'74 Crew Cab Dually 4x4

[Powerhouse Ranch]

@bucket

I'm sure this has been asked before but i couldn't find the thread in question. About that sexy crew cab of yours, so i know what i can get away with: what kind of a lift do you have on that rig and what size tires are you running? (the set before the Humvee tires) Me and my brother are in the planning stages of how we intend to lift the '74 most efficiently and like i said, how much we can get away with haha. Truck is a K30, has Dana 44 in front and Dana 70 in the rear. The plan is an Offroad Design 4" lift, along with other structural supports like the steering box bracket (which is heavily needed thanks to PO). Most likely just a shackle flip in the rear we think, in order to keep the beefy factory springs, and new springs in the front. Unless of course that sounds ridiculous, that's why i'm asking you; haven't done too many lifts in the past and i know you pulled it off. Thanks Andy.

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[bucket]

@bucket

I'm sure this has been asked before but i couldn't find the thread in question. About that sexy crew cab of yours, so i know what i can get away with: what kind of a lift do you have on that rig and what size tires are you running? (the set before the Humvee tires) Me and my brother are in the planning stages of how we intend to lift the '74 most efficiently and like i said, how much we can get away with haha. Truck is a K30, has Dana 44 in front and Dana 70 in the rear. The plan is an Offroad Design 4" lift, along with other structural supports like the steering box bracket (which is heavily needed thanks to PO). Most likely just a shackle flip in the rear we think, in order to keep the beefy factory springs, and new springs in the front. Unless of course that sounds ridiculous, that's why i'm asking you; haven't done too many lifts in the past and i know you pulled it off. Thanks Andy.

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Do you know what year your frame is? I can't remember if that was already determined. K30's didn't get the taller rear spring hangers right away, the early years used C30 hangers and lift blocks. By the time my '79 was built, they were using the taller spring hangers.

My combo is simple. Up front is 4" Superlift springs and out back is 3" lift blocks. I'm not fond of the lift block for the steering arm, but it was there already and it works. The truck rides nice and the rear blocks keep the auxiliary overload springs functional.

Tires are bias ply 9.00x16. The rears have a spacer between the rims for tire clearance. Actual O.D. is about 36".

 

[Powerhouse Ranch]

Do you know what year your frame is? I can't remember if that was already determined. K30's didn't get the taller rear spring hangers right away, the early years used C30 hangers and lift blocks. By the time my '79 was built, they were using the taller spring hangers.

My combo is simple. Up front is 4" Superlift springs and out back is 3" lift blocks. I'm not fond of the lift block for the steering arm, but it was there already and it works. The truck rides nice and the rear blocks keep the auxiliary overload springs functional.

Tires are bias ply 9.00x16. The rears have a spacer between the rims for tire clearance. Actual O.D. is about 36".

Thanks for the input. i think the frame is '74 due to numbers punched on it. Which would have made it C30, but we have reason to believe someone had their way with it during the first restoration and swapped it all to 4wd with parts from late 70s. I'm going to take more pictures of what we're looking at to figure this out. And what size are your spacers on the rear axle?

 

[Powerhouse Ranch]

@bucket

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[Powerhouse Ranch]

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[bucket]

Ah, ok. Yeah that looks like a converted frame. The rear spring hangers look like C30 units, but the rear shackle hangers installed look like K30 units.

 

[Originalthor]

Also the front leaf spring hangers and supports are bolted in and not rivets. The shackle on the front spring also looks a little off.

Sweet truck and looks in awesome shape for the year. All the ones around here are toast and have been well overworked.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Holy springs batman

 

[Powerhouse Ranch]

Anyone know the sizes or even a part/kit number for exhaust manifold stud/bolts on a '74 454? Mine are rusted nubs and i'm going to need a good backup for when disaster occurs. Thanks.

 

[bucket]

Dorman/Help offers various stud kits with brass nuts. You can use original 3/8" type or if the threads in the manifold wind up being a bit on the buggered up side of things, you can tap for 10mm studs.

