"Never Grow Up" My 94' 7.4l C3500hd + 96' 7.4l K3500 Build/Tinker Thread

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MILLCMACK

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Firstly, thank you to all of you guys/gals that have shared your builds, projects and mayhem. I am not one to jump at sharing but after looking at several multi year build threads- i want something like that to look back on, so here it goes!

I purchased both trucks over the summer of 2021 as a way of "hitting the reset button" on a torrential cycle of repairs i had been doing to the 2014 1500 Silverado i got for my main work vehicle. my first "truck" being a 99' trailblazer (pre facelift) that my dad and i tore down (regularly lol), the GMT400s have been a warm welcome "home" and a very real fulfillment of childhood dreams of driving such trucks.
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making payments + paying for repairs + trying to work just wasn't getting me anywhere - it was to the point my neighbors thought i had bought the local uhuals pickup, no joke. i had the dreaded stabilitrak issue and early signs of trans failure. my ford is great for around town but at the time i needed to tow 100mi a day consistently. i told myself (and my fiancé) that if i could just sell it for a little more than i owed, i could find two older trucks (that looked good enough for my clients) to buy outright,allow me to sell the ol ford, actually be able to afford the repairs, and move on. After months of struggling along and scouring local sources for a candidate i found "the truck".

here enters MILLC- 1994 7.4l C3500HD.
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i had initially saved it on my craigslist app and found myself re saving it each time he had reposted (was listed for a few months). one of the days i was going to look a different truck i realized i was close so i messaged the guy and he was happy to have me come look. first impressions were good- ran strong, had loads of documentation (including DOT slips and only the original owner on the title), nice quality tires (always a good sign) and wasn't dripping anything. said it was stored inside and only driven by its sole owner once a week to pick up materials about 45min away. he let me take it for a spin by myself (more like he let take it to put some gas in it lol) and i noticed right away why she likely wasn't selling. oil pressure gauge was pinged. it ran better than most, didn't give me any grief and he said he drove it over an hour regularly as is so i didn't walk away. after some thinking back in his drive I looked again and noticed the coolant was now pinged to max too. i popped the hood and got my answers, one of big wiring harnesses was barley plugged in. if I hadn't been in the position with my 1500 i would probably have checked that this was the actually the answer but instead i closed the hood, walked over to his shop and made a deal for it "as is". he inherited the truck with a business a year back and i think he knew enough to "get by" with it but not enough to "get through". it was more truck than i had set out looking for but a flatbed/dump was in my business plan (for maybe next year lol) and we were now talking the same numbers so it was all systems go in my head. i came back the next morning and drove the truck home. plugging in harness absolved all readout issues.

I am currently building out the flat bed for side unload of grass clippings and materials (mulch ect). the plan is for this truck to be my daily mow rig- few upgrades to be done this spring including upgraded trans cooler w gauge, electric fan, LED lights all around, transfer tank and kill switch.


