My '77 K-30/V3500 Monster Truck Build

[Engineer]

I figure anything you put out on the interwebs, Facebook, Twitter, discussion forums, etc. is by default "public property". It is, after all in the public domain.

I have seen pictures taken by me, from this very thread, in other places on the net, not posted by me but others who have a like interest in the subject matter. I have no problem with that. Heck I even consider it a badge of honor to have material that others have a respect for. HOWEVER, IF I FIND MATERIAL FROM THIS THREAD ANYWHERE ELSE AND SOMEONE ELSE IS ATTEMPTING TO TAKE CREDIT FOR IT, I WILL BE IN CONTACT WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF THAT PARTICULAR INFORMATION OUTLET. And if I think it's a problem I can cleanse this thread of all of its content and stop it that way.

Anytime I have posted in this thread, photos that are not original to me I always make mention of that. Some pictures that I have used contain watermarks that identify the original owner. Even the pictures my wife took are identified as such. I have nothing to gain by taking credit for what others have done. Anytime I add content that is not originally mine it is done only to enrich the overall subject of this thread and it will be noted as such. Four of the six highlighted exceptions Irish posted about under the fair use exception apply here. Criticism, comment, teaching, and research.

In summary, I want to keep the invitation wide open for everyone to share this build with me. There have been enough people brow beating me to join Facebook so I am contemplating starting a Facebook page to parallel the posts in this thread. Anyone, and everyone is welcome to comment and share my build. If I didn't intend to share my build with 7 billion anonymous people I wouldn't have posted about it in a way for those 7 billion people to have access to it.


My next post should have an update on my drive line brakes.

Join us won't you?

Yours Truly,
Johnny Dollar.
Er, um, I mean Engineer.



And I should add......

There is no business venture here. There is no intent for anyone to profit monetarily from the establishment of this thread.

The sole purpose of this thread is to inform. It is intended to be a database of learning, knowledge, information and discussion in support thereof. Any, and all content is only considered to be a reinforcement of the subject matter.

[Irish_Alley]

not saying anything you come up with, but pictures and write ups taken by or created by you are copyrighted and belong to you. even chris the owner cant pass it off as his own. if someone steels anything from here and makes it their own then they are infringing on your copyright. now since you uploaded all this stuff to this site and say "take my stuff down" and think chris is required by law to take it down. but if you yourself go back and remove everything then its ok. that being said i dont think chris isnt that type of person and would remove anything you ask.

[frotosride]

I feel like I should be signing a stack of papers and faxing them to you Eng..

[Irish_Alley]

lol you know sometimes i feel like i should go to collage and change my carrier. either in psychology or criminal law

[Engineer]

It's not me I swear!

Blame the lawyers!

[LTZ C20]

If you don't want to join Facebook, don't let people brow beat you into joining. Sometimes I ask myself, "What am I doing here?" Or I say, "I should just delete this..."

But, I have a girlfriend and friends you post alot and co-workers who put stuff on there, so I kinda gotta stay. Plus, Popular Hot Rodding and Summit Racing are always posting cool stuff on there that I enjoy reading.

But really, if you don't want to join, don't.

[frotosride]

Ok back to Monster trucks.
I'd do that second image for interior you posted in a heart beat but this teuck is so sentimental to my wife I can't even get rid of the old distorted rear view mirror.

[Engineer]

Well here is the brakes update I have been blabbering on about for the last couple of weeks.

The 5-ton military axles originally used drum brakes, but as I said in an earlier post I had no other plans but to dump the original drums and go with a driveline disc brake set up. The drums, backing plates, brake shoes, and lines added up to 300# per axle. Removing these would save 600lbs on the final curb weight of this truck minus what ever the discs weighed.

I originally wanted to use all O.E. GM equipment but I just couldn't find a suitable rotor. So I bought a pair of the aftermarket racer type that you would find in a kit for a disc conversion to an older car that came only with drum brakes.



Once I decided which rotor I would use I then set about deciding which differential flange would work best for me. There is a big bearing, and a small bearing side to the 5-tons. I elected to use the small bearing side because I felt that I could make a more simple bracket. And simple is good.

There are many aftermarket companies that make driveline brakes but I elected to design my own. After measuring and testing with an original 1977 K10 caliper I made a plan for a local company to cut my bracket out on their laser cutting machine. Keep in mind that I have farmed out very little on this build. I have done about 99% of what you see in this thread all in house. And I could have done these brackets in house but it would have taken me hours to cut and grind it all to my satisfaction.

The following picture is the small bearing retainer off of my spare 5-ton rear axle, and the bracket cut to my 1D plan.



After I clearanced the back of the bracket so it would fit the cast radius of the bearing retainer I bolted it to the axle to start the mocking up phase:



Next I drilled and tapped holes in the companion flange so I could bolt the rotor to it. The 8 holes that the driveshaft bolt to are of a different circle diameter so I elected to drill new ones, and as I will show later, the front axle will need to still be able to accept the driveshaft.



Rotor bolted on:



And the mock up. Rotor, caliper, and brake pads all fit and complement each other like brass and strings in an orchestra.



Me, being the overachiever that I am, decided that 6) 3/8" bolts are enough to hold this brake caliper, and the factory backing plate, and spindle on a factory K10 steering knuckle, but would never be good enough to hold the same caliper on my custom bracket. So I added an additional reinforcement to the top of the bracket using the top cover bolts on the differential just to satisfy any concern that there could have been more.



Drilled, and welded on:









A squirt of epoxy primer:



Then I permanently mounted it to the axle. Torqueing the bolts to 45 ft/lbs, of course.





