Tom, I saw your friends white Rubi in the parking lot at work, the guy that ran Lockwood Miller with us and was building a house, what was his name? I recognized the sheet metal over the winch cable.

my buddy building a house is Luis and he lives in ventura county so I doubt he was at your work - the guy w/ the sheet metal over his winch cable went to nightmare gulch and calico w/ us and came to a sharky's cruise-in, I think his name is Steve

well, I found a rig....... gonna pick it up this week. 1981 Chevy K5 Blazer Silverado Pkg. 350 V-8, TH350 auto trans, NP208 t-case, GM Corp 10 bolt 8.5" front axle, GM Corp 12 bolt rear, 4" lift w/ 35" Goodyear MTR's. runs good, needs some work, but the price was right. I need to do a few things right away - the gears are stock 2.73!!! so it is very ssslllloooowwww off the line, but great on the hwy (this was the guys commuter car). I'm gonna go w/ 4.11's because of the 3 spd auto and plan on doing some kind of t-case upgrade in the future. since I'm doing the gears I'll toss in some lockers too. thinking either a Detroit Locker or a Powertrax No-Slip in the rear and I'll get a Lockright for the front. the rear axle has a lift block so that will have to go - already found a shackle reversal kit on pirate4x4 along w/ a swaybar disco kit for the front.
I can't wait to get it trail-ready so I can get out there w/ you guys again.

Congrats Tom, If will feel good to be back in the game pounding the rocks with V8 power! Well I broke my new Jeep today on Gold Mountain, we thought I broke the rear axle on the D35 but it turned out to be a broken ring gear! I barely even touched the throttle and the damn D35 broke. I was able to drive home on front wheel drive after pulling the rear driveshaft. Also Wayne broke the axle on his D35, then John ripped a right rear shockmount off his rear alxe and destroyed his Walker Evans Remote Reservoir Shock.

wow, sounds like it was a rough run. you were still running the stock 3.08 right? that's got some big teeth to break. did wayne have a spare shaft?

The Dana 35 came stock with 3.73 gears on our 2006. I am looking at maybe 4.56 Alloy USA for my replacement. I think Jim also said he may have a set of 4.56, I'm not sure what will be best with the 4 speed Auto. Doug had spare axles so Wayne owes Doug a left rear axle. We had a hard time getting the broken spline to come out and when it finally did it was shattered in many pieces.

I brought the "Beast" home tonight. too dark for pics, so I'll post some tomorrow. ordered some parts today too, some new, some used (ebay, craigslist, & pirate4x4 rock). gonna go with 4.11's, lockright for the front, no-slip for the rear, got a spare rear axle shaft since it's a c-clip axle - cool thing is it's same length for both sides, so I only need to carry 1 spare, front has manual hubs. I do need a spare tire tho, so anyone have an old 35 laying around? I never sold my co2 tank so that'll be installed, along w/ my old cb radio. should be ready in a few weeks for some testing.

here it is.....

Very cool rig Tom, got to love the full size chevy &V8 POWER... My buddy had one just like that years ago and it was a blast, rear hard top off was also a cool set up almost like a jeep . great choice for a family rig.

Nice K5 Tom, They are like a truck when the top is off, I also like those Wheels & MTR's. By the way, Offroad Design has created a new Swaybar Correction/Disconnect Kit for Full size Chevy's that is both functional and easy to install for improved axle articulation!
http://www.offroaddesign.com/catalog/swaybarkit.htm