Ole Smokey Build Thread

[slick copper]

Hey everyone. Thought I'd start a build Thread for my new to me 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500hd Crew Cab with the 8.1L engine. I'm not necessarily new to these trucks and definitely not to the site. I've previously owned a 2004 and 2005 silverado and actually traded in a 2014 diesel on this one (tired of 600 a month payment! ).
Plans are nothing extreme for this truck, but basically black everything out do a mild lift and just update and upgrade some things along the way. Here's what it looks like currently. I already have some goodies on the way. At this point all I've done is paint in the bowtie. Truck had 99680 miles on it when I bought it.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Congrats on losing the car payment!

I just bought an '02 suburban with an 8.1 (cheap). Can't tell you much about how it drives though because I have to put a new transmission in it first!

Does your new truck have the allison or 4L85E?

[slick copper]

You know that's something I'd like to know myself. Do you know how to tell? Someone told me it was the Allison. Sorry about the upside down pic btw. I'll have to fix that later tonight.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Roll under your truck and see if your transmission has a small spin off filter is the easiest way to tell.

Like this:

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by slick copper

You know that's something I'd like to know myself. Do you know how to tell? Someone told me it was the Allison. Sorry about the upside down pic btw. I'll have to fix that later tonight.

If your 2500HD 8.1L truck is auto, It has an Allison 1000 5 speed.

Do Not run Dexron VI ATF it this trans!! Run a Allison approved ATF http://www.allisontransmission.com/p...highway-fluids

[slick copper]

Yup. Got the Allison. I remembered seeing the spin on filter when I was inspecting the truck before I bought it.
So I guess all of the 8.1L have an Allison? Thanks for the tip on the fluid. That was gonna be one of my next things on the to do list. Never know what the PO did or didn't do.

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by slick copper

Yup. Got the Allison. I remembered seeing the spin on filter when I was inspecting the truck before I bought it.
So I guess all of the 8.1L have an Allison? Thanks for the tip on the fluid. That was gonna be one of my next things on the to do list. Never know what the PO did or didn't do.

In 2500 & 3500 trucks they do, In SUV's they are backed by a 4L85E.

A ZF S6-650 6-speed manual was optional.

[slick copper]

Alright. Time to share those "goodies" I was talking about. Got these installed a couple weekends ago, just hadn't had time to upload and post pics. Bull bar, headlights, parking lights, fog lights, and tail lights. I already had the KC lights, pulled them off another truck I had before I traded it in. Figured they would look perfect on that bull bar. They're not wired up yet.

[slick copper]

Okay. Did a bunch of stuff yesterday. Removed the bed cover, bed liner, and step bars. I'll keep the bed cover in case I need it, but I couldn't stand how it was pulling up on the corners. The rubber that held it into the rails is/was dry rotting and tearing. I also hated how the overly common step bars (no offense) were missing a bolt in the driver side center support bracket and sagging. But also didn't give me a very sturdy feeling step. Not to mention they don't go with my blacked out theme I'm going in. The plastic bed liner had to go too as I've known them for doing nothing but holding water and rubbing the paint off the bed and causing it to rust. Went ahead and took the matching tailgate mat off too while I was at it.

[slick copper]

While I was out and about working on the truck I also did a tranny fluid and filter change. In my area the best transmission fluid I could get my hands on was Royal Purple. Now it isn't an "Allison approved" fluid, but it did say it was recommended for my specific Allison transmission on the label. All of the local parts places kept telling me to put Dextron VI in it. Couldn't bring myself to do it. Royal Purple is something I've never used before and is a lil' pricey, but people swear by it and I can all ready tell a difference in the smoothness of shifting and the way it pulls.

Also blacked out/tinted my 3rd brake light with VHT night shades. Turned out pretty good. After I was done with all that and removing everything in the previous post I gave the bed a good sweep out and wash down with some simple green. Love that stuff. Found 55 cents in the bed under the bed liner when I was sweeping it out!

Something else I did was change out my cabin filters. Thanks to a thread on this site. I couldn't believe how nasty they were. Looked like they'd never been changed, or not in a very long time!

Didn't take any pics, but today I had to. Just couldn't help myself. Got up under the truck with my trusty sawzall. Cut the muffler off. Man does this thing sound mean!! Time for some burnouts!

[wyattglock]

Wow! You werent kidding about the filters! Looks like a nice truck. I just bought a 2002 1500HD crew cab at the end of January.

[slick copper]

Thanks. Yeah they were horrible.
Bought a new fuel filter and a bottle of injector cleaner to put in this weekend. Should make it run a little smoother. Not that it's running bad.
Pretty sure my power steering pump is going out. Getting hard to steer at low speed. And has an audible whine to it.

[eighty-seven]

Looks great. How many coats of that night shade stuff do you put on?

[slick copper]

I put on about 3 coats. Much more than that and it won't shine through very well.

[slick copper]

Not done a whole lot to the truck. But have been using him. Hauled a few loads of gravel, couldn't even tell it was back there with that 8.1L.
Currently working on plasti-dipping the wheels. Turning out better than I thought. Polished up the center caps too.

[Hankster]

Looks good, anymore on the truck? I'd like to hear that 8.1 since you chopped off the muffler.

[Mr-Jack]

you cut the cats off too or just the mufflers? I probably wouldn't have because I tow all the time, that and my borlas are pretty beefy sounding as they are.

why are all of your pictures caddywompis?

oh...I sent my wife to the rock place to get some river rock for my aviary, and told her to get 2 dump loads...the guy told her the springs would sag terribly...after the first load, he was surprised...she told the guy "my husband said it will haul it just fine" then he dropped in the other bucket load and said something like "damn...that's a truck right there" I have air bags too, but they weren't aired up at the time.

[slick copper]

Yeah I was surprised at how well this thing hauled all that gravel. Truck sounds bad ass but we recently bought a boat and towing down the interstate gets kind of annoying. Looking into a new exhaust. Thing I don't like is how everything available reduces the stock 3 inch exhaust to 2.5 before going into the muffler. Doesn't make sense to me. Oh and my pics are always screwed up because I load them off my phone. Even if I rotate them on the phone it doesn't matter. Wish this site had a better way of uploading pictures. Oh and update the plasti dip is starting to peel off the front wheels. Hope to get wheels and tires soon.

[slick copper]

Well, just dropped over 2 G's into this truck. New intake, flomaster exhaust, Cooper tires, Sony head unit stereo, and new shocks. Also had to replace the passenger hub/bearing assembly. That corrected my trouble steering at low speeds. Also replaced the rear brakes entirely. Parking brake included with new cables in rear. Didn't fix my issue of the parking brake not holding well and the crappy "automatic/self adjusting pedal assembly" doesn't want to adjust. I'll have to get some pics of all this stuff. I wanted to do wheels to, but after all that came about figured I'd have to wait a bit.