2000 GMC SAS: Hydro assist assistance

[supersize75k5]

I took it for a drive a few miles up the dirt road today. Shaft feels good and smooth up to 40. Didnt care to go much faster, I've got the shocks off of it again. I've got some of my turning radius back after rolling the axle back up. I'm about to pull the gooseneck back into the driveway to check clearance and travel on the front shaft.

The transmission doesnt like low range. It will wait until about 3500 to shift out of first, and half of the time it slips and acts like its hunting for a gear, the other half of the time it shifts quick and hard enough to spin the front tires on the gravel. I'm going to give it time to see if it will learn or something, if not I'll ground the TCCM wire and have it tuned to reflect the new low range ratio. No leaks or noise from the 205, speedometer works and in high range the truck drives like normal, so I'm pretty satisfied with that.

Still no rear shaft. I know its the holiday season and all, but I'm getting anxious. I still have to make a mount for the carrier bearing and get the angles right.

Nice!

To test the grounding out of that wire in 4 low just run a jumper wire from your seat frame bolt or somewhere under your dash, slide the wire in the pin slot and its like magic

Keep at er, looks like a fun toy

 

[Cruz89K5]

Nice!

To test the grounding out of that wire in 4 low just run a jumper wire from your seat frame bolt or somewhere under your dash, slide the wire in the pin slot and its like magic

Keep at er, looks like a fun toy

I'm not sure if it will make any difference since the ratio change is so drastic. Also, I dont want to pull the dash again just yet . I have no idea how you reached those plugs without pulling the dash. I had my hands in there every way but the right way I guess.

 

[Cruz89K5]

So this beautiful piece of metal showed up on the brown truck today.

Its a damn shame its going to go under the truck where no one can see it.

Excuse my dirty shop floor, I've been working instead of sweeping for a change.

 

[Cruz89K5]

Well I got the carrier bearing mounted, driveshaft was too long. It was fully compressed in the yoke. Decided to cheat and add my zero rates in the rear and remove a spring while I was at it. Moved the rear end back an inch. Did the trick. Havent tested it at full compression, but it seems to have enough slip showing to handle the travel. The rear yoke was somewhat pointed at the carrier bearing, so hopefully the CV will be happy. The angle on the shaft looks good. Really hoping it will run nice and smooth. I was able to get the front part of the shaft within a few degrees of the powertrain as instructed by Jess, so that should be fine.

Used a borrowed cherry picker to check clearance. With the arm all the way in and the tire off. Got the rear up pretty high, ram bent. WTF. So now I get to buy a new ram for my buddy's cherry picker. Rear seems to flex more with a spring out of the pack. Flexed high enough to break the damn cherry picker anyway.

Replaced the studs in the front with longer bolts until I get the shim situation sorted out.

Drained the milkshake out of the rear diff, going to refill it in the morning. Front diff seems low, but there isnt any water in it.

Driveline ubolts should be here tomorrow. Hopefully everything runs smooth so I can finish weld the carrier bearing mount in and gusset it a bit.

Pretty productive day overall, nothing exciting enough to take pictures of though.

 

[Cruz89K5]

First things first. A big thanks to WFO concepts, my U bolts arrived this morning. Talk about quick. Good folks to do business with, they've earned some free advertisement on my junk.

Secondly, the million dollar driveshaft is great. It runs smooth. I've got some shake, but I'm fairly certain its from the boggers. They are cupped on the front and unbalanced.

Removing a spring from the rear made a huge difference. I flipped the overload and I can almost make my springs invert to match the upside down overload. Time for a bumpstop. My tires also almost hit the bed floor. It's weird watching the rear end work almost as well as the front end.

In four wheel drive the truck has a turning circle like you wouldnt believe. Learning to maneuver it is going to take some time.

My buddy took a picture of it flexed out to check driveline slip/bind, I'll have to have him send it to me. I'm pretty happy with the result. Even with some straps/bumpstops I think it's still going to have quite a bit of travel, and with all of the weight I think the traction will be great as well.

My to-do list is getting smaller. The only big thing left is exhaust. I've got to cut the old 40's off my K5 and get them put on the GMC. My shift rail pins need cotter keys, I need to finish welding the carrier bearing support, I need to flush/fill the front diff, I need to get some inner fenders, buy limit straps/bump stops, and I want to buy some better/longer stocks. I hope FOA is back up and running soon, I'd like to have some of their shocks and air bumps. The tire was also getting into the rear of the fender a bit, need to get the grinder after it a little more I suppose.

I know there's a lot of other little things that need finished, but these are the major ones now. Hopefully I'll be able to take it out this weekend and beat on it a little bit.

I'm proud to say that after a year of being 2wd its finally four wheel drive again. Its been a long journey, and its nowhere near over, but this is a milestone I'm very happy to see. I never thought I'd do a SFA on a new body style truck, but I'm glad I did. If you're on the fence about it here's the push. Go for it! Its fun, and its not as hard or expensive as you think as long as you take your time and shop around and research.

 

[jekquistk5]

Where did you get that purple paint that you used on your transfer case. I am going to paint my cage that color. To appease the wife.

 

[Cruz89K5]

The purple is the metalcast spray paint from autozone or orileys. It's something like 7 bucks a can, but it looks great. I've always used a primer with it. It goes on thin but seems to dry pretty dark.

I'd be lying if I told you it was to keep the girlfriend happy. I just like purple. Haha

 

[Deuling]

I'd be lying if I told you it was to keep the girlfriend happy. I just like purple. Haha

Purples effin sweet i dont care what anybody says. I was Soooo close to painting my motor anodized purple

 

[Cruz89K5]

Yep. I've been painting drivetrain and steering components purple for awhile.

