The K5 That Started It All

November 8th, 2018.

A wildfire tore through my hometown of Paradise, California and took the whole town with it. At the time I had a Blazer — Black Beauty — sitting on jack stands in my driveway, freshly loaded with a pile of CFM Industries parts I'd just bought. There was no getting her back together in time. We evacuated through a neighborhood already on fire, and I watched Black Beauty burn in my own front yard.

A quick word to every wheeler reading this: carry comprehensive coverage on your off-road rigs. Not liability — comprehensive. It's the only thing that covers your truck when something crazy like a wildfire takes it. It's the reason this story has a second chapter.

A couple months later, the insurance money came through. I started telling my story — that I was hunting for a Blazer, any condition — and word got around. The electric utility was allegedly to blame for the fire, and when one of their workers heard I was looking, he reached out the same day. He had a diesel K5 sitting in his yard. Twelve years, never started. Just sat.

Diesel Blazers are hard to come by in California, so I drove straight out, no questions asked. He wanted a couple grand and I was more than happy to pay it. We got to talking, traded our stories, loaded up the truck — and when I went to hand him the money, he wouldn't take it. Told me it was fine, as long as I promised to enjoy it.

I've kept that promise ever since. That's where the K5 — and Blazin' Biddles — really began.

Getting it on the road

I took the insurance money and put it right back into the dirt — about ten grand to lift it, make it usable, and replace every CFM Industries part I'd lost in the fire. CFM had exactly the suspension I wanted, and looking back it was the best call I could've made. Shackle flip kit, adjustable spring hangers, the spring hanger kit, winch bumpers — anything I could get from them, I ran. Then I sourced 57" F-150 leaf springs for the front and 64" Silverado springs out back. That's when the build really started.

The tire addiction

If you know me, you know I can't quit double beadlocks — and I can't quit big tires. Over the years this Blazer has worn just about everything: 37" Goodyear MTRs, 40" MTRs, 40" and 42" Super Swamper Iroks, 44" and 42" Super Swamper TSLs, 42" TSL/SXs, 42" Pitbull Rockers — you name a 37 through a 44, I've probably run it. (Full tire reviews are coming in their own posts down the road.)

The battle scars

We actually use this truck — which means it's got the dents to prove it. The body's still all-original brown-and-white two-tone, worn into a real patina, dinged up from years of wheeling. It's not a trailer queen and it never will be. Case in point: we bent the frame taking it through a gnarly ditch we probably had no business in. (There's YouTube footage — we'll link it.)

Where it sits today

• Engine: 6.2L diesel, ATS turbo kit, upgraded injectors — otherwise stock and dependable
• Trans/transfer: factory 700R4 backed by DUAL NP241 transfer cases with JB Custom Fabrication shifters
• Axles: kingpin Dana 60 front, 14-bolt full-float rear
• Steering: crossover steering with hydraulic assist
• Suspension: ~5" of lift — 3"-wide 57" F-150 springs front, 64" Chevy springs rear, CFM Industries shackle flip + front and rear spring hangers, Bilstein shocks
• Driveline: High Angle Driveline shafts
• Bumpers: CFM Industries front and rear winch bumpers
• Rolling: 42" Pitbull Rockers on 16.5x12 widened double beadlocks
• Interior/Audio: my own Blazin' Biddles lighted door speaker panels, console lift, and adjustable cup holders — plus an Auxbeam control system running a full setup of off-road light bars, pods, and LED whips

This truck is the proof rig behind everything I build. If it survives the K5, it's good enough to sell. From here on out, we're documenting it all — every build, every project, every wheeling trip. Welcome to the build logs.