gstubbz
Hi I'm Gavin and I have an OBSession
I can write a more detailed post now that I'm home!
The blue 95 is actually pretty beat, the guy who also lives on Tyler's property (Steve) bought that truck new, it had a 305 and now has a 350. It's been sitting for over two years due to the head gaskets. We took the heads off and Steve is going to get them cleaned up at a machine shop in Reno at some point soon. But for now my truck is the one we are trying to get done quickly. The reason the tailgate looks new is he had walked out of a mall in Reno and someone stole his tailgate so he had to get a new one!
Tyler's truck is a 1984 RCLB K10 that originally had a 6.2 but be bought it with a 350 installed. Cool thing is that truck is smog exempt forever in Cali! His truck sat for over three months and we fired it up (it fired up immediately!) and pushed it in so I wouldn't hurt my baby truck.
So the guy we bought the transmission from was super cool, he was a 4.3 fanatic and had parts for them everywhere. He even offered me extra stuff like the engine harness and everything else that he had. But I picked up the main components and left so I could stop by places over in Reno. The stuff I received came from an 89 c1500 RCSB which was a City of Fallon or Fernley truck, so it was well maintained and the output shaft on my new transmission looks like it was just replaced too! I found out I have a 5LM60 which externally looks the same as the nv3500, but supposedly is way different. Oh well as long as it has all gears and no grinds or anything I could care less what it is.
We went to pick n pull next (gas was like $2.61 for mid grade in Fernley, it's like $3.12 where I live), and went through a few different trucks, mainly I was looking for a master/slave cylinder, a hardline (since that's like a $70+ part at Napa and I already bought one for my 89 so I didn't want to do that again), a shifter boot, a nicer shifter, and a cleaner cloth bench seat. I found almost everything I needed. There were inspection covers I could have pulled but I didn't feel like pulling starters and slave cylinders from another different truck and figured Napa had the part (they didn't). I found a 95 red bench seat with the center console, and I planned on pulling them but while I was pulling the clutch stuff I walk over to the truck with the seats and someone started yanking them. Oh well. But I was saddened to see the 98 z71 5 speed truck in there, I would have loved if my 98 z71 had a 5 speed. I do not like the internal slave cylinder though.
Another truck there also caught my eye, it was a 94 K1500 ECSB 5.7 Cheyenne, but it had something odd. A 4 speed. I look under and see an SM465, and now at this point I was curious. I looked up the RPO code for an nv3500 and sure enough it had MG5 in the glove box, so someone swapped in a 4 speed! Thought that was interesting.
Next was Napa, went to the one in Sparks and bought all kinds of stuff I needed. However I forgot a fuel filter so on my way out of Reno I stopped on the one right off of 395 right before Golden Gate to grab one.
Then we went to the fair thing, and then back to the truck and started pulling a few things.
Woke up this morning and I pulled the carpet that the PO installed, and the vinyl flooring underneath looks like brand new. We cut the shifter hole, and went through the pain of installing the clutch pedal. When I drilled the secondary holes I used bailing wire to hold the pedal up to the steering wheel so I had as much room as possible because it was a really tight fit! If you cut the brake pad down to fit a clutch pedal rubber cover, be prepared to spend time with a sawzall. I put a 2x4 under the pedal to keep it from moving as best as I could, and it took several minutes to cut the pedal down. It's really thick steel if you're wondering!
I wanted a nicer shifter so I took the one from the 98, and the thing the handle screws into on my transmission had this long stud before the threads, so we cut off three inches and the newer handle threads right on. Figured I'll give this truck a late model shifter because I can.
Then I walk out to my Dodge and I see that some ******* keyed the passenger side all the way down last night I assume. Stupid bullshit. But I did hear it happened to three other people in the same parking lot so I dunno. I'm hoping I can get a paint pen and make it look better. I am still pissed, I'd rather them key my 89 or this truck before my Dodge god damnit.
So we finally pulled the transmission. There was so much grease mud under the truck, and it was worse than my old 94 6.5 by far. I had that **** in my ear, hair, all down my shirt, and literally everywhere. I also had a nice bath in ATF which is literally one of the things I despise most about pulling automatics from vehicles. FYI, the shifter hole gave me much easier access to the transmission cooler lines, almost like it's a good enough reason to 5 speed swap something! You can also see some of the greasy horror under there. When this swap is done I'm pressure washing the entire truck.
So we ended up calling it a night, but the torque converter and flexplate are still bolted up, and those will be one of the first things I remove next weekend. This transmission is a 32 spline, and the 4l60e that came out is 27 I believe. So I need to hunt down another yoke, and IIRC the 4l80es had a 32 spline yoke. So I need to get one of those this week along with some new U-Joints. The driveshaft is aluminum and is 70" if anyone is curious!
I also need to pick up an inspection plate cover, and then seats whenever it's no rush. At this point I think we will have it running and driving on Saturday assuming I have a slip yoke ready.
So there is my weekend novel! Owned this truck a week and should have it running and driving within two weeks of picking it up. My plan is to drive it over to the neighbor's house when it's driving and tell him he can come over and we will mount his rack on his new truck. That might shock him that we got it done so quickly lol. I tend to get a vehicle and my only motivation to work on it is when I first get it, then if it breaks later it just sits (like my old 94 and now my 89). But when it's all good to go I'm selling it and I'll buy another 350 to put in my 89 because I really miss that truck!
