Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

New additions!

At the end of June I become a father for the first time, to a baby boy none the less! May the gods of internal combustion please be with me! With this addition to my life I have learned that what I thought I once had figured out just changed and adjustments need to be made.

Apparently, with kids comes allot of stuff, I mean lots of stuff!... and crap, but we are taking about the stuff! So, when we travel there is a car seat, and a base to the seat (permanently mounted in the truck) and a bag 5 times the size of the kid (in case aforementioned crap appears), and a huge jogger (like a stroller is no longer good enough, it is like 50 time the size of the stroller of my youth, and I refuse to believe that the vast majority of these things get used at full pace! Also I am 100 times more likely to stroll with this thing than try to kill myself push this thing during a jog!). Not to mention if we go over night somewhere, then there is a pack and play (portable crib) and a rocker (which is the only thing he sleeps in, so I don't know what the pack and play is for other than showing off), a changes of cloths (his mom packs him more cloths than she dose for herself and I still just have a small backpack form my early 20s), bedding, and toiletries. Like I said, stuff.

Even though this is a 4 door truck I cant get all this stuff in the cab and my wife wont let me leave the truck anywhere with stuff in the bed, least of all the beloved jogger, so I began the search for a tonneau cover fore some out of sight out of mind safety. Just when I thought I had the perfect cover picked out, my brother-in-law decided to sell me his fiberglass leer truck cap, shell, topper, or whatever you want to call it, for almost nothing! Did I mention that his truck is the same color as mine and that the topper was already color matched, it is in good shape, looks sharp, and I couldn't pass it up.

But, I ran into another issue when I put the topper on the truck, now it looked like a giant Suburban and I am not a soccer mom or dad, yet...please lord don't let him like soccer, I would much prefer hockey! I figured the best way to undomesticate it with out going off the deep end and keep it respectable at the same time was to add some tow mirrors and a roof rack. I picked up a set of Fit systems factory replacement extendable mirrors off Amazon (part #62076g) which bolted right up and had most of the features my current mirrors had like electric adjustment, blinkers, and heat. These mirrors are huge, perfect for hauling stuff and I use the fish eyes on the bottom 1/3 all the time! The only issue I have with the mirrors are that they don't work with dual driver position settings nor do any after market mirrors I looked at so I had to turn that function off in the trucks setting, but since I am the only person that drives this truck its no big deal.

I have not figured out the roof rack yet because the topper has bolt on rain gutter mounts and I don't know what configuration i want to go with. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

And there you go, Kid, Topper, Mirrors, Stuff that goes with kid...new additions! I think it is looking good and coming right along.

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

Trucks looking good keep up the good work. I have the big brother to that one no topper on it yet though. I to have a kiddo and another on the way been looking for a cover for my bed because just like you it seems like their is always so much baby crap and stuff in the the truck I have no room for anything else haha.

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

what do you mean by the 'the topper has rain gutter mounts'?

got pics?

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

if you have a roof rack and it mounts to a rain gutter and you dont have rain gutters on your vehicle companies like Thule make a mount you drill and bolt on to your roof that is about 4 or 5" that looks like a mini rain gutter so you can mount the rack to your vehicle.

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

nice truck build. They will last. I have a gasser wit 275K on it

I have an 04 non HD 2500 4 door 4wd that I regularly beat the snot out of every day.
70 on the freeway is the sweet spot for the best gas mileage however.

If you ever get the slip and bump while trying to take off from a stop, as if it's in 2nd gear, there's a valve fix for it in the valve body for the trans.

For the exhaust drone, . . . here's your fix
http://www.performancetrucks.net/for...-drone-489463/

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

Thanks for the read and the suggestions! The link you supplied is something I found a few years ago, but I just don't want to go through the trouble of making a 24 or so inch ling 4 inch round j tube to hang off the exhaust. If it was physically shorter and I didn't have any other projects on my plate I would probably tackle it, but ever since the shell was installed it quieted way way down. What is the valve body mod you speak of?

Thanks again

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

this is the kit that I used. It fixed my wrong gear starts. If I was sitting at a stand still stop or a rolling quick stop, if I tried taking off, the trans would be in another gear besides 1st gear. This kit fixed the "hunt for 1st gear" issue that I was having. It was always at random, never at the same times or conditions.
http://www.transgo.com/products.php?...dcountview=Yes

I also have the TransGoHD2 kit. All kinds of fun to have any gear selection at any RPM.

I've done a few cam swaps in it over the years along with a LS3/L92 top end (heads and intake) and it made a huge difference in power.

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

What a winter we are having her in western Montana! It has been cold, it has snowed allot compared to previous years, it has rained, it has snowed more. Because my 69 GMC project "George" is comfortably placed in the garage waiting for me to finish the LM7 swap, I have no place out of the elements to do any maintenance on the daily driver. But, the heavens opened up and I got a chance to replace the upper ball joints the other weekend on a balmy and sunny 40 degree day!

With all of the ice ruts in the roads and the frost heaves that have quickly turned to what feels like potholes holding hands I couldn't take the clunking of the upper ball joints any more. After 170 some thousand miles on the original ball joints it was just time for a change. It was still too cold to paint the arms while I had them out, but I did replace the bushings with prothane replacements while I was doing it because, well you know...While I was at it...

