GMC 1500 AWD Van

[Accrete]

SORRY for the mis-name of product i used inside our van... it is "Reflectix"
Available at Lowes and other places.
Link at Lowes online.

 

[86cj]

I also have an Express AWD 2010. The one I have is a cargo. There is no insulation around the back Wheel fenders. I dont know if you have the same problem. When I drive during a rainy day, I hear all the water that hitting the inside fender. I dont know if I put Gravel Gard inside the fender if it will reduce the noise. What do you guys think about it??

I did spend some time with no interior in the van so I can relate to the cargo van experience, "I never noticed so much gravel on good asphalt either"...
I used rubber undercoating on the underbody and Dynamat inside, without any interior it helped a lot.

Congrats on the van. I'm envious. I'm currently in the market for a 1500 AWD and have been following this thread and the other 1500 AWD threads. I keep going back and forth on a cargo vs a passenger. The extra windows would be nice but so would the panels for privacy. The ducting for the heat/ac looks like a big plus. I have a few questions....
Did you install the rubber floor mat over the carpet or did you remove it or maybe leave the padding? And how hard/easy are the interior factory wall panels to remove/replace?

I spent all winter thinking cargo vs passenger it is a complex issue, but you may find the factory will force your hand when shopping options. I think the Access panel option makes the ultimate Van Camper and doors on all sides just makes sense, but the factory A/C Heat option was what shaped my choice in the end. A 4 door passenger van is not available anymore, a 4 door cargo van does not come with rear A/C heat, the Access Panel option does not come with Rear A/C heat and only comes in white. I used to build conversion vans including installing aftermarket A/C heaters and prefer factory parts when possible..
.
Using the remote start and rear A/C Heat while lying in bed has proved that choice to be a very good one, looking out the factory windows at the wilderness while laying in bed has proven even better.
.
The factory plastic trim panels were used as patterns to cut Reflectix sunshades slightly larger, the fit is so good they can be left in place under any conditions, they allow zero light or eyeballs inside, the insulation they provide is more than expected.(we sleep touching the backside). The factory interior does a very good job on noise and heat and would be fine for most people. All the panels pretty much come apart with a tug and some caution, they have some sound deading material on the back and I added some Reflectix. The floor insulation is almost an 1 1/2" thick and glued to the carpet, some Dynamat went under it. The cargo mat went over the carpet but is a little wavy and it's hard to drag heavy stuff due to the thickness of the very soft floor...(Great for old knees though)..........
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The Headliner seemed to be hard to replicate and was part of my decision, did I mention you can reach the rear ceiling heat controls from bed? O.K. I'll stop..............
.
The floor rails are a pro or con and will need to be figured into your plan, hauling people in a van "You" bolted seats and belts into with a cargo registration could be a legal problem in a fatality I don't know..........

 

[bdog1]

"we sleep touching the backside" Always a good option with the one you love!


Sent from my weak AT&T iPhone

 

[Accrete]

Greetings 86CJ and all the Chevy AWD luvers out there.

I wanted to share with you all an idea that IMO is a real gem.

When Cari & I purchased our AWD in the fall of 2010 we quickly realized (~2 weeks or so?) that we needed to address all the grime being thrown up on the rockers. For whatever reason we went with fender flares and mud flaps. While they did great keeping the grime down we didn't like the _look_ it put on the van.

This summer i began researching lift kits (i know you are not in that mode 86CL) and with that idea i figured if we did go with a lift i would also Rhinoline or LineX the rockers/wells/bumpers and eliminate the fenderflares/flaps.

That said, If i knew then, what i know now... I would have spent the $$ on a professional job of lining those areas from month one of ownership. In our opinion, the application of that product makes the rig look very clean and actually like it should have come from the factory in the first place!

For any around the Portland/Vancouver area we had Rhino Lining of Vancouver do the work and it is a quality job all around and nice folks to work with (family owned and operated for ~20+ years).

Cheers,
Thom

 

[boardrider247]

:drool:

Thom your van is looking great.
A quick kind of funny story. In September I was out in your neck of the woods surfing and hanging out generally living out of my van (white gmc savana awd). One day while hanging out at the cove in seaside I started bs'n wih another guy driving a sprinter. Anyways this guy goes on to start telling me all about a white high top awd chevy that's always parked up at a chain store a bit north, and I knew immediately it was your van he was talking about. So we yacked and drooled about your van for a half hour.
So I think that may make yours the most famous awd chevy ever if two strangers from opposite sides of the country can meet and both know your awesome van.

So that's my boring story.
Not to take this thread too far off track, would you mind sharing a ballpark price of what the rhino liner set you back?

Later
Danny

 

[86cj]

Accrete, Your Van looks a lot better for sure! nice work..........


I plan to tow with the van so the mud flaps will have to stay, it's a tough life back there. This picture is right before they got a real workout on the "Golden Road" in northern Maine. I left them a little long so when a small lift is installed they should still work well, the flaps can be tied up for deep stuff.
I did look at using bedliner or OEM type gravel shield on the lower rockers and would not rule it out someday. I sprayed the whole underbody with 3M Rubber Underseal and wrapped it up onto the paint a little around the whole van.
I talked to a couple guys about professional bedliner application on the rockers and they both wanted to get to aggressive with the paint for me (I am thinking Sotchbrite they are thinking 36 grit). They were more worried about it coming off the paint for warranty issues than long term corrosion protection the factory primer and paint provide.