after buying the flatbed i had the 'gull stones' to sell my 1500 and roll the dice with just my 250 and the newly purchased flatbed. timing couldnt have been better- anticipating getting just over what i owed selling privately, i was met with much surprise when i checked my values on KBB. 4k over what i owed! i called the dealership i bought it from and made an appointment to bring it in. i had it detailed and left that afternoon with no keys in hand, debt free and a check for 4200$. This was a HUGE relief in so many ways and allowed me to do something else i had been wanting to do but not been able to afford to bridge the gaps and do; i sold my mowing route that i had built in a town 40 min away and used the $ to hold me over while i built up my newer route in my hometown. all of my long daily tow woes were over.
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Enter "MACK'- 1996 7.4l K3500
another truck i had been passing by but saving in my searches. it was to come up in an auction in about a month- salvage title, 180k, 4wd didn't work.. it just wasnt at the top of my list but i kept it on there thinking it would be nice to be troubleshooting most of the same stuff as the 94 i had just bought. same auction had another truck added to the date that i had actually bid on but was outbid. en the other buyer never showed to pickup/pay. i dragged my feet and the day of the auction i had my dad go take a look at the original truck and said "go look at the gold one too, just let me know what you think". he drove it around the lot and called and said it was what im after. stashed in the back was a folder FULL of receipts, notes, invoices, smog slips -everything. the original owner was clearly a rancher with the means of replacing anything he thought was necessary, next owner did what he could to keep it up for the 2 short years he had it. California truck so luckily it was kept bone stock (other than the lights, toolbox and removed door chime module in the glovebox). i ran the car fax on it again, found the insurance company that totaled it, called and got the rundown that it was impounded and totaled due to damage during arrest (think the guy got PIT maneuvered). bidding started and i pulled out with it just below what i was willing to pay. purchased without ever laying my eyes on it- i was 1000% ready to blame my dad for anything that came of it! hahaha jk jk
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it was clear it had sat in an impound lot. dry rot on the mismatched tires, rat crap under the hood and the interior dismantled from a search. ran pretty rough on the way home but i kept my cool and reminded myself that it had been sitting. first week i ran fuel injector cleaner, cleaned up under the hood (super surprised not to find any chewed/gnarled wiring) and started to make a list of stuff that didn't work/needed to be replaced.

few months later and i cant remember quite everything but for sure so far- drained the gas tank, oil + filter change, trans fluid + filter change, water pump, fuel filter, dist cap + rotor, headlights swapped for better conditioned JY ones, same with grille, added front flaps, replaced the rear flaps, tow mirrors ( want to replace these with the OEM door mounts), replaced burnt marker lights, swapped passenger seat for one with working slide, 4x4 actuator, tires and a Krown rust treatment.
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this is my Daily (when the lady wants to come with- she HATES the ford lol). it will double as my backup for the mowing rig and more than likely i will end up working out of it as a tow rig during the winter months when im doing snow removal.


next update should be the completion of the bed for MILLC and hopefully will get the cooling upgrades started as well.
 
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letitsnow

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Welcome! I entered the gmt400 club under similar circumstances - it sucks making payments on a newer truck and having trouble with it at the same time. If you have to fix one, might as well fix one that you actually own. :)
 

MILLCMACK

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thanks all! yes @letitsnow it was really daunting looking at the loan,looking at repair slips (wouldnt dare add things up) and then looking at what the truck was selling for. before the whole blow up at the dealerships it was just not making sense anymore.
and yes @HotWheelsBurban - 100%, will take these problems any day over hunting down bad grounds behind the dash on a 2014. was ridiculous- truck would shut down with no warning (stopped me from driving on the highway). you take the key out, open and close the door and you were good for another 2 weeks. THE WORST.
 

MILLCMACK

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little update- i did the cap and rotor while it was snowing so at the time i kind of ignored it but this afternoon i decided id go start it up and let it run for a few minutes as the new battery got pretty low with all my in/out trying to get the cheap ODB2 dongles to work. i popped the hood and was pretty bummed to still see the dampness at the base of the oil fill tube. wiped it down and grabbed a paper towel so i could see color- coolant. assuming intake manifold gaskets- runs good, long cranks when hot sometimes but recently developed a very intermittent stumble once its warmed up (at idle after slowing down quickly, loaded, on flat ground)- clearly wont be driving this one until this is addressed. ALMOST confident enough to take this one on. will likely start my hunt for a good shop again on monday unless you all think its worth taking into a chevy/gm dealership. i actually read thru the thread on this the other day and will start putting a parts list together of things to replace while its open (like injectors, egr, regulator)
 

MILLCMACK

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Guess who’s back with another truck!?
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99’ 6.5 diesel this time around- I am pleased when the auctions have a quiet night.

The “millc” truck is still on the road and my main work truck while the gold truck has seen more shop hours than driving unfortunately. Currently shopping around for a new 7.4l to drop into that one with the new transmission that’s waiting. Really needed a second so I can take my time with that one- stripping the bed for a low deck fith bed, going to bring it down a few inches and wrapping all three to match.
 
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