SQUARE-BODY SHOPPING | CHEVY & GMC K20 4WDs | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- Contrary to many reports, the 1973-1991 “square body” GM pickups of the third- and fourth-generation C- and K-series trucks, are among the highest production number vehicles in existence. Well over 1 million Chevrolet and GMC ½-, ¾- and 1-ton trucks were built at GM facilities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, and Brazil, and production continued until 1997.
So while prices for the best examples of K-series four-wheel drive pickups have continued to climb, if you are resolute in finding the perfect square-body 4x4, they are out there.
In this episode of Tested 4x4, Ian Johnson of Big Tire Garage once again walks through the details of the third and fourth-generation square body pickups and identifies key components to be in search of.
Hemmings is the ultimate destination for finding your perfect ride. Head to Hemmings.com to register and start your search today or download our Hemmings marketplace app for Apple and Android devices.
Chevrolet and GMC “Square Body” Pickup Articles from Hemmings
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Chevrolet and GMC K-Series Trucks for sale on Hemmings.com
www.hemmings.com/classifieds/...[]=396&make_id[]=190&model_id[]=6564&model_id[]=13908&model_id[]=9518&model_id[]=14015&min_year=1973&max_year=1991&distance=50&per_page=30
@BigTireGarage #squarebody #chevrolet #kseries #4x4 #GMC #Chevrolet #GMT400 #Hemmings #k20 - Auta a dopravní prostředky
I have a 1977 GMC K25 High Sierra 454 with SM465/NP205 I like having the long bed. I think it looks good on the lifted trucks.
I remember only the farmers wanted the 3/4 ton trucks . Half ton pick-ups were always more popular for gas mileage and performance
In the 80s and 90s I had a 77 GMC C25. It mostly hauled around a 10.5 ft cab over camper. It never complained. Sure wish I still had it. Sold it for $2000.😢 Nobody told me they would be come "classics." 😁
the short beds look cool but you might as well get a blazer its the same with a cap but no single cab. The long bed is actually useful
I would agree with that....Honestly I prefer the Dually
Blazer actually has a shorter wheelbase.
Not a fan of shortening a long box, plenty of shorts out there to buy.
GM is out of their minds for not bringing this exact style truck back on the market because these trucks are now considered unicorns and the fact you can't find new whole cabs for these anywhere makes them even more rare when you find one that isn't completely rusted out
Would take my 84 k20 any day over a new one.
just picked up an 87 c20 with a tool bed on it no scale on the frame and solid floors hard to find in KY LOL but good ol solid truck drove it 80 miles home only issue was sticky caliper ol 350 runs like a top and throttle body she cracks right off slowly falling in love LOL
Thats awesome! Any big plans for it?
Wow!
Not a word about the K/20 Suburbans of that Era.
That's fine.
I'll take my 74 and find another place to camp.
Thank you.
Square bodies are red hot for a while. I have an 85 GMC Sierra Classic 3500 Regular cab long bed. It’s a rust free truck that was special ordered with 454 , NP205, Dana 60, full floating rears, 4.10s, HD everything with the upgrade interior. It has 70k original miles and I bought it off the original owner that had a little black book with everything he did to it since new. It’s a Factory Brown with tan interior. I turned it into a Fall Guy truck replica. How rare are trucks like mine? I know they made a ton of them but 1 tons that were never worked to death with all the options. Just curious! Great video! Thanks!
That lid flip is actually good for 3 or 4 horsepower.
I still have the first vehicle I owned. 1973 K20, Cheyenne Super, Deluxe camper package. The only upgrades were hellwigs helper springs, aux trans cooler, transgo shift kit, headers, dual exhaust, 12.00x16.5 rims and tires, aftermarket inverter (for dual batteries), aux fuel tank and receiver hitch. With the camper on, it rides like a dream. Occasionally pull a 19’ (Grownups) motor boat with the camper. Two things I hate about the truck are the seat on long trips is down right back breaking, and fueling it up with 93 octane (48 gallons). I tried to buy ford trucks, but they wouldn’t give me what I wanted. Either 4 wheel drive OR a camper package, not both. Plus, ford sat higher than Chevy. My kids tell me sell the truck as it’s worth a lot. Guess they’ll have to wait til I die.
