Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

I just picked up a 2001 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD 4x4 with the LQ4 6.0L V8 and backed by a 4L80E. It was an oil field truck, so it's a little beat . It has a little over 101K on it, and until I actually bought it, it was running great. It just had about 5-grand worth of repairs done to it a couple months ago, but naturally it's running lke crap now (clogged injector I'm thinking). The bed is actually the third one it's had on it, and it's already been welded in a couple places (the tail lights are being held on by duct tape ). The driver's seat was missing all the foam on the bottom bolster, but we fixed it somewhat since I took the pictures. All in all the truck is giant piece of crap, but it's gonna make an awesome off-road beater .

http://community.webshots.com/user/squirrel_master-date
(look at the folder 2001 2500HD 4x4)

Tom

Hagarr

iTrader: (6)

You definitely have some work to do!!! That engine bay makes me want to cry. Congrats on the purchase and go get that RXP to clean out the injectors like we talked about.

Brian

BigBirdWS6

$5k in repairs...hope it works out well

Modsquad

iTrader: (6)

It's not a bad truck if the price was right. If you can do some work on it yourself, you can save a small fortune in repair costs....shops are crazy with some of the rates they charge these days.....Ford wanted over $80 just to replace a damn fuel filter on my girlfriends little Escape

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

I didn't spend the 5K on repairs, the company I bought it from did, and the 5K was just for parts, not including the labor. I just bought it on friday, and for the money I spent, it's well worth it (I've spent more on tires for my Trans Am than I spent to buy this truck ). And as far as having a shop work on it, no way. The only thing I've ever had a shop do was rebuild the transmission on the TA, simply because I didn't want to mess it up. If this truck ever sees a shop, it won't be while I own it .

I'm thinking it needs some 35" TSL's, and some time spent in my friends garage fabricating some nasty bumpers (to knock over trees ). Any other ideas ?

Tom

tylerdurden

iTrader: (2)

I bet you, if you have the whole truck detailed it will look 100% better than whats in the photos. Replace the bed, fix the passanger door, get rid of the duct tape and throw in bench seat(or repair it) that will be a bad *** rig to start with. I wish I could have found a deal like that.

Modsquad

iTrader: (6)

Let me know if they have another one for sale cheaper than a set of tires, I'd love to get another off roader!!! I just didn't want my daily driver to be one, that's why I went with the dually instead of a 4x4.

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I'm thinking of someone to detail the interior, and I am looking for a new bench seat. However I don't plan on replacing the bed, since it's part of the charm . I don't really care how the truck looks, and I would much rather spend the money on something else like wheels and tires than on a bed that very well may get messed up again. Besides, this thing will probably be my daily driver for the next little while (try to keep miles off the TA), and as much as my cars get abused in the college parking lot, this one I won't really care about. My TA got sideswiped on the driver's side front fender, someone hit my suburban on the front bumper, someone smacked the front bumper on my Explorer, not to mention all the dings and dents from car doors that litter the side of the cars.

Besides, everyone gets out of the way of a giant beat-up truck, since they figure what does the guy have to lose .

Modsquad - Everyone I've ever met wants me to find them deals on trucks , since this is the 6 vehicle I've had that I picked up for less than a grand, and with exception to my Ranger that my sister totalled, I've managed to either get years worth of driving out of them and then sell them for a profit, or I'm continuing to get years worth of driving out of them. My thing is that I'm always on the lookout for a new vehicle (read: new to me) and I always keep my options open. I met a lady at the gym who ended up selling me her Suburban for less than $700, and it was beyond excellent shape (with exception of the paint job) - I have all the documentation from when they bought the car, every oil change, repair, gas fill-up, everything. It's the most reliable car I have, and I still thank her everytime I see her.

Tom

XFACTOR

Clean up the engine bay and slap on a magnacharger and CIA you'll love it trust me.

Modsquad

iTrader: (6)

No roots on a 4x4....just put a nice cam & headers on it & lift it, skit plate, rock sliders....bumpers...then trash it!

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, don't have the cash for that one, plus it would kind of be a waste on this truck .

Maybe, but I think for my plans this will do alright mosty stock. I'll save the performance stuff for the Trans Am .

Plan to, just gotta come up with the cash. Suspension lifts for this thing are pricey ! (not a body lift man. subscribe to the theory of 1/2 - you can only do a body lift of 1/2 of the suspension lift, so if you got a 4" suspension lift, you can only do a 2" body lift, with an absolute maximum of 3" of body lift total)

Definately plan to do some of that, hopefully spend some more time over at my friends house doing some fabrication again. Have to get my boy Brian (Hagarr) to help me out with some of them pretty welds .

Already done !

