1997 C1500-Father/Daughter Project

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GXPWeasel

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Hi all.
New to this forum, but definitely not new to "forums" or Chevy trucks. I'm also on "Silverado Sierra" and "GMSquarebody" for my other trucks. Same username there.

I wanted to start this thread to keep track of what was done to this particular truck. I saw this truck on FB Marketplace just before Christmas of '24. Once I saw it, I immediately "knew" where this truck came from. Or at least I hoped I knew this truck. I talked to the guy selling it, and long story short, it was the same truck, and I brought it home. This truck and I first met in 2003, when I was working fresh out of college for an nation wide auto parts / salvage yard chain. The guy who owned it was one of our best OKC area salesmen. He purchased in TX, then quickly "built" the truck to what it is you see now. Seriosly, I don't think anything is different on this truck at all since that day. Fast forward 20+ years, and I brought it home to my place to pull double duty. The plans for this truck are for it to be my daughters' first vehicle. She has always wanted a truck, and admired how easy it was for someone to make a truck their own by adding custom touches. Having always owned a truck, and never one in stock form for very long, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree here folks! The second reason for the truck purchase, or particularly, on like this, is it needs to be able to pull our boat in the summer months. Currently, me and my 2015 Silverado have to pull double duty (pun intended) when we go camping, because I have to pull the camper to the site first, then go back home to get our boat. Can't pull them at the same time, and don't have another vehicle that is safely capable otherwise. This truck should be up to the task for sure, once it's gone over with a fine tooth comb to make sure it's SAFE and reliable.

First steps were to look at the brakes and suspension. I've done loads of maintenance work before on several other vehicles, and even did a frame-off on my '82, so I'm not scared of any work this truck might need. I already knew I'd be replacing pretty much every brake part front and back, but also wanted to check out ball joints, tie rod ends, U-joints, and anything else that could make a good day go bad quickly. Luckily, MOST of this truck was very well taken care of (maintenance wise) from what I could see. However, the truck did sit for about a year in a field, with a broken extended cab window due to it being sold at a police auction in December '23. That's mostly why the interior pictures below look so bad.

I will add to this as we go, but the current status, after owning the truck for just over a month as of today, and going through the correct process to get it titled in my name will be shown below in picutes. As we do more, I'll post more updates.

The daughter was pretty happy when we pull this one home. She could see the HUGE potential in this one. After what was just a quick power wash job (not even any soap) the ol girl didn't look too bad. Rust in the rockers and cab corners, but nothing too severe. I'll decide when/if I'm going to spend the time to fix that later. If I do... I have to let my daughter drive my '82 or '15 then... which I'm on the fence about.
 

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GXPWeasel

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First thing the daughter wanted to tackle, was the interior. It was torn apart pretty bad because of the broken out passenger rear window. Previous "owner" (guy who purchased it from the police auction, but never tagged or titled it in his name) did find the correct glass for that spot, but then GLUED it in. I'm actually not that mad about it, because the truck does have power windows, and a rear slider, so this little pop-out window isn't a necessity to open. The truck was full dirt and water, but luckily no signs of actual damage from water or rodents. Just really DIRTY.
While cleaning, we got a nice surprise as well. The center console is aftermarket, and is one that houses a 10" sub. Although the sub is shot due to mice, it will be housing another sub of some sort once the mechanical things have been squared away and it's safe to drive.
 

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GXPWeasel

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Before I really dug into the breaks and suspension, I wanted to make a little cosmetic change myself. I purchased new front end lights, and there was a nice set of aftermarket LED tails in the truck already. The front lights all had standing water in them, so they had to go. The daughter and I both like the black light housing look, and these were found at a good price, so on they went. While I had everything apart, I had to do something about that vanishing paint behind the grille and rad support. This really helped give her a fresh look.
The daughter likes the red and yellow calipers on my '15 & '82 (respectively) so she decided to go with red accents on her truck. I think it looks descent, but I wanted Orange. I'll post the caliper pictures in another thread, once we're done with the front suspension.
 

