Renwed Interest In My "Square Body"

[BigRed20]

Hi I'm Joe. Been spinning wrenches since I was a kid.

My how things have changed...

When I mostly completed my 77 K20 build in 1985 (it never really ends)...

There was no Internet as we know it..
Ronald Reagan was President..
My 77 was still fairly "new"..
Never heard the term "Square Body"..
Could still buy most OE parts right from GM..
None (if any?) hard parts came from China..
There were no factory GM independent suspension 4x4's..
HEI distributors were Hi-Tech..
I wasn't married - yet - then twice since..

Three trucks went into building my 77 - a 75 C10 std cab (primarily the cab & interior), a 78 C30 crew cab camper special (big block front engine belt driven accessories, wiring harnesses, cruise control, A/C, etc) and of course a genuine junkyard 77 K20 "roller" equipped with HD suspension option (chassis & 4-speed/205 drive line less engine).

Now 30-plus years later much has changed in my life, but I still have my 4x4 truck. And now Big Red needs some freshening up and "storage wear" repairs.

Which brings me to this Forum as I move forward with some re-restoration of now - this ol' truck. I look forward to reading the posts and continuing to wrench on and enjoy my K20!

Forgot and added some pics..

 

[BiggG74]

Welcome. Glad to hear that your fire is coming back. Good luck. Keep us posted, and try to get pics. Would love to see it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[crazy4offroad]

Welcome to the forum! Yes, a lot has changed, and much of it for the better (well, except your marriage statistics lol (sorry I had to)). Lots of modern advances are making these old trucks new favorites. Enjoy your stay and post up pics! (It's kind of a prerequisite).

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I really like this truck a lot. It's very unique standing next to other squares I've seen including my own - be it the towing mirrors or the dual 9C1 spotlights (my favorite part). The interior looks flawless, and the paint is probably only negligibly different than when you painted it decades ago. Great truck, and like mentioned above, despite the downturn in quality for some of parts, there are all kinds of cool little mods and updates that can breathe new life into your truck, whether it be a pex pipe door striker bushing or a Jeep Cherokee intermediate steering shaft, and there are still good quality aftermarket parts/well conditioned OEM parts out there today. What are your plans? Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[BigRed20]

Sorry - older age setting in I guess... I added some pics. Thanks for your forum welcome.

 

[BigRed20]

Sorry, older age setting in I guess... I added some pics. Thanks for your forum welcome.

 

[1973c10]

Welcome

 

[bucket]

Howdy!

A lot of those parts you bought at the dealer were cheap too. To get the same stuff now, you really have to search for it. And then pay dearly.

 

[BigRed20]

Hey Jesse, thanks for your admiration and insight. Yes the truck condition held up really well being protected in my pole barn over the years. I used all Dupont Imron Epoxy paint system top & bottom when I did the build and it all still looks great, sans a few nicks & chips but no paint cracking or peeling top side at all. And just some minor wear & tear here & there on the chassis underneath. I'd say overall appearance is still a solid 8 or 9 on a scale of 10.

I really don't have any major re-do plans, but have been sorta looking into finding a good used NV4500 conversion with manual clutch linkage and necessary adapter for my 205 sometime down the road. I think having overdrive would be a nice drivability / fuel economy bonus. I have no worries my big block wouldn't handle it.

Near future on the radar for Spring is I need to drop the 465 for an intermittent bearing growl, more of an annoyance than anything else right now. On a much smaller scale I need to address such things like interior trim items getting loose, headliner starting to sag, etc. Guess I can't expect 70's trims to last forever now can I?

But this past Fall I DID FINALLY re-acquaint with a local 4x4 guru who judged my truck nice enough to part with his last and only set of OEM GM 3:42 gears for the front D44, and he installed new set of 3:42's in the 14 bolt ff rear. I still had the stock 4:10's, was pretty tough going anywhere over 60 mph before. Now it's like a whole different truck and a whole lot more fun to drive even with the granny tranny.