I replaced the joints with some excellent Moog parts and in order to remove the rubber bushings I used the ball joint C-clamp press and a bolt through a large washer to push them right out, as pictured below. It was a real smooth way of getting the bushings out in one piece, again pictured below, without needing to "burn them out" like Prothane recommends. That just sounds messy and sticky and I am still taken aback just a little every time I think about a company that advises you to take a torch to a vehicles suspension parts to get rid of them so there stuff can go in place of it. The only thing I can think of that I want the insides burnt out of is a whisky barrel.

when I was done the front end tightened right up, there was a noticeable lack of clunks coming from the suspension, and the steering wheel is defiantly communicating with me better about what is going on at the contact patch. I am still struggling to find an alignment shop that will do what I ask when it comes to aligning the truck as oppose to harass me about the torsion keys being turned up, but I continue to search for that magical shop. I am not asking any shop to align it outside acceptable factory ranges when they align it, but none of them want to give me the negative .25 deg camber that is within acceptable tolerances per GM spec. They all want to try and give me .5 degrees of positive camber and completely eliminate any steering confidence. My only saving grace is with the tightened keys you cant get anywhere near that positive in the adjustments, but they try despite any conversation I have with them before hand. I might start looking into purchasing an alignment kit for myself and be done with the shops.

I plan on replacing the lower ball joints and adding polly bushing to the lower arms later this spring. I might also get a new Idler arm and support at that time.

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

Time for new tires and while I am at it I may as well get new wheels right?

While I honestly do like the design of the factory wheels, I think they are quite sharp for a factory aluminum truck wheel, I have always been disappointed on how skinny they are. They don't lend themselves to allow the tire to create presence in the wheel well or set close to flush with the side of the body work. If someone made it in a wider size I would buy it to keep the almost factory looks. American Racing does make a replica wheel, but only in factory width, so that option was out.

I did allot of looking at new and used wheels and every time I was interested in something I couldn't get past the fact that new wheels are expensive, used aftermarket wheels are usually beat up, and the simple fact that after market wheels in general are not as tough or have weight rating like a factory wheel. The more I searched the more frustrated I got until I ran across a Duramax with H2 wheels and realized that was the ticket! The H2 wheels are 17" x 8.5" and that is not only 1" taller, but are a whole 2 inches wider than my wimpy 6.5" wide baby wheels.

So, I scoured craigslist here and close surrounding areas, but since there are not allot of H2's here I had no luck so I called around to a few tire shops in town and found out that the first rule of owning an H2 regardless if you have 1 of the 7 in town is you must ditch the factory wheels and equip it with 20's, because they had a set of factory wheels that had been sitting around behind there warehouse for about 2 years from someone upgrading to 20's. I picked them up for $300 which I thought was a excellent deal because I have seen them listed for $500 in similar shape in places I wasn't willing to drive to or pay even more to have them shipped.

You can see even after I washed them that in the before pics they were in need of a little love, so I sanded them down, got rid of the corrosion and pitting on the lip of the front and the entire barrel of the back of the wheel, sprayed a catalyzed epoxy primer and silver paint on the rear, and cleared the entire wheel after treating the bare aluminum parts with a POR 15 prep wash with a 2K clear.

They are not perfect by a mile, nor was I going for it, but they are free of corrosion and will be a significant upgrade in the looks department of my daily driver.

Also, cant say enough good things about this rattle can 2K clear that I used. I have never had a clear look so good or lay down so well. I hope it holds up to the abuse of the Montana winters.

Before

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

After

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

very nice score on the H2 wheels. I didnt realize that the were 2 inches wider than factory truck wheels. how dod you protect the machined portions of the wheels when you painted them? just good ole masking tape?

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

like the factory, I cleared the aluminum to protect it from the elements. To promote adhesion to the bare aluminum I used POR15's bare aluminum and copper metal prep, it is in a bottle with a yellow label and like their metal etch you apply it for a minute and rinse it off real well. I hear stories of clear coats yellowing over time, but I hope the clear I purchased is of good enough quality that I dont have that problem. time will tell.

you can also see in the pictures that the back side is a different color silver than the front. The paint shop and I for that matter, picked the wrong gm wheel color to match what was on there. I went with it because previously I had even pondered painting the backs black to create more contrast and depth when looking at the wheel and this will do the same thing. Not what I intended, but will work just fine and nobody will know the difference.

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

Quick question who made the 4 inch tail pipe? Was it for a Duramax the same year as your 1500hd? One more quick question was it stainless steel?

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

I wish I had that answer for you, I am sorry. The shop that did the work sourced the pipe for me... I want to say it was from Walker, but I don't know.

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

Thanks
My 2005 gmc 1500hd is set up for a shimmy shock but it never came with one does yours have one?

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

If you are referring to a steering stabilizer then, no. But, all my GMT 800s have had a mount location for one on the center link.

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

I am going to put one on my truck .What would be the best brand to go with?

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

I would be a terrible source for that information, you would probably be better rewarded asking that question to the 4x4 section on the forum.

Re: My New 03 1500HD
 

I will do that