Ol' Jesse
 

What's up fellas. Been a long time reader but first post here. I've always wanted a square body and I recently came across one and scooped it up. Ol' Jesse my wife calls it because it reminds her of uncle Jesse from Dukes of Hazard. lol. Anyway, It seemed to have the basic things I was looking for. It's a 1987 GMC Sierra 4x4. One of the previous owners did an auto to manual transmission swap and put in an NV4500. The truck needs a lot of work and I'm willing to put the $$ in. Now, I'm no mechanic but I'm also not mechanically declined. I also have plenty of friends that are very mechanically inclined and between us we have everything we need to do the work that I plan on getting done. I picked this truck up right before I left on my deployment so I didn't get much time with it. I'm looking for guidance on what to buy and how I should do this rebuild. I've got a budget of around $15k. Things I know I need to do: Rebuild the motor and tranny. New front and rear axles. New gears. New clutch and all clutch parts. Needs to be re-wired. Lots of Cosmetic stuff. Pretty much a total rebuild. Not even sure if the 4WD works. it has no Front drive shaft in it. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. I have about 6 1/2 Months before i'll be able to complete any of the work but would like to start ordering parts and getting them sent to my buddies garage. Ready to sponge....fill me with your knowledge!!!


This is the only pic I got on my phone before I left. I can get the wife to take some more if I need them.

Re: Ol' Jesse
 

Cool truck and welcome. I hope you have a good and safe deployment. It's good you have a budget figured. Often times folks (myself included!) drastically underestimate the cost of these projects.

I don't know what your goals are for the truck, but 15k could go a real long ways or not very far at all. I'd make a list of what you want to do. Anything you can get at a salvage yard, and any work you can do yourself will help stretch that coin. That's a unique ride already with the 5 speed. Are you going to keep it fuel injected?

Re: Ol' Jesse
 

Little more information might help out. what's your plan when finished daily driver/weekend toy/any off-road use. If your doing upgrade try to plan it out to keep from buying stuff twice ask lots of questions if you're not sure on something working together there's a lot of good guy's on here that will know someone or have bolted up peace together off the wall combination of parts to build some sick rigs

I want to go big with it. It'll be a toy but not strictly off road use. I want to be able to turn 44s no problem if I decide to go that route. When my wife yelled at me for buying a "piece of ****" truck I told her it will be the most badass looking truck in town...by 2017 haha. As far as keeping it fuel injected...I don't see why not but I'm not partial either way.
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Re: Ol' Jesse
 

To run 44" tires I would recommend 1 ton axles with some with some 5:13 or so gears probably 14 to16 inchs of lift crossover steering and being such a short wheelbase some good driveshafts what will work with the angle that there going to be running at is going to be pretty step and I would run a 205 transfer case if it don't have one swapped in yet then of course the tires and wheels of your choice there's a lot of choices to choose from
My build is a 78 long bed 12" suspension 3" body 1tons Dana 60 front 14full floter 5:13 gears 454 turbo 400 203/205 doubler crossover steering with hydo assistance

Re: Ol' Jesse
 

Awesome thanks for the info. Keep the knowledge flowing fellas. My shopping list is growing. The worst part about this is not being able to show you guys in progress/final product pics for like 7 months.

Re: Ol' Jesse
 

If you are shopping for a wire harness, forum member GMACHINZ sells high quality stock replacement harnesses or upgraded units for reasonable prices. I have used some of his upgrades and am very pleased with them.

Thanks fella. It's definitely on the list.
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Re: Ol' Jesse
 

Just about forgot to mention steering box support/brace and reinforce plate

Re: Ol' Jesse
 

What about the clutch? Since it was an automatic and a previous owner did the manual conversion, do I need find a clutch/components from a manual square body?
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