mn_ski Daily Driver - Keep it on the Road

[mn_ski]

Hey all, Been reading on this forum for a few years since i bought my '98 Silverado. I live in MN but bought this truck from Eugene, OR in October 2019. I found it on CL, I contacted the seller, we chatted, and after he answered correctly to all the important questions along with providing extra rust free pictures of the underside of the truck I decided this was the one to fly across the country for. Buying a 20 year old truck in MN is not something I wanted to do. I was buying this truck to replace my S10 ZR2 that rotted out and was no fun to work on anymore. Good times that old truck had though:

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The seller was nice enough to pick me up at the airport. We drove around and stopped at his bank. After the money was counted and the title was signed I was off on my 32 hour drive. Made it home ok and slept, lol.

First thing up was floor mats. A good set is a necessity in MN:

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I put her to work right away as well:

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I wasn't a fan of the chrome over the wheel wells. I think it looks more modern with them removed.

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I also found this stuff to keep the aluminum wheels clean. It works really well.

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To be continued....

 

[Cadillac Bob]

Nice looking truck! Yeah good thing about 400’s is they have the classic style and can get work done and have what’s needed not just overload of never going use options nor electronics to hold up the truck things trucks are meant for!!

 

[mn_ski]

I continued to drive the truck through the spring of 2022. At that time we had finished moving and having kids. I was ready to start addressing some of the maintenance items that were plaguing the truck. My new neighbor owns a shop in town so I had him do some work on the truck.
Rear Diff fluid with new seals.
U Joints
Engine Oil Pan gasket
Front Diff Fluid
Full tune up - plugs, wires, cap, rotor.
Un cranked the T bars and replaced the shocks. Truck rides so much better now.

This fall I replaced the ignition lock cylinder as it was getting very hard to turn. I also replaced the blower motor and the blower motor resister pack. Controlled heat in MN winter is a must!

A year ago the wife was driving the truck when I get a call from her. Truck is on the side of the road. She is asking me how to jump it. My response, why does it need to be jumped? Long story short I go to the truck and it had ran out of gas. She then cranked it until the battery died. I put gas in it and try to jump it. Battery won't take the charge. The cables on the truck were totally shot when I bought the truck. But like anything else if you don't touch them they keep working....So now on the side of the road I am trying to jerry rig these battery cables to a new battery to get the truck going. I got them but it wasn't pretty. After that episode I contacted @5vortec7 and ordered up his big 3 kit. I got the kit, opened the box, thought man the kit looks good. Then proceeded to put it on the shelf for a year. Every day for a year I kept thinking I have to replace those cables.

Did some more truck stuff first and grabbed a tree:

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Before any project work can start I needed a bench to work from. Digging through my pile of 70% off lumber from the big orange store I put something together:

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Fast forward to this year and it starts getting cold out. Truck is getting harder to crank over. Got to get those cables replaced. Here is what I started with:

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I grabbed the box off the shelf and put it on the bench:

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Opened her up and laid everything out:

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Got an early Xmas gift from my lovely wife to help kick off the project work:

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Removed the old and replaced with the new. Cleaned up the frame as best as I could for the new ground wires. Applied Dielectric grease as well:

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Much better:

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I still have some work to do cleaning up the cables and putting some more loom over them. The kit is high quality and customer service is top notch. I had an issue with one cable and @5vortec7 responded to my text and is resolving the issue for me. Definitely appreciated. I have some more things lined up to keep improving the driveability of the truck. That is where it is now.

 

[mn_ski]

Nice looking truck! Yeah good thing about 400’s is they have the classic style and can get work done and have what’s needed not just overload of never going use options nor electronics to hold up the truck things trucks are meant for!!

Thanks! Exactly. Great trucks even to this day. Love the styling. A few little upgrades and they have all the features I need!

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

I continued to drive the truck through the spring of 2022. At that time we had finished moving and having kids. I was ready to start addressing some of the maintenance items that were plaguing the truck. My new neighbor owns a shop in town so I had him do some work on the truck.
Rear Diff fluid with new seals.
U Joints
Engine Oil Pan gasket
Front Diff Fluid
Full tune up - plugs, wires, cap, rotor.
Un cranked the T bars and replaced the shocks. Truck rides so much better now.

This fall I replaced the ignition lock cylinder as it was getting very hard to turn. I also replaced the blower motor and the blower motor resister pack. Controlled heat in MN winter is a must!

A year ago the wife was driving the truck when I get a call from her. Truck is on the side of the road. She is asking me how to jump it. My response, why does it need to be jumped? Long story short I go to the truck and it had ran out of gas. She then cranked it until the battery died. I put gas in it and try to jump it. Battery won't take the charge. THe cables on the truck were totally shot when I bought the truck. But like anything else if you don't touch them they keep working....So now on the side of the road I am trying to jerry rig these battery cables to a new battery to get the truck going. I got them but it wasn't pretty. After that episode I contacted @5vortec7 and ordered up his big 3 kit. I got the kit, opened the box, thought man the kit looks good. Then proceeded to put it on the shelf for a year. Every day for a year I kept thinking I have to replace those cables.

