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73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Crew Cabs => Topic started by: slammed79 on September 16, 2015, 04:19:01 PM

Title: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: slammed79 on September 16, 2015, 04:19:01 PM
I bought this truck last year to drive so I could do some work on my 74 that I was daily driving. I wanted something I could fit my family into comfortably. It was a 45 day old Craigslist ad.  $1300, supposedly 10k miles on a rebuilt 454, supposedly 8k on a rebuilt th400. Body was a little rough, headache rack wrong bumper,  phantom grille. I made a phone call,  left a message.

The next day,  I got a text saying he still had the truck.  I was pulling money together to buy something.  I set up to go look at it for that weekend.  I brought my best friend with me to talk me out of doing anything dumb. 

We got out there,  it fired up smooth,  idled pretty good,  slight exhaust leak the carb needed a rebuild. It shifted smooth the windshield was hosed,  and the interior was hammered.  But the bones were good.  I told him I was pulling the money together and I wanted it. 

The money came,  the truck was there,  I bought it.  I had a huge smile on my face the whole drive home.

I did absolutely nothing to the truck for the first few months except put gas in it and drive it. 

Then... well snowball.  The rubber fuel hoses were garbage,  the feed hose  spilt leaving work one day.  I then redid the rubber hoses from the drivers side tank to the carb. I deleted the passenger side tank.  Then,  oil change and tune up.  The plugs were not 10k plugs. I broke 1 plug,  and three plug wires doing the tune up.  I don't know what the firing order was,  but it wasn't right.  Next,  the passenger side rear window stuck down. And then the steering column broke in the rack area.  I traded a double pumper for a replacement column.  It sat in the truck for a while,  I was getting frustrated of things just keep breaking, I let it sit until the first week of December when my 74 got hit while parked at work. 

I took my anger out that night on the steering column.  I swapped it out, then fired the truck up the next morning.   I drove it for a few weeks, then decided to rebuild the carb.  Much much better.  After all that work,  the big pig was getting 12 mpg on the freeway, and about 9 to ten in town. 

In January I found a good hood and fender on Craigslist for $50. I bought those and swapped them out.  Then I put a windshield and 6 new tires on it after the tread peeled on the passenger rear outer, and with it went the dually fender. 

Fast forward to June.  The seat bracket on the front bench broke,  swapped out for a set of power buckets from a 96 regal my buddy had.  Then got the rear window fixed.  I thought it was the motor,  since it didn't work off either switch.  I decided I wanted nothing to do with changing they motor,  so I took it to a shop by my apartment, they actually found it to be the switch.  Easy fix.

I also bought the drop parts, along with new rotors, pads, ball joints. I had originally planned on waiting until about now to start the drop,  but my fool head made me start it in July. 

I lowered my 74 in 1/3rd of the time this one took. Bigger=Heavier.

Now it's lowered,  and I have some finishing touches to do so I can drive it.  I discovered that somewhere along the way the passenger side bedside had been swapped with a non dually bedside. The wheel opening had been cut some,  it cleared the stock height,  not so much with a 6/8 drop. I'll be doing the bedside and the pinion angle tonight hopefully.  I'll also have to roll the fender lips up front so I don't rub.

Up next,  89-91 gmc burb front clip swap, replace the dually fender that got shark bit, and a/c before next summer.  I've got to pull the harness out and clean it up. There's some weird stuff going on there that I need to sort out.  I also need to do the hydro boost unit,  it's starting to leak. 

But now we're up to date on it.  Here's some pics, I'll find some more later, I'm not sure where they all are.

 (http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/50ada33c3f27bcb80723829db36a1fa1.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/efd3982021c577012b8f833a03b43594.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/b15cf7431c918cdd4bd12b1fb23efaa1.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/6b1739a528280c16f0830b7da81f07e4.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/1def5b401b161722798f9bb88bf641c9.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/a85123375ad58a57a175f774bd5e44e7.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/3c4d27f78725ea4d4b1c98b05b5747ca.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/bb67f516b44f01b27c8f26a81b661dcf.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/2c69a836924d62511e1a5a3ed465d6ee.jpg)


 

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Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: slammed79 on September 16, 2015, 04:37:01 PM
More.

(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/5716744c83c5dc5e0c3e08586d502d4a.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/00d7d2014d5b774bc2e554c0a14402bc.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/759b39bc26f5a9cf0a1442dbdcd23a6e.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/1b409da48a5bebecd3588a6b74a378e2.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/e008f93b8ce084531634b96b6d6e1433.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/53251ee67a38500da2c7fa1785cca2ac.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/16/ae467507147ca81b8e16574deddd860d.jpg)

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So now we're pretty caught up.  I'm trying to locate a good front bumper for it,  get the 73-80 bumper off of it. As soon as I track one down, I'll do the burb front clip swap. I have another dually fender for it,  it needs a little bit of work,  I'm trying to decide if I want to attempt it or just leave it to a pro. And I'm gonna get the rear slider taken out and put a solid window in. I may tint these windows since it is my daily,  but who knows.
Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: Irish_Alley on September 16, 2015, 04:49:50 PM
welcome to the crew cab club
Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: pholliday1 on September 17, 2015, 09:00:55 PM
X2
Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: ccdually on September 18, 2015, 12:11:21 PM
How low is your lowering kit? Who did you buy it from? Great Start!!
Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: slammed79 on September 18, 2015, 01:52:23 PM
Thanks guys!  It's a 6/8 drop, using McGaughys parts that I got from Switch Suspension here in AZ.