So I took it to a buddy's place Saturday and had a blast. Its like 600 acres and has two old rock quarries on it, a good size river and several creeks. I love going out there. Anyway, the truck gets around pretty good. I kept climbing ledges and different things trying to hang it up but it just kept going. It drags framerails but the belly is flat, so its not bad. I had the old 70 series put back on it, so its silent again. Not my style, but I did some trading with the muffler shop guy so it only cost 60 bucks to get the exhaust done.

I've still got a few small bugs to work out, but overall its great. I'm pretty proud of it, its been a fun experience building it. This is my first project that was more than bolt on and I've learned a lot.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of it at the ranch. I had it in the river sand and climbed the bank a few times. No axle wrap like expected, but it likes to dig holes in a hurry. There was a hill that was about 5' tall and nearly vertical, went right up that too, didnt even spin a tire.

We found a rock. It found my rocker panel after this.

Found a spot that maxed out the travel. Two tires are barely off the ground here.

And on the way home this happened. I figured it was a matter of time, but on the first trip out? Bad luck.

I'm probably going to get a sheet of plexiglass or lexan to put in place until I can figure out what to do for fenders. Then replace it with glass.

Here's two pictures of part of the land with the rock quarries. Chad's jeep is pretty nice, he's completely rebuilt it. It's a 78 CJ with a 304. He's finally got a few scratches on it so it goes out to play more often.

This hill is pretty steep. Its just wide enough between the fence and a drop off for my pig to fit. The jeep had room to spare

The jeep is pointed at a quarry and there's another quarry on the other side of the hill. This place is really cool, you have to be there to appreciate it in its entirety.

Thats all for today, hopefully I can get a temporary window solution and spend some more time driving it and working some of the issues out and then load it up and take it to the dunes or something fun.

 

[KansasTwister]

That looks like a really fun area to play. Truck looks great. Sucks about the back window though. Could you find some trailer fenders to hang over the tires for now? Maybe slice up a 55 gal drum? haha. Just thinking out loud.

 

[Cruz89K5]

Its a great place to play. Its got everything. Mud, rocks, creeks, a river, sand, hills, woods. I always look forward to making trips down there.

I've got a picture of what I want to do with trailer fenders in my head, I just havent found the trailer fender in the size and style I want yet. I was hoping my window would hold out until I was able to find exactly what I wanted.

 

[supersize75k5]

this might give you idears...

 

[Cruz89K5]

I've seen that one on pirate. Thats where I got the idea to cut the bed floor. My bed was too smashed to get the fenders wells out of it like that one. I plan on a squared off type trailer fender thats wide enough to cover the tire. So far I can only find small squared off ones or big rounded ones. No wide square ones. I found one close to what I wanted, but it was chrome diamond plate. I'm not a fan of chrome or diamond plate, so those were out.

 

[supersize75k5]

I've seen that one on pirate. Thats where I got the idea to cut the bed floor. My bed was too smashed to get the fenders wells out of it like that one. I plan on a squared off type trailer fender thats wide enough to cover the tire. So far I can only find small squared off ones or big rounded ones. No wide square ones. I found one close to what I wanted, but it was chrome diamond plate. I'm not a fan of chrome or diamond plate, so those were out.

Maybe look into vans, trucks, or semi parts if you have abundant junk yards near you.

Nice to see you wheeling it!

 

[Cruz89K5]

There's a trailer supply place half an hour from here, its just in the wrong direction. I need to break down and make a trip.

It feels good to get out and enjoy it. I'm ready to take it somewhere and wheel it. I'd really like to make it to Moab in the next year or two. I've looked at the blazer bash pictures dozens of times. That place looks like so much fun.

 

[Cruz89K5]

Nothing much to report. Been driving it and playing with it when possible. Gets about 8mpg playing and driving. Havent been on the highway much, just local. Took it to the river and played in the sand, did well there. I think it should do pretty good at the dunes.

So after pricing trailer fenders that would be wide and thick enough for what I want I've decided to put a salvage yard bed on it until I build a flat bed in the future. They quoted me $150 for a bed with a tailgate and tail lights last time I was out there. Everything was a little beat up, but I think it'll match the truck nicely.

This keeps happening...

Every time it goes somewhere I end up with a flat. The first time it was a small stick, the second time a nail. This time I hit the bolt head of a lag bolt and tore the tire pretty good. Hopefully they can put a boot patch in it like the one in the front. I havent been impressed with the quality of these boggers. I wish someone else made something comparable, I'd buy it.

This is it next to a friend's duramax, torsion bars cranked up to fit a tire I assume is in the 33" range. Just to give an idea of size, nothing exciting.

Thats it, hopefully I'll be able to find a bed for it this week.

 

[Cruz89K5]

So for $100 I ended up with this fine specimen of a bed. No lights, but I'll get them in a few weeks. Kind of cash poor at the moment. A little trimming later and it fits. No rocks blasting the back of the cab, no mud hitting the windshield when the trucks in 2wd in the dirt. Got inner fenders in as well. Drove the truck to the salvage yard, about 30 miles round trip. Not a bad ride. Pictures.

The right side is decent, the left side is meh. The floor's in good shape, no rust either. The tailgate's in good shape, but missing some hardware. I'll probably just lynch pin it shut and call it good.

 

[Deuling]

At least it matches with the dents and all

 

[Cruz89K5]

At least it matches with the dents and all

When I looked at it I couldn't help but laugh that the right side was straight and the left side was beat up. I guess I'll just keep taking pictures of the right side. That'll be the show side.

 

[Duntz00]

Truck looks awesome, been trying to find one similar to yours to swap the stuff off my 86 under it.