My '77 K-30/V3500 Monster Truck Build

[FearNoMan78k10]

Waiting for some more pics and updates engineer ! I like your work and build ... It's top notch

[Engineer]

Time to kick this one back to the top.

I have been working on my truck when I am able. A little here, a little there. Youngest son's summer baseball schedule has wrapped up, so maybe I can get back to working on the truck. The youngest son will be playing baseball this next year in college, so we'll see if I can find the time to work on my project. His college is a couple hundred miles from here, so seeing the games will be only at select times.

There are a bunch of updates, namely the frame, but I am going to save that update until the frame is completed. It will make more sense to do it that way.

I am also working a deal (finally) to trade the two GoodYear Super Terra Grip XT tires that I have for one of the older 10-ply bias GoodYear Super Terra Grip treaded tires that will match the other three that I have. I am glad this finally worked itself out. I don't need the extra tire laying around as much as I prefer to have a full set of 4 tires that have matching tread.

Here is what I'll make this update about. (with pics, and who doesn't love pics )

After consideration, the best plan for my truck is a factory cooling system. For reliability, cost, and simplicity. The following is a picture of a Delphi replacement radiator for the 73~87(91) that replaces the factory 4 core. A guy I know bought it, and used it for about a year. I gave $75 for it. I thought it was worth that. I need to clean it out. It appears it had only rusty water ran through it. (ick)



It had quite a few bruises in the fins where the po didn't take care to install it gently. As you can see, I was able to straighten all of the fins. One benefit to this radiator is that aluminum throws off heat better than brass. The other huge benefit to using this radiator is that it only weighs about 1/3 the weight of my previous brass 4 core. This radiator is a Delphi unit, but the tank is clearly marked "GM Harrison".



In a previous post I showed a picture of the 454 serpentine belt system I am going to use. One thing I didn't get was a fan. The fan I wanted to use was in my wife's 2001 Silverado 2500HD with the 6.0L engine. A modern looking, 9 blade plastic jobby that will be compatible with the reverse rotation water pump. The fan that should have came with my 454 serpentine belt assembly was an old, ugly, steel, 5 blade, antique type design. Problem is... the 9 blade 6.0L fan clutch uses one big giant nut that screws onto a stud on the water pump hub. I could use a Vortec 7400 water pump but then I would need to find a pulley as well.....and I already have the 1990 model 4 bolt hub water pump.

I can't help but thinking that the more modern broad paddle 9 blade fan from the 6.0L application will draw more air than the OE steel 1990 model year 5 blade curmudgeon.



I just love how Chevrolet made everything interchangeable. I went ahead and bought the fan. $29.79 my cost, new GM. It seems the fan clutch for the older 4 bolt hub water pumps have the same bolt pattern, and hub register diameter where the fan bolts to it. Actually, the fan clutch in this picture looks in every way identical to the one in my wife's 2500HD with the exception being how it attaches to the water pump hub.



The fan clutch that I selected was the most heavy duty in the listings by spec. This one is an OE unit off of a wrecked 1993 Chevy K2500 C6P (heavy duty) with a 4.10 gear. The book shows a more aggressive clutch for the lower axle ratios, so that is what I went with. Additionally I aquired the water pump pulley from the same truck since it had an over drive transmission. The newer pulley is a smaller diameter than the one I was going to use. My original water pump pulley was from a 1990 454 truck that didn't have an over drive transmission. GM engineers decided the water pump needed to spin faster with the OD transmissions to help circulate the water adequately while cruising in OD, and because of this, the newer pulley is a smaller diameter. In the GM books, the 1991.5+ 5.7L, and 7.4L engine show to use the same part number water pump pulley.

My theory is that the faster water pump speed will help keep my engine cool while idling at lower engine RPMs which is where I figure this truck will be most of the time it is in operation. I see very little high RPM hot rodding in this truck's future, and when it does, a 160F thermostat will keep the coolant from circulating too fast.



I also cleaned up my factory 454 fan shroud. This should work perfectly with the long water pump, and 19" diameter 6.0L factory fan. Again, looking to keep the factory reliability. In the above picture you are able to see my new GM radiator top plate with the new GM mounting isolators. I also am looking to collect the factory 1988+ spring steel radiator hose clamps. After using these, and having used the old stainless worm gear clamps. I am a firm believer in the newer constant torque spring steel units.

