Member III
Thank you, I will. [emoji106] [emoji2]
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
70 K20 Suburban
- Thread starter Rusty burbin
- Start date
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Your other option would be to make a set of the "boomerang" shackles from scratch using 1/2" plate as cutting up and welding your stock ones back together is not the best idea from a safety stand point.
Member III
I did a couple things to forward the progress of my truck... I regularly attend King of the Hammers in Johnson Valley and it's coming up in about 5 weeks so I gotta get busy, busy, busy! Luckily my wife is on Chrismas break for the next 3 weeks so that should, in theory, free up some of my time... I theory. [emoji52]
Anyhow here's a few pics of my modified shackles... I know, I know, it's not safe to modify suspension components... but hey, they make them from scratch at the factory, cut and weld and so forth, so I figure that as long as I have welds free of inclusions and do layered passes it should be fine. Right? /^=
If anyone out there knows of boomerang shackles that are bushed on one end and drilled on the other than let me know!
Also the frames on the old Chevys tend to Crack where the steering box bolts on so I researched solutions and found a couple that seems good, I chose one and fabled up some brackets to mimic it... to buy the kit was around 130$ I made these for about 20 including the hardware.
What they do is lock the box in place by holding everything tight to the crossmember. Its should work well especially considering that it hasn't been an issue in its 48 years.
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Anyhow here's a few pics of my modified shackles... I know, I know, it's not safe to modify suspension components... but hey, they make them from scratch at the factory, cut and weld and so forth, so I figure that as long as I have welds free of inclusions and do layered passes it should be fine. Right? /^=
If anyone out there knows of boomerang shackles that are bushed on one end and drilled on the other than let me know!
Also the frames on the old Chevys tend to Crack where the steering box bolts on so I researched solutions and found a couple that seems good, I chose one and fabled up some brackets to mimic it... to buy the kit was around 130$ I made these for about 20 including the hardware.
What they do is lock the box in place by holding everything tight to the crossmember. Its should work well especially considering that it hasn't been an issue in its 48 years.
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Member III
Getting ready to marry the cab and chassis... Finally! In the process I found a few little issues that need to be addressed. For example they apparently don't male a bearing kit for the bottom of the steering column despite the fact that the description explicitly said it would. So I spent too much time finding a solution. It was to make a part from scratch... it came out pretty good if I do say so myself.
I turned and drilled this out on the lathe. Then milled a little flat spot for the bolt head to sit and obviously drilled and tapped the side for bolt.
The bearing sits against the little shoulder and part slides over the steering column.
Also I drilled a small detent in the column for the tip of the set screw to hold everything together. It worked perfectly. It's a common issue with these old chevys... maybe I should sell these little boogers?
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
I turned and drilled this out on the lathe. Then milled a little flat spot for the bolt head to sit and obviously drilled and tapped the side for bolt.
The bearing sits against the little shoulder and part slides over the steering column.
Also I drilled a small detent in the column for the tip of the set screw to hold everything together. It worked perfectly. It's a common issue with these old chevys... maybe I should sell these little boogers?
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Member III
Built a steering column out of 2 junk yard columns and a 1" heim joint to support the top.
I my Achilles heal is automotive electrical... so in an effort to clean up the mess I've made over the years under my dash I decided to get on YouTube and get ideas and I came up with this...
And this...
They're "husky" waterproof storage boxes form home depot. The fuse panel, relays, breakers and blocks came from amazon... oh and I wired in some leds that will be wired into my under hood lights.
Okay, the next thing I did (which to me is a work of art! [emoji2]) is make up my line locks. I made up a set of 2 so that I can separate the front and rear independently from one another.
These little dudes will give me so much added ability it's nuts.
I picked up my front axle Tuesday and need build out the knuckles and hubs. I'm still figuring out all my front shocks and bumps and then I'll need to box in my rear shock towers, since they come into the cab I have gaping holes instead of wheel wells.
Updates to come...
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
I my Achilles heal is automotive electrical... so in an effort to clean up the mess I've made over the years under my dash I decided to get on YouTube and get ideas and I came up with this...
And this...
