2019 Colorado ZR2

[twin_magnolias]

In 2016, we bought a new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and put just shy of 100k miles on it in four years. However, with a family of four, and a dog, we were running out of room in that Jeep. Having permanent overland-y type mods weren't possible because I needed the cargo space in the Jeep to be flexible to handle anything from a family vacation, to a hardware store run, or lugging around band gear. The lack of storage space, and limited tow capacity of the Jeep caused me to start looking elsewhere.

I stumbled across this 2019 Colorado ZR2 with only 8k on the odometer. The previous owner downsized from a full-size truck, drove it for a few months and then traded it back in on a bigger truck. He put the Leer cap on it, and that's why I wanted this truck over several others in the area. Well, that and the low mileage, pristine nature of the truck. I cheaped out on the JKU and bought an Unlimited Sport, thinking I'd upgrade it to be better than a Rubicon. What a money pit of an idea that was. This time, I'm starting with a baseline that needs very little upgrading, giving me more money to invest in trips, not parts.

Initial upgrades planned:

• CargoGlide bed slide - that was the best thing I did to our JKU, and we have a fridge that will live permanently in the back of the truck
• Lighting - interior lights for the cap, and maybe some exterior camp lights, spot/flood up front

After that, I'm going to drive it and only make changes where I think they absolutely have to be made. The Jeep gave me a bad case of shipfitter's disease and I spent money on stuff that turned out not worth the time or investment.

 

[emulous74]

Congrats, don't think you'll be disappointed with the ZR2, I love mine.

 

[mmp3823]

Hey, It's been a long time. The ZR2 looks awesome.

 

[MCX]

Nice looking truck! I really like the Colorado.

 

[tomtaylz]

Nice truck! Good idea to make updates as you need them. The truck is very capable stock.

If you’re doing much off-roading the only thing you really need is some skids (including shock skids) and you’re golden. I came from an older Jeep and love my ZR2.

 

[twin_magnolias]

Hey, It's been a long time. The ZR2 looks awesome.

Hey!! Yeah, it has been a minute. We're hoping to get out a little more. Do y'all still have your trailer? That was a pretty sweet setup.

 

[twin_magnolias]

Nice truck! Good idea to make updates as you need them. The truck is very capable stock.

If you’re doing much off-roading the only thing you really need is some skids (including shock skids) and you’re golden. I came from an older Jeep and love my ZR2.

Yeah, skids are on my radar. This is my daily driver, so I don't really push it too much. We take it down a few roads that can get a little dicey in spots, and the Jeep on 33's had enough ground clearance to make it without any troubles. Not having a solid front axle is a little bit of a learning curve.

 

[tomtaylz]

Yeah, skids are on my radar. This is my daily driver, so I don't really push it too much. We take it down a few roads that can get a little dicey in spots, and the Jeep on 33's had enough ground clearance to make it without any troubles. Not having a solid front axle is a little bit of a learning curve.

Yep a bit less flex but so much better road manners.

 

[mmp3823]

Hey!! Yeah, it has been a minute. We're hoping to get out a little more. Do y'all still have your trailer? That was a pretty sweet setup.

We still have the trailer. I need to fix some tears in the canvas though. It is nice but sometimes I think that a decent tent is an easier set-up.

 

[twin_magnolias]

Some of this thread will be cross-posted on American Adventurist.
From last Wednesday:

Added a little Georgia clay dust to the truck today, which really is my favorite kind of addition. Here we are atop Currahee Mountain of Band of Brothers fame; three miles up, three miles down. I live in the shadow of Currahee, so whenever I want to do a quick shakedown, I take a little trip to the top of the mountain and back. The last bit of the ride is steep and good for seeing how 4-lo crawls downhill when you head back down. I used the ride to see how the auto 4wd worked on this truck. It pretty much stayed in 4-hi the whole time we were on the mountain and the neighboring WMA except for when I was letting it crawl downhill from atop Currahee to get a feel for how the gearing handled things. I'm going to miss the manual shifting into 4wd of the Jeep. However, the road manners of this truck mean I don't have loose molars from riding down washboard roads.

We also took it up to the Tallulah River this week and let the kids scare the hell out of all the trout nearby. As we were packing up to ride on up to Charlie's Creek road and the river fording, it came a frog strangler and we really missed having an awning to huddle under while kids dried off and changed. The way the rain came down it probably wouldn't have mattered. That was enough to get the boss/accountant/wife to approve a roof rack.

Mod updates:

• Rhino-Rack 49x52 platform for the cap is on the way
• Getting a cargo-glide is also in the works
• Beginning to get some 12v parts scrounged up to have a battery in the bed, but the cargo-glide needs to be installed so I can see what kind of room I have available.

