where it will work but it's definitely not how it should be. Hoping it works, otherwise it's another $85 to get a new pair (just need one) of plates..

Some pictures after install




I need to get a brake line flaring kit to totally finish still. Hoping everything bleeds nice!

[willem445]

Little blast from the past here. Can't believe I never shared these pictures. Had so much fun over the years just driving this truck around the farm and "flexing". The old springs were quite flexy!



































Putting in some work


Was even in a parade!


It's weird to think about but this truck has been a part of my life for over half of my life now. It's even more special knowing that this truck was my Grandpa's and my Dad's being put to work on the farm. Dad stopped by today and mentioned that he was happy to see that I was restoring this truck to it's former glory. It's strange what we attach our sentiment to in life but this truck is special to me.

[willem445]

Couple more pictures from when I traded my Eclipse for a Silverado









This picture has an interesting backstory to it. My gf (at the time) and I went to a concert early when we were dating. When the concert ended, we learned it was blizzarding and major roads were closed. My ego wouldn't let us stay at the local hotel on Redcross cots (because every hotel was booked). So we drove the 81 miles home... it took ~9 hours until we made it back. This truck busted through completely drifted over roads the entire way. Stopped in a small town and rested for a couple hours until plows got out. It was a nightmare. Thought our relationship was over that day.

That was 5 years ago. Today we are married with one girl and another baby on the way

[Getter-Done]

Nice progress and a Cool story.

The truck probably won't have as much articulation as the old springs.

That's some nice pictures of the far truck for past and present stuff.

[willem445]

Got a decent amount of work done on the truck on my Christmas break. Waiting for parts again which is unfortunate because I have until New Years off but that is the way it is.

Got the driveshaft rebuilt and reinstalled!







I wasn't going to replace the housing bushing but noticed some pitting on it.



Got all the brakes plumbed now! Ended up needing to replace a section of hard line from the middle of the truck to the rear as the brake fitting was seized of course. Going to try to bleed everything once the locker is installed.





Started doing the locker today. After taking off the diff cover and inspecting things, I thought the carrier had more play than it should. After pulling it out, discovered that one of the bearings is completely toast.



The ring gear has a little bit of pitting on it but overall seems fine. I could replace but I don't feel like spending $400+ and then having to tear apart the pinion too.



So waiting on new bearings from Denny's Driveshafts.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a good New Years!

[willem445]

Locker is installed in the carrier along with new bearings. Hoping to get the carrier back in the truck this weekend.

[willem445]

Finally got the rear end all buttoned up! Backlash wasn't quite where I wanted it to get a decent pattern but for an old truck and reused ring and pinion, it's good enough for me. Certainly better than it was!







Just got to replace the master cylinder and bleed brakes now. I'm pretty sure the last "new" master cylinder I got was a returned one. I remember the box had brake fluid all over it and the plastic packaging was ripped open. Leaking real bad out the rear ram. New one on the way.

[willem445]

Made some major progress!

Rear tires back on


New master cylinder


Power steering hoses were leaking all over the floor.
Before:


After:


Reused the old drums to raise the front end to bleed power steering and brakes


There's an empty spot in my shop....


because I finally got the truck drive-able again!







Bonus morning shot of my '78

[willem445]

Was able to do a bit of wheeling in whatever snow I could find yesterday, definitely noticed a huge difference with the locker. Ride is definitely a bit bumpier with the new springs but honestly wasn't that bad.









Put some mudflaps on today, was hoping they would be a bit longer but should hopefully keep most of the dirt and water out of the bed and bumper.