Jack's 2007 Chevy Build

[1stDeuce]

I bet they were thinking 2007 new body style, which would have only required one light. (No separate turn signal...)
I went a different way to solve the same issue with my flatbed... I just wired the bed off the trailer lights instead. No more separate turn signal, and the tiny bit of extra draw on the trailer circuit isn't likely to cause me any issues.

Looking good!!

 

[locrwln]

You might be right on the confusion. When they sent me the measured drawing, I saw that it only had the one red light on each side, but I figured that wasn't an accurate representation of my actual build and they knew what they were doing...

I was almost to that point with mine. It was very frustrating to say the least.

Thank you,

Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

You might be right on the confusion. When they sent me the measured drawing, I saw that it only had the one red light on each side, but I figured that wasn't an accurate representation of my actual build and they knew what they were doing...

I was almost to that point with mine. It was very frustrating to say the least.

Thank you,

Jack

I did the same with my flat bed, I was originally going to cut the ends off of the stock plugs, splice and go that route, i dont remember why i did not. something with them back feeding. I also ended up just splicing into the trailer harness, but did it in between the trailer plug, and where it plug into the stock location so if something went wrong it was easy to isolate and replace. Also, wrap them well and tight to prevent rubbing and shorts/back feeding. I had to install a different flash module so i could run my LED lights, and then it would kill cruise so kept the center high stop lamp (top of the cab) as a standard incandescent, and that solved the cruise and back feeding problem.


I also put in a locking cap, prior to my first BAJA trip. The kept getting the dreaded gas cap code, to chase that down i went through my entire evap system. Ended up being the locking cap had a tiny difference in the seal, caused it. I even measured and compared the " stock" to the locking and could not find any difference.

 

[locrwln]

I did the same with my flat bed, I was originally going to cut the ends off of the stock plugs, splice and go that route, i dont remember why i did not. something with them back feeding. I also ended up just splicing into the trailer harness, but did it in between the trailer plug, and where it plug into the stock location so if something went wrong it was easy to isolate and replace. Also, wrap them well and tight to prevent rubbing and shorts/back feeding. I had to install a different flash module so i could run my LED lights, and then it would kill cruise so kept the center high stop lamp (top of the cab) as a standard incandescent, and that solved the cruise and back feeding problem.


I also put in a locking cap, prior to my first BAJA trip. The kept getting the dreaded gas cap code, to chase that down i went through my entire evap system. Ended up being the locking cap had a tiny difference in the seal, caused it. I even measured and compared the " stock" to the locking and could not find any difference.

Believe me, that was a hard thing when I cut the stock harness to splice in the flatbed wires. Fortunately, the rear most portion of the factory/truck harness plugs into a junction block on the frame, so worst case, I could buy replacement harnesses. Of course, a stock pickup box won't fit, so not likely to ever become an issue.

I'm already on it as far as securing the wiring. I made sure to secure the flatbed harness before mounting it as well.

I replaced the flasher as well. It was making it blink way too fast, I didn't realize it would effect the cruise control, so I had to take it for a test drive to make sure it was good to go. Thanks for the heads up on that, I never would have thought to check.

Fortunately, I don't have any evap controls on mine, so I should avoid any of those problems.

Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Believe me, that was a hard thing when I cut the stock harness to splice in the flatbed wires. Fortunately, the rear most portion of the factory/truck harness plugs into a junction block on the frame, so worst case, I could buy replacement harnesses. Of course, a stock pickup box won't fit, so not likely to ever become an issue.

I'm already on it as far as securing the wiring. I made sure to secure the flatbed harness before mounting it as well.

I replaced the flasher as well. It was making it blink way too fast, I didn't realize it would effect the cruise control, so I had to take it for a test drive to make sure it was good to go. Thanks for the heads up on that, I never would have thought to check.

Fortunately, I don't have any evap controls on mine, so I should avoid any of those problems.

Jack

Jack,
It took me quite some time to figure out the cruise problem. haha glad I could save you some work.

 

[locrwln]

Jack,
It took me quite some time to figure out the cruise problem. haha glad I could save you some work.

You did, I would have been beside myself wondering what happened to my cruise control.

Thanks again,

Jack

 

[locrwln]

I was able to get some more items checked off of the list last week. I had the top of the flatbed Line-X'd and because I had to cut the exhaust due to hit hitting the rear tool box, I had to get some exhaust work done as well.

I had a 4" Magnaflow muffler and tail pipe installed and after discussing it with the muffler guy, we decided to turn the exhaust out in front of the rear tire. The great thing is that it sounds the same, which is exactly what I wanted. I'm over the loud exhausts.

It does run close to the front box, but I will avoid putting anything heat sensitive in that box for good measure.

The other thing I was able to get done was running my rear OBA port into the driver's side rear box. It went from here:

To here (not sure why it looks crooked in this pic):

That should keep it well protected and I will keep all of my air related items in that box as well.

Jack

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

Jack, I like your very lean and hungry set up. No frills, no folley, no worries, mate. It's a short trip to the outside from your exhaust manifold to the street and out of the way. I have the 4 inch Magnaflow exhaust on my XTC exiting just behind the rear mud guard and the backwash makes the guard black over time. Unintended consequences are all a part of the build process.
jefe

 

[locrwln]

Yeah, I'm expecting to see some soot buildup on stuff, but hopefully it's not too bad.

Thank you for the compliments, I appreciate it.

