'72 K5 - BYT - 1 ton swap (2024)

ashman said:

These diy covers are $60. Couldn't find anything else even close.

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And you won't. If way down the road the plan is 60 and FF14, RuffStuff covers are what they deserve for thier ruggedness and build quality. But for this stage, I think you're on the right track with a great product for the money. Just my 2 cents.

Got the rear axle in place so I can mock up the spring perches and shock tabs.

This was the best place I could find to check the pinion angle. Right now both are sitting at ~20*. Tomorrow I'll pull the pinion down to about 18* and get everything tached together.

I got the spring perches and shock tabs all welded up.

The plan tomorrow is to put the backing plates back on it and bend up the brake lines. I don't think I'll have much time for anything else, but if I get that done I can start painting it Saturday.

Gonna paint the whole thing yellow?

Or just Big Bird on the diff cover?

ashman said:

I got the spring perches and shock tabs all welded up.

The plan tomorrow is to put the backing plates back on it and bend up the brake lines. I don't think I'll have much time for anything else, but if I get that done I can start painting it Saturday.

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I can almost smell the burning blue shop towels and feel the heat through the welding gloves on those heavy welding passes.....

-G

bent72 said:

Gonna paint the whole thing yellow?

Or just Big Bird on the diff cover?

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Just the cover. Even that I'm going to try it and see how it looks, and maybe change my mind. I'm not a big fan of drawing attention to the running gear. Usually I do like the look of a body color diff cover though. We'll see.

Greg72 said:

I can almost smell the burning blue shop towels and feel the heat through the welding gloves on those heavy welding passes.....

-G

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lol, I'm quite sure I over-did it, but really no reason not to, so better safe than sorry.

Diff covers:

Since we did not have your item in stock in our warehouse, we asked the manufacturer to ship direct to you. They unfortunately are out of stock also.

Part Number: BTFBTF11073 and BTFBTF11066

Your current estimated ship date is: 60 Days

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dammit

bent72 said:

Gonna paint the whole thing yellow?

Or just Big Bird on the diff cover?

Click to expand...

I laughed the whole day driving behind your angry bird/pig diff cover LOL

72gmck5 said:

that's quite the wait

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yeah, if I didn't have any other covers I'd have cancelled the order. As it is, I can put the covers I have on and run with it until the new ones come in. Not a big deal.

Little more progress.

I got the brake lines run, new shoes, and new-ish brake parts (was able to reuse the 12 bolt stuff that was new last summer) put on and paint it all up. My daughter decided to draw me a picture of a buffalo on the back cover.

This makes the rear axle ready to reinstall, minus the regear.

Moving on to the front axle. Got it cleaned up yesterday, but also found a loose ball joint.

Hopefully I'll get that replaced tonight and get the front axle painted up.

I got the ball joints out and back in, but I forgot about the spanner wrench you need to adjust the upper ball joint in the inner C. Gonna look for one tomorrow.

@blazinzuk Do you have one?

You talking about the castle nut in the upper C?

Sacrifice a cheap socket