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GXPWeasel

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When cleaning the inside, I also wanted to replace the headlight switch, remove the old alarm armed light, and replace the aftermarket fog lamp switch. They were all broken or gummed up, and just didn't look very nice. While I was removing all of the dash panels to give them a good cleaning, I must have moved something around and created a gremlin, or so I thought. I went to go start the truck to move it a little bit in the shop, but she wouldn't crank. Had plenty of battery because the headlights were bright, and all electrical was working, just no crank. After doing some exploring under the dash... I found my problem.
Now let's rewind a little here.. This truck was purchased at a police auction... and the previous owner was arrested while driving this truck due to a probation violation (so my research says). When they arrested him, they broke out the window. ALSO, he was arrested a previous time for DUI. In the state of KS, it is mandatory that to drive your vehicle after a DUI arrest, you will be required (for a court decided amount of time) to blow into an autolock device in order for your vehicle to be started. The device ensures you have no alcohol on your breath in order to start your vehicle. I mention all of that... because what I found under the dash is where that device was tapped into the ignition wiring. Then when that person who removed the device "fixed" it, they just twisted the ignition wires back together, and put the trim pieces back on. I'm glad I found this when I did, and then of course, I fixed it correctly with a soldering iron, and some heat shrink.
 

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GXPWeasel

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On to suspension and brake work. Not my favorite, but not terribly difficult, with the correct tools.
I knew we were replacing brakes all around, no matter what. I wanted a good quality and SAFE breaking system because again, this is for my teenage daughter, and it will be a boat tow pig on the weekends. While doing the brakes, I thought I should probably check the wheel bearings. They felt fine, but we all know what happens when things sit in fields for a period of time. Luckily, what I found with the rotors/hubs was a nice set of Timken bearings, that looked to be recently serviced. That's great. What wasn't so great is the wheel speed sensors that were behind those hubs. Those had to go. Plus, these weren't terribly expensive, and the new ones come with new surrounds with fresh paint. That's a no brainer. Also not so good, once I removed those, I saw another thing that would eventually need to be taken care of. Torn boots on the tie rod ends, and ball joint boots. The joints themselves were good, but the boots were shot. So, might as well, while I'm there right?
Went with good ol MOOG for replacements. That was an easy Saturday, and we figured we'd spruce up the ol girl underneath while we were at it. We got the rotors turned from a good buddy of mine, and slapped on some nice ceramic pads, to keep the break dust off of those 20" chrome wheels!

That's almost caught up to where we're at, in just over a month of ownership. I don't have any more recent pictures, but I did get the truck put back together for a test drive to pick said daughter up from the HS basketball game. Only to find that I had a rear wheel brake cylinder (the one I didn't replace) was leaking. I should have just done them both while I already have the brakes apart. I slapped a new rear wheel cylinder on last night, and noticed the E-brake cable for the passenger rear was rusted/froze in place. So.. gotta pick a new cable up today, then hopefully test drive in the morning.
The rest of the weekend, we hope to tear down the front doors. It has an aftermarket alarm / remote keyless entry in the truck, but no remotes. I'm going to install a remote start, and want to make sure I have some relays installed to handle those things. Plus, I purchased new exterior door handles (don't have keys to fit the current ones) and a new power window / lock switch. Also, the pictures don't show it, but the front window tint is trash, so that's coming off this weekend too. I'll replace that later in the spring, once the mechanicals are worked out.

Stay tuned...
 

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GXPWeasel

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While finishing up the rear brakes, and installing new e-brake cables and doing some painting... I noticed something I didn't like the looks of. Now I know the retainers (is that what these are called that keep the bunch of leaf springs together) should NOT be cut... This is the same on both sides of the truck. That is the back retainer on the leaf springs. The front retainer, has a large gap. Is that supposed to be there? Was there maybe a leaf removed from this suspension, and that's the reason for the gap? The truck rides GREAT. I don't know if a feller added the coilovers in the rear, it rode like a wagon, so he removed a leaf, or what is the reason. Either way... I'm going to keep a close eye on this for sure.
 

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someotherguy

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While finishing up the rear brakes, and installing new e-brake cables and doing some painting... I noticed something I didn't like the looks of. Now I know the retainers (is that what these are called that keep the bunch of leaf springs together) should NOT be cut... This is the same on both sides of the truck. That is the back retainer on the leaf springs. The front retainer, has a large gap. Is that supposed to be there? Was there maybe a leaf removed from this suspension, and that's the reason for the gap? The truck rides GREAT. I don't know if a feller added the coilovers in the rear, it rode like a wagon, so he removed a leaf, or what is the reason. Either way... I'm going to keep a close eye on this for sure.
The large gap in the clamp is pretty normal appearance. Maybe not spread quite so much, but I don't see the harm. The one that is cut isn't normal. However, I'm not sure if it's hurting anything. Also not sure why someone would do that? It's kind of puzzling.

