04 GMC K2500HD LLY

[MattStrike]

Just a teaser for now:


As usual, Ryan can't play since he already knows

[CMNTMXR57]

A GM truck of some sort.

[MattStrike]

I did have to replace the K2500, so yeah, it's a GM truck of some sort!

I ended up spilling it already somewhere, seems like nobody likes these guessing games anymore..







2004.5 Sierra, 2500HD, LLY Duramax, 140k miles, no rust. It has the rubber flooring, mostly base model options like the manual 4x4 shifter, but does have leather and dual batteries. Needs a few little things (cluster works, but the trip button is inop and most of the lights are dead in it). It's got a 5th wheel hitch as well as a class 3 receiver. Planning to replace that with a class 5, as well as a front-mount hitch. Also need to get some fog lamps, front tow hooks, and figure out how to strip the bedliner on the bottom quarter without damaging the paint.

I know injectors are a common issue to watch out for, still researching common issues for this platform. The cluster seems fairly common. I recall that my dad's 02 Yukon had issues with the big electrical box thingy under the hood, so I'm going to pull that and load it up with di-electric grease. Also, looking forward to those 2.5 gallon oil changes!

[Sirius]

Who are you and what did you do with the Matt we all know and love? That thing is way too complete for our Matt - the bed is not falling off, the transfer case doesn't need repair/replace/upgrade, it has a working engine and doesn't need the frame rebuilt due to extensive rust. LOL!!!



Looks like a nice find. Where did it come from? A 2004 with no rust doesn't sound like a MI mobile.

[MattStrike]

It originally came from Texas, then hopped around the states between dealers before ending up at one in Michigan. Said dealer sprayed the bottom 1/4 with bedliner as a rust preventative? I'm going to invest in a few gallons of this stuff: https://www.cosmolinedirect.com/bulk-rp ... ive-spray/

I'm hoping they didn't do any prep to the bedliner and I can use the pressure washer to peel it off without damaging the clearcoat. If I have to resort to mechanical means of removal, I'll likely wait until the fall again and get a pearl topcoat for the white. In the meantime, I have a scrap white car here I'm going to spray some test patches of bedliner and see if there's a chemical out there that would work.

[CMNTMXR57]

I knew it by the front shock tower.

I think the two main things (after injectors) off the top of my cranium on LLY's were head gasket issues and water pump issues which led to overheating.

CMNT Likey's...

[Sirius]

If the dealer sprayed on Rhino Lining, part of the prep is to sand down to bare metal before spraying. Hopefully they were lazy and just sprayed it over the paint. Then maybe it will just peel off.

Have you ever smelled cosmoline? It has a very distinctive odor. I've been around enough old military stuff to sniff it a mile away. As a rust preventative it works pretty well. Never thought of spraying the underside of a car with it.

[MattStrike]

I have not smelled it before, but it can't be worse than the cigarette smoke odor I'm cleaning out of the vehicle now, right? I wanted something I could put in the general purpose sprayer I have, since I've got several cars I wanted something I could get in bulk, put the air compressor to work. I'll probably use fluid film inside the door hems, since it can't get washed out of there. But the rest of it I want something that can withstand the worst winter salt.

[MattStrike]

Time to start shaking off the dust now that the weather is turning back into tolerable.

Already got new wheels for the truck:




They might look familiar! Also managed to use the pressure washer to start cleaning up the bedliner before I parked it for winter.

Now that the salt is mostly gone, it's time to do some truck stuff:




And you all know me, I can't not start modifying things as soon as I get them...






Added a receiver and rollers for the hitch-mount winch. I was thinking of adding a roller to the tail of the trailer but I want to wait and see if the cable clamps or hook can actually catch on the edge first. The issue there is the way the ramps mount, I potentially loose flexibility on ramp placement, which may not be needed anyway since the end is dovetailed. Then I kinda went overboard on the D-rings, but you can never have enough mount points on a trailer. There are 3 high strength (over 5klbs each) per side and 4 heavy duty 3klbs per side. The trailer had 2x4 stake points already, so next up will be building removable walls for hauling gravel/sand since I have some concrete projects I want to do.

Currently I'm working on installing tow mirrors, new speakers, threw on a set of new pads to get by (I had these on the shelf and the pads on the truck were sticking in the brackets anyhow), and adding a backup camera so I don't have to get in and out to line up hitches.




Planning to get caught up on scrap runs and some yard and house work this year, and I've needed my own trailer for a while now.