Our Dual-Sport GMC Sierra

ckupq

Observer
Matt,
I'm running 285/70/17 Nitto Terra Grappler AT's. I'm also running a 3"/1" lift on mine. The worst part of it is the back isn't 3" lift as it sags some compared to the front. The reason I'm telling you this is yours is identical to mine minus lift and camper.

I'm probably going to drop mine a little and keep the 285's, although the next set will probably be BFG's as the nitto's suck on anything but dry pavement.
 

cowboy63645

Adventurer
The rack turned out fantastic! I like the idea of the extra fuel tank and extended range, something I have thought about many times. You just keep giving me more ideas for mine!
 

chaos616

Adventurer
Hey LukesPA, Thats some good wheeling your doing there. The slightly larger tires are nice because then you gain an inch or two of ground clearance, always helps out on these full size rigs.

We are looking at new tires right now too skupq. Were looking at more of an AT, the general grabber AT2 or the cooper s/t possibly s/t-c. Eitherway, better for all conditions only slightly less traction in the dirt. The BFG KM2's have been great, but they do tend to oval a bit and they vibrate going down the road. That being said they are great for traction.

Hey cowboy, thanks for the comments, i am really excited about the gas tank, so thanks for the encouragement, I go back and forth on a straight transfer tank or having switched fuel tanks, well see how it goes.

Alright so some updates on the trucks progress. We received some snow overnight and decided to go driving around and get some pictures. The updates since last post are: finished (for now) roof rack with mounts for spare tire, lights, traction boards, and hi-lift jack. There are 10 lights on the rack, 4 forward spots, and 6 side floods. Will add more facing back soon. Otherwise I will have much more (hopefully) to add for updates after the new year as I will be fabbing up full brackets for the rear fuel tank and full skid plate along the bottom out of 1/4" and or 3/16" steel plate.



It was fun putting fresh tracks up the whole road!:






Our 4x4 drift in the snow!:










Sorry it took so long for some updates, will try to update more often as things progress!

Cheers
 

brian90744

American Trekker
duel batteries isolator

Chao616.
On your battery isolator =where did you tap on to get the exciter wire?? On my Chevy1500 I cant get the isolator to work without an exciter wire.
 

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chaos616

Adventurer
Hey Scott C, it was a blast, thanks!

Brian, i basically cut the wires for the original plug and spliced in to the new plug (with more wiring options) on the same two poles coming from the alternator to the wiring harness, so that was not changed at all. On mine the original wires were the two middle ones which were yellow and green colored on the new plug. From left to right the colors are white yellow green blue. The white I just taped up and it not being used at the moment and the blue one is the exciter which goes to your isolator. Yours looks to be that similar setup and should be the same. I believe i had to buy the aftermarket plug for my alternator seperate of the isolator for something to the tune of 25 dollars. All said and done my alternator reads about 14.2 or so when just started up as it is excited off the original battery, when that is charged it drops to about 13.8 to 14.0 and continues charging slower. I have a deep cycle and should have more juice to it so I think for me an alternator upgrade is in the plans in the future. I believe the deep cycle glass matt batteries should have about 14.8 volts to charge proper, that being said I have used my M8274 winch for up to 6 hours continuous on off work hauling junk to the top of hills for a roadside cleanup (one winch was 250+ feet and had 4 tires, 2 washing machines, microwaves, and a couple barrels attached to it) and it never ran out of juice, it worked great. I think you will be fine!

Cheers,
 

87GMCJimmy

Adventurer
Sweet snow pics, looks like a LOT of fun!!! Y'all's rack turned out nice! I've been considering something along that lines since my spare takes up quite a bit of bed space. Y'all's truck is looking great overall, very utilitarian and purposeful! Sweet build!
 

chevyz71

4x4 Z71
nice pictures of the Chevy been playing on the snow. I also have a similar truck, 1500 z71 with a front Hitch winch, 3 inch body lift, 33 M/T, LED bar and a cap shell with Full set up to storage, sleep and eat on middle of the woods. I just need a second battery like you did. For now I just take with me, my Honda EU2000 as power back up..

YOU Have a nice truck !!!
 

aardvarcus

Adventurer
Question- How do you like your LVL traction boards? I have a set of regular LVLs without any bolts through them that I took with me the last time off-roading, mainly after seeing yours. Just wondering if you had had to use yours yet, and if there is anything you would do differently.

Oh, and I like your truck. I have a 2001 2500HD 4x4 with the 8.1L/Allison, but I have it more set up for street use and I am using the old 91 K2500 as the off-road rig.
 

chaos616

Adventurer
Holy Moley, Haven't posted in a while, currently on hiatus in MN again to work on some more projects, Had to build a new steel flatbed for a new work truck for fathers company, its for a 2008 F-350 6.4 Twin Turbo diesel with dual tires. It has the longer wheelbase so its a 9.5" long bed and 8' wide. Turned out real nice, will snag a few pictures for here just for fun. Anyway, haven't been on line lately but will post some pictures of the new truck mods soon. They will be an extra 30 gallon gas tank, full rear steel bumper with placement for backup lights, winch, hitch reciever, hi-lift jack points, and pull points. And full 1/4" skid plate from the engine back to the rear driveline. It will cover the whole bottom of the frame and up to the rock sliders on the side, so it will really be a full skid plate. only downside will be 800 lbs. of extra weight in shear steel, but it will all be low so good for lowering CG.