Richard
 

Road Trip

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While I was removing all of the dash panels to give them a good cleaning, I must have moved something around and created a gremlin, or so I thought. I went to go start the truck to move it a little bit in the shop, but she wouldn't crank. Had plenty of battery because the headlights were bright, and all electrical was working, just no crank. After doing some exploring under the dash... I found my problem.
(...)
Then when that person who removed the device "fixed" it, they just twisted the ignition wires back together, and put the trim pieces back on. I'm glad I found this when I did, and then of course, I fixed it correctly with a soldering iron, and some heat shrink.

Timely find. And chance favors the prepared mind.

You bring up a favorite subject of mine. With our aging trucks/SUVs, we want our
affordable truck cake and also be able to reliably drive it. So we end up with a
'97 truck rolling with 2025 tires, wipers, brakes, spark plugs, wires etc.

Maybe with a 2010 repaint, 2015 rebuilt trans, a 2020 radiator, etc.
You know what I mean. Some of us even end up with a 2024 machine with
a 1997 look & vibe, as some can't resist, and follow the trend to it's logical
conclusion. :0)

But the vast majority of our wiring harnesses are the same ones that
the truck originally rolled off the assembly line with. And if left alone,
they still work reasonably well, with the occasional intermittent connection
at a connector or a fuse blowing chafe due to all those years of vibration in
place.

Unless of course the PO (or rodents) got into the harness. As a fellow girl dad
(now grandson grandfather) if they are going to ride around in or even drive
my old rig, then I don't the machine to let them down. Or the reliability limfac
of the machine to be the condition of the wiring harness.

****

Some of my favorite photos in this forum are detailed failure photos. I think they
can be so instructional in terms of what to be on the lookout for. Given this,
your photo gave me the opportunity to show where intermittents from previous
mods can develop over time:

You must be registered for see images attach


Of course the twisted wire in the foreground is bad news, glad you replaced
that with a permanent fix. But for others I wanted to point out that a vampire
splice left behind is not that big a deal inside the cab of a NM truck that
never sees rain...but I can assure anyone reading this that when these splices
are left behind (especially outside) in a GMT400 living in the rust belt, they
can give you some worthy intermittents to practice your troubleshooting
chops on. :0)

And that red wire with ~1/3 of the strands broken? First of all, that
might be one of the 2 "Hot At All Times" power wires feeding power
to the Ignition Switch. (!)

Guess what? It's not fair, but that wire would ohm out OK with a
DVM. And with one or two low current loads, this circuit will work OK.
But if you turn everything on, the voltage drop across those broken
strands may or may not cause the electrical loads being fed to possibly
flake out. (It might just work if the alternator is keeping the voltage up,
but if the voltage sags at low RPM these broken/missing strands may
cause one or more loads to get all blinky.)

****

The bottom line? If you own a GMT400 that is a forever member of your
family, and it still has an unmodified wiring harness? If you have *any*
aftermarket stuff installed in your vehicle, make sure and tell them
NO Vampire splices.

Instead, insist that they meet the standards documented in the FSM.
(Keep in mind that places like U-Haul are famous for using these 'time-saving'
vampire splices that eventually down the road become funky wiring harness
easter eggs that a troubleshooter had to find/correct.)

Or at least employ quality Western Union splices that are soldered & weatherproofed
with heat shrink. (Here's a good thread where we recently went through this: (Damaged harness blowing fuse - Solved.)

And if you own a previously enjoyed GMT400 where the PO left behind this
kind of wiring harness mess? Look aggressively for any reliability-reducing
mods, and methodically fix them all.

****

Again, thanks for sharing the funky wiring harness wealth. Others will definitely
benefit from your firsthand experience in making a new (to you) truck better.

PS: Welcome to the GMT400 forum. We've got a few father/son & father/daughter
teams in here, and the more the better.

Cheers --
 
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