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Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: slammed79 on September 23, 2015, 10:18:32 AM
I got the bedside cut, the pinion angle set,  and the fender lips rolled.  The truck is at the shop getting an alignment now.  It looks like I'm going to have to cut the front fenders to get a little more room for the wheels to travel. 

I don't want to swap the tires to anything smaller, and it definitely needs more room.  I drove the beast to work yesterday,  and I think I may pull the overload springs out of the leaf packs to hopefully get a little more rear end travel as well.

 (http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/23/08ba6c43dc28a7fff1bca68624f8307e.jpg)

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Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: yzrider on September 24, 2015, 01:21:20 PM
That looks pretty good! I am considering a 4/6 drop for my cc dually.
Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: slammed79 on September 28, 2015, 10:05:21 AM
It didn't get the alignment,  the shop I took it to for the work called me a little while after I dropped it off,  and said it needs tie rod ends and a steering box.  There was some slop in the steering wheel,  but less than am inch,  and that really cleaned up when I did the tie rod ends.  I admit that I should have done them when I dropped it,  and it only took about half an hour to do. 

That shop quoted $750 for the work. Pretty good racket for $250 in parts, less than that if I wait for rock auto. I got the tie rods from O'Reilly.

I'm going to take the thing to an alignment only shop and get it handled there.

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Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: roundhouse on September 28, 2015, 12:28:30 PM

It didn't get the alignment,  the shop I took it to for the work called me a little while after I dropped it off,  and said it needs tie rod ends and a steering box.  There was some slop in the steering wheel,  but less than am inch,  and that really cleaned up when I did the tie rod ends.  I admit that I should have done them when I dropped it,  and it only took about half an hour to do. 

That shop quoted $750 for the work. Pretty good racket for $250 in parts, less than that if I wait for rock auto. I got the tie rods from O'Reilly.

I'm going to take the thing to an alignment only shop and get it handled there.

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i learned the hard way not to buy steering parts from rock auto

Cheap Chinese junk
The drag link we got from RA lasted about a month before it was worn out


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Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: slammed79 on September 28, 2015, 12:29:42 PM
That was for AC Delco.  I don't buy off brand parts from them.

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Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: 87max on September 28, 2015, 05:43:53 PM
I've had no issue with anything from rock auto but again I buy name brand.
Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: slammed79 on October 12, 2015, 10:42:00 AM
So, I ended up doing the tie rods,  that cleaned up the steering a lot. I've decided I'm going to pull the drop springs I have in there. The spot I  bought them from sold me c10 springs, they can't handle the frame and big block weight.  I think if it were a small block I'd be fine.  For the time being I am going to put the stock springs back in.  I already cut a coil off of them.

After a spirited take off last week (nothing crazy, I had my boy in the truck) the rear end wrapped up and knocked the pinion angle out. The ubolts are torqued to 150ft/lbs. So, I need to reset the pinion angle, then take the thing in to get the flip brackets welded up. While I'm under there,  the upper overload spring is getting removed so the pumpkin won't hit the bed when I patch the gooseneck hole.

I also decided to let a pro handle the dually fender,  I should have it back this week.

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Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: slammed79 on October 27, 2015, 11:20:12 AM
I got the pinion angle reset, and I picked up the dually fender yesterday. I'm now going to get the dually fender painted and on, and do the burb grille swap. There's a C10 party coming up next month that this thing is going to be attending,  and she needs to look her best.  (http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/27/8a96b781ac0b6a98186720d262aeeb16.jpg)

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Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: slammed79 on March 02, 2016, 12:03:01 PM
I got lazy. The truck didn't make the party, and I was out of town that night anyway.  I ended up replacing the steering box with a Delco reman and new pitman arm. Then,  I picked up a set of Moog stock front coils, lopped a coil off and put them in.  I finally pulled the upper overload spring and it's spacer, then put the rear back together.  It came up an inch and some change all the way around and rides much nicer. (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160302/635d53254663a3da10408be318ee0906.jpg)
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160302/b2dc5191895ad63e061ed59132141830.jpg)

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Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: plumbers crack on July 24, 2016, 01:38:32 AM
What came with the kit from switch? I'm considering them as western has had a few issues with shipping the wrong parts.

Title: Re: Great White Buffalow- 84 GMC Crew Cab
Post by: CJGuy on August 22, 2017, 11:14:06 AM
Following


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