Jack

 

[locrwln]

Got another thing done yesterday. Because I knew that the camper will be on the truck for the majority of the time; I wanted to protect the roof. I won't be able to get to it to clean it that well as the camper will only have approximately 1.5"ish of clearance above the roof, so I thought it might be beneficial to have the roof protected and less of a worry. I had an invisible bra installed on my wife's car years ago and it held up great, so I thought why not have it installed on the roof. I spoke to Sierra Invisible Shield, the company that did our previous work. They were very enthusiastic about doing it as it was different from the normal install.

They tucked it in under the edges front and back (under the windshield gasket) and covered it from side to side. They also applied it to the leading edge of the hood and covered the headlights as well.

I pulled the grill guard to make it easier to reach everything. I'm also getting ready to do a complete cooling system overhaul (to include radiator and hoses) and having the grill guard off will make that much easier.

Jack

 

[locrwln]

That's a cool heads up. I checked and the prices are all over the place for the remaining stock. I'll probably just paint my stock lamp if it becomes a problem.

Thank you,

Jack

 

[locrwln]

Time for an update. I had the entire cooling system replaced by a local diesel shop. I am still recovering from my shoulder surgery, so trying to change out the water pump was out of the question. McDiesel took on the work and did a great job. Not only did it take exactly the time he said it would, the final bill was also exactly the quoted amount. I thought I had everything as I had been collecting the parts for a while, but I missed a few things and he provided those at no extra cost to me. Can't say enough good things about my experience. Other than having the gears done, no one has touched this truck other than me since I purchased it, so I was a bit apprehensive to allow anyone else work on my truck. Again, very pleased.

On more exciting note, (okay, maybe not exciting) but interesting nonetheless. I have weighed the truck several times to keep track of the changes (I wish I would have done a stock weight, but oh well).

Let's do a little recap of the various weights.

Empty pre-SAS:
Front: 4920lbs
Rear: 2980lbs
Total: 7900lbs

Empty post-SAS:
Front: 5040lbs
Rear: 3060lbs
Total: 8100lbs

Empty post-SAS, with frame extension and flatbed:
Front: 4880lbs
Rear: 3040lbs
Total: 7920lbs

I find it interesting that the rear frame extension and flatbed took a little weight off of the front axle. Didn't expect that.

Camper is well on it's way to being completed as well.

Scheduled for pickup the week after Labor Day. Once I have the camper, I plan on getting another weight with the camper relatively empty, so I know what it weighs. Of course after I load it up, I'll get another weight then as well.

Jack

 

[1stDeuce]

Ok, so I just reviewed, and I don't see much at all about that camper... I saw where you got a Sunlite hard side, but that's it...

Do tell more!!

Also, have you thought about putting some sort of lip on the front of the flatbed? If you are bolting the camper down, it probably won't matter, but if you plan to install/remove it from time to time, it'll sure make it an easier affair, and keep it from sliding or wiggling forward and messing up the back of the cab...
This truck has sure come a long way since its orignial "old man" look in the beginning of this thread...

 

[locrwln]

Ok, so I just reviewed, and I don't see much at all about that camper... I saw where you got a Sunlite hard side, but that's it...

Do tell more!!

Also, have you thought about putting some sort of lip on the front of the flatbed? If you are bolting the camper down, it probably won't matter, but if you plan to install/remove it from time to time, it'll sure make it an easier affair, and keep it from sliding or wiggling forward and messing up the back of the cab...
This truck has sure come a long way since its orignial "old man" look in the beginning of this thread...

Ahh, the camper. That is a long and difficult journey. We literally looked at almost every chassis/design out there from similar platforms to ambulances to medium duty trucks. We are planning on traveling the Pan-Am to South America beginning early next year and wanted something better than the Sun-Lite and the FWC campers we had. My ultimate wish was to build a chassis mounted camper and have it built the way we wanted with what we wanted. We even built models of the layout (which changed several times) in our dining room from small scale to full-size attempting to get the layout just right. We reached out to several builders and either they didn't want to tackle it or the price was in the stratosphere. We then thought about building it ourselves to the point we were in the beginning phases of having a structural engineer CAD everything for us, but reality hit as we realized that we didn't have the time, place, or most importantly the talent to build a chassis mounted camper. We had been looking at Bundutec's offerings and found a floor pan that we were happy with. We reached out to them with a wish list and asked if they could build it and what it would cost to adjust their design to our preference(s). We were pleasantly surprised at both their willingness to make the changes as well as the cost for the final product. So we began working with them to finalize the design as both sides came up with either improvements or adjustments that had to be done. That also manifested the design and purchase of the flatbed. Is it the perfect camper of our dreams? Not 100% (it's close), but we can either spend all of our time and money chasing perfection or we can accept some compromises, have a finished camper and be on the road enjoying it. That seemed to be the smarter way to go.

I did and even spoke to Rory (Bundutec) about adding some "stops/guides" on the bed to help locate and control the camper. Because it is being bolted down to the flatbed, I decided to forgo anything. The camper will most likely not come off of the truck anytime in the near future, and yes it will be a royal pain to realign it if I do remove it, but it is what it is at this point.

Yes it has. It's kind of fun to look back the transformation. I am still in love with this truck and can't wait to start the journey in it. I have a few minor things to wrap up, but it is almost as ready as I can make it. New stereo with backup camera was installed (been using the factory radio up to this point, rear window and back glass are getting a security tinted film installed on Monday to prevent them from shattering if hit with something, and once I see how the camper (and fully loaded truck) effects the rear springs, I might be messing with those to get the rear suspension dialed in.

Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Love the way this is coming out so far, also excited to see the pair and the camper. I have heard good tings about Bundutec, and was considering them myself if I had not stepped into the project camper I now have.