Lastly I fixed my 4-corner air ride suspension before this Winter set in here in WI. Way back when I installed AirLift poly air springs kit in the front and Firestone Ride-Rites in the rear. I plumbed it all into the truck with an on-board air compressor and 4 individual air pressure gauges custom fitted under the right side of the instrument panel. This all worked great when I had a big & heavy slide in camper back in the day. (Going to get another one again but just not as big.) BIG PLUG here for AirLift, they're still in business and honored their LIFETIME WARRANTY, even though I told the rep they just rotted out from 30+ years old age! They immediately sent me a new pair of Poly Air Spring bags and a hardware/air line kit NO CHARGE! Now THAT's what I call great customer service!

Well thanks again for your reply and I look forward to benefiting from you and other members of this forum and maybe just adding a little value to it myself!

Take care!

 

[74 Shortbed]

Welcome to the site,

Very nice truck you got there..

 

[1low4x4]

Wow. Gorgeous truck. Cool story too.

 

[Georgeb]

Welcome.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Hey Jesse, thanks for your admiration and insight. Yes the truck condition held up really well being protected in my pole barn over the years. I used all Dupont Imron Epoxy paint system top & bottom when I did the build and it all still looks great, sans a few nicks & chips but no paint cracking or peeling top side at all. And just some minor wear & tear here & there on the chassis underneath. I'd say overall appearance is still a solid 8 or 9 on a scale of 10.

I really don't have any major re-do plans, but have been sorta looking into finding a good used NV4500 conversion with manual clutch linkage and necessary adapter for my 205 sometime down the road. I think having overdrive would be a nice drivability / fuel economy bonus. I have no worries my big block wouldn't handle it.

Near future on the radar for Spring is I need to drop the 465 for an intermittent bearing growl, more of an annoyance than anything else right now. On a much smaller scale I need to address such things like interior trim items getting loose, headliner starting to sag, etc. Guess I can't expect 70's trims to last forever now can I?

But this past Fall I DID FINALLY re-acquaint with a local 4x4 guru who judged my truck nice enough to part with his last and only set of OEM GM 3:42 gears for the front D44, and he installed new set of 3:42's in the 14 bolt ff rear. I still had the stock 4:10's, was pretty tough going anywhere over 60 mph before. Now it's like a whole different truck and a whole lot more fun to drive even with the granny tranny.

Lastly I fixed my 4-corner air ride suspension before this Winter set in here in WI. Way back when I installed AirLift poly air springs kit in the front and Firestone Ride-Rites in the rear. I plumbed it all into the truck with an on-board air compressor and 4 individual air pressure gauges custom fitted under the right side of the instrument panel. This all worked great when I had a big & heavy slide in camper back in the day. (Going to get another one again but just not as big.) BIG PLUG here for AirLift, they're still in business and honored their LIFETIME WARRANTY, even though I told the rep they just rotted out from 30+ years old age! They immediately sent me a new pair of Poly Air Spring bags and a hardware/air line kit NO CHARGE! Now THAT's what I call great customer service!

Well thanks again for your reply and I look forward to benefiting from you and other members of this forum and maybe just adding a little value to it myself!

Take care!

Yes! From what I can tell, the DuPont Imron epoxy is really good stuff. My dad painted his plane with that, and it was beautiful and stayed that way as long as he had it. You may want to check out Advanced Adapters for the NV4500 bellhousing and manual linkage stuff. I can totally understand wanting to go in that direction, and your truck will be even sweeter with the OD in addition to your more highway friendly gear ratio. That's really cool on the AirLift warranty. Like, they didn't have to honor that, especially after you said that they just got tired. They're there to make money, and they're honoring money they made three decades ago. Pretty stand up. Good luck on everything, and again, keep us posted.

 

[crazy4offroad]

Sorry - older age setting in I guess... I added some pics. Thanks for your forum welcome.

When I said it was a prerequisite I was joking but I'm glad you took me seriously, that truck looks great! I can't imagine it "needing" anything done to it.

 

[BigRed20]

Thanks Curt glad you enjoyed the pics. But, Ohhhh, I've got a few things in mind now that my K20 is getting back out in the light of day. Mebbe not everything needed, let's just say never completed... Like fitting my dog dish hubcaps to the inner nub camper special wheels, plan to paint the wheels rally wheel argent silver, after I figure out attaching the hubcap clips I ordered. Probably will weld them on, I'll figure it out. Test-fit with duct tape for now just to make sure they'd fit and look like I expect. Pics below, I've always liked the look of dog dishes on these type deep wheels. What do you think?