Smash2.0 K5 resurrection

DrSmash

DrSmash

For Glory!
Joined
Dec 10, 2023
Member Number
7163
Messages
167
Sold a beloved k5 10years ago, same ole story of no where to store it and I’m building Toyotas now. Well I’m not building toys anymore and got myself a K5 in Fallon NV that someone started to strip down and build a “ rockcrawler”. They did a lot of the work of taking it apart and putting on some parts for long leaf spring suspension. I’m now well into the journey of building this rig the way I like to build it for myself so here it is.

Picture of my old one I built 28 years ago and the new to me one the day I got it and dumped at my shop in Carson City at DrSmash Designs. My wife is totally excited about this build and even admitted she can’t wait to drive it.

So it had no motor, seats , interior , but it had transmission/case, 3/4 ton axles, beyond 52s brackets and 52 inch leaf springs on the front, it had shackle flip brackets on the back with some Ford 57 inch leaf springs and also an ORD crossmember and shackle brackets in the front. It’s a four-speed manual body and was pretty rust, free and stuff. It was nice. The front fenders were cut out, but everything else was relatively on molested. This put me in a great place to make it my own.
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First thing took the rear axle out (14ff) and geared to 5:13 with a Detroit locker , disc brakes, longer wheel studs and a ruff stuff cover. Put it back in so I could roll it around Bought the wheels and tires as well 43”Mickey Thompson and some spider locks.
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I had a 5.3 with 706 heads and a car manifold I bought from a friend. Compression check revealed that it was great across the board so another friend offered to tear it down put new parts in it and get it ready for the S2.0. New Cam, rod and main bearings put in. Brian Toomey Racing stage 2 548 lift cam and BTR lifters. Heads got BTR beehive valve springs new seals and some ARP head studs. Mellng oil pump new timing chain and new knock sensors along with cam sensor went in with all new gaskets. Holley oil pan with the 4 trap door baffle went in as well as a skid plate kit. Some Hooker cast steel Headers and LSX concepts bracket kit went as well as a ATI super dampener.
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Started strip it down even more so I could get it more to the black canvas stage. Cut out all the unnecessary crap off the frame including the front crossmember. Then I put new body mounts and a 1” hockey puck ( literally) body lift.
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I changed the rear suspension from outboard to inboard springs. 63’s with frenched spring hangers and large Summit Machine flex joints for shackle hangers. I moved the rear axle way back and used RuffStuff boomerang shackle upside down welded them together put bolt protector rings and small bumpstops in them. The shackle angle is steep and when the shackle hits the frame I didn’t want it to bang. When that shackle does get to the frame the spring is at its total length and can go negative easily. I want to keep the lift as low as possible and I’m using stock stings to do so.
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Since the axle moved way back and I want very little lift and 43’s with no water and mud being flung onto the back of my head I need bigger fender wells. I took the biggest trailer fenders I could find and stacked them up and modified them. Welded them in and put a little bump out for the shock towers. I used leak seal on the inside to coat them. The rectangular framing in the bed is for a fuel cell I built.
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the plan for the front suspension is to cut the front frame horns off and rebuild them so the steering. Ox is forward and the spring hangers are moved up and forward. This spring geometry change will require a shim for caster. I put on a RuffStuff perch and they are way longer than a typical shim and I don’t like all that empty space between the spring and the perch so I modified the shims into Megashims! Still 8degrees just longer. I also drilled the housing for 3rd stud.
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When shims are used on a Dana 60 compensation for the angle used must be made at the spring plate so that the nuts don’t get sideloaded. I mage 8degree shim washers and tig them on.
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I designed a low profile truss to work with leaf springs.
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I bought a set of WFO flat steering arms to modify for the highsteer. With Megashim in place it was clear that if I had a full leaf pack of 7 leaves that the arms would need to be taller. Also I chose to use 1” heims for the tierod with 1.75 x.25 wall tube as well so taller arms. The 1” heim is next to a 7/8” in the picture. So I cut the tips of the arms off and stacked it back on and double sheared them.
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Passenger arm is cut and stacked also and the 7/8” heim is nestled next to the 1” one and is also twisted to alleviate angles at full droop. The 1” heim is much bigger so the arm got longer as well and a custom length pitman is made.
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I built the fuel cell into the bottom of a truck toolbox. The box belonged to a friend that has passed and it’s honorable to have a piece of him in my legacy build. The cell ended up at 38.4 gallons and is baffled, has front rear pick ups, fuel sender, Fuel Air Trap System and the pump and filter mounts are integrated into the exterior. It mounts into the bed and 90% of its weight is below the bed level. There is still 4” of toolbox left and I’m going to use that to keep all my spare bushings, heims, bolts, sensors , filters an extra fuel pump , etc in. The fill will be up on the bedside and it’s designed like a factory fill so it won’t gurgle up and spray you with fuel if you fill it too fast. The Fuel Air Trap System vents vapors to the underside of the body so when the soft top is on it should not have a fuel smell inside or at least not overwhelming. The fuel pump is a Walbro 255 external mount for ease of replacement on the trail and a finned aluminum heat sink mount with anti-vibration mounts are used. Everything has AN fittings as well.
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front frame horns it seems get modified on almost anything I build . Smash2.0 is no exception as I cut them suckers right off. I rebuilt it with 2x5 x .188 tube. The spring eye is extended forward 2” moved up 4.25” with the steering box moved forward 4.5”. Im using 56” Chevy rears with a 57” ford rear spring. The ford spring has the spring pin location in the same spot as a Chevy it’s just 1” longer on the long end. The spring went into the forge and the eye reshaped around the Chevy one for a military wrap.
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Dude, I love all the work to keep leafs. Other than approach angle, i was never hating them too much when I ran then. The 56" springs all around was probably the best combo I ran.
 
pennsylvaniaboy said:
Dude, I love all the work to keep leafs. Other than approach angle, i was never hating them too much when I ran then. The 56" springs all around was probably the best combo I ran.
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Thanks. I’ve built plenty of rigs for people with coilovers and links and I just wanted a good ole leaf sprung one for myself.
 
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