Recent purchase questions

[ssgoodman]

I recently bought a 1976 chevy k10 from a Korean war vet a few miles down the road.  He owned it since 1980 and used it mainly to pull his boat and haul firewood.  Its rusted out pretty good but I am not worried about the body really and for 300 bucks I can't complain.  Its got a 400 v8, auto trans and fulltime 4wheel drive,its also got "Trailering Special 8400GVR" badges on the cab but no owners manual so not sure what that means.  Can anyone give me some information on this truck?  What does Trailering special mean?  Is there anyway relatively cheap and easy to get away from the fulltime 4wheel drive?  Is there anything easy to get alittle better MPG out of this truck?  My longterm goal is to get 38" or bigger tires under it (money permitting) and turn it into a good mud runner/offroader.

thanks in advance.
Sutton

[Blazin]

Welcome to the board from New Hampshire first off.
 To get rid of the full time 4x you need to swap in a set of hubs, and the conversion kit into your NP 203 t case.
 I have never heard of one of this vintage truck with a " trailering special " Package. Have seen Camper Special, Big 10, Heavy Halfs etc. 8400 GVW is in the light 3/4 ton range. I would imagine it has heavier rear springs, and the biggest 1/2 ton rear brakes. Possibly lower axle ratios, and a TH 400 instead of a TH 350? Is it a TH 400 trans?
 As far as 38s and wheeling it too I would upgrade to a 14 bolt full floater in the rear, and a Dana 60 in the front. You could get away with your current axles but they will not take allot of abuse with big meats.
If you do swap the axles then that would be a good time to swap in a NP 205 t case. This would also solve your full time 4x issue.
Last, getting rid of the full time 4x will improve your milage a bit but not drastically. Keep in mind this is a truck, they are not meant to get great milage. Also if you add 38s any milage you might gain by going part time 4x will be deleted plus more from the bigger tires. A complete tune up plugs, wires, cap, rotor including fuel, air filters, set the tomming, carb, etc. will improve the milage some.

[DnStClr]

If the guy lives nearby, can't you see if he has the owners manual? 

[Captkaos]

Trailering special got you the badging, power steering, Heavy Duty Battery, and on specific series you got bigger tires, HD springs, TH400 or 4 speed manual.

[ssgoodman]

thanks for the information guys.  i crawled around under it alittle today to take off the runningboards and change the oil but not really certain what to look for on the tranny to tell if its a 350 or a 400.  do you guys think this would be a decent candidate for a beatup mud/hunting truck?  i would like to get some 38inch interco super swamper boggers to scare the little kids with but not sure how well they would handle snow and ice during winter driving if i have to take it up to college or around town when the grocery getter would get stuck.  pictures incoming....

[okuma]

sweeet.

[Fordeatinz71]

welcome aboard!  that's a nice lookin truck (i can see past the rust).  i have seen Trailering Special packages on that old of a truck before.  it is essentially a heavy-duty 1/2 ton.  it has the HD rear springs, a lower axle ratio, possibly limited slip, and all the other stuff mentioned before. 

here's a page from the 1976 Chevy Pickups brochure to give you an idea about the Trailering Special package...



edit-wow, that made the pics too small to really be able to read the text, to see them bigger, go here http://brochures.slosh.com/index.shtml and look up the year/vehicle you want