71 K10 Decision Paralysis

[decaren]

A few months back I picked up a 71 K10 LWB to use as a parts truck for my 2WD 67 C10 project. Fortunately the 71 was actually not that bad of a truck and I couldn't bring myself to part it out. So now I'm trying to put the 71 together as a bit of a work on the small homestead farm truck. Something we can get a load of firewood or mulch in that will do some occasional towing of a 14' open utility trailer or 18' open vehicle trailer. It's a PS/PB truck with disc front brakes. I was thinking of putting the body on a 67 K20 LWB frame I (prematurely) purchased until I read on here that the frames are the same. So now I'm stuck trying to figure out the best path forward. I would like disc in the front, but is the K20 frame and axles really worth it for what I plan to do with the truck? Also I have a set of axles from an 89 K5. Are they a better fit or a step back. I've read on here that the K20 wasn't needed over a K10 and vice versa. So now I'm stuck in a bit of decision paralysis and hoping the vast knowledge of the group can help guide me to the best route. Thanks in advance for the help and suggestions.

[Louisvillekytruck]

Do u have any pics of the trucks

[57taskforce]

The longbed K frames are the same 1/2 and 3/4 ton in the same year if that makes sense. Unless your current K10 frame is rusted out or damaged, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble for the swap to me-you arent really gaining anything. You’re better off to put some new 3/4 ton springs under it and a set of 8 lug axles if you want the extra beef. Truth be told, Your half ton will likely do everything you are planning to be asking of it. If you do decide to swap axles, any front axle from 71-87(91 in suburban, blazer and K30 crew cab) will bolt in as is. The rears are a little more tricky. The 71-72 K trucks use a 40.5” perch spacing. The 73-87(91) 1/2 and 3/4 ton trucks and suv’s use a 42.5” perch spacing but the same year range 1ton trucks use the same 40.5 as the 71-72’s. So if you can find a 14 bolt full floating rear out of a real 1 ton (full floating 14 bolt 3/4 ton is not the same spacing) it will bolt in without any issue other than moving one shock mount on the axle. (pretty easy to do) also the 1 ton should get you the big 3.5" rear brakes. Again for what you are doing, the half ton would likely do fine if you don’t want to change anything up on it.

[decaren]

I grabbed some pictures of the trucks but I'm having trouble uploading them. I forgot about the 67 bagged frame as well. I'm going to pull the motor and trans out of that and sell that frame. I don't need anything that low Sorry for now, but I will figure it out and get the pics up.

[decaren]

I finally figured out how to upload photos to the forum. Oof, I had to fix them because they had my location information still in them