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1984 K20 Dana 60 swap and suspension

redneckK20s said:
I've been researching non-stop, I think the B52 kit with stock half ton rear leafs on the front, then the shackle flip kit on the rear with stock height 63" half ton springs on the rear. 6" shackles front and rear, also going to do the new shackle hanger kit on the front.
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That big block up front will love the half ton springs, especially when you take a leaf or two out. :laughing: You might put the whole stack in, just for fun and see what squat you have.
 
xr-nut said:
That big block up front will love the half ton springs, especially when you take a leaf or two out. :laughing: You might put the whole stack in, just for fun and see what squat you have.
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So a stock Tahoe leaf spring pack probably couldn't handle the all iron big block? A few posts ago someoje suggested running 56's all around, maybe I'll just get some stock height 56's and make that work all around.
 
This is my old 2wd turned 4x4 with 52's up front and using the stock 4x4 mounts flipped side for side. (so that the support from behind body mount is in front of body mount.) Since the truck wasnt 4wd to begin with I was able to put rear hanger wherever I wanted but you can do same on 4wd frame. Also those are 2 sets of rear bushwacker flares not front and rears, I wanted the longer opening they gave the rears up front. In pic are 37x12.50R16.5 BFG baja H1 tire\wheel setup on dually adapter but truck cleared 40's previously with same lift.

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redneckK20s said:
So a stock Tahoe leaf spring pack probably couldn't handle the all iron big block? A few posts ago someoje suggested running 56's all around, maybe I'll just get some stock height 56's and make that work all around.
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I built the rig you're heading to 13/14 years ago in a 75 k5. 60 front 14 rear, ord doubler, 454 th400 blah blah blah. I built it mostly from ord parts because I had the money to and not the knowledge(or time and patience:laughing:) to build the parts myself. shackle flip rear on 64s, 56s on the front with the b52 re-locator fronts. had a tough time dialing in the front partly because I was after flex and didn't factor in the weight of everything up front(tube bumper, winch, big block, full sheet metal, etc). I took half the pack out on the 56s, put new uhmv in between them all, new pins, degree wedges, etc and put it together. Ended up taking it all apart, pushing the rear shackle mount back about 6''(iirc) and putting all the leaf springs back in. I may have put the over load back too, to prevent reverse arching them.

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I guess since I have 2 trucks I can just play around with the stock rear leafs off the other truck to gauge what kind of load capacity I'm going to need. I need a lot of big ass jack stands.
 
Very small amounts of progress being made. Got the driveshafts dropped out of the '85, not looking forward to wrestling out the trans and t-case. Also not looking forward to trying to move this bitch around my shop on my own.
 
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Managed to get the trucks shuffled around solo without taking out my garage or anything. The '85 would start with a jump when I bought it but just clicks now. Needs a starter I'm pretty sure, but it's getting dropped when the trans does so I'll deal with it after the 4 speed swap.
 
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Progress is slow but I got the TH400 and 208 out of the '85, was a little tricky solo. The truck had been leaving a 2 foot diameter puddle of ATF every where I put it, turns out the rear seal of the trans was bad because the 208 was completely full of ATF.

Still gotta pull the trigger on the DIY B52's, shackle flip and crossover steering before the wheeling truck makes much progress. I'm doing my best to be financially responsible but it looks like I might just blow my stimulous on that stuff. Plan on doing kingpin spring eliminators as well.
 
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Crusty ass SM465 showed up, but no bellhousing or pedals so I'm at a standstill with that. Still gotta yank the interior out to cut a hole in the floor and get the hydro pedals swapped in.
 
Would it be flat out stupid to buy 4 brand new leaf springs? Junkyards just don't carry squarebody stuff any more, it's tough finding used 56" springs.
 
IEATRKS84 said:
you can but it gets a little pricey. I think i paid $120 for my set of 64" springs from the junk yard

https://www.generalspringkc.com/197...ing-2150-lbs-capacity-5-4-1-leaves-52-spring/
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That's where I was looking since I could drive there to pick them up and save shipping, I showed $150 a piece for 56's in the lightest capacity for the rear of a squarebody 1 ton.

I've found a couple of sets locally off of trucks if I want to make a 4 hour round trip to pick up some old nasty springs that might not be worth a damn. Both those guys are supposed to measure them and get back to me.
 
New springs for front and new bushings for existing rear if the springs aren't bent\cracked would be my route.
 
350TacoZilla said:
New springs for front and new bushings for existing rear if the springs aren't bent\cracked would be my route.
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It's got 52's and they're an aftermarket 4" lift spring. The right rear has a few bent leafs from me driving like an idiot so it's pretty well trashed.
 
Ah ok. I don't know your money situation so hard for me to tell you to buy $600-700 springs but if you have the money and 0 local options for used then go for it. Leaf springs last forever so its a long term investment, maybe get grease-able bushings in them.

