It's been a while for an update. We had a hell of a run with the 75 over some familiar dirt. We wheeled over Tin Cup pass in the dark. Got to see the sky on a moonless night at the top of the pass at 11,000 feet. Unforgettable. Next day my son took the wheel and took on Taylor pass. He tackled it like he's been doing this stuff for a long time, despite it was the first time behind the wheel off road, with a manual trans no less.
He had been driving it to school so the 75 hasn't been torn apart yet. I've been stashing pieces here and there. Winter is here.. A few of the guys wanted to do our normal New Years day snow run up to the area around Westcliffe. Seeing as the 75 was mobile I decided let's take it. New years morning was a cold day with a forecast for snow in the area where we were headed. Took 20 minutes to get the cold blooded beast to fire up, but it did and settled into a high idle to warm up. Loaded it with snacks, drinks, tools and a new GoPro and my body John pulled up. He, my son and I piled in to get to the gas station meeting point. Pulled out of the driveway onto the snowy street and made it to the corner. Now here's where my inner teenager comes out. I turn the corner, goose the throttle and proceed to spin the K5 around once as we all laugh like 10 year olds. I straighten it out and we proceed down the street. The single digit temps are making the speedo cable howl in anger and then it happened. We hear a significant loud metallic "clang" ring out from under the truck. It almost felt like it popped out of gear, so I grab the shifter and check it's position. It was still in gear. Check the t-case and it's still in 2wd. Odd. Pull it over and roll under it to look for something loose or otherwise out of the norm. Nothing is visually out of line so we hop back in and get over to the gas station. We are the 2nd truck to show up so I proceed to top off the fuel and John goes inside to get some coffee. I follow to get some batteries for my regular camera. We come outside to see more have shown up and that's when I see it. The puddle of 80-90w pouring out on the ground below the rear diff. UGGG! Further inspection reveals an exit wound in the cover. That's where the fluid is coming out of. Plans are revised. We limp the K5 the couple miles back to my house and unload the snacks and drinks to Bill's Ram and we pile in to catch up with the group in Wetmore.
We drive through snow blowing out of Westcliffe and head south to the turn off. The snow let up to a clear day on the trail all the way up to our friends cabin. Not as much snow as last time, but enough to still be fun.
Here's what I pulled out of the rear diff:
Here's a link to my Youtube page for some of the footage I shot since I wasn't driving...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj5...wvXMwip-veMTCQ
Now the plan was to swap the 75's axles and suspension to the 91 when the swap commenced. Those plans now have to be altered. It's time to upgrade. The search is on for a 14b full floater. A customer of mine and I got to talking this week and he said he had a pair of 8lug axles back at his place. Guess where I went for my lunch break? Yep, his place. He takes me across one of his hay fields to another outbuilding and outside of it sits a 8 lug D44 and a 14b bolt. Then I focus a little more and id the rear axle as a semi-floater. Bummer. He was let down too. He then remembered his son has another truck he was parting out at his house. Location? Westcliffe. Ironic, huh?
He's not sure what ratio the axle is, but he's going to check and let me know this coming week.
So if this falls together, I'll need to get some 8 lug wheels and tires to match. The saga continues..