1996 GMC K3500 DRW, Extended Cab, Flatbed, 454, NV-4500... DAILY DRIVER

[83GMCK2500]

Thank you all, it was clean-ish when we got it, has only gotten more-so since then. I'll get an underhood shot this weekend, hard to believe 251,### and climbing.

 

[squeaky3]

i love the look of the truck

not a huge fan of the headlights though but thats me

 

[88GMCtruck]

Since I've been concentrating on other things (just ask Devin) I haven't been on here much. This past weekend we both did another round of wrecking yard parts hunting and a full day of dually working.

Next time we have the trucks together we need to get a picture of them....

 

[83GMCK2500]

Update:

- Steering wheel audio controls installed, after some *cough* minor troubleshooting they work great. Sooooo handy. Also, so much nicer to use a puller on steering wheel as opposed to brute force. After removing three (or four) by hand, I'm done with that crap.

- I've noticed that at low speeds if I need to stab the brakes (pedestrian/grandma/idiot/etc) the steering wheel pulls left. It brakes evenly from higher speeds. This weekend I started in the front and dug in. Wheels off, first observation: driver's side has uneven pad wear, ~ 1/8" difference in-out. Passenger side, also uneven, call it 3/16" in-out, noticeably more than other side, but not a great deal. Started on the DS, pried the caliper over a bit to compress the piston, pulled the pins, pried caliper off. Got a good look at the rotor, noticeable ridge on both in-out faces at edge, slight waviness when running fingers from inside diameter out. Pulled the pads off, they're a mid-grade semi metallic pad, other than uneven thickness they looked good, not worn unevenly by themselves and no cracks. Bolted the caliper back up, won't slide. Not even a little. Hmmmmmmmm. Was able to free up one of the slides, took a wire brush and a file to the faces of the bracket ears and the caliper edges and cleaned them up, but one slide remains seized. Fought it for quite a while, didn't have a c-clamp or anything to use as a press, unfortunately. Don't know how something can get so stuck in a rubber sleeve. Cleaned things up the best I could and lubed what was accessible. Onto the passenger side. Repeated same procedure, findings: rotor has a much heavier ridge on the outer radius, also, noticeably more distortion on the faces when running fingers from inside diameter out. Again, other than uneven thickness, pads were ok. Felt the sleeves on this side and they actually moved, stiffly, but they moved. Bolted the unloaded caliper up and even with mobile sleeves it drug hard. After much filing and brushing between bracket ears and caliper it slid decently. Lubed what I could and reassembled. Thinking on heading home to Dad's shop this next weekend and pressing that other sleeve out and cleaning it.

Summary brake observations: calipers, rotors, knuckle, bearing flanges, etc all have healthy level of rust/scale/grime on them. Given the environment this truck has been in I assume these parts have not been changed for quite some time. Given how much material is left on the pads +/- 5/16"-3/8" (relatively fresh) I assume the last brake job was to throw a set of pads on. I doubt the rotors were turned. The passenger side caliper had newer sleeves than the one I was able to remove from the driver's side. Never made it to the rear brakes, was raining and after messing with front and rotating all 6 tires/wheels I was soaked.

Misc. observations, someone has overtightened the CRAP outta about half the lug nuts, the cones are deformed heavily. Myself, I set a wheel on the studs, hold it flush against the hub and start all the nuts by hand, running down no fewer than half by hand until the wheel is held in place. SOMEONE must have had the wheel and retaining ring unsupported, dangling and used a lug nut and impact wrench to run it on...I noticed that one of the ridges around the lug seat of a ring has been deformed severely, will post a pic of it as an example of what laziness can lead to. Lastly, someone has replaced the front lug studs with the waaaaay wrong ones, great.

 

[83GMCK2500]

Along with finishing freeing the driver's side caliper I have theeeeese to install. Hoping that they help mitigate the coffee disaster that is that damned pull-out abortion in the dash.

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[83GMCK2500]

Somewhere in here (2 weekends ago), I took the time to hit the truck with some heavy cut, fine cut, then cleaner wax. The sides need some more work, but it sure beads water on the top.

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Also, installed OEM LED cab light bulbs.

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[83GMCK2500]

Last weekend David and I performed the great headlamp wiring upgrade of 2014... You can read all about it in: 88GMCtruck's 98 Silverado Towpig Build: "Black Fox" - Post #323

After the headlamp wiring upgrade I installed an AD244 (unrelated to wiring upgrade, my CS144 just decided to bend itself outta straight and die that weekend.) Read about it here: 96-98 Vortec Alternator Upgrade AD244 - Post #124

 

[OBSz71]

Dude sweet truck!!! Very nice!

 

[VorTecxas]

Always love seein another Vortec Big Block

 

[thz71]

Awesome truck looks great id like to have one like it eventually with a dump bed for cutting wood