They're "husky" waterproof storage boxes form home depot. The fuse panel, relays, breakers and blocks came from amazon... oh and I wired in some leds that will be wired into my under hood lights.
Okay, the next thing I did (which to me is a work of art! [emoji2]) is make up my line locks. I made up a set of 2 so that I can separate the front and rear independently from one another.
These little dudes will give me so much added ability it's nuts.
I picked up my front axle Tuesday and need build out the knuckles and hubs. I'm still figuring out all my front shocks and bumps and then I'll need to box in my rear shock towers, since they come into the cab I have gaping holes instead of wheel wells.
Updates to come...
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Your work on this is impressive, whole other level man, it's awesome. I dig that waterborne solution too, may have to try that
Member III
Thank you, I appreciate that...
I don't understand "waterborne solution", can you clarify?
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Member III
I forgot to post this... I put it up on Facebook but not here.
When putting the cab back on the chassis there was prying that needed done so I dove under the truck with a 3' pry bar.
Pro tip: don't pull a pry bar towards your face because it might slip and smash your face! [emoji95]
Two days later I had 2 black eyes!
This is one of those things that hurt not only physically but the pride too, I know better than to do something so dumb! ironically the only real regret I have is that there's no video. [emoji13]
Good night all!
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
When putting the cab back on the chassis there was prying that needed done so I dove under the truck with a 3' pry bar.
Pro tip: don't pull a pry bar towards your face because it might slip and smash your face! [emoji95]
Two days later I had 2 black eyes!
This is one of those things that hurt not only physically but the pride too, I know better than to do something so dumb! ironically the only real regret I have is that there's no video. [emoji13]
Good night all!
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Member III
Aahhh, yeah that makes more sense lol! Thanks.
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Last edited:
Member III
Had to straighten my axle housing (No pics) but I used a friend's 50ton press at his shop. I had the center section put together with parts I supplied - all the bearings, shims and seals and an Eaton E-locker!
I brought it home and assembled the knuckles and hubs with new wear parts and some fun extras. I fabbed up the tie rod and drag link with 1 ton ends. Crossover / hysteer is so awesome! It's like a piece of art in my opinion... I love it!
I'm so close to driving it again it's making me gitty. All I have to do to be able to drive is torque everything on the front end and bleed the brakes.
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
I brought it home and assembled the knuckles and hubs with new wear parts and some fun extras. I fabbed up the tie rod and drag link with 1 ton ends. Crossover / hysteer is so awesome! It's like a piece of art in my opinion... I love it!
I'm so close to driving it again it's making me gitty. All I have to do to be able to drive is torque everything on the front end and bleed the brakes.
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Member III
Well guys, I'm back!!! It's alive and running! As per any extended build I still have some bugs to work out like a tune up and alignment, connect the parking brake cables etc. But I've driven it around the neighborhood and I went a silly and hit some big ol deep dips near my place and my truck just floats over them. I still need to charge the the shocks and bumps but considering my stiff worn out suspension I had before...
This doesn't complete the build but its a HUGE milestone!
Thanks guys for following my build (my labor of love) up to this point, it's a been a long build and this thread is super lengthy but it's been fun sharing this and I'm glad that there are other folks out there that enjoy this stuff too. [emoji13] [emoji106] [emoji41]
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
This doesn't complete the build but its a HUGE milestone!
Thanks guys for following my build (my labor of love) up to this point, it's a been a long build and this thread is super lengthy but it's been fun sharing this and I'm glad that there are other folks out there that enjoy this stuff too. [emoji13] [emoji106] [emoji41]
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Member III
Still working out little bugs like carburetor adjustment a couple leaky brake fittings but the transmission seems good which was a big "??!!??!!??" In my mind. I drove out to LA the other day and it did good except for the soft brake peddle.
In an attempt to get all the air out of the brake lines I made a pressure bleeder out of some junk in the shop. It works awesome!
There's less than a week till King of the Hammers which has been a self imposed finish date. Finished is a relative term, just buttoned up enough to be a solid driver... I'm sure I'll be able to complete what I need to, to be ready. Fingers crossed!
