Some thoughts on mods

[dirtautoguy]

I hope this is the right place to put this if not then my apologies:

I have a 96 Chevy k1500 rcsb I bought it in high school and have been learning and modding ever since. It has 260000 miles on it but has a jasper motor and a rebuilt tranny less than 30000 miles ago. It is my daily driver and is also used for hunting, camping, fishing, etc. i have decided I have put way to much time and effort into this truck and I love it so I may as well keep it and keep making it mine.

Most of my mod ideas I have found here on gmt400. And I am getting quite a list and decided I wanted to get some input on prioritizing mods on worth it or not so much. There are a couple things on here that will be obviously more important than others and some mods it might be a looooong time before I get to them.


1. 9.5 14 bolt semi float diff
I would really like the bigger brakes on this axle. I am on the 2nd 10 bolt in this truck and it has started howling while accelerating.(I got the truck at 194000 when the first one went and the current diff has unknown history) my biggest concern with this swap is the driveshaft whether it will need shortened or not? I’m running 31x10.50x15 right now. Also I am wondering what’s the best way to go for a diff? Used? Rebuilt? Junkyard?

2.454 vortec throttle body. I read a forum on here where someone did it but I never found any real solid results on how well it worked

3.egr delete iv heard it hurts things in the long run and iv heard it’s a good thing? (Tune will be implemented eventually)

4. Pcm411 swap I like the idea of this but I am not sure that it will be worth the improvement. Iv heard that if it’s mostly stock it won’t help a lot. The biggest part about it that interests me is that I believe I read it can run my electric fans off the pcm. And potentially put a tow mode into it for towing our camp trailer and sidebyside?

5. Power steering cooler. When driving slow on mountain roads hunting or when the roads are just terrible I lose power steering. My guess is that the fluid gets hot and the the pump has 260000 miles on it. I plan to replace the pump and steering gear box at the same time and was wondering about adding a cooler?

6. I already have a tranny cooler installed but I used barbed fittings and regular cooler hose. I don’t like it and am thinking of using an fittings and going to braided lines with threaded fittings


7. Steering stabilizer. My truck doesn’t have one and to my knowledge never has. Would it be a improvement?

8. Bilstein heavy shocks. I have Kyb shocks on now that I put on in high school and they have been great. When I did the control arm bushings the other week I put some napa ones on because the kybs were shot and the new ones ride terrible compared to when the kybs were new. I don’t necessarily care if it rides like a truck but with towing a 4500# camper would the “heavy duty” be worth it?

9. 60/40 seat. It has a bench seat right now which gets uncomfortable on long rides but it rarely sees long rides.

10.mirrors I need a better solution for mirrors. I have the chrome older style ones on it because I think they look better but some nicer tow mirrors are in order what ones are suggested

There are probably more I have thought about that are slipping my mind right now.

Some things that have already been done

Helper springs

Trailer brakes

Updated spider injectors

Electric fans

Metal skid plate

Torsion bars leveled

2.25 dual exhaust with h-pipe manifolds back

Tinted windows (horrible for backing trailers at night)

Whole truck is done in durabak bed liner.

Some ideas might be great and some maybe not so much. I’m kinda spitballing some of my ideas what are your thoughts? Thanks

 

[Schurkey]

I have a 96 Chevy k1500 rcsb

1. 9.5 14 bolt semi float diff... ...my biggest concern with this swap is the driveshaft whether it will need shortened or not? I’m running 31x10.50x15 right now. Also I am wondering what’s the best way to go for a diff? Used? Rebuilt? Junkyard?

When I slapped a 14-bolt semi-float under my '88 K1500 RCLB, all I needed was a conversion U-joint in the rear of the driveshaft, and to polish the yoke some because it needs to slide a little farther into the transfer case. Get the mounting plates for the bigger axle, the 8.5" mounting plates are too small. I needed new U-bolts. Seems to me I installed my existing park brake cables into the 9.5" 14-bolt axle.

Easy swap.

3.egr delete iv heard it hurts things in the long run and iv heard it’s a good thing? (Tune will be implemented eventually)

Seems like a waste of time to me. EGR is beneficial for emissions control, and to reduce detonation at part-throttle.

5. Power steering cooler. When driving slow on mountain roads hunting or when the roads are just terrible I lose power steering. My guess is that the fluid gets hot and the the pump has 260000 miles on it. I plan to replace the pump and steering gear box at the same time and was wondering about adding a cooler?

The cooler on my '97 K2500 is nothing but a formed-steel tube that gets wound back and forth inside the driver's side frame rail. Of course, it wore through from vibration and leaked like a sieve. I bypassed it and have no real plans to replace it.

