K2700 Lift tires and wheels

[k2700]

Kia K2700 4x4
This little truck would become an instant sucess if only allowed in the USA. Both for business and 4x4 fans if they only tried one. 4x4, 4000lb load, full sized 6 pass cab, limited slip diffs, diesel, fold down flat deck, brutally tough. All for $17,000 We purchased one last year and it has had abuse few truck could take and still run. It has hauled 100s of thousands of pounds of gear up remote mountain paths building churches taking medical teams. Rated for 4000lbs but we have had 6000+ on most of the time. 60-- 100lbs bags of cement and 6 men in the cab up mule trails. Well designed for working to the extreem and doing it on little fuel. 6 adult american men can fit in the cam comfortabley(we have had 40 Hondurans on it) and head for the hills on road that are even difficult to walk.
We had a set of wheel made by( www.stocktonwheel.com ) to put small superswampers on it and it looks like a bobcat with them. We purchased a basic body lift kit and purchased local hardware to make it work.

[cyberfarmer]

HI k2700!!

Do you have pix of your rig? I have one too and yes its a performer.

Thanks

[dumbdreams]

k2700 and cyberfarmer,
do you guys have pictures? interested in getting one for farm use.
TIA

[hoyosbogota]

Hi, I'm from Colombia and I'm plannig on getting a K2700 2010. I want it for off-road use so I would like to change tires mod suspension and paint. I want to achieve a Dakar-rally look. Whats your opinion? Can I see pictures of your K2700?

[k2700]

2007 K2700 Lifted 3" with body lift (easy to do) dump bed added, 15x8 stockton HD wheel made for it with 29x1150x15 superswampers

[k2700]

The Body lift is a generic 3"kit from a mitsu and we robbed the needed parts from it. Spacers and bolts. can used the wider spacer blocks. The only real mod was a 3" extension to the steering shaft done at a drive shaft rebuilder for $10. The bed was lifted by making it into a dump bed. It is homemade from scrap parts I gathered, 12volt pump and cyl, steel ect; and spent 3 days with my son fabing it. Tail lights were cut off and welded to the reciever hitch and changed for 7"led bus lights. Installed a 2"reciever front and rear to mount the 10,000lb winch front or rear and tow our 763 bobcat. Also added duel Batteries and a large power inverter to run lights and a projector in the mountain churches to play movies. Stockton wheel in Ca was great in making the wheels. I measured what I wanted, the offset and bolt pattern, and they made them exactly that way. NOONE(I looked everywhere) else makes wheels for this vehicle. No other vehicle has the same bolt pattern. I did trim just a little 2"triangle off the front wheel well with a diegrinder cut off wheel following the natural curve and took the fender skirts off. But after a touch up with white fingernal polish you cant even tell. If you go with skinnier wheels you might get the 30x950x15 under it which are more common or 700x15 or? I use the 4x4 much less now and it goes many places in just 2wd. The ride is much softer than the 10 ply tiny tires it came with. KIA needs to make them OE with at least a 30x950x15 tire like toyota, nissian, ect have...until then I get stopped frequently by the police here...not for problems but so they can check it out, because they drive the same truck...
Slighly more body lift is possible, all the brake lines shift cables ect had plenty of slack allowing for the 30 or 31 inch tires. but you wont have the power to turn them. The next project is to add a turbo now that there is extra room ... Being a poor boy missionary (former HD truck mechanic)now feeding orphans it must be a caniblized install It will be a home design rather than the $3000 dollar one avail in AU. Check us out at Children's Lighthouse Blog

[k2700]

[k2700]

[fasinphil]

Hi,truck looks good,did you manage to install a turbo yet?

[k2700]

The 2007 lifted kia update. It has now been 4 years modified and seen lot of work abuse. Literally over a million pounds hauled up mountain paths, at times so loaded and steep the front tires come off the ground. The big flaw has been the owner abusing it way beyond its limits which it is easy to do with something that is prone to work this hard. The second has been a few unqualified mechanics repairing it, the last and only real oe issue is the temp gauge. Just does not give any good warning. If it looses too much water too quickly it does not register hot. A bad thing on rough roads where a rock can take out a radiator and loose water without a sign until it quits. One time just a fluke, 2,3,4th time not so funny. After adding water presto it shows hot… too late. With no other mods we were able to fit 31x10.50r15 tires under it with just an alignment tweak for castor, pulling the tires back just a bit. Never did install the turbo (no $$) but it turns the 31” tires ok since they are lighter than the previous set as well as lighter new wheels. We broke the frame prior to lifting once behind the cab and repaired it at the time of the lift. A few weeks back we found the frame broke again but upon closer inspection found it was broken in 5 locations and we had to rebuild the torsion arm seats as well as the mounts for the A-arms. After all the welding put 6000 or so pounds of gravel(2+ meters) and head up the mountain… What good is a repair if it wont work?

List of repairs
1-Broke rear differential- After pulling out a 66 pass bus stuck in the mud up to its axles. Made it home though.
2-Broke frame- over loading and jumping not covered under warranty… go figure.
3- Rebuild motor due to overheating(motor mount installed incorrectly allowing fan to hit and break off blades never read hot…
Second time rock through radiator repeat above…3 time blown hose… repeat… ect.
4-Repair water logged motor after failed river crossing… Loaded with kids and they bailed out jumping into river for fun. I had to stop to keep from hitting one at the worst moment…ops Found I had a leak in the air intake as well as the vacuum operated 4x4 hubs... It now has Warn manual locking hubs.
5-Broken front differential mounts rewelded welded.
6- 5 sets of brakes but still oe clutch.
7- Rolled it over prior to lifting it 4 years ago… Loaded heavy, very bad path, rock shifted, slow motion roll…
Ect ect…

Planning on buying another k2700 this year if the LORD provided the funds…