Hey Ian. I've got a 1979 K-20. It has a 350, SM 465, NP 205, 14 bolt full floating rear-end, 10 bolt front-end. With the exception of wheels, and front winch bumper it is stock down to the am radio.
that sounds amazing!!!
Sick! I have a '77 with a 350 in it also. Same tranny same everything they're such fun trucks!
Im almost certain that they didn't make 3/4 ton short wheel base trucks. So either this truck has been cut down to make it a short bed or the cab has been switched on to a 1/2 ton frame.
I explained in the video....that the owner did the short bed conversion
@@BigTireGarage sorry I missed it.
AS a daily driver, you better have a lot of money.
I have a 4wD K10, and I know what the mileage is. It is my favorite vehicle, but can't afford it as a daily driver.
These trucks have a fatal flaw, you didn't mention it.
RUST
The cowel, the part under the wipers, sucks in a lot of air when the truck is speeding down the road.
however, the cowel is more complicated than it looks.
The cowel is an open duct to both the driver side and passenger side of the truck. a good amount of the air, and water goes down the left and right
cowel, and some of it exits through the plastic panels behind the inner fenders.
The air that is supplied to the HVAC comes from the passenger side cowel.
Those panels by your feet on the walls, those panels are part of the cowel air duct. They will rust out from the debri that sits there wet. Check your floor coverings, most likely , it will be wet. The cheap fix is to clean the rust and fill with sealer. you can use fiber glass for a longer fix but unless you clean the rust out really well and use a good rust deformer, it will come back.
At this point, the air, water and debri can go in some pretty important places.
One never thought of is the left and right windshield posts. the air is directed up the post over the roof and down the cab corners. There is no access to these areas for rust prevention. Though it is not the main reason the cab corners rust out, it is part of the rust formula.
There is an opening just before the plastic panels that lets the air, water and debri into the rockers.
the area just behind the inner fenders inside this rocker area gets hit hard with debri and water. There is no place for the debri to go and you can't get it out.
if you are repairing the rockers and cut the rockers out, you will find debri rust and mud in there.
now you would think that GM would have make it so the muck would wash out, wouldn't you?a
when you have your truck on a lift, look inside those rockers from the rear of the cab.
The inner rocker panel only comes back about 3/4 of the rocker length. and at the end, they bent the metal to keep critter out but let water pass. But it blocks the debri.
It also prevents applying any kind of good rust coating on the surface of the inner rockers.
debri sits there, wet and rots the metal until you have to either fix it or junk it.
The actual cowl unit will rust out too.
This is are really intensive repair as you need to remove the fenders and doors. To replace cowel panels you have to cut them apart because they are welded as a unit at the factory. Unless you are an accomplished metal worker and welder, if your cowel rusts out, your only hope is to fiberglass what you can and hope it stops the problem.
GM could have done a better job but they didn't bother. And now we who work on these great trucks are finding where GM stuck it to us in the manufacturing of the square body.
some of these areas they could have inserted foam to prevent moisture from getting up the tubes. for the rockers, at least they could have put in a little screan to keep the debri out. They did nothing.
So this is why you are finding many square bodies rusted out beyond repair. (if you want to see a square body that was beyond repair and brought back to life, check out POLE BARN GARAGE, you wont believe what you will see in the rescue.)
Even if you find a Square Body that looks in good shape, check out the inaccessible areas, like above the rear cab corners where the door frame and body panels connect. Rust likes to get in there and destroy the metal in the seams.
The very least thing you should do if you are keeping your truck, is spray it everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE with mineral oil, transmission fluid, any oil based media to get that rust under control. I'd do inside the door pinch seams day one, over the fenders, the frame, inside the hood. other than the paint, everything should look wet when you are done to stop the rust. True you can't get most of the cowel and rockers, but do the best you can.
lotsa luck, you'll need it.
Ian, that NP205 was even available in the 71-75 IH pickups, but NOT the Scout.
Yes and both dodge made a divorce passenger drop 205 while ford made both a married and divorced driver drop 205.
@@thetrutha2177 that IH truck used a divorce unit. I know, I’ve gotten several of those trucks. I got what was usable (including what was not succumbed to body “cancer rust” and then I ended up scrapping the rest. I was torn doing so, but a man has to do what he’s gotta do.