Did I mention how much I love Chevrolet for its ease of compatibility across many different models, years, and options?

Did I mention how much I love Chevrolet?

Hopefully, in a week or so, the new (not so new, but new to me) tire will be here. When it does arrive, I'll post pics.

Ta for now,
Engineer

[bake74]

     Gathering parts is half the fun, that is if you don't loose them somewhere.   

[Engineer]

Haha.

Yeah, I have never actually "lost" any of the parts, but by the time I got around to using some of them it seems they weren't where I left them. Can truck parts walk around on their own?

I know my oldest son has claimed some stuff that I didn't think I would need. He is still pounding me for my Dana60 Spicer lockouts.

[Engineer]

Well, the last 10-ply, bias, 66x43-25, GoodYear Super Terra Grip tire made it home today:





It has some slight weathering, but that is to be expected from a tire that has been in the out-of-doors for the last 30~35 years. One other thing, and I doubt I'll make much of this but, during production of these tires, GoodYear made a change before, or about the time they introduced the Terra XT. The two tires I am going to use for the fronts have GoodYear in large, about 4" letters. The two tires I am using for the rear are the smaller GoodYear in 1.5" letters. The tires with the smaller letters are older, earlier production.

"Back in the day" if a guy was buying 4 new tires for a monster truck build he would most likely have 4 matching tires from the same production lot. During the early to mid 1980s that would have meant the big letters.

In any event, I am happy, I now have a full set of 4 matching tires (sort of). But, I still need to find one more wheel.


If things don't change, maybe I can get some time to work on the frame this Saturday.

[Engineer]

Bearfoot 3 in the ZZ Top "Sleeping Bag" video.

http://youtu.be/TKJymx2KDWo

Buddy of mine is driving the truck in this video. His cousin, whom I went to high school with brought home some of the movie $100 bills seen in the bag stolen from the girl at the first part of the video.

[bake74]

     That was pretty cool.  How did he get to be in a video with ZZ Top ?

[Engineer]

Keith Todd, who owned the truck had some medical issues so Jim, Keith's oldest son, drove the truck for the ZZ Top video shoot.

The interior views of the truck are of a different GM square body as the Bearfoot truck's interior was blue, not red.

I'm not sure how Bearfoot was chosen for the video. At the time the Bearfoot name was owned by Fred Schafer. Fred Schafer is family to the Todds. I don't know that Jim, and I ever had that conversation about how Bearfoot was chosen but I assume Fred had something to do with setting that up. Bearfoot 3 was Keith's first and only monster truck and Fred already had contacts with promotion agencies that set up that sort of thing.

I don't remember the time line, but I think the Todds only had the truck about 8 months before they had to sell it due to Keith's medical situation.

If you see Bearfoot 3 in 4 Wheel & Off Road, Four Wheeler, or Off Road magazine the red headed guy with glasses driving the truck is Jim Todd. He is the one driving the truck while it was on the Mississippi River, pulling the rail cars, climbing the gravel pile.

Since I started this build I had asked Jim if he had more unpublished pictures of Bearfoot 3. He is supposed to be letting me take a look, and make copies of his pictures. He has albums full of pictures from the shows they did. Pictures that don't make it to the magazines like during tire changes, transmission changes, etc. If I ever find time I'll have to get back to him to see if he has found them.

[Engineer]

Well, I have been talking about the frame over the last several posts. I finally got it to the point I feel good about posting pictures of it.

This is where I am as of right now:



And this is how I got to where I am:

I wanted to build a subframe to gain the needed lift so I started off with a very basic, primitive, 1 dimensional line drawing to verify what I needed. Using the springs as a basis I sought to build the subframe around the frame work that would get the body at least 6" above the tops of the tires.......No fender cutting for me, thanks.



After I decided what I needed, and what dimensions to make it, I started the cutting, and welding.

This is the spring hangers, and the center support for the ladder bars:



After those were finished I set about welding them to the 3"x3" square tube main beams.



During the process I had clamped, and bolted everything together so as to keep everyting an exact mirror of the other:



Then I laid everything out in my shop. This took my youngest son, and I what seemed like forever to do. I spent at least an hour getting everything level, then square before I welded in the cross members:





With more detail added:





In this view you can see the x-bracing, and the threaded rod that held the brackets in line so the located end of the leaf springs would be square, true, and parallel.



