Here's the "long story" of this build. I have $24,000 in this truck's PARTS ALONE, with documentation to prove it.
It probably goes without saying, but this truck isn’t a typical mall crawler or “monster mud truck”. It doesn’t have an off-the-shelf 12” Superstiff lift "kit" and 3” body lift with 8 cheap shocks, dry rotted bias ply tires, and a pile of “steering correction” parts to make it roll to the mall, all while riding
terribly on road, and
miserably off road. This truck actually drives
great on the street
AND on the trails. On the flip side, it doesn’t have a high dollar 4-link suspension with Fox Racing coilovers or anything else so exotic that you’d cringe if you had to replace a part. Nor is it dented and hacked up beyond recognition with miles of tube work and sawzall mixed with beer. This truck was built with a focus on offroad performance AND being able to drive to/from the trails over Colorado mountain passes. And it does all of that and maintains its clean, classic Chevy truck looks.
I have itemized all of the following parts and their current prices to show the buyer what it costs to build this particular truck to what it is today, and to justify my asking price. The prospective buyer who is familiar with these parts and modifications, is the one who is going to appreciate this effort. Some of these parts are 5-6 years old by now, and some are only a month old, but everything has very low mileage (approx. 2000-3000 total miles, and some parts only have 100 road miles!). What you skip here is the 1000+ labor hours, sales taxes and other additional expenses I have incurred over this 9-year build. In return, you get a very capable, classic Chevy 4x4 truck with all of the sought-after heavy duty upgrades, that drives well on the street, has conquered difficult Moab and Colorado trails. All of the wearable parts like brakes, tie rod ends, king pins, u-joints, all the fluids, belts, and hoses are all practically NEW, and have been very well maintained during their short service life. Every old, crusty body, engine, transmission, and suspension mount has been replaced with new polyurethane parts for better durability and performance than replacement rubber. Again, nothing terribly exotic here, just good parts to ensure a long life, and much better performance than stock. Here's a breakdown:
Steering
- Offroad Design PSC Hydraulic Assist Steering system $1184
Includes an Extreme Duty PSC steering box ported for hydraulic assist lines, assist cylinder with hose kit, brand new high output pump with reservoir can on the pump and a filtered remote reservoir for greater fluid capacity and cooling. With one finger, I can spin my steering wheel at a dead stop and turn the 42” tires stop to stop. Its effortless on the trail as well.
http://www.offroaddesign.com/catalog/PSCsteering.htm
PSC Tie rod clamp for hydraulic assist
$40
a great way to attach a Hydraulic Assist Cylinder to the Tie Rod that still lets you adjust the toe alignment setting, versus welding tabs to the Tie Rod.
http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/HDsteeringlinkage.htm#112TieRods
- ORD Built Heavy Duty Tie Rod Ends $95
The frame was never cracked to begin with, but I made sure it never would be by installing both pieces.
Suspension
- Offroad Design greasable polyurethane bushings and hardware everywhere $200
- Offroad Design Ford front shock towers $56
Brakes
- Napa stock replacement GM ¾ ton front calipers and pads $170
Axles
- GM Dana 60 front axle $1600
- “New Old Stock” (NOS) Military Surplus M1008 (still in wooded crate when I purchased it), with factory-installed 4.56 gear ratio and open differential. This axle was brand new when I bought it, and now has only 2000-3000 miles on it. The gear oil has already been changed after the “break-in period”.
- Warn premium locking hubs $270
- GM Corp. 14 bolt Full Floating rear axle $1400
- Completely rebuilt with all new bearings and seals, 4.56 Yukon “thick” gears, master install kit, Detroit Locker, and 1410 u-joint yoke. All from Randy’s Ring and Pinion with Extended Warranty. Gear oil has already been changed after the “break-in period”.
Driveshafts (a.k.a. Drivelines)
Front:
High Angle Driveline custom 1410 CV driveline. (all 1410 series u-joints)
$1500
I spent the money on this particular driveshaft because of the extensive suspension travel from the front suspension. The previous custom front driveshaft that I had quickly ran out of slip and u-joint operating angles, and cracked the front case half of the previous NP241 case I had built. (I rebuilt the NP241 with a donor case in February 2016). Rather than re-engineering my suspension setup that already worked so well, this current driveshaft solved the slip and operating angle problems all at once (the comparative costs were about the same). Plus, this driveshaft is WAY beefier than the 1350 CV and stock 1310 axle u-joints that were there before. I haven’t found a beefier driveshaft available anywhere!
http://www.highangledriveline.com/38cv.html
Rear:
Rocky Mountain Driveline 1350 CV at the t-case, and a 1410 u-joint at the rear axle
$350
Transfer Case
New Process 241 (NP241C) $1200
Completely rebuilt with all new bearings, bushings, seals, oil pump pickup, Borg Warner chain, new speedometer gear to correct speedometer reading for tire size and axle gear ratio, plus a Slip Yoke Eliminator (SYE) kit from JB Conversions with 1350 rear output flange. The NP241 transfer case has a low range ratio of 2.72 to 1.
http://www.jbconversions.com/products/sye/np241c_j_std_sye.php
http://www.jbconversions.com/products/np241/rebuild.php
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151652900007?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Transmission
GM Muncie SM465 $500
The “Low” gear is a non-synchronized “granny gear” with a 6.55 to 1 ratio. -That gear isn’t suitable for regular street use (you have to shift from it too quickly, and by then, you’re rolling a bit too fast to then shift into true “1st gear”). But Low gear is great for offroad on technical obstacles, or if you just need to go really slow. I rarely need to use “granny gear”. With the transfer case shifted into Low Range, and the transmission in Low gear (Crawl Ratio), I can step out of the truck and hardly walk slow enough next to it. The crawl ratio is 81 to 1. For comparison, the stock “crawl ratio” was a miserable 19:1. Driving offroad with a 19:1 ratio and automatic transmission meant that I had my foot on the brakes whenever descending, and I was on the throttle whenever ascending any obstacle. That is NOT the case anymore! The SM465 and NP241 provide much more control offroad than the stock setup. Now, at the trailhead, I can shift it into 4Lo, and leave it there the entire trail. I just select an appropriate gear in the transmission and go for it. The SM465 and NP241 are a great combination! For gearheads, you can see the math by checking out this calculator here:
http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html
This truck will drive 70 mph at just over 2500 rpm (I’ve driven it up to 80 mph), and I can still crawl on the trails idling along at only 100 feet per minute. This is a great combination of gearing in the right places, great control offroad, and yet it still allows you to cruise on the highway with traffic at an acceptable engine rpm.
Engine
Chevy 350
- Mild RV cam
- Hooker Comp full length headers
- Walker stock replacement mufflers (not “quiet” by modern vehicle standards, but as quiet as I could make a classic truck without extra restrictive parts like catalytic converters, stock exhaust manifolds, and resonators). –This truck’s VIN never required catalytic converters for emissions testing, by the way. The exhaust sounds nice and throaty, but not annoyingly loud or crackly.
- Sean Murphy Industries (SMI) Rochester Quadrajet carburetor $500
The "next best thing" to EFI. Easy to tune, reliable, and doesn’t require a laptop. A huge upgrade to the Edelbrock carb that was on before it! This carburetor is tuned for 6000 feet above sea level. I just got back from an offroad trip to Ouray, Colorado; where some of the trails were at nearly 13,000 feet above sea level, and the carb performed fantastic. Plainly said, this truck starts every single time, and doesn’t choke and stall out when its twisted up on the trails.
https://www.smicarburetor.com/products/sfID1/14/sfID2/9/sfID3/108/productID/47
