Well, I brought home a 1986 Chevy 4x4 longbed today. It's got a 305 in it (for now) and is in pretty good shape. I'm already thinking of what to do with it next....

In the plans -

350 engine (with goodies)
4" lift (and 33's)
ring and pinion

The truck already has 33" tires on it and looks great. It sure is slow though, so I'm thinking that R&P may be one of the first things that I do... I have no idea what gears are in it right now, but i'm thinking it's probably 3.08 because I think those are fairly common. What gears would you suggest for this truck for good all around driveability? It will probably see the highway more than the trail (any trails it does see will probably only be mild to medium). What kind of costs am I looking at?

The steering column is definitely loose. Tried to pull the wheel off this weekend, but couldn't get it. Will work on it some more this week. Hopefully it is as easy as mentioned in the other post, and all I'll have to do is tighten up some bolts.

The truck had an old school fiberglass bedliner that was apparently somehow glued to the bed. We pulled it off in chunks this weekend and it sure is ugly underneath. Lots of surface rust, but no through rust. I'm going to work on cleaning it up and then have a spray in liner put in.

Let me know what you guys think about the gears...

- Steve

I have 4:10's in mine with my 33's and it is perfect. the 4:10s came in mine from the factory so they should be cheap enough to get.

Go threw every fluid and filter in it too...

good luck with it.

-Joe

I think I can get the gears for a reasonable price... it's finding someone to install them that might be the hard part. I was thinking that 4.10s would be a good choice. Once I get the 350 in there, it should roll along right fine!!!

Congrats on the purchase! Have fun with the new toy. More than likely being that late in the 80's and having a 305 you most likely got some tall gears. Chevy was trying to get that fuel economy up you know and didn't care about actually having something with grunt to it. what kind of tranny you got, auto or manual? Too bad your not up in my neck of the woods or I could have set you up with a matched set of 10 bolts with 3.42's for less than a 100 bucks. Just taking up space in my garage.

The tranny is an auto. I need to confirm which gears I have... hoping to be able to do that this weekend.

It is very unfortunate that i'm not in your neck of the woods. 3.42s would be a welcome addition if my gears are indeed 3.08s. Any idea how much that might cost to ship?

Let me know when you find out what you actually got and if you need them. They haven't been spoken for yet. Like I said, too bad you weren't nearer since they are complete axles and it would be a lot easier to change the entire axles out than mess with just the gears. By the way, how 'bout some pics of the ride??

I'm going to check it out this weekend and I'll let you know. I would MUCH rather just swap complete axles...

Pics are attached. These are the same pics that the previous owner sent me. I haven't taken my own yet (haven't had a chance to wash it).



305 (for now) -

That is a sharp looking truck. I'm sorry that it is black though. It looks damn nice when clean, but keeping itthat way is a PITA. I think those are the same wheels that Drey has/had on his truck. There's a member I haven't seen in a while.

If I had a way of getting those axles, I would take them. I have 10 bolts in my 81 Jimmy with 2.73's in it. That would be an improvement.

Jim

Yeah, I'm not too crazy about the black either... my other cars are white for that specific reason. I do like to keep them clean as well though, so this new one shouldn't be too bad. I'm hoping to get to wax it this weekend... The other problem with black is that it gets smoking hot in the Texas heat.