Hey again everyone. I spent a little time between projects after getting rid of the little angry black truck a few months back, and then flipping the 2010 Sierra trade that I took on it. Now i'm back!!
Over the Christmas break, and purely by coincidence, I ended up dragging home a 97 Seirra dubbed Frank. The name comes from the farm hand that used to drive the truck on a friends ranch. Im not sure why they named the truck after the guy, but it stuck with me for some reason. I got the truck for basically nothing, I just had to go over it as it was sitting for a year and a half to make the 2 hour trip home. That sounded innocent enough, but wow, what a trip. With the wife following behind me in the minivan, the truck blew the rear brake line after the first 45 mins which wasn't the end of the world...still had fronts. I quickly found out that the drivers front caliper was siezed up, and wiped out the pads. Now I was in trouble, and half way home. To make matters worse, it started to blizzard. We stopped for a break, then made the decision to limp the rest of the way taking back roads. If that wasn't enough, the tires were bald, and the truck's steering was every which way but tight lol. This was the first time I have legitimately " white knuckled it". The wierdest part was every time I put the truck in 4 hi, the heater motor would quit, so I had to choose between traction, and visibility...that's a lose, lose. After 4 hours total, and some very unhappy family we got home. Thank dodge for dvd players in minivans.
A couple days later after I got the color back in my knuckles, I drug the truck into the garage to tackle the brakes, and look at the front end. After inspection, its amazing the truck didnt come apart worse on the trip home. The upper contol arm bushings were only outter sleeve and inner sleeve...no rubber. Upper bj's were really bad. The breaks were toast (which I gathered) and the pass side axle seal was leaking bad. It needed a drivers side wheel bearing. And to take the cake, after looking at the steering stuff, I had a hard time figuring out why there was rise/fall in angle of the tie rods/center link during steering input. After I got the skid plates off I found out why. The nut on the steering box was loose, and almost at the end of the threads, so the pitman arm would flop up and down. Pretty scary.
So the truck got new rear brake lines, rotors, calipers, ball joints, upper control arm bushings, I re-torqued the pitman arm for now, and found a set of 06 Silverado 17's with nitto terra grappler rubber for cheap.
I still have to change the wheel bearing, do the axle seals, and rear brakes, then figure out the heater motor / 4x4 wierdness. The truck does have a lot of good quality's though, even though Im making it sound pretty rough. The body, with the exception of a little gravel rash, has no rust. Its pretty straight too, just 1 box ding, and a little wierdness with the hood edges and grill is broken. The truck used to wear a grill gaurd, and I think they bumped into something, and it kissed the hood/grill. Besides some minor cosmetic stuff though, it actually looks half decent, and the rear diff was already upgraded to a light duty semi float 14 bolt. It has also had hid's installed...I just have to figure out why I have no low beams. The interior is grey, and in decent shape...I just need a new drivers seat (Frank was 400 lbs).
Plans for the short term are pretty simple. Clean it up good, fix the rest of the stuff to make it safe, then start modding the easy stuff. Im thinking I will probably strip the molding, bed line the rockers, possibly pick up some flares, new bumpers, and chevy grill, build some exhaust, 2" rear blocks, and t bar crank, and 285's next after the nitto's are toast. Who knows after that...I will probably do something off the wall....maybe crew cab conversion, lol. There is one (just the cab) living in the stock yard where frank was sitting idle. Without further ado, here's Frank!
The day Frank came home
New shoes!
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
Over the Christmas break, and purely by coincidence, I ended up dragging home a 97 Seirra dubbed Frank. The name comes from the farm hand that used to drive the truck on a friends ranch. Im not sure why they named the truck after the guy, but it stuck with me for some reason. I got the truck for basically nothing, I just had to go over it as it was sitting for a year and a half to make the 2 hour trip home. That sounded innocent enough, but wow, what a trip. With the wife following behind me in the minivan, the truck blew the rear brake line after the first 45 mins which wasn't the end of the world...still had fronts. I quickly found out that the drivers front caliper was siezed up, and wiped out the pads. Now I was in trouble, and half way home. To make matters worse, it started to blizzard. We stopped for a break, then made the decision to limp the rest of the way taking back roads. If that wasn't enough, the tires were bald, and the truck's steering was every which way but tight lol. This was the first time I have legitimately " white knuckled it". The wierdest part was every time I put the truck in 4 hi, the heater motor would quit, so I had to choose between traction, and visibility...that's a lose, lose. After 4 hours total, and some very unhappy family we got home. Thank dodge for dvd players in minivans.
A couple days later after I got the color back in my knuckles, I drug the truck into the garage to tackle the brakes, and look at the front end. After inspection, its amazing the truck didnt come apart worse on the trip home. The upper contol arm bushings were only outter sleeve and inner sleeve...no rubber. Upper bj's were really bad. The breaks were toast (which I gathered) and the pass side axle seal was leaking bad. It needed a drivers side wheel bearing. And to take the cake, after looking at the steering stuff, I had a hard time figuring out why there was rise/fall in angle of the tie rods/center link during steering input. After I got the skid plates off I found out why. The nut on the steering box was loose, and almost at the end of the threads, so the pitman arm would flop up and down. Pretty scary.
So the truck got new rear brake lines, rotors, calipers, ball joints, upper control arm bushings, I re-torqued the pitman arm for now, and found a set of 06 Silverado 17's with nitto terra grappler rubber for cheap.
I still have to change the wheel bearing, do the axle seals, and rear brakes, then figure out the heater motor / 4x4 wierdness. The truck does have a lot of good quality's though, even though Im making it sound pretty rough. The body, with the exception of a little gravel rash, has no rust. Its pretty straight too, just 1 box ding, and a little wierdness with the hood edges and grill is broken. The truck used to wear a grill gaurd, and I think they bumped into something, and it kissed the hood/grill. Besides some minor cosmetic stuff though, it actually looks half decent, and the rear diff was already upgraded to a light duty semi float 14 bolt. It has also had hid's installed...I just have to figure out why I have no low beams. The interior is grey, and in decent shape...I just need a new drivers seat (Frank was 400 lbs).
Plans for the short term are pretty simple. Clean it up good, fix the rest of the stuff to make it safe, then start modding the easy stuff. Im thinking I will probably strip the molding, bed line the rockers, possibly pick up some flares, new bumpers, and chevy grill, build some exhaust, 2" rear blocks, and t bar crank, and 285's next after the nitto's are toast. Who knows after that...I will probably do something off the wall....maybe crew cab conversion, lol. There is one (just the cab) living in the stock yard where frank was sitting idle. Without further ado, here's Frank!
You must be registered for see images attach
The day Frank came home
You must be registered for see images attach
New shoes!
Last edited:
lol but this is a nice truck especially considering you got it cheap. I can never find things like this around here. There always ate up and too far gone