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
In an attempt to get all the air out of the brake lines I made a pressure bleeder out of some junk in the shop. It works awesome!
There's less than a week till King of the Hammers which has been a self imposed finish date. Finished is a relative term, just buttoned up enough to be a solid driver... I'm sure I'll be able to complete what I need to, to be ready. Fingers crossed!
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Member III
I made up my shifters with knobs and the rubber boot from JB Custom Fab.
They look kinda wonky in the positions they're in... when they're all in the center position (neutral) they look nicely aligned. The doubler shifter (far left) is shorter and angled differently... in my mind it made sense to do it that way to make the rear wheels a little more pronounced and easier to find without looking down. I still need to paint them or, I'm considering using some shrink wrap for something a little different.
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
They look kinda wonky in the positions they're in... when they're all in the center position (neutral) they look nicely aligned. The doubler shifter (far left) is shorter and angled differently... in my mind it made sense to do it that way to make the rear wheels a little more pronounced and easier to find without looking down. I still need to paint them or, I'm considering using some shrink wrap for something a little different.
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
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I'm really impressed by your handling of the body rust. I'm also extremely jealous that you can still get body panel parts. At least some of them. I'm looking at having to do body-rot repair in the near future.
And the guy that held the automatic transmission in his head before it was built? It was Henry Ford. The automatic transmission is basically an automated version of his original Model T transmission. He designed it in.. 1913? 1914?
Keep up the great build!
-jim lee
And the guy that held the automatic transmission in his head before it was built? It was Henry Ford. The automatic transmission is basically an automated version of his original Model T transmission. He designed it in.. 1913? 1914?
Keep up the great build!
-jim lee
Member III
Well sir, I'm impressed by your knowledge about the origination of the automatic transmission... that is a cool little tidbit of history/trivia [emoji106] [emoji41].
Thank you! Hey, post a picture or two of your project. Or send me a link to your build thread if and when you have one.
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Member III
Nevermind! I just checked your profile and see what's going on! You have a killer rig!
Jonah "Rustyburbin" #4084.
5 kids, a wife, dog and a
1970 K20 Suburban
Member III
It's been a long time since I've updated this thread...
I've haven't really done a ton to my rig, I've been crazy busy the last several months. Since mating the cab and chassis and putting hundreds of miles on it I've discovered several little bugs I need to work out... nothing major, infact it's been my daily driver since I bought it years ago sans the time it wasn't drivable.
Anyhow I just put in some halo headlights and thought I'd share.
I have a buddy that builds prerunners for a living (along with many other things in his fab shop) he has a big ol' diesel truck that he built for SEMA a couple years ago that one of his sponsors asked to put their lift kit on. He agreed to do that and as part of the deal he got new axles too. Bottom line is I got his front dana 60, rear dana 70, 205 tcase, HD driveshafts and the "old" lift kit with all the hardware for 1500$. I plan to sell the D70, the lift and the 205 (maybe with one of the 203 range boxes I have) as well my D44 that's referenced previously in this thread. By selling all that I'll probably have made money on the deal! Fingers crossed.
I'll continue to update when I get going of my front suspension and axle swap.
Ttyl. Jonah.
I've haven't really done a ton to my rig, I've been crazy busy the last several months. Since mating the cab and chassis and putting hundreds of miles on it I've discovered several little bugs I need to work out... nothing major, infact it's been my daily driver since I bought it years ago sans the time it wasn't drivable.
Anyhow I just put in some halo headlights and thought I'd share.
I have a buddy that builds prerunners for a living (along with many other things in his fab shop) he has a big ol' diesel truck that he built for SEMA a couple years ago that one of his sponsors asked to put their lift kit on. He agreed to do that and as part of the deal he got new axles too. Bottom line is I got his front dana 60, rear dana 70, 205 tcase, HD driveshafts and the "old" lift kit with all the hardware for 1500$. I plan to sell the D70, the lift and the 205 (maybe with one of the 203 range boxes I have) as well my D44 that's referenced previously in this thread. By selling all that I'll probably have made money on the deal! Fingers crossed.
I'll continue to update when I get going of my front suspension and axle swap.
Ttyl. Jonah.
