Riggs - My 2000 Chevy 3500 4x4 CCLB work truck and family play machine

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Westieterrier

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I think you got a good deal! I'm in Oregon too and paid $4,000 for my 152K 1999 C2500 longbed, but single cab, 2WD, and only a 350. What's great out here is there's never any rust with a well-kept vehicle. You can do the rear camera stereo setup yourself (fairly easy), but use locking/torx -type screws for the license plate camera. In many parts of our state they like to steal them. Nice truck and good luck! P
 

Reluctanse

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Well thanks for the replies so far everyone! Title came in the mail yesterday, hoping to hookie out of work a tad early and go torture myself at the DMV so I can get tags for this thing.
Should make some progress on it to share with everyone this weekend.
Sunday I had to move it in the driveway, and it was hot out and sitting in the sun, did NOT want to start. Obviously the injectors need to get replaced... Everything is pretty much lined up now for my 0411 swap so just need to figure out what injectors to get... Budget is pretty squeezed at this point so looking for the best cheapest option there...
 

Reluctanse

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Did a couple things today. Got my tags for it... these days you can "make an appointment" at the DMV, but lol... the first option is over a month out. Your other option is walk in, which means waiting. I arrived today at 4pm and there was a line out the door. I decided to wait it out... 30 minutes later I was out the door with fresh stickers making this bad unit street legal. So check that off the to-do list.

Next up was top off the coolant, get the engine up to temp, and do an oil change.
Pulled the radiator cap then fired it up, and added 3/4 a gallon of water to it immediately. Hopefully that is not foreshadowing of major problems.. haha... go click on my Supra build project if you want to see what I'm talking about.
Anyways it was immediately evident that the thermostat is either stuck open, or not present... hard to tell from the pic but immediately after firing up water was running fast through the system. I ordered a Gates t-stat from Amazon that will be here Saturday and I'll throw that in.
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Just klnd of watched the truck idle up from cold. Noticed the power steering making a little noise. Lo and behold it was a little low, and guess what was just chilling under the hood...
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So new PS lines and probably a hydroboost rebuild in the future.

It is also evident the oil pressure gauge is wildly inaccurate, so I'll have to address that at some point as well.

Building a pretty good to-do list as we go here.

Shut it off and let it cool for a bit before pulling the oil.

Oooh, look what I found... oil cooler is leaking. Is this as easy to remove as it looks? just the two bolts? assuming an o-ring under there that needs replacing?
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Air filter was gross... also didn't realize it at first, but it's a K&N... right into that trash with you! Add to the to-do list, cleaning the MAF.
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New Napa gold (wix) unit installed
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Got the oil changed, Napa gold filter and some SUPER TECH! 5w30 high mile synthetic... after long years going around the horn I figure this oil is good enough, plus I can literally use is in every rig in the fleet.
 

Reluctanse

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While I was fiddling around with the truck I also pumped the boat up so I could clean it out, had a bunch of dirt and junk under the air floor from recent trip to the lake. Where better to stand it up than on ol Riggs...

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We'll get more into this probably as time goes by, but part of the purpose of this truck is to haul the family camp trailer out for, well, camping trips. Might make an off-topic post on it some time, but it is a 100% custom built from the ground up camp trailer. We have a 2007 suburban 6.0 that we currently pull it with, but with all our junk and giant dog crate etc things get pretty full, and I just wanted a truck bed. Eventually I may go with a truck camper so I can get a real boat to pull behind it.

For now here's the trailer.
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How do you take a camp trailer AND a boat camping? Inflatable boat, and....
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I envisioned and built this platform last year. 13' foot inflatable Saturn boat goes in the trailer, 25hp Johnson 2-stroke on the back with the fuel. Goes about 25mph and pulls kids on the tube no problem, it's good times at the lake! Just got back, actually, as you can see haven't finished unloading.

It's a lot of weight out back, and the water tank in the trailer is in the tail as well, 30 gal, so there's a lot of weight in general on this trailer. 3800 lbs "dry" and probably pushing 5k loaded. While not heavy in the scheme of things I don't love how it all balances out with the weight out back. It's actually pretty stable, and with air bags on the Suburban there are no issues, but I just want a better setup. Plus, this trailer is a full 8' wide and about 9' high, so it's a LOT of wind resistance. The 6.0 gets 7mpg hauling this thing around. Not sure the 454 will do any better, but I actually kind of think it might. Time will tell...

This might help.
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Also started on the grill swap. I will definitely do something different later on but for now it is so much better than the chrome monstrosity that came with the truck.
Need to grab some clips from vato zone to finish up the swap, and paint the old style little bottom lip valence thingy then g2g.
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Reluctanse

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5 pic limit per post... interesting.


Last bit for the night, check out these bad units I found in the glove box putting my registration away. Truck sunglasses, awe yeah!
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This weekend I'll get the front split bench swapped in, clean up the interior a bit - it's pretty dusty - and do a little driving around.
I'll slowly get through all the back-log of repairs and maintenance on this truck, but current goal is take it on a trip at the end of August with the family up on about a 5 hour drive away from here, with the boat and trailer in tow. We'll see if I feel like it's ready or not by then...
 

Dariusz Salomon

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Local pick n pull had a 40% sale for 4th of July weekend, so I figured I'd better go see what I could grab...

Got a front grill from a pre-96 style Chevy, a couple lights and the front valence, a driver side battery tray, and an 0411 ECU for $87.

It's not the best grill but it'll do for now and it's better than the ebay chrome monstrosity that is on there. An the ECU.... seems like all in got a good deal there. Just need to get my buddy's HP Tuner's module from him, he's in Idaho but I should be able to work out getting it from him. Wasn't planning to do the 0411 swap right away but it's seeming like I might as well at this point. I'm sure the truck needs injectors, it hates starting when warm.

Might have some updates sooner than later!
Very nice pull-I kinda liked that chrome grille on it(very big rig like-or maybe ut was the way the picture was taken),but either one is fine. Welcome to the forum.
 
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