Bang for the buck Functional Renewal of rust belt '99 C2500

[Road Trip]

And the best part of this story? I did replace the DD's bad brake line on my terms
in mid-March on a 55 degree day bathed in full sun. About 1000x better than driving
old w/zero redundancy in the driveway, especially here in upstate NY.

"The palest ink is better than the best memory." -- chinese proverb

Allow me to correct myself. Thanks to the metadata that my camera
stores w/each photo, the following 2 photos were taken on March 15th
of this year:

Picturesque winter scene marred by knowledge of blown brake line lurking underneath DD

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Mother Nature installs late winter pompadour on emergency backup pickup for comic effect

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As it turns out, I was hoping to fix the DD in mid-March, but it actually
happened in April. Details in a future posting.

PS: I know these wintertime pics seems out of season here in July, but
don't forget that the longest day of the year has already come & gone --
every day is now getting a wee bit shorter, so just like all of us rust belters
do, be sure to make the most of the rest of your summer... :0)

 

[62barsoom]

This is what I put on WCJr a year or two ago. Still looks like new.

More Information for ENERGY SUSPENSION 35178G

Wow, grease fittings even.

 

[62barsoom]

"The palest ink is better than the best memory." -- chinese proverb

Allow me to correct myself. Thanks to the metadata that my camera
stores w/each photo, the following 2 photos were taken on March 15th
of this year:

Picturesque winter scene marred by knowledge of blown brake line lurking underneath DD

You must be registered for see images attach

Mother Nature installs late winter pompadour on emergency backup pickup for comic effect

You must be registered for see images attach

As it turns out, I was hoping to fix the DD in mid-March, but it actually
happened in April. Details in my next posting.

PS: I know these wintertime pics seems out of season here in July, but
don't forget that the longest day of the year has already come & gone --
every day is now getting a wee bit shorter, so just like all of us rust belters
do, make the most of the rest of your summer... :0)

Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Road Trip]

For any vehicle I buy, the rite of passage is when I decide
that it's worth buying the OEM Service Manual for it.
(As opposed to deciding that the vehicle isn't what it
was cracked up to be & cutting my losses.)

So, after a few months of ownership I decided that I really
wanted my own copy of the '99 C/K Truck Service Manual.

I was a bit surprised (but not dismayed) that it was a set
of (4) big books! I started following the ebay auctions
for these sets, and this what I saw:

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So it looked like the going price was $150-$200 for a full set?

I decided to wait a bit & see if anyone would offer up a set for
a little less coin?

Finally, a gentleman in TX who had already sold his GMT400 offered
up his complete set for $50 + shipping. I jumped on it:

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So, for $50 + $25 shipping + $6 (NY sales tax) I ended up with a
complete set of previously enjoyed manuals for $81.00.

And since that purchase, I feel that they have already paid for
themselves in terms of cost avoidance. Do I absolutely need
my own set of shop manuals with everything out there online
these days? Maybe not, but for me there's nothing quite like
having a shop manual in house. I was raised to RTFM.
(Read That Fine Manual. :0)

The moral of the story? If you wait until you really need a set,
you will have no choice but to pay the going street price. But
if you start looking for a set before you need it, you might luck
into a bargain.

FWIW --

PS: The books were shipped promptly by 'Chris' from Plano, TX, and
I left the seller positive feedback for this ebay transaction...but if any
of you down in the Lone Star state cross paths with this individual,
please tell him that I said Thanks for being a most reasonable fellow! :0)

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Yup the '99 set is 4 books. We had a set that we bought from GM (Helm is the publisher for Chevy manuals and has been for years) when we got our first '99 Burb in 2005. I still have the first three volumes. Book 4, the one with the body and interior stuff, was lost in a house fire; my Dad had it in his reach so we could figure out some things on the Burb.
I looked at the owners manual in my crew cab, and the '97 books are two large volumes and a couple of supplements that don't apply to my truck. In '97 those were $90 from Helm. Now they are around $250-300 online.
Dad would always get the manuals for our new car or truck from GM, from the order form in the back of the owners manual. Since he passed, I got in the filing cabinet he had these manuals in, and have been selling them. We don't have any of the cars anymore so I don't need them, but someone else does.
The factory manuals are the best reference for a vehicle. For our trucks, the Haynes book is okay, but much of the information is for the early models(because that's what they had to take apart when they wrote the manual. Some of it has been updated for the later models but a lot hasn't.

 

[Road Trip]

The clean(er) exterior starts to make the rusty interior bits look rough by comparison

OK, when I originally bought the truck I actually thought that it was
pretty cool for having the no-nonsense vinyl floor covering instead of
carpet. I envisioned going to the treasure yard, getting good & dirty,
getting into the truck, getting that dirty also...and after returning to home
base just hose it out if need be. No muss, no fuss, no worries.

It's not that I didn't look, but more like nothing really caught my eye
on the interior. But after all the clean up on the exterior, I opened the
door, and now the interior of all things had become the visual sore
thumb. Hey, where did all this rust all over the bench seat supporting
frame suddenly come from?