Dont know your area but check places like LKQ online and Car-part and see if they pop up any used ones.
 
350TacoZilla said:
Ah ok. I don't know your money situation so hard for me to tell you to buy $600-700 springs but if you have the money and 0 local options for used then go for it. Leaf springs last forever so its a long term investment, maybe get grease-able bushings in them.

Dont know your area but check places like LKQ online and Car-part and see if they pop up any used ones.
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My money situation is very budget minded, but I realize I'm gonna have $2500-3k in this thing suspension wise if I want to do it decently right the first time. It'll need a lot of other things to make it a really capable truck but this will get the right axles under it and keep me from having to do that job twice. Shocks are going to wait for sure until I can get springs under it, tires will be after that, etc. I checked car-part and there was nothing within 100 miles that really gave me a good feeling.
 
Where are you located?
I'm sure someone here has some used springs laying around.
I have a set from an 08 2500hd just sitting here I'd let go of cheap if you were close. By cheap, i actually mean cheap:flipoff2:
 
Sterlingfire said:
Where are you located?
I'm sure someone here has some used springs laying around.
I have a set from an 08 2500hd just sitting here I'd let go of cheap if you were close. By cheap, i actually mean cheap:flipoff2:
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I'm in central/eastern MO.

I guess I should reach out on here, not a bad idea. I haven't heard back from any of the semi local people yet.
 
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Well hopefully scored a few more needed parts to get these projects going. A couple spare SM465s that are attached to NP205s (which I wouldn't mind in both trucks) and the guy has the manual columns too which both trucks need. I did get the interior out of the '85 and the passenger's floorboard is rotted out pretty bad. I can't leave well enough alone so I'm gonna have to buy a welder (even if it's a cheap 110v) to weld in some sheetmetal since that truck might end up my daily.

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Again garage tools are something where you can go cheap to get a project done or invest in good brand for long term, I'm personally poor so I have things like harbor freight air compressor and a $99 ebay welder. Before all the welding elite start in I know a 220v works better and yes I'm sure your $2k setup works better than my $99 ebay 110v but it will work fine for sheet metal even with (gasp) flux core. My dad has a 220v miller that we use for anything over exhaust pipe thickness but the little 110v is something like 15 years old with 0 issues.
 
I'm poor but I also see the value in good tools. Might buy a cheap welder to try to get the hang of it since I've never really done it, if I can get half assed decent buy something better.

Shoulda known, dude with the parts I needed sold them out from under me last night after we hashed out the details of me picking it up tonight.

I guess I'll run the stock 208 until it breaks or I can't stand it and then try to get a 203/205 doubler setup in it.
 
Got a line on a 203 and a 205 from another local guy so I'm going to grab them tomorrow. I'm still trying to figure out what I need to pull off the doubler setup off the back of the SM465, but from what I've seen it's big bucks so it'll probably have to wait. I want to do it right the first time and not constantly have the truck down for upgrades.

I'm guessing the input on the 203 is probably the same as the 205, so either isn't going to bolt up to the 465.
 
Picked up the 203 and 205 for $375 last night. Another piece of the puzzle. Need to do a bunch of cleaning on everything. I don't know what the SM465 is out of so I'm crossing my fingers it's an early model so the 203 will slide right on. I probably won't get that lucky.
 
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Jesus tits that 205 is a heavy bitch. Garage ornaments until I can pinch pennies enough for a doubler.
 
Ok so looks like you have a later round pattern 465 which is 32 spline but still is the cast iron shift tower so same shifter as earlier ones. I was wondering if you got one of the IFS era ones that has the aluminum top cover and takes different shifter.
 
I wasn't aware of a newer style one, any chance it shifts a little better? I'm looking for any driveability improvements I can put into either truck. Haven't really researched rebuild kits or anything for the SM465, but I think I would like one to be fresh in the truck that might be my daily at least.
 
They have slightly shorter shift but not a big difference in feel of shift since most internals are shared. They are easy to spot due to the aluminum top cover\shift tower, also the shifter is a bit further back on trans (kinda between cast iron SM465 & NV4500 locations). I also hate the multi piece shifter that these usually had and either weld it up or get a solid shifter for it due to slop from 30 years of shifting.
 
Got a source on some 56's about an hour away, wants $500 for 4 of them though. I can get brand new ones for $600 3 hours away. Wonder how many of them got scrapped in the last few months with scrap going up?
 
So dude ended up being a squarebody hoarder that's trying to cash in since these trucks have jumped in value. Didn't know what length the springs were, then decided to try to sell me a whole truck. Nah bro, I'm gonna have to just go buy new I guess. Sucks but at least I know what I'm working with.
 
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