I'm pretty sure I can fit some 35's on this thing with some minor triming to the front bumper (since it's shoved back a bit from whatever it hit ), but I have to get new wheels before that since these stockers are only 6.5" wide . I'm keeping my eyes open for some H2 take-offs, since I've heard of people finding some good deals on these wheels with tires (I've checked e-bay like everyone said and the prices have gone up significantly, so that opportunity may have passed since the secret is out now).

Tom

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Keep the ideas coming though. I know this isn't the truck section, but I could definately use some ideas for bumpers and skid plates and rocker guards and such, so if anyone has any old plans they've always wanted to try or something they saw somewhere that would work on this truck, I'd be most obliged . You can even help with the construction if you want . Thanks.

Tom

Modsquad

iTrader: (6)

Let me know when you start fabbing skid plates, I'll come over & drink beer & lend a pair of hands...plus I need to get back into weldind...been putting off getting a mig for a while now. Just keep wanting car parts instead. Now that I have my Duramax, I want to make front & rear bumpers & side steps for it. I'm debating on just buying some side steps for it though. Girlfriend needs em to get in, lol. Otherwise I'd probably skip them, but this thing won't get off the road much so it shouldn't be a problem.

Modsquad

iTrader: (6)

I can design what ever you want in CAD for it. As a matter of fact I want to start designing some front & rear bumpers so once I get all the mounting dimensions & the contour of the front of the truck, I shouldn't have any problems. Also, a guy at work has a bad *** bumper on his DMax I can measure & use for a design guideline.

Anyone got a HD bumper laying around we can measure??

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I'd like to make a nice, mean, STOUT front bumper that I could put a winch on and still be able to take out trees (or Hondas ) if needed. I used to have friend with a K5 Blazer that made himself one nasty bumper, used to hit trees all the time and never once had a problem (but he also filled it cement, so that may have helped a bit - don't plan to go that extreme). I would also like to make either a nice tubular rear bumper of something along those lines, maybe like a Ranch Hand one (though I know it won't be as nice - or will it ). The skid plates will more than likely wait a bit, I haven't even talked to my friend about using his stuff yet (he doesn't even know about the truck ), so I've got some time to look around and see what I like.

But yeah, I'd definately be interested to see what you come up with. I'd take off my bumper and take some measurements, but it's so warped and bent, I have a feeling it wouldn't help much . Otherwise it sounds good, just let me know what I can do to help .

Tom

Modsquad

iTrader: (6)

I'll ask my buddy at work if he still has his stocker.

For the back bumper, I made one years ago, it wasn't pretty, but it was stout. It had a built in reviever, and was made of 6" pipe if I remember the size correctly. One half was an air tank you could fill & the other was a chain box (it was hinged). With as cheap as the automotive air compressors are getting for air ride stuff, you could pimp it out with a compressor & the bumper could be the tank Would come in hand when in tow vehicle mode if you needed air tools at the track. Just not sure what the ratings are on those automotive compressors.

I'm sure we can make ours just as nice if not better because they will be the way we want them. You can always grind an ugly weld & make it pretty....

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Dude, that rear bumper sounds awesome . I could definately use something along those lines. I already have a set of 12-volt plugs running into the bed (the truck had a headache rack with accessory mounts), and I'm thinking a 120-volt power inverter would go with that nicely. Then I could hook up air tools to the bumper, run a winch off either the front or back, and run power tools from inside the bed if needed. I'm liking this more and more. Next thing after that would be something like a PTO . . . I really do like the idea of some storage in the back bumper, and a nice mount point for a high-lift jack or tow hook would also be nice.

I'm not really concerned with the bumpers looking pretty (but I'm not against it either ), though I would definately love for it to scare the crap out of people as they see it coming at them in their rear view mirrors !

Just let me know if what I can do.

Tom

Modsquad

iTrader: (6)

Cool, as soon as I get some free time I'll:
a: measure my bumper mounts
b: find someone else's and measure it
c: go to a truck accesory place & measure one of their after market bumpers, lol.

Maybe I'll just tell them I'm taking a welding class & I had to pick a project & I picked a bumper....maybe it'll fly.

A built in mutl-voltage power outlet in the back would be cool...have 12v & 110v! I know on the Allisons, you could get them with a PTO...I would probably never use one....not sure what I'd use it for. Maybe to run some sort of hydraulic pump?

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Yep, a hydraulic winch is what I'd use it for - more pulling force with no strain on your electrical system . Apparently the plugs that are in the back of my truck were used to run air compressor pumps so they could pull some vacuum on wells and extract gas (or something along those lines), and that idea of having an air compressor is really sounding good to me.

I'm hoping to get to working on my truck this weekend (basic tune-up), and I'll try to take some measurements of my truck for you (though I'm not exactly sure what measurements you need, but I'll try ). I also need to rivet the bed back together (the passenger fender started "floating" while I was driving in the wind today ) until I can get over to my friends house to use his welder (man I need one of those ).

Tom

Modsquad

iTrader: (6)

What side of town do you live on?