Driver's side rust at floor level, no doubt from salty splash from PO's winter boots? Much worse than passenger side.

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With the seat removed, it was easier to see what the recovery plan would entail.

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Too long to fit in the blast cab, resorted to old school low-tech surface prep on the bench seat frame. 90/10 rules in play.
(90% improvement in 10% of the time required when striving for Perfection.) Git-R-Done!

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Note: This is a work-in-process shot of initial rust removal. Final prep sanding using 220 grit on an air-powered DA sander not shown but done.



Sometimes you paint something in order to make it stand out. THIS is the paint you use when you paint something in order to make it disappear from sight!

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For more information, here's an Amazon page. (link) IMPORTANT: Prices for the exact same thing are all over the place -- shop around & save! (link)
Easter Egg alert: If you are wondering if you can clear coat over this & would like to see what that looks like, that's what I did to the quad box cover on far right.
It's definitely not a single hue battleship gray like the plastic cap color might suggest. Actually much closer to my all-time favorite Corvette color -- Steel Cities Gray. (!)

I have come to rely on this paint for all the items that I need to paint in
order to protect from corrosion, (accessory brackets, etc) but at the
same time I don't want to draw undo attention to the part itself.

Shiny paint tends to emphasize the tiniest flaws in the surface/surface prep.
This dries not exactly flat, but more of a matte finish. Actually, it looks
like freshly cleaned cast iron. Super forgiving!

Here's a side by side photo of the passenger side -- 'as found' on the left vs. post sanding/prep/Cast Blast paint on the right:

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OK, hit the 5-photo limit. In the next posting, I'll get to show you the finished product.

 

[Road Trip]

Meanwhile, I decided to take advantage of the removed seat in order
to give the vinyl floor a little cleanup. Here's what it looked like
at the halfway mark:

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Yikes! It didn't seem all that dirty...but I guess I didn't know what the original color of the vinyl flooring was?

All done. Plenty ready for the next trip to the U-Pull-It treasure yard.

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Not the best picture quality -- in person, it's low-key, clean, and uninteresting. Aside from the hue, indistinguishable from a normal factory finish. Ideal for my purposes.


Here is the bench seat frame all reinstalled. It's now a clean yet low-observable component...as it should be.

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The seat cover was chosen chiefly for it's dirt camo capability. (That plus the blue stripe that matches the truck's exterior.) Better than vinyl both winter & summer!


Beauty shot of the interior after a deep cleaning/budget resto:

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Total cost: 1 can of paint, ~$12. Dad/Uncle/Granddad style bench seat cover, $39.95 + tax. Soft scrub & misc cleaners maybe $1. Total cost <$55.

OK! No more visible rust to greet the eye when you open the door.
And when the grandson gets a little older, he & I will be riding around like
Me & Mini-Me on a treasure yard expedition -- Making memories! :0)

 

[Road Trip]

3 shocks drive as good as 4?

After the initial purchase, behind the wheel the truck seemed to drive
just fine for a chore truck. Maybe just a little loose, but it eased
down the road calmly like a rusty Rolls Royce.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered the RF shock was no longer
in the mechanical circuit, but just standing proud inside the coil spring?

When purchased, the RF shock was just sitting vertically (compressed) inside the coil spring, for the uppermost end of the shaft had rusted completely away.

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Obviously this isn't a fresh failure -- this shock had disconnected itself a long time ago. But I can't blame the PO for not noticing -- the HD suspension still didn't bounce around?


* In the past, I've bought the super cheap shocks from places like Detroit Axle
for vehicles that only have a year or so left in them anyway. (4 for a Benjamin?)
The idea was for everything to wear out at the same time...and walk away. (link)

* I used to consider the mid-grade Monroe shocks as a price/performance compromise, but now they are close to $200 for 4?
(And the last couple of sets I was disappointed in the valving?)

* I've used KYB gas shocks as a budget upgrade for a DD in heavy rotation, but they are ~$275 for a set of 4?

* And then I found the gold standard for these trucks (Z-71 calibration Bilsteins) on offer
for $306 for a set of 4. Since these make a difference every single time you drive the truck,
I was sorely tempted. And then once I decided that if the truck were to wear out
before the shocks did...then I would just take them off & use them on my next GMT400,
it was an easy decision:

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Installation stretched into a warm evening. Baseball, Apple pie, and Bilsteins for Big Bloo:

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And when I was done, thankfully it *still* drove nice. (Well, maybe a wee bit better - no buyer's remorse whatsoever. :0)

Who knows? Maybe that entry level class at the Silver State Classic
isn't just a complete pipe dream? :0)

 

[Road Trip]

Thanks for the reminder.

Man, what a beautiful vista behind your truck. That's one thing I've
noticed, so many of these GMT400s live in beautiful country!

Congrats on your good fortune...

 

[62barsoom]

That truck is looking good. Thanks for the updates. You've passed on some good information. Bilsteins are what I have had my eye on, guess I'll have to Dave up.