At this point, the truck looks rough, and it is. In contrast, Dan's plans for Dixie are finely tuned and in progress. Dan plans to trim back the wrinkled sheetmetal in the front fenders and rear quarter panels to gain additional tire clearance and to make the truck look more trimmed and less tattered. The mashed rocker panels will be deleted and replaced with a set of integrated rock sliders. A rollcage will add strength and stiffness to the chassis, as well as protect the occupants. Better bumpers and a winch are also on the horizon.
The expected completion date? It doesn't matter. "I have no plans to sell any of my vehicles," Dan declares unblinkingly. Dixie is a work in progress that's a bit tattered yet rugged and functional in the meantime. The old girl has a heart of gold. Someday she'll have the looks to match.
 The cast-iron cases and burly...  The cast-iron cases and burly gears inside the NP205 make it one of the toughest transfer cases of all time. A disc parking brake from High Angle Driveline with a matching High Angle-built driveshaft bolts to the rear output of the '205. Dan converted the 14-bolt rearend to discs and lost his parking brake in the process, so the T-case-mounted parking brake is a simple way to solve a simple problem. |  Dan's keeping this one, so...  Dan's keeping this one, so you'll have to find yours elsewhere. The front Dana 60 is an uber-durable kingpin model. The front differential is open and uses 4.56 gears. Offroad Design crossover steering takes the place of the factory push-pull steering system. |  Dana 60s are heavy beasts,...  Dana 60s are heavy beasts, but for that weight penalty, you are rewarded with nearly bulletproof 332-X U-joints and equally impressive disc brakes. Seventeen-inch Cragar steel wheels clear the hubs and rotors with room to spare. |
 Dan did some research and...  Dan did some research and found out that the front lift springs for '73-'87 K5s were substantially softer than those for the '69-'72 models. The later-model springs bolted up, 4-inch Tough Country springs in this case, but also required a longer shackle to be used. The '73-'87 front springs are longer than those for '69-'72 models. Rancho RS 5000s bolt to the stock mounts and perform decently both on the pavement and on the trail. |  Crossover steering is easy...  Crossover steering is easy to install on Chevy trucks. Simply detach your 4WD steering box and replace it with a 2WD model. The box mounts are identical, but the pitman-arm indexing differs between the four- and two-wheel-drive models. Dan started his crossover system using a 2WD box plucked from a wrecking yard but upgraded to an AGR-built box after the junkyard jewel puked its mechanical and liquid guts out. The AGR box is plumbed for a ram assist, which will be added some time down the road. |  The GM 14-bolt's existence...  The GM 14-bolt's existence is a true blessing if you're building a fullsize 4x4. The 14-bolt is easy to find in wrecking yards, is a full-floater, and is inexpensive to purchase. This one came with 4.56 gears and an open differential. Dan welded the spider gears to create a low-budget, high-traction spool, but plans to replace it with a Detroit Locker to minimize tire wear on the street. Although dirt duty is the Blazer's reason for being, Dan drives it to and from the trailhead. |
 Custom caliper brackets and...  Custom caliper brackets and 3/4-ton front brake rotors made a disc-brake swap an easy job on the 14-bolt rearend. |  |  Rear-suspension chores are...  Rear-suspension chores are handled by a set of no-name springs with military-wrapped front eyes and an Offroad Design shackle flip at the rear. The military wrap took up too much room in the hanger, so Dan welded in plates over the original spring-mounting holes and then drilled new holes about 1/2-inch lower than the original ones. |
 The fix was low-budget and...  The fix was low-budget and highly effective. The Offroad Design shackle flip changes the stock shackle configuration from a tension-style to a compression-style shackle and adds 4 inches of lift at the same time. |  |  A Bestop soft top replaced...  A Bestop soft top replaced the factory hardtop. It lets breezes in when the weather is nice and keeps the rain out when clouds show up. Dan is a member of the So Cal Big Dawgs 4x4 club. The Big Dawgs accept all sizes and brands of 4x4s, but if you show up to a Big Dawgs run in your Toyota pickup or Suzuki Samurai, you'll be surrounded by big, albeit friendly, American iron. |
 Dan wanted to use beadlocked...  Dan wanted to use beadlocked wheels, and he wanted them on the cheap. Seventeen-inch Cragar steel wheels and Great Lakes Off-Road DIY beadlock rings fit the bill. The DIY kit is for steel wheels only and does not require the outer lip of the wheel to be removed. The inner beadlock ring is laid inside the wheel's outer lip and welded in place. The outer ring then bolts to the inner ring in the same manner as all other beadlocks. Thirty-five bolts hold the outer bead in place. If there's a disadvantage to this system, it's that the tires' outer beads do not have as positive a surface to cling to compared to most other beadlock systems on the market. This can lead to leaky tires, so Dan smeared the beadlocks and outer tire beads with plastic roofing cement to seal the system. So far so good. Air pressure does not seem to decrease any faster than with a traditional wheel-and-tire setup. When the time comes, Dan will probably have to cut the tires off of the wheels with a knife. |  |  Dan's latest set of tires...  Dan's latest set of tires is a quintet of 37-inch Nitto Mud Grapplers. The grip is equal to the bias-ply tires he'd used in the past, but the radial construction and overall build quality of the Grapplers is far superior to the old set of bias tires. No tire shop would touch the beadlock-wheel system, so there wasn't any sort of professional balancing in the offing. The Nittos didn't need it. Tire-and-wheel balance probably isn't 100 percent perfect, but this much is certain: Dan can drive Dixie on the highway sans death wobble. Death wobble was a big problem with the old tires, but it vanished as soon as the Mud Grapplers were in place. |