1986 GMC S-15

[Todd n Natalie]

Congrats to you and your wife on the birth of your son!

So, was the red and black truck the exact same truck you were brought home in or, is it a similar truck?

New truck and camper?

What do you have in mind and does that mean the S10 and camper are going up on the block?

May I suggest:




And once your son is ready to be out of a crib, I think the following would be a pretty fitting room:

 

[YetiX]

Congrats on the birth of your son! I'm sure he'll be raised to appreciate the great outdoors. I look forward to seeing what your next build is

 

[TwinDuro]

Congratulations @Andrew_S and family! I'm excited to see all the adventures you'll go on together.

Your thread is without a doubt my favorite ongoing journey on Expedition Portal and can't wait to see what's next!

Now you got us all curious what the new rig is... 😀

 

[ocblaze]

I love reading this thread and following along with y'all's adventures! I'm excited to see what you pick for a new truck to build!

As the parent of some young ones enjoy every moment! It is so true they grow up entirely too fast and if you don't have one look into a halo swaddle. They are so quick and easy to use in the middle of the night!

 

[pigsammy]

Awesome update! Congrats!

 

[Andrew_S]

Thanks for all the good words guys. It's been a pretty rewarding experience so far.

Todd, you don't know how often I've looked at that two-tone red crew. That's where I started but I can't bring myself to cut this one up. It's great for a hunting rig as is, any bigger and I won't be able to get up to my normal areas.
Yes Identical truck, my father bought it brand new in '84 and passed it down to me when I was in highschool. If we still have gas vehicles in 20 years this kid will be driving it next.

I'm a little torn on what platform to go with at the moment. I'm thinking 2500 LBZ single rear. Tough to find one that lives up to my expectations though. Almost pulled the trigger on a 3+3 K30 the other day but got beat out by another guy by an hour... Time will tell what the next rig ends up looking like, probably more opportunity than anything.

Almost no snow in the mountains here at the moment. Managed to get out and pick up a Christmas tree with the fam the other weekend.

This thing does awesome in the snow now. Aired down with the rear locker I hardly ever need 4wd.

Out again yesterday for an ice fishing trip

This thing is so much more fun now in the snow. It just eats up terrain that it couldn't touch previously.

Trying our best not to use this little guy as an excuse to keep us home. Not even 4 weeks old and I had him on the hard water.

No fish but an awesome afternoon.

The '86 is in need of a maintenance weekend, that'll be coming up soon.

 

[Todd n Natalie]

Love the pic of you ice fishing with your kiddo. Fantastic!

Thanks for all the good words guys. It's been a pretty rewarding experience so far.

Todd, you don't know how often I've looked at that two-tone red crew. That's where I started but I can't bring myself to cut this one up. It's great for a hunting rig as is, any bigger and I won't be able to get up to my normal areas.
Yes Identical truck, my father bought it brand new in '84 and passed it down to me when I was in highschool. If we still have gas vehicles in 20 years this kid will be driving it next.

Cut up two different trucks and keep the two you have? Lol...

Could go crew cab short box to keep it shorter overall...

Almost pulled the trigger on a 3+3 K30 the other day but got beat out by another guy by an hour...

K30 hey...Maybe a shortbox conversion to keep the length down?



Or look at other makes that offered crew cab shortbeds?






Easiest route would be an 2000's / 2010ish GM / Ford HD gas Crew cab shortbox I guess...

 

[N.Penley]

I vote Humvee!!!
You already have a sporty truck and a small off-roader in the fleet and the 4-runner is good enough for long trips and everyday use.

Get something obnoxious, bold and unique. Something everyone in the neighborhood will remember for the rest of their life. lol

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[Buddha.]

I vote Humvee!!!
You already have a sporty truck and a small off-roader in the fleet and the 4-runner is good enough for long trips and everyday use.

Get something obnoxious, bold and unique. Something everyone in the neighborhood will remember for the rest of their life. lol

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Do they make hearing protection that fits infants?

 

[zgfiredude]

I would sell a kidney and an arm for a crew cab short bed square body like that!

 

[Andrew_S]

Love the pic of you ice fishing with your kiddo. Fantastic!


Cut up two different trucks and keep the two you have? Lol...

Could go crew cab short box to keep it shorter overall...


K30 hey...Maybe a shortbox conversion to keep the length down?



Or look at other makes that offered crew cab shortbeds?



Easiest route would be an 2000's / 2010ish GM / Ford HD gas Crew cab shortbox I guess...

The K30 short box would be the move, or long box and 4 link the rear/cut the back of the frame off for a great departure angle. I don't think I have the time to invest in a project like that right now though.
As much as I would like to say I'm practical I can't bring myself to look at a Ford or Dodge...
Yeah a 06/07 LBZ short is likely in my future. Hard truck to come by that's not totally bagged or $40k+.