The square structure at the right center of the photo is for the group 31 battery which will be located under the bed just forward of the fuel cell. The 20 gallon fuel cell will set inside the frame in the large opening in the center of this photo just above the rear axle, also under the bed.

Here is a mock up of the pintle hitch as I was drilling the bottom holes:



These are the upper shock brackets:



The lower end of the shocks will be mounted on a bracket bolted to the spring clamps that will hold the axle in place.

This is a pic of the brackets mounted to the frame:



There will be 4 shocks per wheel total.

And of course once the frame was all welded together I couldn't wait to get it filpped over and set it on its springs:



At this point with a flat, obstruction free top, and a standard 34" width, you could put this sub frame under just about any truck with a 131.5"~133" wheelbase and have a monster truck:



A couple views of the pintle hitch, and lifting lugs from the M-54:





Looking at this picture again for a moment:



Had I started this build as a monster truck, and not a sled puller, I would have made these spring, and ladder bar mounts longer to reach all the way vertically to the GM frame, and eliminated the 3x3 tube main beam. By trussing the spring hangers with the 2x2 tube as I have done, the factory frame alone would have been plenty stout for this build.

Since I had the frame painted, and the cab on it, I didn't want the welding smoke and heat on the truck, and then have to repaint it all and deal with over spray. And anyway, the 3x3 tube only adds about 100lbs to the overall total weight of the truck so there isn't a real penalty for having in there.



At this point I am ready to set the '77 on top of the monster frame and weld the brackets on. After that I'll pull it back apart, sand blast the monster frame's welds, prime, and paint it all. Like the GM frame that I am already finished with, I'm going to stay with the GM Adobe Gold Metallic for the monster frame.

Man, I don't see how guys would build their trucks in 6-8-10 week time frames back in the 80s. This thing is taking me forever. 

Anyone want to volunteer to do the sand blast, prime, and paint for me? lol

[jaredts]

Amazing work!  All that in gold is going to be a thing of beauty.

[bake74]

     Very nice work indeed.  Will be something to see the truck just sitting on that frame, keep up the work and pics. 

[illinoisk30]

Excellent work on the pulling truck that I had followed before I became a member on this site. Everything on that is the way it should be from the mechanical aspect to the paint and body. This monster truck build is no different. Great work on everything. I am a welder by trade and the frame work looks very good. What is your wall thickness on the monster truck frame work? About your sandblasting, my wife said she would be more than happy to get that done for you . Keep up the top notch work and great pictures.

[Engineer]

11ga on the 2x2 tubing. 3/16" on the 3x3 tube. 1/4" on everything else.

And in true retro 80s fashion I decided to use my stick welder instead of a mig. Most of the frame was only tacked together before any of the welding runs were completed. Stick welders have a horrible tendency to bend metal. Dealing with that undoubtedly added to the time this project has taken to build.

[illinoisk30]

Sounds good Engineer, I kinda thought that was some stick welding with all the brown smoke from the flux. I don't do to much stick except for out in the field. I do enjoy doing it and love the smell.

[Engineer]

Ordered the 16 shocks for this project recently. Got the rest of them on Saturday. I have just bought more shocks for this project than I ever have in all of my vehicle ownership history in total.

I centered my buildup around what I thought to be a pretty standard, and easy to aquire shock model. All 16 of these are 4" lift kit shocks that fit the rear of 1/2, and 3/4 ton 73~87 Chevy full size pickup trucks.



The valving is going to be really stiff, but then again the spring rate will be off the chart as well. However, this build is about form, not function. If it proves that the valving is simply too stiff I can drain half of the shocks of their oil making them into drone shocks. Again, this build is about replicating an 80s monster, not looking to build an active off-road suspension.



As with anything I do I like to mock things up by assembling them multiple times before actually doing the final build. The following two pictures show how the shocks will look once the truck is completed. The wood block that the shocks are resting on approximate the location of the lower shock mount and where the lower bracket will place them.





Now I need to decide on what colors I want to go with for my shocks. When I first built my '77 into a monster with the D60/14-bolt, and 44" Gumbos I had orange shocks with black boots. TrailMaster shocks if I remember correctly. However, I may just stick with white shocks and go with blue boots......Still have some time to think about that one.

........or I could go with pink shock boots, and pink KC light covers circa 1989.....



.....or maybe NOT!



I have also decided on a couple of major changes to the frame. Updates on that will be forthcoming in a future post.