2012 Chevrolet Colorado V8 - Daily Camper build.

Crazy Schooner

Fortune's A Mistress
The bed rack and awning setup works great. I took everything off for the winter as the city where I live is starting to use a calcium spray on all the roads this winter. So I would rather not have this new rack rust out on me! Up to now it's just been road chip and salt.
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I went on one last camping trip before I took everything off.
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Day later
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Crazy Schooner

Fortune's A Mistress
Lastly, I swapped out the 235's for a set of 285/75R16 Duratrac tires. I only installed the 235's because I wasn't sure on tire clearance with the new steel wheels. With the sway bars removed and more flex, I noticed enough clearance for 33's. I wanted winter rated tires, and no one is making anything in the 255/85R16 size that fits the bill. So I went with a wider tire size. I did the chalk test on the tires, and 30psi gives me the best compromise for wear and highway travel. According to the gas pumps, with my cruise set at 104km/hr I burn 12L/100kms.

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mccustomize

Explorer
I really like the V8 colorados, you weren't kidding about changing things up! Truck looks good with the steel wheels, and dirty of course.
 

Crazy Schooner

Fortune's A Mistress
Thanks. I still need to get around to washing it. Normally I wash my truck a few times a month, but been lazy lately.

With the rack/tent off for the winter I got bored, and reinstalled my Front Runner Bed kit. Originally I didn't install the slimline II tray and just used load bars, as the tray is -just- too narrow to fit due to load bar length being off a couple inches either side. This tray was originally designed for a Land Rover LR3, and is not the newer, wider model made for my truck. So when you go to tighten the bolts underneath, the bolt heads on the side rail itself touch the 'L' brackets near the point where they curve. This stops them from spreading out properly, and while everything still tightens up; the two load bars the 'L" brackets bolt onto get a nice little bend down the middle due to the force. Also my tailgate would not shut anymore, so I removed the tray and put in storage.

Anyways I was helping a buddy build his watershed one weekend and got some plywood off him. I figured I'll build myself a spacer and see if that will help with eliminating any binding when bolting down the tray. Seeing how I was bored, and tired of this thing sitting in the shed, I went over to a friends garage, and we gave this little idea a try. In the end, it worked, so I have myself a useful winter rack now. I'm still going to see if this tray will sell, as I have a bed rack now, but in the meantime I get to actually have it on the truck and aluminum wont rust over the winter.

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UltraHDGames

Adventurer
Love watching your progress and high quality pictures on Instagram so I'm defiantly subbed here! Keep up the good work man
 

Larry

Bigassgas Explorer
Very cool! The first gen Colorado/Canyon certainly do not get enough love. Very cool you found a rare V8! One of my buddys just bought one and loves it. A total sleeper. I've been searching for V8 Colorado's lately on Autotrader for a possible replacement for my Malibu when it goes off lease next summer.
 
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BPD53

Guest
Very cool! The first gen Colorado/Canyon certainly do not get enough love. Very cool you found a rare V8! One of my buddys just bought one and loves it. A total sleeper. I've been searching for V8 Colorado's lately on Autotrader for a possible replacement for my Malibu when it goes off lease next summer.

If you find one and decide to buy it negotiate down at least $1000 and save that money to fix some of the junk components they come with.

Steering rack bushing (Mayhem Metal Works) - $200
Tom Woods front driveshaft ~ $300
G80 locker removal -- Truetrac/Air locker/E locker/OX locker upgrade - $500-1200
Sway bar links -- Moog - $50 (Good luck keeping them tight)
New rear third brake light gasket -- They all leak - $15

That's the short list. I've wheeled mine fairly hard since 2010 and they need upgrades to make them reliable off road. The overly complicated 4wd engagement system is known to be problematic, but I fixed those issues completely on my truck.

I love my truck and I agree they are a sleeper, but they are far from perfect out of the gate.

This build thread showcases one of the nicer looking 1st Gens I've seen so far.
 
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Crazy Schooner

Fortune's A Mistress
Took the truck out for a spin in the snow on my way out to sell the RTT. I already stripped some parts off the truck like the bumper, and sliders.
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Once the RTT sold, the truck followed suite less than a month later.
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I was tired of running into constant problems. Fix one thing like a CV seal and than something else will need work (coolant leak, sway bars issues, water pump scare, inner tie rods on their way out). The paint was also chipping off the rockers, I noticed it coming off bad when I last washed the truck. Other parts already needed some attention to stop rust from spreading, So rather than spend time/money on paint or liner on top of future maintenance issues (truck was at 80k, so breaks, dexcool flush, ujoints, platform trouble areas etc), I cut my losses and sold the truck. I mostly used the truck as daily (short commute/city) and when something didn't need my attention; I would usually avoid harder trail runs as I simply don't trust this truck to get me home. My red truck needed lots of maintenance but I tossed that up to being old, large tires and bad year (06 used smaller tie rods, oddball steering rack etc). So I bought a newer model but that didn't work out either in the long run. I'm just glad it sold quickly. I picked up a car in the meantime while I wait and see if anything interesting will hit the market in a couple years (Jeep truck, Colorado/Canyon mid cycle refresh or maybe even a Bronco that isn't soft).

The bright side of this tuck; I played around with lots of various options for camping setups. I narrowed down a future setup to either something like GFC or Habitat style camper (which can be truck or SUV) or a truck with a James Baroud RTT (which is shorter) mounted low in the box. My deciding factor in the end will be cost (whatever deal I can stumble across at the time) or availability (I hate waiting).
 
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BPD53

Guest
I understand your feelings when it comes to little stuff going wrong with your 355. I think several components have to be upgraded to make the truck trustworthy off road. I just now got mine pretty much where I want it and that process wasn't exactly cheap.

Having a reliable truck is worth a lot when it comes to piece of mind for sure.




I have heard that reliable is a code word for neglected.
 

Crazy Schooner

Fortune's A Mistress
To me a reliable truck doesn't need constant attention with only 50,000 miles on the odometer but to each their own.
 

XJLI

Adventurer
sheesh. they must be using pretty low quality stuff on those front ends. plenty of dudes in rolling around in silverado 1500s with stock front ends with 150k+ miles.
 
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BPD53

Guest
sheesh. they must be using pretty low quality stuff on those front ends. plenty of dudes in rolling around in silverado 1500s with stock front ends with 150k+ miles.

Cheap for sure. The bearings are small. The steering rack bushings are junk. The cv axle seals all leak around 50k. The tie rods are decent on the later models. The aluminum front differentials are a weak link. The front cv driveshaft is a known weakness too.

I had to replace or upgrade parts to get mine worthy of off road use. Having a reliable 1st Gen takes some time and money.
 

Crazy Schooner

Fortune's A Mistress
Considering a new diesel ZR2 as a replacement maybe?

I gave that idea a thought, but I can see GM giving these trucks a mid cycle refresh (styling wise) in the near future. I figured I'd just wait and see how things might change. Nothing worse than buying new and seeing a styling refresh within a year or so. I almost bought a regular 2017 Colorado but held off as ZR2 or bust haha. I even picked up a set of ZR2 rock sliders already which I have to sell...
 

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