'96 build, slow but steady

[96-1500]

Left on Thursday afternoon had to do a few errands around town so I wouldn't doubt it. Probably not a lot of GMT-400s in Yarmouth with NB plates haha.

The Chev did great on the 1500km road trip. With a little driving around town first then the first 3 hours of highway driving I got 19.75 mpg. I was shocked at how high this was considering I wasn't exactly trying to get optimum gas mileage -- consistently 120-125km/h (Around 75-80mph). Truck was revving mostly in the 1900-2500rpm range depending on hills etc sometimes a little higher. I had never calculated my highway mileage before (because I'm usually too cheap to fill up lol), but I was hoping for 17 or so.

Only one problem on the trip, lost a brake fitting in Lunenburg tightened it up and good to go but my brakes are a little spongy so I'll have to bleed them when I get a chance.

 

[96-1500]

Well it looks like that's the end of this build thread. Frame just broke in two by the front of the springs, spring hanger is loosely holding the truck together. Haven't been under there in awhile there are at least 2 other cracks that look pretty bad.
Put so much damn work into this to keep it going (paid 2500 and have another 2500 into it at least, not counting my labour).
Boo-hoo.

 

[CUSTOM06]

Sorry to hear that. . . . . . . . .

 

[dirtridinz71]

Sucks about what the salt does to our vechicle here isnt it! If you can put up with the pointless emails you can make back some decent money on kijiji parting it out.

 

[96-1500]

Thanks guys. I'm not sure, there's a chance I can get it fixed....I'll have to see what happens. But yeah I'd definitely part it out before I'd sell it as is, the transmission and rear end would be worth more than I could get for the whole truck lol

 

[96-1500]

Heh, well it came down to decision time: I could have bought an '89 2wd GMC 2500 (5-spd 350 reg. cab) for $800, and junk mine, or...
Option 2: redneck fix it. $18 worth of steel, $16 worth of gas and one busted fuel line when dropping the gas tank and the help of an awesome friend later, the truck should be good for awhile longer. So it looks like all might not be lost....

 

[Problem2420]

Heh, well it came down to decision time: I could have bought an '89 2wd GMC 2500 (5-spd 350 reg. cab) for $800, and junk mine, or...
Option 2: redneck fix it. $18 worth of steel, $16 worth of gas and one busted fuel line when dropping the gas tank and the help of an awesome friend later, the truck should be good for awhile longer. So it looks like all might not be lost....

pictures??

 

[96-1500]

Really hard to get any kind of a photo (especially with my cell phone), but I dropped the tank and crawled in and got a partial pic of the carnage:

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Couldn't really weld to the metal right around the crack because it was too weak, but there was good metal to the front and back of it, not to mention a large patch on the other side of the frame that was holding well. This is after we got the gas tank and everything back in, but that's a 3' x 5" piece of 1/4" plate that cost me like $10 or something. Just bolted it in with about 9 bolts. Holding great so far, hauled 2 round bales of hay the other day no problem:

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The outside of the frame:

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Also cleaned up my leaking diff cover, changed the oil and put a new gasket on:

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Painted the bumper with some spare flat black I had (brushed on)

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Dunno how long that frame is gonna hold, you guys will probably barf when you see it, but it cost me a grand total of $26 (including gas) and the help of a good friend to put it together. I guess I should quit overloading my truck lol.

 

[dirtridinz71]

Good to see you got it fixed. Now with the money you saved here is a 14 bolt sf to buy and be done with the 10 bolts.

http://fredericton.kijiji.ca/c-cars...ain-1992-14-bolt-rear-diff-W0QQAdIdZ369289017

 

[96-1500]

Good to see you got it fixed. Now with the money you saved here is a 14 bolt sf to buy and be done with the 10 bolts.

http://fredericton.kijiji.ca/c-cars...ain-1992-14-bolt-rear-diff-W0QQAdIdZ369289017

Thanks man, and I saw that for sale, contacted the guy it's the wrong ratio and it's out of a 2wd. There were a couple guys up in the Miramichi that had one but I lost the contact info, can't find them. Tried the junkyards, no luck there either. But it's def next thing on the list.