All this conversation about something that used to be so simple reminds me, again, of the "good old days" when I grew up. Graduated from high school at 18 and entered college that fall. Have owned more than 150 vehicles during my lifetime thus far. Along the way, I bought a used 1972 K5 Blazer with 9,000 miles on the clock. It had the 250 cid straight six in it and 4WD, lock-out hubs, auto tranny, radio and heater. You could put it in low range 4WD and get out and walk beside it as it moved forward on its own. Took the top off all the time. Had the exhaust manifold split and installed black side pipes with almost no baffling. Sounded like an airplane under full throttle. Back then we wore leisure suits, something you young folks probably never heard of. They were polyester, mostly. Ruined a couple of sets of slacks when I forgot to watch for the hot pipes when getting out of the truck. Melted those suckers in an instant and once got a burn just like when you laid down your bike and the hot muffler burned you before you could get away from it. But those old K5s were so simple to work on. Differentials were just vented via a tiny hole on top or sometimes a fitting with a hose on it coming out the top. High performance and high tech? Not so much. Indestructible under normal operation? Yep.
