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2000 GMT400 CREW CAB SFA SWAP-The Warden: Fuel leak fixed and awaiting surgery…

The ultimate goal for this truck is tow duty/family camping trips/small offroad adventures.
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beags86 said:
How so?
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My experience is somewhat limited, and I don't own one of these trucks, but I have heard several stories of stock actuators failing to engage. Always when you need it, of course. :rolleyes: My rig's automatic lockouts have a similar rap-as they get old, their reliability decreases. FWIW, my dad's K20 actuator is flaky, and I've had to cycle it back and forth (2WD-->4WD-->2WD-->4WD) repeatedly to get it to engage. My manual lockouts have never had problems. :dunno:
 
They are thermal. So moving the transfer case shifter wouldnt do anything except cut the power and allow it to get cold. Just put it in and wait til it gets hot enough to engage.
 
beags86 said:
They are thermal. So moving the transfer case shifter wouldnt do anything except cut the power and allow it to get cold. Just put it in and wait til it gets hot enough to engage.
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Alright...talk me through this one (as I clearly am ignorant in this realm). Where is the heat coming from? Heat from gear movement? Somewhere else?
 
Found this. It explains it ok...

I think the 243/246 had the electric motor.
 
Ok, I got it. This is clearly something that I did not realize. What would cause it to hang up, and then successfully actuate upon a second or third try? How long should this take?
 
Older trucks? Cycling it will do nothing for you. Put it in and wait. Beyond that, it depends on the ambient air temp. In summer mine clicks in right away. In winter, maybe one - three minutes avg.

If it locked in after you cycled it. It's not doing that because you cycled it. It does it by chance due to the spring heating up and locking by chance.
 
beags86 said:
Older trucks? Cycling it will do nothing for you. Put it in and wait. Beyond that, it depends on the ambient air temp. In summer mine clicks in right away. In winter, maybe one - three minutes avg.

If it locked in after you cycled it. It's not doing that because you cycled it. It does it by chance due to the spring heating up and locking by chance.
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Thank you much for the education. I will both pass this along to my folks and file it away in case I ever own a 4WD GMT-400 rig. :bow:



How does GM expect folks to wait 3 minutes for 4WD in the winter time? For those of us who typically run in 2WD and only select 4WD when we're stuck, it seems like we'd have dug a hole before it finally engaged. :dunno:
 
Funny, I was going to post my test tonight.

It's been snowing all day today, so when I left work today, I started my truck and pulled it in 4wd. With my stopwatch ready. 13 seconds the 4wd light clicked on and I backed out of my spot and hit the road towards home.

I was really just guessing at the 3 minutes time. It certainly feels like that and more. I would say 1 min might be what it runs when its really cold. Not sure thou.
 
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Going to start ordering parts next week to start the SFA swap. Going to do it in stages.
First stage is getting the truck setup with the front axle under it, but still be 2wd. Reasoning behind doing it in stages is, I still want to use it.
Going to get the SFA kit from ORD, springs from GeneralspringKC.com (since they are close to me), and get the steering figured out.

The overall goal with this truck is to have it be a little bit of a retro look. SFA swap, work truck grille with sealed beam headlights, 2 tone paint, and steel wheels with rings and caps.
But I was presented with a proposal from my brother today:

He currently has a set of 285/75R16 Load range E, Guard Dog's on a set of the GM 16" PYO Aluminum wheels
I just picked up a set of 285/75/16 Load range E, Cooper Disco ST's today. I was planning on mounting them on my steel wheels.
He just offered to trade me straight across, as he is going to sell his truck that the PYO's are on.

This has me thinking about a small direction change. Do I take him up on the offer, and run the PYO wheels? Change the grille to the composite headlights and chrome grill, and go for more of an updated OBS look rather than the retro?

Here's some example pics.

upload_2016-2-1_15-27-1.jpeg

upload_2016-2-1_15-27-10.jpeg
 
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Either way is a good look.IMG_20160130_134242938_HDR.jpg
17s/33s work good to.

Love me some gmt400 3/4 ton single cab.
 
See that's how I am kinda leaning. But I really want to run the steelies and caps. I even thought about going a bit older and going for dog dish caps.
 
I've never really seen them, so that's why I asked. Google hasn't been helping much.
 
I'd go option 1. You can get much better headlights in the composites. Plus I love those wheels. I have the steel with beauty rings on my 98. All I did was spray the steel black to hide the surface rust and put the caps and rings back on. Doesn't look too bad but not nearly as classy as the newer style.

** found a picture that's fairly recent. I just put some farm brand 285s on it until I go sfa w/ 37s

image.jpeg
 
Also you can get some cheap good reflectors off eBay for the headlights.
These were only $75 shipped, plus another $70 in good bulbs and they are infinitely brighter with better throw than the factory styles or anything I had in a sealed beam. Hell you can go hid or led setup easily as well

image.jpeg
 
There was one gmt400 posted on here once with hubcaps, it didn't look bad. But it had a service body on it so that made it look different.
 
If I were you, I'd run the newer rims. I think they will look fine.

If I were me, I'd ignore the aesthetics and run whatever rims had better rubber on them. But that practical philosophy has gotten me in trouble with multiple CK5 members. :rolleyes:

So run the newer rims. You'd hate for your internet friends to disapprove of your styling choices. :haha:
 
Smokinthehippies said:
Also you can get some cheap good reflectors off eBay for the headlights.
These were only $75 shipped, plus another $70 in good bulbs and they are infinitely brighter with better throw than the factory styles or anything I had in a sealed beam. Hell you can go hid or led setup easily as well

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Oil burner or just put the bumper on?
 
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