 

[Powerhouse Ranch]

FUEL LINES! Fuel lines have been all replaced with rubber hose in the past, and now breaks to the touch from sitting. Looked into LMC to get some original lines, STANDARD AND CREW CAB are the same category? Do they not account for the extra cab? Cannot be the same. What am i missing here, and where could i get some good pre-bent oe-esque fuel lines? Thanks gentleman.

 

[Powerhouse Ranch]

Need some input on the fuel system on this rig:

Truck has dual tank setup. As a '74, this truck was equipped with the single wire selector valve. The valve had never worked. Last summer, the entirety of the truck was rewired with the $900 Painless Performance harness (cab and engine bay) and i loved the entire experience, genuinely. All said and done, the selector valve didn't work. The stud for the single wire would spin in the valve so i figured that was kind of that. Naturally those valves are obsolete and impossible to find, so I had installed the updated 5-wire selector valve for the later models. Painless provides schematics for all possible configurations, for the old switch, new switch, old valve, new valve, 70s, 80s, etc. So I had a solid foundation to wire in the later valve, and it came with the extra harness and connector to the 5-pin. I also had to convert the dash switch to the later style and do some minor splicing.

Now, ever since then, we've had some slight issues. The cluster doesn't quite read right; fuel gauge doesn't work and coolant temp doesn't work either. When you hit the selector switch, the other person can feel the valve actuating under the truck. Yet when you are on a slight incline, fuel will leak out of the filler down the side of the bed. We're under the impression there's clearly a issue, potentially ground, like it's not quite getting full activation and keeping the valve in the middle or something odd like that. When wiring up the connector, i also recall potentially having a wire being semi loose. When it warmed up, I was going to tear the dash back apart and confirm I've got good ground to the cluster and then inspect the connector pins again and confirm they're seated correctly. I have alot of grounds hooked up on the top of the parking brake assembly, including cluster. In the new switch, it requires a ground now and i had ran a wire to that community ground to use it. My brother had just made an attempt at this issue, said the GAUGE fuse was blown and every time he put a new one in, it kept blowing. Stopped blowing once he took the ground wire off of the switch. Cluster now works. I KNOW i had that switch wired up correctly, as stated by the book. Any thoughts whatsoever?

SIDE NOTES:

-Entire fuel system is new
-Second paper is the paper that came with the late model selector valve

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[Powerhouse Ranch]

^update to the post above. I got my hands on it real good today. Replaced my connector entirely that i had pinned each wire into when i rewired the truck. Wasn't the happiest with how they locked, etc. My brother had ordered a newer style spare selector valve that came with a pre pinned connector, ready to splice. I'd rather splice all day long instead of pinning things - that's just me. Replaced the connector, spliced with non-insulated splices and heat shrunk each individually (rendering the splice the same thickness as the wire instead of a giant ugly "bulge") and wrapped them all up with non-chaffing wire tape. Secured to spec. Much better.

Went into the cab, confirmed late model switch was wired correctly. Instead of using the ground i had previously made that went to the community block, i decided i wanted to run a ground wire all the way to the negative battery post. Yeah, i know there's better/cleaner ways to do it but i did run into some luck. When i was wiring the dash up last summer, Painless included two accessory wires (grey w/ white) that run behind the glovebox. I had already wrapped them in the tape by the time i got to that point, so i capped them off to save them for later. These wires go through the dash, through the fuse block and along the core support where i had also capped them off - one of them which is tied up underneath the battery tray. So i checked for continuity between the one under the battery tray and matched it with one of the two behind the glove box, found my wire, put a female end on it and stuck that as my ground on the selector switch. The other end under the battery i put a terminal ring on and snuck it right onto the negative terminal CLEANLY.

SO NOW, i can hear the valve function, the cluster works 100% (reflecting fuel levels of both tanks as well - temp - charging - etc).

Also the blower motor never worked. I had it wired up correctly, had to swap the plug that goes right onto blower motor and replace the relay on the AC housing in the engine bay. It worked when i did all that last summer, but as soon as i kicked it to high speed it died and never came back. WELL, as of all these repairs, the blower motor works now - in all speeds. So it's a win win win win today. Glad to see it.

 

[Powerhouse Ranch]

Happy weekend by the way!

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