My son's first truck

[dieseldawg142]

we finally got all 4 rims done


the blocks for the rear came the other day


didn't have a big enough (frikkin) metric impact socket for the u-bolts, so i tried a regular socket on my 1200 ft lb milwaukee impact....ripped it right in half, so before we wrecked anymore sockets, we said the hay with it and zip wheeled 'em off in 3 mins


in and sitting a bit taller.

[dieseldawg142]

the keys came in yesterday, so we spent half a day whacking on stuck torsion bars. also left my cam in wife's 'yoda, who was at work, so had to wait till she got home for pics.
now it's looking like a truck and not some girlie play toy...


approx 2" clearance at the front of the fender cranked hard over, and about 1 1/2" clearance at the back of the fender cranked over. for a piece of mind i also zipped the inside corners of the fender flares off

[dieseldawg142]

kid is a little upset no off roading till the rest of the shocks get here, but no sooner had we mounted the tires and 2 young girls, 16-19, my son's age, walked by and commented they liked the rims...i was like there, quit complaining you got a chick magnet truck now...
really liking how our driveway is shaping up now, i drive a lifted truck, my wife drives a lifted truck, and now my son is tooling around in a lifted truck....the only thing missing and needed is a lifted blazer or 2 dr tahoe.


i have come across 2 very interesting tahoe/yukon's for sale, gmt 400 flavor. one is stock with some goofy rims and has 55 000 miles and is a beauty queen, which would pain me to drag thru the bush, and the other one is a LS swap, nvg 4500, hi pinion dana 44 sas with a 14 b rear axle. i'm really liking the sas tahoe just for the fact it's a 5 spd. only prob is finding time to go check it out before it sells- it's 3 1/2 hrs from me

[dieseldawg142]

me and my son did a cut-polish and clean on his truck today
he also took off the wiper arms and re-painted them
new shocks goin' on tomorrow

[dieseldawg142]

well we put the new shocks in, had to cut the fr shock bolts with a grinder. took it for a drive and she rides real nice now, them old shocks (waaaay old) were toilet, they were making a grinding noise up and down.


so while we were taking the truck out to test the ride of the shocks, we stopped for fuel. as my son is filling the truck, i noticed fuel puking out from under the truck...turns out the filler tube is rotted


yup, that's a hole in the tube...


lookin' better now, no more leaky's

[OutlawDrifter]

Looks like it's coming along pretty well.

[dieseldawg142]

getting there...
few more things we want to change and sort out.
took it out for some light wheeling, does not bad for a v6, 41:1 crawl sure helps.
totally impressed with the cooper stt's. actually find they bite better than the KM2's we were running


leafs flex much better without them overloads. if they were still on, tires would be in the air


puppies seem to like the more room than my old stepper

[dieseldawg142]

well we hit our first real mechanical probs with the '96.
i knew we had to get it aligned after throwing some lift keys in it, but it drove real nice at lower speeds so it was kinda on the back burner for the moment, but on the freeway a few days ago it didn't feel right. felt like an old '70's large barge, do a lane switch at speed and it seemed to take it's time and wouldn't come back fast enuff so now your doing the wiggle waggle down the road till it straitened up. people behind us prob thought we was drunk or something...lol
we did a backyard alignment and determined there was no more adjustment in the stock camber bolts. so we put some new bolts in and did another backyard alignment so we could get it to the shop. the alignment guy actually commended us on the not bad alignment job with a tape measure and 3 ft long level.
$160 bucks later and she steers with one finger now


niiice! no chineseum...

[dieseldawg142]

the other mechanical prob is a little more involved.
once or twice while in 4lo it would clunk. i thought maybe a bad cv, but after inspecting the cv's, they were pretty solid. then last friday while trucking up this mountain we had a more serious prob. was in 4lo again going up a 30-35 degree gravel hill with a little throttle thrown in and she popped into neutral twice on the hill. little freaky the first time as it started rolling backwards- instantly...
so i'm thinking maybe the shift fork is boogered or the pads are worn off. will also check the "infamous" snap ring on the output shaft


luckily if anything is broken or chewed up, i got this 241 case with 2 yrs of use on it. my buddy bought a 94 k1500 new in '94 and in '97 he blew the t-case. he just made it in under the 3 yr warranty and gm put a new case in for him. two yrs later he blew the tranny and i ended up with the t-case. been sitting in my back yard since '97....wondering what the guts look like after 20+ yrs of non-use...besides his was out of an auto, ours is a manual

[dieseldawg142]

me and my son pulled the transfer case out yesterday. took a little over an hour to get it out. unfortunatley i could only use my impact on the driveshafts. we had to use a wrench to get all 6 bolts from the t-case to trans out, and were only able to turn the bolts less than a 1/4 inch at a time cause of the adapter webbing in the way.