@@thetrutha2177 it’s also just a shame that IH decided to use the crappy 727 automatic transmission in several trucks. That’s what ultimately caused me to switch over to a manual in everything that I drive. But WHEN you can find the sorta rare Borg-Warner T-19 transmission, JUMP ON IT! Granny low AND synchronized granny. No more gear grinding when you’re moving, unless you have a synchro issue.
That 44 up front only lasted 45 years. Better hurry and upgrade that thing.
No thanks on the short bed conversion, long bed all the way!
Interesting enough it was Chryslers own New Process Gear that supplied all full size 4x4 trucks Ford and G.M. with transfer cases and manual transmissions, and yes including Dodge lol.
As long as everyone is saying what they have. I have a 1983 K20 10 bolt posi front a full floater 14 bolt posi rear. 6” lift. 16.5 hurricane rims with 37’s it’s Blue. Restored interior with patina exterior. 6.2 CUCV diesel with a functioning ATS turbo. Turbo injectors and pump. It’s a single cab long bed but I bobbed the bed off right after the leafs so it looks like a stretched short bed. I also found the last NOS razorback brand new. Exhaust dumps behind front passenger tire. Turbo 400. The bed top is 5’6” and the cab top is 7’6”. Where do I stop. Maybe right here.
Oops and a disc brake conversion with crossover steering
This truck has a 10 bolt front axle, not a Dana 44 as stated in the video. The earlier models did have the 44 up front until around 1978.
77 was the first year the used a to bolt front.
Why is the sm465 desirable? Grew up with these all around
Best movie square body was Patrick Swayze’s in Red Dawn
WOLVERINES!!!!!!
A friend of mine had one back in the day the hoods on some of these would bend up right in the middle.
The hinges were odd, and as they got old they would become stiff. You had to push back and down when putting the hood down or the hood would have a lot of pressure on it and it would bend.
my 1986 has a more door hinge type of set up, it can bend but you would have to really get on it to do it.. keep the hinges lubed and it should be ok.
I thought the last year for square bodies was 1987. The gmt 400 was introduced in 1988.
Although the GMT 400 debuted in 1988, Blazers, Suburbans, and fleet trucks continued as square bodies through 1991. Same thing with the end of GMT 400. I've got a 2000 OBS even though the body style ended in 1998. It was a fleet truck from the railroad.
@@rockymasel3317Yep
87 was the last year for the pickup. The K5 blazer went to the year model 91.
Everything you said is completely false. Gm stop making the c/k seriously 1/2 (10) and 3/4 (20) tons after 87. They kept making the blazer (5) suburban (10/20) and 1 ton (30) under the R/V seriously up to 91.
@@thetrutha2177 your wrong
1991 was the last year for the C/K square body pickups in the 20 and 30 models, as well as the K5 Blazer and Suburban
@@thetrutha2177 88 was the new body style, I had a 87 k 20 and a buddy of mine had an 88 with the new body style.
87-91 suburbans , blazer and one tons were R/V not C/K
That truck has a 78 or older front
The problem lots of us have is communist California. We have to smog 76 and newer trucks. These trucks can be very hard to smog.
Not going to be racing... its got a bow tie. I smoke fords everyday. 85 c30 headers intake 750. Th400 . Baja everyday.
You left out the short and long stepside beds.
He left out the part the never was a short bed 3/4 ton.
@@thetrutha2177I say in the video that the owner performed the short bed conversion.....which they had
I have two Crew cabs 88 and 89 3500 4/4 BB AUTO FOR SALE
Ian, that is not a k20. They were never made as a short box. And that is not a 79 from the end. Its obvious the owner to did a tag job on that truck. You can tell by the inside bed color and cab color. All k30@ came with a dana 60 front not "some."
Apparently you missed the part where Ian said that K20 had a short bed conversation done to it
Actually some of the K30's came with Dana 44's
For no reason at all? You flipped the lid to hear the back barrels sing.
Quadrabog!!!!
disagree i like longbed better with big tires
Lumber wagon work horse gas hog 😂
Bad, bad idea, short-bed conversion.
If it says Chevrolet on it walk away
You Have to walk away,because your Ford is in the shop! lol.
Ian should be shopping for a new hair style…the 90’s are long over bro.
Nope....you are so wrong!!!
I t hought he stuck his finger in a light socket
Those ugly ford mirrors 🤮