MAYBE your fluid is too hot. My guess is that you've just got a defective pump or defective steering gear. Fluid level isn't low...right?

6. I already have a tranny cooler installed but I used barbed fittings and regular cooler hose. I don’t like it and am thinking of using an fittings and going to braided lines with threaded fittings

What's sold as "AN" is almost guaranteed to be NON-MILITARY, NON-AEROSPACE quality, and would not have met the ancient "AN" specs. I don't know how they manage to advertise "AN" fittings and not get shut down by the Federal Trade Commission.

Yeah, the braided hose looks cute. Not likely to work any better than what you have, but at least it'll cost a lot more.

When it's me--and sometimes it is--I use steel-braid-over-PTFE (Teflon) liner hose and matching hose ends. There's just no point to paying that much money and still getting rubber hose.

Be aware that steel braided hose in general, and Teflon-lined hose in particular, MUST BE ROUTED PROPERLY and prevented from chafing on anything. Don't curve the hose too sharply, Teflon hose has problems with bend-radius. If it's bent too much, the liner will kink and then the hose is ruined. Secure it with cushioned clamps; the steel braid will act like a dull hack-saw on anything it rubs against.

7. Steering stabilizer. My truck doesn’t have one and to my knowledge never has. Would it be a improvement?

Define "steering stabilizer". Are you talking about a sway bar? My K1500 did not have one. I bought one but haven't installed it yet.

There's a hydraulic "shock absorber" that mounts to the steering linkage; I suppose on bumpy roads--or off-road--that'd be nice.

8. Bilstein heavy shocks. I have Kyb shocks on now that I put on in high school and they have been great. When I did the control arm bushings the other week I put some napa ones on because the kybs were shot and the new ones ride terrible compared to when the kybs were new. I don’t necessarily care if it rides like a truck but with towing a 4500# camper would the “heavy duty” be worth it?

If you liked the KYBs, why not put another set back on?

 

[delta_p]

Define "steering stabilizer". Are you talking about a sway bar? My K1500 did not have one. I bought one but haven't installed it yet.

There's a hydraulic "shock absorber" that mounts to the steering linkage; I suppose on bumpy roads--or off-road--that'd be nice.

I put one of those on my c1500 after i replaced all my suspension components. I can't tell if it really does anything and thought about taking it off because it rides so close to the skid plate on the c1500. I am always afraid it's going to move and hang up on the skid place. I check it's position obsessively. Probably need to remove it.

 

[Wade]

7. Steering stabilizer. My truck doesn’t have one and to my knowledge never has. Would it be a improvement?

I put a steering stabilizer on my truck and it seems to help with bump steer. If you don't have any bump steer problems, I can't imagine you would see any difference.

 

[Redneckgeriatric]

change your steering fluid, refill with ford trans fluid.

 

[dirtautoguy]

I was talkin about he hydraulic steering stabilizer. It sounds like it probably won’t do me much good.

I know my steering gear box has slop and the ps fades at slower speeds for extended periods of time, I also know that I haven’t changed the pump and I can’t say whether the previous owners did or not. I used some Lucas ps fluid and it made it a lot quieter but it still growls and that’s just a bandaid. I plan on doing the gear box and pump together.

I will probably eventually just do all 4 shocks with kybs again I just wasn’t sure if the heavier duty Bilsteins would be better


I am really wanting the 9.5 rear end to work without driveline modifications. As I would either have to get a spare and have it modified or travel atleast 100 miles away to find a shop that does them and have my truck down for that time.

 

[Turbokat]

You shouldn't need to shorten the driveshaft when only doing the 9.5 conversion. I only had to shorten mine after i lowered it 4.5 inches

 

[Ben Burrage]

Just replace pump, as ps assist solenoid is probably bad. There is bypass in replacement pumps. Also change pitman and idler arms if not done. Rag joints in intermediate shaft is also a know failure point. The upgrade is a shaft from 87-94 Cherokee which uses u-joint styler vs rag joint. If you do get steering gear, get it from Napa. If you still have play, Cognito sells pitman and Idler supports that are worth every penny. They reduce the movement in center link.

 

[dirtautoguy]

The gear box is a reman napa unit and I’m pretty sure it’s got a lifetime warranty. Idler and pitman arms are new as of this month, rag joint has also been replaced.

The gear box I did roughly 4 years ago, and I was suspicious of it but I thought maybe an alignment would fix it so after new control arm bushings and a few other things I took it to a friend I used to work with and he said the box has some slop in it.

I have wondered though if the ps pump could cause similar symptoms especially where i lose ps sometimes.

 

[dirtautoguy]

How do the rear brakes work? I have read that with this swap the rear brakes will sometimes lock up before the fronts?