[dieseldawg142]

we cracked open the case and my diagnosis was only partly correct. the snap ring on the output was broke, and the main shaft was walking all over. the shift fork had a major groove cut into it explaining all the metal on the pickup. pretty much everything on the main shaft was toast. input gear had chipped teeth, the shift hub, the pilot and input bearings, synchronizer hub and sleeve, synchro stop ring, sprockets and chain....and the fork pads...betcha the prev owner was prob slam shifting the t-case from 2wd to 4lo.
we pulled apart my spare t-case, but after 20+ yrs, the innards were pretty rusty.
then my buddy came thru big time for me. he had a '99 t-case with push button and and super low miles. not only did he give me the case, he swapped out all the internals into my case today while i was at work. i owe him big time now. so tonite me and the boy slapped the case back into the truck. about an hour and a half, getting dark here around 5 o'clock and we were doing most of it by flashlight

[dieseldawg142]

and the day before the t-case bs, we were out in the bush and the actuator crapped out.
luckily i had just replaced the actuator in my stepper 5 or 6 months ago so my son grabbed that. when it carps out we'll switch to an electric actuator.
gm in all there infinite wisdom decided to change the shape of the actuator plug from 1990 to 1996. my son had to cut the plug off and change it with the newer one.

[dieseldawg142]

we tested out my buddy's rebuild-darn fine work he does. although we did have to swap the 4by indicator switch from the stepsides t-case cause the front axle wouldn't unlock, but other than that it works perfect.
the rain gouged out a nice 2 ft deep trench down the road

[dieseldawg142]

actually quite a few trees down from a recent wind storm...and one bit the kid...


up to the snow line

[dieseldawg142]

like i said, trees down everywhere


starting to catch the "blue hour"


kinda hard to tell, was dark out, we had to drive thru this tree that fell while we were up the mountain. my son was driving and a big stick tagged the vent visor

[dieseldawg142]

and here's what's left of the visor after the tree bounced down it...


and a new set installed


a friend of a friend has a truck for sale and he turned me onto it. after talking with the guy for awhile, he's giving me first shot at snagging it, but not till sat probably because of work.
here it is.....


it's a '97 (1 yr newer than ours) reg cab short box 4x4 with 123 000 miles and in real nice shape-all orig mostly
the kicker, it also has a 4.3 and a 5 spd, and like our '96, it's also victory red....
if i buy this were gonna have a matching set.

[dieseldawg142]

well i went and did it...bought another rcsb 4.3 5 spd 4x4 tonite. paid $500 more than the kids truck, $7000.
truck body is just as nice as the kids '96, but it does have a good size dent in the dr front fender and both bumpers got a couple dings in them. apparentley the guys mom tagged the gate pole moving the truck.
drivetrain wise runs perfect and the trans and t-case work nicely and feel very solid. clutch was replaced last yr. miles are a little lower than my son's rcsb at 123 000.
ya, it does have a few issues. speedo runs about 15 mph too fast and temp gauge is screwy- prob need a new sensor. throttle pedal is very hard to push down as well. also has the same suck a$$ exhaust as the kid's '96, 3" wit a chambered muff....and yes it will be one of the first things to be changed.
no cel on, heater works great, has a pioneer stereo, seat has a small hole on drivers side. brakes work great, but gonna put new pads in. overall mechanically it's very good with just some minor things. i have new or fairly new parts off my stepper to deal with all the mechanical issues, so most of my money will be going into changing the looks of it.
this one also has a bunch of silly decals on it, pinstriping, "sport" decals and some on the winda. lower black rub strip will also come off so it has the clean look like my son's '96.
dark out when i got home, pics aren't the greatest. there is a 2-3" dent between the grille and front dr wheel, really noticeable in the daylight. hoping the paintless dent removal guy can make it look decent

[dieseldawg142]

like i said, majority of money will be going into looks. don't like the hi-rise canopy at all, but it will do for now so the dawgs can go truck riding.
build will pretty much mirror the kid's truck, small lift for some 285's, another set of skyjacker shocks like we just put on son's truck, new quieter muffler, some fender flares and pull all the carp off the body for a clean look. might find something else to be addressed when i give it the fine comb look-over tomorrow in the light. already bought another set of Coopers for it, will be in later in the week.


seeing how my kid jacked my rims, i ordered a new set


my son actually bought these led back up lights for me today...i guess to replace the ones he snagged off my stepper.