 

[twin_magnolias]

And today...

I'm going to put some of this info out there in the event someone else needs this, and it'll save them some headaches. I had to make some calculated guesses on this that I was fortunate in that they worked out for me.

The luggage bars that came with this topper were pretty old and didn't have a name on them anywhere, so I was left to scout the internet to find out what kind of bar they were. As best I could tell they were a version of the Rhino-Rack luggage rack type bars that aren't listed on their website, but are on Amazon or Walmart's sites.

Very minivan-esque in their aesthetic, and that simply wouldn't do. Actually, I really wanted a place to mount an awning to up my river rat game. So, I ordered some new legs and a 49x52 Pioneer Platform (got a helluva deal on it from etrailer) and hoped that these bars were indeed Rhino-Rack and that the track would play nice with the new mounts. The new mounts I ordered were Rhino-Rack part no. RLTP-2. Everything showed up mid-morning and right after lunch me and the boy set down to some quality wrenching. First things first; do the legs work? If they don't, I have to figure out how to make this work.

Well, THEY WORKED!!! They both used that hexagonal brass nut to fit in the track. Everything worked as it should. Perfect!!!

The platform was pretty easy and he put half of it together by himself (sorry no pics). All I really had to do was tighten the bolts down and get a few tricky pieces in place, like the cross bars and the t-nuts or t/bots. That's all right because I more than did my fair share of working getting this thing mounted to the tracks. We had a helluva time getting the legs and the platform mounted, squared, and tightened down. After about an hour of up-and-down on step stools and chairs on each corner of the bed, I finally got it in place and it is only a millimeter an a half out of square (not my fault on account of the tracks being slightly out of square). Being low-profile meant it was a real pain working in that tight space between the roof and the bottom of the rack. My bear paws for hands barely fit under it. The end result was worth the sweat equity and the humidity ensured there was plenty of sweating.

No more lame minivan luggage rack bars. Look at the rack on that beauty.







I had to give the truck a quick wash afterwards because my sweaty self had been leaning all over it and it looked pretty gross. Not bad for a Tuesday.

 

[YetiX]

Looks great!! I put a BajaRack basket on mine since they're local to me and I prefer the basket style rack. Now I need to get an awning...

 

[twin_magnolias]

Looks great!! I put a BajaRack basket on mine since they're local to me and I prefer the basket style rack. Now I need to get an awning...

Mmm...all black is my favorite. I looked at those racks when I had a Jeep and almost got one, but they were in the middle of a lawsuit with Gobi and weren't making any Jeep racks then. They're pretty cool racks. This rack is only going to hold an awning, solar panel, and maybe a shovel. I might get some rear work/chase lights, but that's about it. We have a camping trailer with a roof top tent, so if the truck bed and trailer can't carry it, we don't need it.

 

[twin_magnolias]

HOLY $&*# that was tedious.

New shock skids. Check.

The rear shock brackets are the lowest point on this truck's axle. There is a relocation kit out there that requires cutting and welding. It moves the shocks up and outboard of the leaf springs. However, it gives ground clearance and probably is how GM should've done these in the first place. It's something that is definitely on my radar, but after the warranty runs out on the current suspension. Until then, these Multimatic D$$V stock shocks are getting some beefy protection from some Rago Fab shock skids.

These require you to remove the plastic rock guards, but provide much more protection. I was impressed by the design and craftsmanship. Customer service was top notch too. The only thing I have against these is they didn't come with instructions. The job is really simple and instructions aren't really needed, but having a few tips would have saved me a little sanity on the first shock. Had I installed these on a lift with the axle at full droop, it would have taken more time to get the truck up and down than it would to install these. As it is, I'm a shade tree grease monkey, and I wallowed around on my back to get this done. That means, dear reader, I had to press these shocks back up into position and then perform the deft task of lining up the shock, bracket, and skid. Then upon achieving that miracle I had to get the bolt through all them holes without binding it up and stripping the threads. I've done it at least twice now. I think canonization for a saint requires three miracles, which I could have accomplished if I had done so without cussin'. I'm still one miracle shy of sainthood, and probably cussed enough to invalidate at least one miracle.



Might I add it has been hotter than two squirrels f'n in a wool sock around here. There's nothing finer than being under a truck, bench pressing a shock with one hand, lining up a skid with another, and that one bead of sweat rolling right into your eyeball. Fun times.

 

[mmp3823]

I thought cussing was required when working on a vehicle. Those look nice. My Silverado has the shock mounts on the bottom also. Not sure why that is where GM puts those.