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[GMCnet] 1978 Kingsley Toronado to GMC K2500 Chassis Conversion [message #77460] Sun, 21 March 2010 11:21 Go to previous message
Robert Slate is currently offline  Robert Slate   United States
Messages: 3
Registered: March 2010
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Junior Member
TITLE: 1978 Kingsley Toronado to GMC K2500 Chassis Conversion

This is the first time I have posted to this net, so bear with me.

Over the 10 years we’ve had our 1978 Kingsley we’ve put about 100k miles
on it, bringing the total mileage up to 200k on the vehicle. With us,
we either drive far (4500k+ miles) and fast on the interstate or off
pavement (and maybe still far and fast). The roads are often
wash-boarded or rough, or both.

Three times I’ve found broken lower ball joints and I’ve done numerous
front wheel bearing replacements, typically getting 15-20k out of a
bearing set using standard S23 sets and new knuckles where required.
I’ve also had to replace lower A-Arms due to fatigue cracks or shock
mounting damage.

So much for the background….

The complete story has to include that we travel to VERY remote places,
and my wife often travels long, remote distances alone and I just NEED
more reliability.

With the last broken lower ball joint, that was only discovered while
doing routine maintenance, I went crazy and said “Enough is Enough,
Somebody is Going to Get Killed!”


I then proceeded to buy a front chassis off of a GMC K2500 to put under
the coach. For some reason though I changed my mind and decided to just
modify the coach frame to take the K2500 knuckles. To do so I ground
the upper a-arm brackets off of the frame and installed new brackets to
fit the K2500 upper a-arm.

The lower a-arm though could not be made to fit so I modified the TZE
a-arm to take the K2500 lower ball joint.

Then I installed air shocks so that the coach height would be set to be
parked low with the torsion bar and set to ride height with the air shocks.

I also had new half-shaft axles made to fit the K2500 outer CV joints,
as they had to be longer than the stock K2500 half-shafts. The only
shop I could find to do this was “Dutchman’s” out of Portland, Oregon.
(I had the results tested for fit and strength and am very happy with
the results)

The positive end result was heavier rated and (mostly) current
production parts:
1. Ball joints rated better for the service I was encountering.
2. Package front wheel bearings proven serviceable for the application.
Anyone, including my wife, could change them properly.
3. Larger brakes. (Our mountain routes are real hard on the brakes)
4. Current production CV-Joints (although with custom axles in the middle)

The negative end result being:
5. Custom lower a-arm (Heaven forbid I damage one)
6. Concerns about risks in the event the non-GM lower a-arm was involved
in an accident, whether or not it was at fault.
7. No improvement in torsion bar spring rate. (Do not read as a capacity
increase).
8. Custom lower a-arm (Heaven forbid I was involved in a serious
accident with them installed.)
9. Custom lower a-arm (Heaven forbid I damage one.)

So, after re-considering what I had done, I’m gong to start all over again…

The reason being the custom lower a-arm, and I feel very stronger that
the shorter torsion bars of the K2500 will make for a faster rate,
thereby reducing bottoming out on the shocks at the expense, of course,
of a stiffer ride. The soft, smooth ride on the freeway at 80mph needs
to give way to that bone-jarring bump as the shock bottoms out when we
hit a pot-hole on the back road.

I am now getting ready to buy another chassis and modify it to slip
under the old Kingsley, and while I’ve now worked out most of the
issues, I am wondering if someone else has already done this.

The main concerns I have are regarding the steering box, drag link and
related steering parts. Specifically, the K2500 steering box input is
at the wrong angle. I’m really not too concerned about the rest of the
steering links. The sway bar from the TZE will be re-applied.

Another concern is how difficult it would be to remove the coach from
the chassis. I see in photos that this is done pretty often but would
like more information on how to do it, and maybe how not to do it.

All comments and advice will be appreciated.

Thanks for your patience with this long post :)

Robert Slate
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