[dieseldawg142]

can see my new beater a little better now. the before shot before anything is done to it. nice dent in the fender. guess she hit the pole with the bumper and had pushed it into the fender enough to cause this, as well as bending the bumper brackets....rear bumper also has a few dings, but i got a mint set of bumpers and brackets on my stepside
and all them black decals will be gone...what is it with people plastering cruddy decals all over their vehicles....


just another basic low rent un-fancy manual everything interior...

[dieseldawg142]

normally winter is our slow time, but not this yr....leaving very little time to dick around with my new beater, but getting some small things done.
snagged the struts off my stepper canopy. from stick to staying. stick was included in sale


also grabbed the tailgate latch. guy was showing how he used pliers to open it....orig is on the left. could not get the arms to swing out-seized right up


also grabbed the tailgate handle trim and the int light cover cause i don't know where they went to


and ya, call me old, retro whatever, took the taillights off the stepper cause i just like the covers.

[dieseldawg142]

did the 4 headlight conversion, after doing it on my stepper, couldn't imagine not doing it on any obs


mounted the back-ups kid bought me to replace the ones he grabbed from my stepper. digging in my toolbox and came up with this rocker. where it came from or how long ago i don't know, but sure has a nice factory look to it


felt like an idiot...drivers mirror was all floppy and rattling. took it off to replace with one from my son's '96. once i got it off i just happened to flip it over and noticed 3 screws. hmmm...i wonder what will happen if i tighten them up...30 minutes of my life i'll never get back..

[dieseldawg142]

when we were looking at the truck, i asked the guy to open the hood. he had to play with it to get it open. after we took it for a drive i asked him to open the hood one more time. i heard a crack and "oh s**t" the guy had played with it too much and he broke the inside handle and snapped the cable. i was just joking when i told him that's $300 off. he looked at me and says seriously, yeah, i guess so. dang! should have said $500. anyways it took me and the boy a good half hr to finally get it open. handle and cable most likely broke cause the latch, like the tailgate, was seized pretty solid. and it cost me $60 bucks for a new latch, cable and handle. don't like leaving the hood up, wish the parts would hurry up and get here


yeah!!
new tires showed up today, same kind as we put on the kids truck.
sadly the rims won't be here for another 10-14 days....bummer


and here we go again with this dang stickeritis. what is it wit some people...
at least there cheap cheesy after market and come off with just the hairdryer.

[dieseldawg142]

sport? that's the most un-sport looking decal i ever seen


like i said, hairdryer works good. even on the goofy lower body molding.
everything will come off, be clean like the kid's. wife even went and ordered me a real chevrolet tailgate sticker, but she says i can't have it 'till Christmas...once again, bummer


gonna have to grab a canopy handle for the mutts. po had some monster padlock and chain set-up on it


and hopefully some good news from buddy. after having a real close look at the fender dent, it is actually pretty bad. wheel opening is boogered, and i want to put oem flares on, and the it's pushed in along the side of the grille leaving a huge mis-alignment. he knows where there is a victory red, my color, front fender. no rust but he's going to check the condition of the paint and let me know. sure would be nicer and cheaper.
kinda neat, building a mirror image of my son's truck. going to look good and be cool when we take out 2 matching trucks 4bying. and since their exactly the same, off road performance is gonna boil down to who's the better driver...ahem

[dieseldawg142]

well bummer on buddy's fender, the clear coat is all peeled and it looks like toilet...still searching i guess...
started cleaning up the body


hood latch showed up, but no inside release handle or cable yet. but at least i can shut the hood, just yank the old cable with some pliers. can barely move the old latch, seized up nicely

[dieseldawg142]

not a lot to do untill some parts start rolling in, so been doing some other minor stuff.
decided to fix the rear bumper, but after throwing a strait edge on it and seeing it was bent 2 ways, decided to just grab the bumper off the stepper. did have to knock out a couple small dings in the stepper bumper, but i think it turned out good enough for a daily


painted the wiper arms