Before any project work can start I needed a bench to work from. Digging through my pile of 70% off lumber from the big orange store I put something together:

You must be registered for see images attach

Fast forward to this year and it starts getting cold out. Truck is getting harder to crank over. Got to get those cables replaced. Here is what I started with:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

I grabbed the box off the shelf and put it on the bench:

You must be registered for see images attach

Opened her up and laid everything out:

You must be registered for see images attach

Got an early Xmas gift from my lovely wife to help kick off the project work:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Also went and grabbed a tree:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Removed the old and replaced with the new. Cleaned up the frame as best as I could for the new ground wires. Applied Dielectric grease as well:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Much better:

You must be registered for see images attach

I still have some work to do cleaning up the cables and putting some more loom over them. The kit is high quality and customer service is top notch. I had an issue with one cable and @5vortec7 responded to my text and is resolving the issue for me. Definitely appreciated. I have some more things lined up to keep improving the driveability of the truck. That is where it is now.

Those look very nice and well made. Looks like good separation on the + cables too, and still clearance from the air filter box. Are you going to put some type of cover over the bolts and terminals? Dad used rubber table leg tips from the hardware store on the Burb; I need to replace them.

 

[mn_ski]

Those look very nice and well made. Looks like good separation on the + cables too, and still clearance from the air filter box. Are you going to put some type of cover over the bolts and terminals? Dad used rubber table leg tips from the hardware store on the Burb; I need to replace them.

That wouldn't be a bad idea to cover those terminal bolts! Thanks for the idea.

 

[Cadillac Bob]

Thanks! Exactly. Great trucks even to this day. Love the styling. A few little upgrades and they have all the features I need!

Exactly!!!! These few basic “updates” make these 400’s killers out on the streets long clean lines with touches on newer looks of add ons does it! Point being that when you start with a great base 90% of time they elevate your looks vs doing these things to a newer generation just doesn’t have same impact due to most have certain features already which is great but not when your trying to be yourself and your ride be an extension of you! “Ugk candy”song sums up the feeling! It’s a rap song for those who don’t know lol
Exterior- wheels tires light housings window tint!
Interior- touchscreen radio or non new speakers any upgrade from lower trim level to higher trim level add ins ie- center console etc.

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[Cadillac Bob]

Good thing you made that bench for that tool box !!! My back hurts just thinking of bending over to grab extra tools out!! Lol

 

[mn_ski]

Next up on the bench was door pins and bushings. This ended up being an impromptu event but I am very happy it happened. I had planned to work on them but some kids stuff came up and I hadn't started on them...That was until my cousin stopped over. I forgot I told him to come over and hang out while we worked in the garage. So with him driving up in the middle of a blizzard I figured we better get to work. Wife took over the kids and we went to the garage.

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These doors were so bad. They really were almost embarrassing. Everywhere you went...screech, groan, slam. They made so much noise and they made the truck feel so cheap and crappy every time I drove it anywhere. With a board and floor jack under the door we got to work.

Got the retainer clips removed. Then started driving out the pins. With the pins out we could see how bad the bushings were. You can see both of these upper bushings split in half.

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Cunningham Machine also offered the door rollers as well. So I grabbed them since I wanted everything replaced. So glad I did because the passenger side was bent. A cold chisel and a dead blow hammer took care of the top of the roller and then I was able to drive them out the bottom. The new rollers are two piece and screw together. I had to sand and file the holes just a little to get the new rollers to fit into the hole.

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New roller, bushings, and pin in:

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I decided to replace the strike bolt (latch bolt?) as well. There was some gouging out of the old ones occurring.

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Over all the Cunningham Machine bushings and rollers seem to be very high quality. I used the bolt and socket method to press the bushings into their proper locations vs hammering them in. It seemed to work well. So far I could not be happier that these are done. Seriously the best repair ever. These doors close so butter smooth now and no noise. From the mid catch point position of the door a slight push with your finger and the door closes and latches. Even with the windows up!! Big thanks to my cousin for coming over and lending a hand.

Snow pics:

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[mn_ski]

Next up on the bench was drivers side exterior door handle and drivers side mirror.

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Unboxing the mirror it seemed to be good Quality. It is just a Dorman that I got from Rockauto.

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Getting right to work on removing the door panel to get access to the 2nd screw holding the handle to the door. Out with the old, in with the new:

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Overall I pretty much just followed the "Door handle and Door pin replacement" thread in the Paint / Body / Detailing forum. It is a PITA to get the lock cylinder back into the handle and slide everything back into place. Eventually you get it and it is worth not having to take the inner door panel off.

My mirror replacement took a minute because my body side electrical harness seemed short. The connector was way down in the door. I had to find some slack in the interior and push it through to get a hold of the connector for the mirror. Finally I would say that I was initially impressed with the Dorman mirror, the paint looks good, price is good, but over all I wouldn't buy it again. The glass on it shakes a bit when driving down the road. It is like the motor isn't strong enough to hold the glass when going down the road. It isn't crazy bad but it is noticeable.

Dirty but installed.

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