The blue 95 is actually pretty beat, the guy who also lives on Tyler's property (Steve) bought that truck new, it had a 305 and now has a 350. It's been sitting for over two years due to the head gaskets. We took the heads off and Steve is going to get them cleaned up at a machine shop in Reno at some point soon. But for now my truck is the one we are trying to get done quickly. The reason the tailgate looks new is he had walked out of a mall in Reno and someone stole his tailgate so he had to get a new one!
Tyler's truck is a 1984 RCLB K10 that originally had a 6.2 but be bought it with a 350 installed. Cool thing is that truck is smog exempt forever in Cali! His truck sat for over three months and we fired it up (it fired up immediately!) and pushed it in so I wouldn't hurt my baby truck.
So the guy we bought the transmission from was super cool, he was a 4.3 fanatic and had parts for them everywhere. He even offered me extra stuff like the engine harness and everything else that he had. But I picked up the main components and left so I could stop by places over in Reno. The stuff I received came from an 89 c1500 RCSB which was a City of Fallon or Fernley truck, so it was well maintained and the output shaft on my new transmission looks like it was just replaced too! I found out I have a 5LM60 which externally looks the same as the nv3500, but supposedly is way different. Oh well as long as it has all gears and no grinds or anything I could care less what it is.
We went to pick n pull next (gas was like $2.61 for mid grade in Fernley, it's like $3.12 where I live), and went through a few different trucks, mainly I was looking for a master/slave cylinder, a hardline (since that's like a $70+ part at Napa and I already bought one for my 89 so I didn't want to do that again), a shifter boot, a nicer shifter, and a cleaner cloth bench seat. I found almost everything I needed. There were inspection covers I could have pulled but I didn't feel like pulling starters and slave cylinders from another different truck and figured Napa had the part (they didn't). I found a 95 red bench seat with the center console, and I planned on pulling them but while I was pulling the clutch stuff I walk over to the truck with the seats and someone started yanking them. Oh well. But I was saddened to see the 98 z71 5 speed truck in there, I would have loved if my 98 z71 had a 5 speed. I do not like the internal slave cylinder though.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
Another truck there also caught my eye, it was a 94 K1500 ECSB 5.7 Cheyenne, but it had something odd. A 4 speed. I look under and see an SM465, and now at this point I was curious. I looked up the RPO code for an nv3500 and sure enough it had MG5 in the glove box, so someone swapped in a 4 speed! Thought that was interesting.
Next was Napa, went to the one in Sparks and bought all kinds of stuff I needed. However I forgot a fuel filter so on my way out of Reno I stopped on the one right off of 395 right before Golden Gate to grab one.
Then we went to the fair thing, and then back to the truck and started pulling a few things.
Woke up this morning and I pulled the carpet that the PO installed, and the vinyl flooring underneath looks like brand new. We cut the shifter hole, and went through the pain of installing the clutch pedal. When I drilled the secondary holes I used bailing wire to hold the pedal up to the steering wheel so I had as much room as possible because it was a really tight fit! If you cut the brake pad down to fit a clutch pedal rubber cover, be prepared to spend time with a sawzall. I put a 2x4 under the pedal to keep it from moving as best as I could, and it took several minutes to cut the pedal down. It's really thick steel if you're wondering!
I wanted a nicer shifter so I took the one from the 98, and the thing the handle screws into on my transmission had this long stud before the threads, so we cut off three inches and the newer handle threads right on. Figured I'll give this truck a late model shifter because I can.
You must be registered for see images attach
Then I walk out to my Dodge and I see that some ******* keyed the passenger side all the way down last night I assume. Stupid bullshit. But I did hear it happened to three other people in the same parking lot so I dunno. I'm hoping I can get a paint pen and make it look better. I am still pissed, I'd rather them key my 89 or this truck before my Dodge god damnit.
So we finally pulled the transmission. There was so much grease mud under the truck, and it was worse than my old 94 6.5 by far. I had that **** in my ear, hair, all down my shirt, and literally everywhere. I also had a nice bath in ATF which is literally one of the things I despise most about pulling automatics from vehicles. FYI, the shifter hole gave me much easier access to the transmission cooler lines, almost like it's a good enough reason to 5 speed swap something! You can also see some of the greasy horror under there. When this swap is done I'm pressure washing the entire truck.
You must be registered for see images attach
So we ended up calling it a night, but the torque converter and flexplate are still bolted up, and those will be one of the first things I remove next weekend. This transmission is a 32 spline, and the 4l60e that came out is 27 I believe. So I need to hunt down another yoke, and IIRC the 4l80es had a 32 spline yoke. So I need to get one of those this week along with some new U-Joints. The driveshaft is aluminum and is 70" if anyone is curious!
I also need to pick up an inspection plate cover, and then seats whenever it's no rush. At this point I think we will have it running and driving on Saturday assuming I have a slip yoke ready.
So there is my weekend novel! Owned this truck a week and should have it running and driving within two weeks of picking it up. My plan is to drive it over to the neighbor's house when it's driving and tell him he can come over and we will mount his rack on his new truck. That might shock him that we got it done so quickly lol. I tend to get a vehicle and my only motivation to work on it is when I first get it, then if it breaks later it just sits (like my old 94 and now my 89). But when it's all good to go I'm selling it and I'll buy another 350 to put in my 89 because I really miss that truck!
Last edited:
