[Guest]

hey, every one im new to the board. im 17 live in alaska
and own a 93 chevy k1500 4.3l v6, i was wondering what i could do to make it more trail worthie, i dont want to be like most of the kids at mt school who lift just to look
"cool" if i could get help it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[889]

Welcome!

Now you need to define trail worthy, and what type of money you are looking to spend. If money is an issue, i'd say get a bushwacker cutout flare set and run 35's, but you would HAVE to swap gears too because the 4.3 won't like spinning 35's with the wrong gears. A guy on here had a 2wd running 35's with the 4.3, just dont' remember who ended up with the truck, and what gears he put in it. Hell reply soon enough.

If you have a bit more money to spend, a suspension lift is in your future.
Not only does it help your truck look better, it allows bigger tires to fit, which will improve your ground clearance. I'd go with a 4" rancho, do a little trimming, and run 35's. The smaller lift (4" vs 6") keeps your center of gravity lower. Plus, the rancho 4" is more like a 5.5, so it allows you to run your T-bars at factory settings.

Anyways, we've got a wealth of info here, if you can define your goals a little more clearly we'd love to give you more details/suggestions!

 

[1021]

Lock up the rear. Regardless of tire size, this will make you able to go over more things. As long as you are in the diff, look into reagearing.

 

[578]

i havea 4.3 litre engine and 35in tires. i had to re-gvear from 3.42 to 4.10 gears though. pat still hafd the truck when that happened. and i talked him into putting i na locker as well. makes a big difference.
its stiny engine, but oi havent found the need to have much more really. my old mans current truck has the 4.3 as well. a good engine but it builds caron pretty fast.
and you're just not gonna get sa whole lot of power out of it. i miss my vortec 350, but honestly the only thing this truck cant do that the other could isaccelerate fast. and thats not a big deal to me

 

[889]

Ok, so if you don't want/have money for a suspension lift, i'd get the cutout flares, run 35's, regear to 4.10's, and lock up the rear end. The rear end in that truck isn't that strong, and often breaks when locked up, but i don't think you will have problems breaking stuff with that motor.

 

[578]

I broke a few axle shafts with my z-71 and a locker. too much power and a manual trans to boot. with the auto and 4.3 i havent had any problems with the 35s

 

[MSF]

Good ball joints. If there is one thing I've messed up wheeling too hard it's ball joints (Go Moog, lifetime warranty). Also a steering stabilizer helps quite a bit too. When you land in a rut, that wheel is going to jerk hard if you don't have one. Off-Road lights if you're night riding, and of course grippy tires. What you do with it will depend on the type of tires/wheels.