87GMC, thanks so much for the comments, it really is nice to have a group of people like yourselves to keep us moving along with our project. I also like your 87, honestly sometimes I wish I had a simpler truck electrically, so many more options and no computers telling you no. Fantastic keep it up!!!

Chevy Z71, very jelous, thats what I have to do next is get something to sleep in on it, for now we use a tent, works good, but sometimes a paint to put up and take down while its raining or really dirty or cold, i like RTT so maybe thats the best route for me, you can't beat the functionallity of a topper though. You have any pictures on the forum by chance? I don't mind people posting pictures of their rigs on my thread to showcase build ideas, always love more ideas and input from others.

aardvarcus, I like them fairly well, I wish I would have used LVL's, I just used 2x12, that being said they work really well if your carful with them. They arn't for getting them under the tires and spinning like crazy as I would think you would lose some tread on the tires, and that could be expensive. If your careful with them they have crazy good traction for any terrain, especially sand and snow, I have mainly used them on snow and while using them its like driving on perfectly dry terrain, with fantastic traction forward and back as well as sideways. I might consider also making them 2" wider and maybe some longer ones for larger tires and more side traction as if you get them off the side they will just slip out from under the tires and 3' isn't too far if you need all 4 tires up on boards. I hope you have good luck with yours as well. I like that K2500, simple, effective and i love steel wheels, they just look bulletproof, are easy to take care of and need little maintenance, I need to get some. I sometimes wish I had the 8.1L/Allison, although worse milage in town, i've read better on the highway, the 6.0L is good, but the tranny lacks the use of low speed torque sometimes. Its reliable though and no matter what driving I do i get 12 mpg, in town, highway, off road (not crawling). I guess its good cause I can figure on the same milage per tank each time.

Thanks again for the comments and looking at the thread, more updates to come soon!
 

chaos616

Adventurer
OK, so things are progressing nicely but slowly. I am currently in the process of: Steel Rear bumper with lights, winch mount, hitch receiver, and lift points...an auxilary tank mount and auxilary tank that will produce gas through an 8 gpm GPI fuel transfer pump, and full steel skid plate rocker to rocker. So far I have prepped for the auxilary tank and hashed out most of the bumper.

It took me a while to get to it as I had to work on the new F-350 work truck. I had to build a new steel flatbed, 8' wide and 9.5' long, full side and rear lights, all LED, upper and lower brake, running and backup lights and even a new light bar. It is for my fathers company, as we purchased the truck with a flat bed but the bed was in bad shape. So here are some pictures.

2008 F-350 long wheelbase with new flatbed and boss 9'2" V plow:










OK, so thats done and on to my GMC.

So far I have stripped everything off the back including the rear bumper and (holy moley) the cross brace the held the spare tire, and yes i realize thats a stressed crossmember, but before you say you shouldn't have done that, my new one will be easily 4 times stronger and allow space for my tank and a new shock setup. I'm not too worried about it.

Here's the truck tonight (snow included) with the new steel bumper (not finished quite yet) and the rest stripped out of it.








More pictures to come soon as things progress, I'm excited, should be sweet when its done.

Cheers!
 
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aardvarcus

Adventurer
Looking good! Thanks for the feedback on the LVL boards. I can't wait to see your full skid plate, I have been considering something like that. One thing just to keep in mind as you do your design is that you don't want to trap heat from your exhaust and turn the area between the skid plate and underbody into an oven.
 

UHAULER

Explorer
With the bed off, now might be a good time to replace the fuel pump if the truck has a lot of miles. On my old 2000 chevy with a 5.3 it died at about 150k miles, close to home.

Those pics with that white stuff are makin' me cold just looking at them.
 

cowboy63645

Adventurer
Truck is coming along nicely! Can't wait to see the fuel tank and how it is set up. I have looked into dozens of aftermarket options but have not found one to fit the bill yet. Congrats on the progress!

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk
 

02TahoeMD

Explorer
"Chaos" I just now found your build thread. Great job on your rig, I do admire your fabrication skills. Very much looking forward to seeing how your rear bumper turns out. A few observations for you: The ARB is a great choice, I can confirm it will do just fine against deer. I hit one last fall and merely heard a "tink" as it hit the front, then "thump" as it rolled under the rig. Not even a scratch left on the bumper. The deer....not so much. If you have salt spread on your roads I highly recommend you paint the spool on your winch with POR15 or some other super hard, durable paint before it rusts. Mine got really bad rust before I got it coated in POR 15, should have painted it sooner. Finally, ever thought of getting low profile fog lights that could mount in the gap next to the front license plate? That way you never have to worry about ripping them off.

Anyway, great rig, great work, looking forward to your progress.
 

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