beachbumberry
Observer
Hello!
I haven't had a project on Expo in a few years but I'm going to share my new/old farm truck camping rig. I recently picked my wife and kids up and moved out into the country to try to live a little bit closer to the land and came to the realization that my Dodge Journey just wasn't going to cut it as a farm vehicle in any capacity. Conveniently, I found out that the actual truck I learned to drive in came up for sale so I couldn't help myself and I bought it.
Big Red (as I named it at 9) is a 96 extended cab short bed Silverado in red on red with the 5.7. She's got 262,000 miles on the original engine and transmission and I've personally driven it from the Great Lakes to Mexico and from San Diego to D.C. and a couple trips to Florida. My sister literally drove it off a cliff and down into a ravine in WV when she fell asleep driving, then drove it back up and continued the trip with nothing but a dead bat in the grill to show for it. This old truck is a TANK!
Big Red isn't too terribly beaten up, just has the usual issues like dead A/C, broken door handles, and stuck window regulator along with normal wear and tear and tired paint.
So far I've rigged the door to open with 550 cord until the new handles come in, fixed the seat belt buckle that had a bead jammed into it, and replaced the sheared bolt in the seat back. I've also shimmed the ez-pass rail on the passenger seat solid and disconnected the release to take the slop out. The seat still has easy access to the back using the normal slider track and the ez-pass handle to lean the seat all the way forwards.
That's pretty much the end of the free fixes so I'll have to start spending some money, but the beauty of the GMT400 platform is that I can fix all the little things and get it to the point of fluids and cosmetics for under $200.
Ultimately this is intended as a comfy farm/work truck, but my family and I will definitely be taking plenty of camping trips with it. I'm kicking myself because there was a free slide in camper on Craigslist the other day but I couldn't go get it. It'll be neat to take my kids camping in the same truck I went camping in as a kid
https://instagram.com/p/BXdBm-PlVDY/
I haven't had a project on Expo in a few years but I'm going to share my new/old farm truck camping rig. I recently picked my wife and kids up and moved out into the country to try to live a little bit closer to the land and came to the realization that my Dodge Journey just wasn't going to cut it as a farm vehicle in any capacity. Conveniently, I found out that the actual truck I learned to drive in came up for sale so I couldn't help myself and I bought it.
Big Red (as I named it at 9) is a 96 extended cab short bed Silverado in red on red with the 5.7. She's got 262,000 miles on the original engine and transmission and I've personally driven it from the Great Lakes to Mexico and from San Diego to D.C. and a couple trips to Florida. My sister literally drove it off a cliff and down into a ravine in WV when she fell asleep driving, then drove it back up and continued the trip with nothing but a dead bat in the grill to show for it. This old truck is a TANK!
Big Red isn't too terribly beaten up, just has the usual issues like dead A/C, broken door handles, and stuck window regulator along with normal wear and tear and tired paint.
So far I've rigged the door to open with 550 cord until the new handles come in, fixed the seat belt buckle that had a bead jammed into it, and replaced the sheared bolt in the seat back. I've also shimmed the ez-pass rail on the passenger seat solid and disconnected the release to take the slop out. The seat still has easy access to the back using the normal slider track and the ez-pass handle to lean the seat all the way forwards.
That's pretty much the end of the free fixes so I'll have to start spending some money, but the beauty of the GMT400 platform is that I can fix all the little things and get it to the point of fluids and cosmetics for under $200.
Ultimately this is intended as a comfy farm/work truck, but my family and I will definitely be taking plenty of camping trips with it. I'm kicking myself because there was a free slide in camper on Craigslist the other day but I couldn't go get it. It'll be neat to take my kids camping in the same truck I went camping in as a kid
https://instagram.com/p/BXdBm-PlVDY/