Encounters with your GMT-400

[skylark]

The summer of 97 I was a Shooting Sports director at a boy scout camp. At the end of the season I needed to spread out the hay bales that I used for archery targets behind the range. I tossed them in the bed of an ex Pacific Power 88 K1500 and drove them to the back where I spread them by hand.

On the last 6 bales I had a brilliant idea. Toss them on the ground, cut the twine and do doughnuts to spread them. The first 3 went perfectly. The next 3 not so much. My buddy and I felt that more speed would be more fun but we forgot to cut the twine. I hit the first one and it rolled on top of the other two and I got high centered. Well, hot catalytic converter and hay don't go so well. We were pulling handfuls of flaming hay out from under the truck and we had no where to put it because of the previously mentioned fun so we were tossing flaming hay in the bed. Not my finest hour but it was an adventure.

 

[k1500 97]

When we bought Pearl she was in FL and we brought her home to OR. Somewhere between Ft Worth and Waco the torque converter started slipping and we couldn't use overdrive. I broke out the trusty MT2500 scanner and forced OD with it. No lock up but at least we had lower rpm and higher speeds.

That night we shut the truck off in front of the lobby of the hotel and when we went to park after getting a room the starter solenoid stuck and we had to rip the battery cables off to keep the starter from spinning with the engine running.

On a hot day we hit the button for the AC and it sounded like a bomb went off under the hood and it appeared to have smoke coming up. The rubber AC line ruptured and PAG oil blew everywhere. The 134a and oil looked like smoke.

Towing a travel trailer over Lost Creek bridge when the RF tire blew out doing 55. It is tough to see in the picture but the tire marks are 10-12 inches from the concrete bridge side before I could get it to start to turn away from the side. Keep in mind that Pearl is a dually and the trailer was just as wide as Pearl so her butt was really close. Also that bridge is a good 40-50' above the water so thank God we didn't go over.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Oh wow. Im sorry that happened to you. That must have been scary. Im glad your still here.

 

[skylark]

Oh wow. Im sorry that happened to you. That must have been scary. Im glad your still here.

So are we! The odd thing is that the tire was the best tire that we had.

 

[GrimsterGMC]

The summer of 97 I was a Shooting Sports director at a boy scout camp. At the end of the season I needed to spread out the hay bales that I used for archery targets behind the range. I tossed them in the bed of an ex Pacific Power 88 K1500 and drove them to the back where I spread them by hand.

On the last 6 bales I had a brilliant idea. Toss them on the ground, cut the twine and do doughnuts to spread them. The first 3 went perfectly. The next 3 not so much. My buddy and I felt that more speed would be more fun but we forgot to cut the twine. I hit the first one and it rolled on top of the other two and I got high centered. Well, hot catalytic converter and hay don't go so well. We were pulling handfuls of flaming hay out from under the truck and we had no where to put it because of the previously mentioned fun so we were tossing flaming hay in the bed. Not my finest hour but it was an adventure.

Those "catastrophic converters" have been responsible for a lot of vehicle fires when parking in long dry grass then then bursting into flame shortly after. Cars are so low to the ground now that the grass doesn't need to be long for it to touch.

 

[k1500 97]

Those "catastrophic converters" have been responsible for a lot of vehicle fires when parking in long dry grass then then bursting into flame shortly after. Cars are so low to the ground now that the grass doesn't need to be long for it to touch.

Your absolutely correct

 

[k1500 97]

So are we! The odd thing is that the tire was the best tire that we had.

Sadly if it was a maypop it would have lasted 10 miles. Always when its not expected

 

[df2x4]

The summer of 97 I was a Shooting Sports director at a boy scout camp. At the end of the season I needed to spread out the hay bales that I used for archery targets behind the range. I tossed them in the bed of an ex Pacific Power 88 K1500 and drove them to the back where I spread them by hand.

On the last 6 bales I had a brilliant idea. Toss them on the ground, cut the twine and do doughnuts to spread them. The first 3 went perfectly. The next 3 not so much. My buddy and I felt that more speed would be more fun but we forgot to cut the twine. I hit the first one and it rolled on top of the other two and I got high centered. Well, hot catalytic converter and hay don't go so well. We were pulling handfuls of flaming hay out from under the truck and we had no where to put it because of the previously mentioned fun so we were tossing flaming hay in the bed. Not my finest hour but it was an adventure.

I'm happy that I'm not the only one who's used one of these trucks as a lawn/garden implement. Many years ago, a good friend and I used my Suburban to remove weeds from a neglected garden at his house. Basically a bunch of 4WD launches and donuts in the garden. Not exactly a clean result, but we had a lot of fun finding out just how bad of an idea it was.

 

[skylark]

Sadly if it was a maypop it would have lasted 10 miles. Always when its not expected

It was an almost new Firestone.

 

[skylark]

I'm happy that I'm not the only one who's used one of these trucks as a lawn/garden implement. Many years ago, a good friend and I used my Suburban to remove weeds from a neglected garden at his house. Basically a bunch of 4WD launches and donuts in the garden. Not exactly a clean result, but we had a lot of fun finding out just how bad of an idea it was.

I had the beautiful marks from a chain that snapped all across my bumper, tailgate, truck box, and roof. It also scratched the rear window. This was my second brand new truck in 1999. It was 3 months old. I was removing tree stumps from my yard in 4wd low with an overweight right foot and 15' of slack in a 30' 3/8" chain.

Do you remember the saying that you could learn a lot from a dummy? Guess how much I learned that day?

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

One of my friends put it like this: "you can learn something from everyone, even if it's just what not to do".....