Sure thing and happy to help
@Samkissing! What you intend to use your truck for with a lightweight pop-up camper sounds totally reasonable to me. That will make for an awesome adventure rig!
First thing and an important one, make sure to keep an eye on your GVWR and payload, especially with a camper, as it’s pretty easy to overload things on a half-ton gmt400 like these. I recommend taking a look at what your GVWR is (there should be a sticker inside of the passenger door) and then, with a full tank of gas and with you and your wife on board, weigh the truck (your local dump or truck stop with scales can help) and take that number and subtract it from what your listed GVWR is. That will be your useful payload. Of course, you will want to subtract the weight of your fiberglass topper as well, since it won’t be on with the camper installed.
For example, my 1992 K1500 RCSB has a listed GVWR of 6100lbs. With my light camping/adventure setup loaded (full tank of gas, food, spares, recovery and camping gear, cooler and myself with a softopper) the truck weighs 5240lbs, so I have about 850lbs of payload left.
Hopefully you don’t mind me going down this rabbit hole, it’s just an important one to consider!
Another important thing is what options your truck came with. Inside the glovebox, there should be a sticker that looks like this:
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It’s called the “RPO” code (Regular Production Order) sticker and decoded will tell you all the options and features your truck came with, from gear ratios, to whether it has a G80 locking diff out back etc. It’s a good place to start to see what you need and what you don’t.
As far as the KYB monomax shocks go, I have about 3000 miles on them and am really impressed with them The ride is controlled, but not too firm nor soft and has worked great on the trail. In my experience, I’d say they were comparable to Bilstein 5100s/5125s, just half the cost.
The 1” body lift isn’t totally necessary for me, but more of an R&D experiment for a little more ground clearance for the body, especially since I’ll loose some when I add rock sliders. No one currently makes just a 1” body lift (Performance Accessories/Zone makes a 2” and lots of companies make 3” kits, which I’m not a big fan of). Body lifts are often scorned, but done correctly they do provide more clearance.
Totally! That is cool that he was able to put 35’s on his Tahoe. They do fit on these trucks surprisingly well. The key is a stock-offset wheel and going with a narrower tire. 285/75R17s (33.8”) are also an option, which is a good interim size between the 285/75R16 (32.8”) and a true 35” tire (which is around 34.7”).
315/75R16’s (34.6”) will fit on these trucks but at full steering lock, often rub the frame rails. Here’s a gentleman’s truck from the GMT400 forum with 315/75R16s. The truck is bone stock other then a few cranks up on the torsion bars. Ground clearance for days, but definetly a tight fit in the wheel wells.
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Kenda does make a narrow 35” tire that would alleviate some of this problem but requires a 17” wheel. It’s the Kenda Klever RT in 35x10.50R17.