I vote Humvee!!!
You already have a sporty truck and a small off-roader in the fleet and the 4-runner is good enough for long trips and everyday use.

Get something obnoxious, bold and unique. Something everyone in the neighborhood will remember for the rest of their life. lol





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Funny enough a humvee was my dream vehicle as a kid. Too wide for anything we do these days now though. At the end of the day the body would be the only thing I would keep and it would likely need to be so modified it probably wouldn't even be worth it haha.

Now for some much-needed maintenance and tidying up unfinished projects.

The other night I couldn't get my daylighters to flip on, and quickly found the issue- these two posts got hot!

The switch completely melted down.

For some reason, I thought the harness was wired in with a relay but that is/was not the case. I just kept adding lights to the harness which was originally only meant for two lights, which is about a 3 amp draw. 6 lights equate to almost 10 amps, no wonder things were getting spicy. Building a new harness that incorporates 2 relays to correct this.

This should be everything required to make it happen.

Next up, cooling. I had a local company rebuild the OG brass rad and convert it into a high-efficiency triple core. Since doing the engine swap the truck has always ran a bit warm.

Side by each, pretty happy to get rid of the crappy plastic tanks as well.

Snap shot of my Christmas break to-do list.

Camper was removed, love seeing this thing on donuts.

Replaced the rear e-brake shoes and rotors. Ever since the clips failed and fell into the inside drum they have made an intermittent squealing noise which has driven me nuts.

Swapped out the 5100's for some 4600's. Just couldn't stand the harsh ride anymore.

All back together and with a functional E-brake as well.

Next up, timing cover gasket. I had a small coolant weep developing.

Intake and valve cover gaskets as well. Oil leaks were driving me nuts.

There are only a few things I hate more in life than cleaning gasket surfaces.

Going back together, lashing valves and new water pump.

 

[Andrew_S]

Next up, third time I'm doing this muffler. Walker OE replacement parts are absolute junk.

Cut open the just over a year old muffler and you can see the culprit. The second structural baffle is completely loose causing the entire muffler to tin-can and sound terrible. Never again.

I was a bit worried this flowmaster delta 50 would be a bit loud but it is absolutely perfect. It's got a much nicer tone at idle and is very quiet when driving around. Such a big upgrade.

After looking at the inside of the walker vs the flowmaster I can't help but feel like I've picked up 1hp here haha

All back together!

Got my euro mount completed.

Got out for an aft of ice fishing.

This truck is awesome in the snow now.

A couple of fish and headed home.

4low, tires @ 14 psi and both lockers flipped, this thing walks through snow now. So much fun.

 

[Andrew_S]

Next one on the list,

Had to get creative doing this solo, only took about an hour and it was off.

Time to replace the 2 damaged bed rails

Both of the front bed rail mounts look like this:

The way the bed mounts on a small pedestal puts too much of a point load on these rails with a camper on it. These collapsed a while ago and I've needed to replace them for about a year now.

Cut the old rails off:

All prepped and ready for new-to-me rails

Welded up and splashed with some rust paint

I added this aluminum cross member previously to better distribute the load. Unfortunately at that time the damage was already done.

Now I've added a second cross-member to ensure this never happens again.

Had to notch it for the fuel tank. These trucks were never designed for a 500lb camper, another 500 lbs of gear and a 1000lb moose in the bed haha. Have to reinvent the wheel sometimes I guess. These additional cross members are something any truck could benefit from with a camper in the bed, especially on the kind of roads we drive.

This was a pretty daunting list a week ago, starting to look much more manageable now.

The next time this bed requires any work it's coming off for good and a flat deck is going on.

Back together, the closer you look the worse it gets.

That's it for now. Have about 6 more minor projects to wrap up and then I'll be officially caught up.

 

[ITTOG]

I too love the look of the truck on donuts. I might have to drive around like that to see what kind of looks I get.

 

[Andrew_S]

^ with those tires my top speed would be 48mph @ 2800 rpm haha
Looks funny as hell driving around with them on.
When I put the 33's back on after seeing it on donuts for a while it looks like a beast in comparison.

I've been waiting on a coupler from ARB for 4 months now. In the meantime, I used some fuel line w/ gear clamps and it worked great.

These are nice but way too much money in my opinion.

Set this in the glove box for any bush repairs required.

Wired up the daylighters with relay and new harness. One of these days I'll add a fuse panel under the hood and clean up this wiring.

Made my own interior trim panel as the stock one was cracked. Quick replacement for now until I can another stock piece.