Marooned in Paradise - Another Express AWD

[45Kevin]

holy f$@K you are not kidding about the rails 45Kevin. I have been struggling with the seat rails on and off. I want to ask if the rail came loose or did you have to pry or jack it off the floor? I have the driver side nuts off yet the rail is stuck.
if I can get the rails off it will be sound insulation. .5" poly-iso and thinnest plywood for the floor.

Thanks,
Tod
'09 express 1500 H1(awd) LT

I don't recall the rails being glued.
Once ALL the nuts are off it just lifts straight up.
Are you sure you have all the nuts? There are 12 on each rail, not equal in spacing on each side either.

On the pass side I had to remove the exhaust (luckily I was replacing the tailpipe anyway) and drill out some of the rivets on the exhaust shields.
Removing the seat rails IS a major undertaking.

 

[45Kevin]

Got out into the mountains over the holidays.
Had a $5 wood permit and cut up a jag of firewood for home.
The AWD system on these are incredible. Didn't spin a wheel at all over 20 miles of icy and snowy trails.
If only it had a low range.

 

[45Kevin]

It's been awhile.
I've had a busy summer and have only gotten out camping a couple of times.
But the ? has used it lot for fishing trips with her buddies.

We are planning a 2 month trip down the Baja and over to the mainland this coming winter, so I am back working on added storage and comfort.

I have added some overhead storage at the sides of the bed.
Lots of curves, but we maintain a good portion of the window space we love so much in the passenger vans.
I also put a coat closet on the rear side door.

 

[arpisme]

Good to see your garage looks like mine.
I hate myself every time I do a big job in it but, as you have shown, its all about the skills.
Great job!

 

[45Kevin]

Hit a milestone today.

For as long as I have had this van, I have always been overly cautious when going off road.

THIS VEHICLE NEVER CAME WITH FRONT RECOVERY POINTS.

Unlike every other GM 4x4 or AWD our vans did not come with a tow point at the front.
A very important item to have on any off road vehicle.
Today I remedied that short coming.

I have been musing about how to since we got this four years ago.
I came up with a plan and had some parts made. It was the same price to get the parts made as it was to buy the steel and make my own.
I arrange to use a buddies shop (it's snowing and single digit temps, and he has a bid welder), complete with hoist, and I installed the parts, and a winch today.

The day started with removing the bumper.
Then I cut away parts of the bumper mounts. The center bumper stiffener gets discarded.


Then, totally committing myself, I cut out the tubular front cross member.
I'm not sure how important it is, as it is about 2 1/2" in diameter and not very thick walled, but regardless, it has a function.
As mentioned by another EP member that did this, I welded a temporary cross member in before I cut the stock one off.

Once the cross member was gone I was able to weld on the 3/4" thick tow points to the side of the frame horns.

 

[45Kevin]

You will note the brake line attached to the cross member. All I did was take it out of the retaining clips. I will need to "adjust" the bends in to get it a 1/2" at least away from the winch, but that can wait.
Now to the winch plate. It has dual functions. It will hold the winch, and will perform the duties of the now removed cross member.
The plate is 1/4" steel with a 2" break in it. It should be stiff enough to do both.
After that was welded in place I removed the temporary cross member.
After that was in, all that was left was to cut appropriate slots in the bumper and install the winch and fair-lead.

Still to do is find a spot for the solenoid box and to install a remote in-out switch in the dash.
The engage-disengage lever is not easily accessible now so in the event that I need to winch I will just power the cable out.

Does anyone know what people use for a remote dash switch?
Hardwire from inside the solenoid box, get a blank connector plug and run wires from there?

I will probably get some 3/8" dyneema synthetic winch rope and a low profile fair-lead at a later date. And I'll figure out a grommet or something to fill in around the tow points, just to keep crud from getting into the winch. Also, may get a cover for the fair-lead.

 

[marret]

Nice work.

I have a winch and Weldtec front bumper. Weldtec also removes that front center crossmember to get the winch installed with the frame horns being modified and bumper performing the same function.

Can't address the remote switch. The Warn winch I have has a wireless remote.

 

[45Kevin]

Drove out to friend's place yesterday. We had 6" of new snow.

It never missed a beat.

The thermometer is in Celsius.

 

[45Kevin]

I ended up making a bracket to fix the solenoid control box to the bottom of the rad support. The socket for the controller faces the passenger side and if it looks like I may need to winch I will plug it in run it up through the engine bay and over to the drivers window. It will just reach. There are cheap wireless remotes I could get but I'll probably never, or seldom at worst use it.
I'll just leave the dis/engage lever in engage position and if I need to winch I'll power out the cable.

Next question is whether I should spend the dough on dyneema rope and ditch the steel cable. It might save me 50 lbs.