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Hero of the Day

How You'd Build a 1-Ton If Metallica Was Your Boss

By David Kennedy
photographer: Wendy Frazier

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Up front the Dana 60 rides on 38.5x16-16.5 Swampers on 16.5x10 Taylor Made wheels, and turns with 4.88 gears and an ARB. Skyjacker 8-inch lift springs with 11/2-inch-longer shackles damped by dual RS 9000 shocks work with an Off Road Unlimited crossover steering conversion. So far the Dana 60 has held up, but Zach's on his third front driveshaft. Are you starting to notice a pattern?

Rod Hall once told us: "it takes two Hummers to go wheeling. If you get one stuck, only another Hummer is going to get you out again." Zach Harmon will tell you that Chevy Crew Cab 4x4 dualies on 38s should also adhere to Rod's rule. You see, Zach's '87 K30 is just about the biggest truck you're likely to find out in the mud and sand of Southern California.

Based on the heaviest pickup GM ever built, Zach's 454, TH400, NP205, Dana 60 front, Dana 70 rear package reads like a drivetrain wish list. To fit the 38s Zach lifted the truck with an 8-inch suspension lift and had the front fenders cut and recontoured to fit the tires. Zach is tough on his truck, and he can't afford a lot of downtime because he's a busy man. You see, Zach is Metallica's (yes, that Metallica) guitar technician and doesn't get a lot of time to go wheeling--as you can imagine, Zach's day job can be rather demanding. When you work with a rock band for a living you have to do some pretty extreme stuff to have fun. So when he does hit the trails he doesn't hold anything back--he goes where he wants to and plays as hard as he can. Slowly but surely this truck is evolving into a rig that can handle everything Zach can dish out. Now all he needs is a friend with a dualie on 40s!


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Up front the Dana 60 rides on 38.5x16-16.5 Swampers on 16.5x10 Taylor Made wheels, and turns with 4.88 gears and an ARB. Skyjacker 8-inch lift springs with 11/2-inch-longer shackles damped by dual RS 9000 shocks work with an Off Road Unlimited crossover steering conversion. So far the Dana 60 has held up, but Zach's on his third front driveshaft. Are you starting to notice a pattern?
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Want to talk flotation tires? Zach runs four 38x12.5-16.5 Swamper TSLs to make sure he can pull his desert toys over any terrain in Southern California without sinking or getting stuck. The factory Dana 70 rear axle has been fortified with 4.88 gears, a Detroit Locker, and a Go Rhino axle truss, so the weak link in the rearend is now actually the U-bolts! How do we know? Zach's got home video that shows him turning all four of them into pretzels as the rear driveshaft went into orbit when he combined a little too much throttle with all that tire on a tough hillclimb.
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he 3+3 package was GM's way of saying "4x4 limousine." Zach's a family man so he wanted four doors to haul around the wife and kids (or even the band) in a package that could take them anywhere the truck would fit. The interior remains mostly stock but is big enough to sleep two if Zach has to spend the night stuck in the mud until help arrives.

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