 

[boardrider247]

I talked to a couple guys about professional bedliner application on the rockers and they both wanted to get to aggressive with the paint for me (I am thinking Sotchbrite they are thinking 36 grit). They were more worried about it coming off the paint for warranty issues than long term corrosion protection the factory primer and paint provide.

Hmmm, that is good to know. My main reason for putting bedliner on the rockers and arches would be for the added corrosion protection. But if the installer wants to take it down to bare metal I'm not sure how much benefit would be there over the factory paint job.

 

[Accrete]

Hmmm, that is good to know. My main reason for putting bedliner on the rockers and arches would be for the added corrosion protection...

One comment on the bedliner (RhinoLiner in our van's case)... I had no idea that stuff would come out to be about 1/4" thick coating! IMO, there is no way i could have done such a professional/quality job myself in a day rolling on something like GrizzlyGrip (no issue with that product, it sounds great in my research, I just think for myself, i could not have done the job the pros at the RL shop did!)

 

[Accrete]

:drool:

Thom your van is looking great.
...I knew immediately it was your van he was talking about. So we yacked and drooled about your van for a half hour.
So I think that may make yours the most famous awd chevy ever if two strangers from opposite sides of the country can meet and both know your awesome van.

So that's my boring story.
Not to take this thread too far off track, would you mind sharing a ballpark price of what the rhino liner set you back?

Later
Danny

Greetings Danny, a HUGE THANK YOU for sharing your story. My wife (the van's _daily driver_) was laughing while i read aloud your post. It made her day!

On the price, the whole thing (wells/rockers/bumpers) was $750. This to us was a total bargain. The coat is ~1/4" thick and looks rock proof.

Cheers,
Thom

 

[upsidedown]

Rocker Panel Protection?

My Dodge Van with Raptor Liner on the left. Ford Van is someone else's.

One other product to consider if you are thinking of getting rhinoliner or line-x sprayed on the van rockers. A product called Raptor Liner. It is a two part polyurethane that sprays on with a shutz gun (similar to a drywall spray gun) and it is easy as pie to spray. It comes out just like Rhino liner. I sprayed my van with it and it was easy and a good value at about 200 bucks for enough product to spray the rockers, bumpers, and wheel well areas. I have a jeep that I had Rhinolined inside the tub and the Raptor Liner can be sprayed in two coats and built up to 1/4" with no problem so it comes out as thick as the rhinoliner in my jeep. It is a little more durable feel than the rhinoliner with less of a rubber type feel and more of a urethane feel (like a skateboard wheel) to the finished product. You can order it in colors also. So if you wanted to colormatch your paint it is easy to do.

It may be a good choice for your van (since it is green - not white) if you like the idea of color matching exterior body color when spraying with a bedliner product.

 

[86cj]

O.K For it's first birthday the GMC got a little boost, 3" in the back and 2 1/4" in the front empty, "Fully" loaded about 2" in the back.
I went with a new set of rear springs for a 93-99 3/4 ton suburban, #22-907 rated at 2900lbs vs 2200 stock, the spring pack provides 1 7/8" lift just due to it's thickness. A set of 3/4-1 ton Van bilstein rear shocks #24-025706 (New # 24-221948) went on, they are 2.34" longer than stock AWD 1500 van rear shocks. In the front I used a Ready Lift kit #66-3000 with shock spacers for the stock shocks. I had the alignment checked today and put about 10 miles on it so handling impressions are coming, I hit some bad road and did not find it to ride like a 1 ton so first impressions are good.

 

[draaronr]

Great timing on this thread. Have you done any towing? And if so what and how did it do? I really like the gm, just want to be able to hit the beach and light trail access roads, but need to pull a camper or a car trailer

 

[boardrider247]

Great timing on this thread. Have you done any towing? And if so what and how did it do? I really like the gm, just want to be able to hit the beach and light trail access roads, but need to pull a camper or a car trailer

FYI the tow rating for the AWD GM vans is 6500# or real close to that number (from memory)
So a small car on an aluminum trailer is probably OK. I looked up the weights of airstream trailers and 6000# puts you at about 28' max depending on the model.
Personally I have only towed my 10' utility trailer with a couple dirtbikes so I can't comment on how well she does at the upper end of the towing limits.

One thing to consider is that these van's have the 4L60E transmission which is the same used in the Astro van's. While it is slightly overbuilt for the Astro I would call it slightly underbuilt for a 1/2T van.

 

[Accrete]

...Have you done any towing? And if so what and how did it do?..

I'll share my towing experience with our chevy 1500 AWD van conversion. As mentioned elsewhere our rig is sitting just under its 7K GVWR...so in our case i don't want to exceed a trailer weight of 5K...getting the total up to the GCWR of 12K. Our set up is currently the van conversion (as bed & bath) towing a 2,300lbs at scales 15ft fiberglass trailer (great room/kitchen/shower). We just came back from an easy ~300 mile camp out (of that ~50 miles under 40 mph). I can say that sitting at ~9.5K total rig we have times on the highway going up a grade when the auto-transmission would be happier with a different ratio. On hills we tend to pedal-to-metal when passing and will easily go from ~55 to ~70. Flats it does fine ~65 all day long towing.

Happy Trails,
Thom

 

[draaronr]

okay as an awd, how do these things do on the sand? can they do the soft sand at the beach?