Bought pads for a 3/4-ton:



Then I put it all together.







Painted the bolt heads:



This is the flange that the front driveshaft will bolt to. As such it will need the holes for that purpose. You can seen now, why I elected to drill new holes to mount the rotor to.



I still need to have a spacer made so I can put it between the caliper piston and the inboard brake pad. The 1/2-ton GM rotor is approximately 1.25" thick. My go-fast racer rotors are .81" thick. I'll need the spacer to make up the difference. Once I have those made and installed the brakes will be complete.


I am real happy with the way the brakes turned out. I'm considering going to market with these brackets. I don't know how the rest of the industry does their's but I am real happy with these. Will need to make them operational, and test them before I attempt to market them to the mega/mud truck crowd. Brakes are a pretty critical component on a truck capable of running over most everyday traffic.

'Til later,
Engineer.

[LTZ C20]

Pure freaking genuis! I love it! Awesome man, pure awesomeness! Really nice job.

[frotosride]

I hope you are keeping a list of paint codes because I feel like you are going to use this s thing for a little more than you think. At some point that pedal is going to be mashed with the wheels point at something you would have never considered at this point in the build.

[1967KaiserM715]

what are you doing for a parking brake? transfercase driveline brake?(similar to 2.5 and 5 ton military, and old jeeps)

looking good, I would have done that extra brace too, was the bracket 3/8" plate steel?

I personally would have opted for thicker brakes, but given your design and planning in the rest of the build I'm sure you have everything well thought out.

[Paulcpick]

Nice setup!
I dont know if there is a difference in the Caliper, but most of the guys I know that run 2 1/2 ton or 5 tons use GMT400 3/4 ton calipers, some even use the factory rotors.
Youve got a clean setup , are you running the rotors on the front side of the toploader, or the inboard? It looks like your running it on the inboard side, but I cant tell for sure. Ive seen it done both ways, what made you decide to run them inboard?

[Engineer]

Pure freaking genuis! I love it! Awesome man, pure awesomeness! Really nice job.

I hope you are keeping a list of paint codes because I feel like you are going to use this s thing for a little more than you think. At some point that pedal is going to be mashed with the wheels point at something you would have never considered at this point in the build.

Everything has been logged. All paint codes. Part numbers. Every schematic. Every drawing. All math and figures. I'm kinda weird that way.

As far as the mud......nope. Forget it. However, the ideas are swirling for a play toy after this build is done. My oldest son is building a 1984 K-10 stepside. I just found a set of 2 1/2 ton Rockwells for his truck. If I build another truck it too will probably have 2 1/2 tons and 48"~54" rubber. I want to build an S-10 real bad.

what are you doing for a parking brake? transfercase driveline brake?(similar to 2.5 and 5 ton military, and old jeeps)

looking good, I would have done that extra brace too, was the bracket 3/8" plate steel?

I personally would have opted for thicker brakes, but given your design and planning in the rest of the build I'm sure you have everything well thought out.

Parking brake will probably be on the output of the transmission. There are gobs of SM465s with parking brakes out there so there won't be any fabrication just bolt on.

And yes, the bracket is 3/8" thick material.

Nice setup!
I dont know if there is a difference in the Caliper, but most of the guys I know that run 2 1/2 ton or 5 tons use GMT400 3/4 ton calipers, some even use the factory rotors.
Youve got a clean setup , are you running the rotors on the front side of the toploader, or the inboard? It looks like your running it on the inboard side, but I cant tell for sure. Ive seen it done both ways, what made you decide to run them inboard?

GMT-400 calipers are GM D52 calipers same as mine, or really similar. My brakes are on the inboard side as you say, the bracket is simpler, and it keeps anything off the front of the front axle, which should give a cleaner overall appearance to the truck.



Rant:

I don't know what it is about machine shops these days. I can't find anybody wanting to do custom work. I don't think anybody can do old school machining anymore. If it can't be plugged into a CNC machine and then they make you 1,000 copies forget it. I'm sorry but if you operate that way you aren't a machine shop you are simply a factory. So stop calling yourself a machine shop.

I recently submitted plans to a couple of buildings with machine tools in them and the words "machine shop" on the outside for the piston spacer I need so my calipers will work with my rotors. Most told me they wouldn't fool with it. Another submitted a bid for $400.00. $400.00 for $20 in materials and an hour's labor? I'm sorry but that is just an insult. I can buy a cheap lathe for $400 and do it myself.......... Well I made my own sandblaster........ Might be time to search the want ads for a Bridgeport and a lathe.

Rant over.

[Jason S]

I've quietly followed your build thread and it has been outstanding.

On the machine shop issue, I'm going to throw this out...  Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're in eastern MO?  If that's the case, maybe a friend or a friend of a friend knows some retired machinists from McDonnell-Douglas or Chrysler. I say this since I grew up in an area with a GM plant, General Dynamics and LTV and have had assistance for custom machining in a retiree's garage which had a lathe and other tools of the trade. On the plus side, they were as interested in the project as I was (maybe more) and did it for their own enjoyment.

[Engineer]

I know a couple of guys with hobby machine shops and that is probably the route I'll end up going. There is one guy who has allowed me to do some cutting on his bandsaw. He won't take a dime for it either. I'm never easy with that. I know how much these machines cost and prefer to pay even if it is a token amount....... I just don't see the need to go to the extreme the other way. Lol!

In a perfect world I'd buy whatever I need when I need it. I passed on a Bridgeport for $2,000.00 a few years ago. I kick myself constantly for doing it.