ADKdakota
New member
Hey guys, I just joined the forum a few days ago but I've been looking around for a while. There are some really nice vehicles on the forum and its interesting to read/see what everyone is doing with them.
Just a few pictures of my truck from today. It was covered in dirt/mud for the last couple of days but it rained like crazy here today so it looks kinda clean. Figured I'd take some pictures before it dried and looked like a truck covered in dirt/mud again
Its a 2001 SLT, 5 speed that I bought last June. Since I bought it I've had 4:10 gears put in, built a new exhaust for it (3" manifolds back with high flow cats) with a spintech muffler dumped under the bed before the rear axle, and put an air intake on it. I just got the bed cap for $250 about a week ago, its a Leer, about 7 years old and has Yakima gutter mounts and 1A towers. It was white when I bought it which just didn't work for me on the dark blue truck so I used Plastidip to make it a textured flat black until spring when I'm going to color match it to the truck. The wheels and bumpers are also done in Plastidip, which has held up incredibly well, which I had doubts about. I initially did it to see if I'd like everything black with intentions to make it permanent (powdercoat and paint) but its tough stuff when prepped right and put on thick. Plus other little things I'm forgetting I'm sure....
I was going to put 33's on it and crank the torsion bars to clear them, but decided against it because the IFS on these trucks isn't exactly bulletproof. It had cooper tires that were like 29.5x9.5x15 when I bought it, and the tread looked like something that belonged on a toyota yaris and had terrible traction on anything other than dry pavent, so they had to go. It's on 31x10.5x15 BFG AT's right now, although I'd like something a little taller to fill in the wheel well a little more and increase the contact patch but its nice not having to deal with rubbing on the frame or replacing the ball joints all the time like 33+ tires are known to cause on these trucks.
Future plans are to fabricate a roof basket that will actually span between the crossbars, rather than sit on top, if that make sense. I want to keep it lower profile because the crossbars are already pretty high off the cap and I don't want to have gear 3 feet high off the roof of the truck. I also would like to make some sort of a light bar that mounts through the grill mesh and to the metal bracing behind the grill and put a couple of off road lights there, as well as a couple on the basket or crossbar. I'll eventually get a set of Cragar soft 8's and fabricate some steel front and rear bumpers because it annoys me that manufacturers put bumpers on trucks that can handle any sort of solid impact. I would like to put some sort of limited slip or locker in the rear end eventually. I'd lift it but anything other than a body lift is extremely hard to find and overpriced for these trucks and the rear suspension has a surprising amount of flex stock, the IFS however has about as much flex as a shopping cart....Maybe a SAS if I get a new daily driver.
I left my apprenticeship with the pipefitters union last November after getting laid off...again....and went back to college. Trying to mod this thing isn't easy with the amount of time I'm able to work while going to school over full time with all the expensive *** hobbies I got myself into haha.
Its not an expo vehicle right now, more of a work/play truck adapted to both hauling my welding equipment and materials around and weekend camping/hiking/snowboarding trips into the mountains with the occasional off road hell raising here and there. My girlfriend and I have been talking about taking it across the country, so I'm going to have to turn it into one before long.
Anyway, I'm sure you're sick of reading by now if you even made it this far lol, here's a few pictures.
Just a few pictures of my truck from today. It was covered in dirt/mud for the last couple of days but it rained like crazy here today so it looks kinda clean. Figured I'd take some pictures before it dried and looked like a truck covered in dirt/mud again
Its a 2001 SLT, 5 speed that I bought last June. Since I bought it I've had 4:10 gears put in, built a new exhaust for it (3" manifolds back with high flow cats) with a spintech muffler dumped under the bed before the rear axle, and put an air intake on it. I just got the bed cap for $250 about a week ago, its a Leer, about 7 years old and has Yakima gutter mounts and 1A towers. It was white when I bought it which just didn't work for me on the dark blue truck so I used Plastidip to make it a textured flat black until spring when I'm going to color match it to the truck. The wheels and bumpers are also done in Plastidip, which has held up incredibly well, which I had doubts about. I initially did it to see if I'd like everything black with intentions to make it permanent (powdercoat and paint) but its tough stuff when prepped right and put on thick. Plus other little things I'm forgetting I'm sure....
I was going to put 33's on it and crank the torsion bars to clear them, but decided against it because the IFS on these trucks isn't exactly bulletproof. It had cooper tires that were like 29.5x9.5x15 when I bought it, and the tread looked like something that belonged on a toyota yaris and had terrible traction on anything other than dry pavent, so they had to go. It's on 31x10.5x15 BFG AT's right now, although I'd like something a little taller to fill in the wheel well a little more and increase the contact patch but its nice not having to deal with rubbing on the frame or replacing the ball joints all the time like 33+ tires are known to cause on these trucks.
Future plans are to fabricate a roof basket that will actually span between the crossbars, rather than sit on top, if that make sense. I want to keep it lower profile because the crossbars are already pretty high off the cap and I don't want to have gear 3 feet high off the roof of the truck. I also would like to make some sort of a light bar that mounts through the grill mesh and to the metal bracing behind the grill and put a couple of off road lights there, as well as a couple on the basket or crossbar. I'll eventually get a set of Cragar soft 8's and fabricate some steel front and rear bumpers because it annoys me that manufacturers put bumpers on trucks that can handle any sort of solid impact. I would like to put some sort of limited slip or locker in the rear end eventually. I'd lift it but anything other than a body lift is extremely hard to find and overpriced for these trucks and the rear suspension has a surprising amount of flex stock, the IFS however has about as much flex as a shopping cart....Maybe a SAS if I get a new daily driver.
I left my apprenticeship with the pipefitters union last November after getting laid off...again....and went back to college. Trying to mod this thing isn't easy with the amount of time I'm able to work while going to school over full time with all the expensive *** hobbies I got myself into haha.
Its not an expo vehicle right now, more of a work/play truck adapted to both hauling my welding equipment and materials around and weekend camping/hiking/snowboarding trips into the mountains with the occasional off road hell raising here and there. My girlfriend and I have been talking about taking it across the country, so I'm going to have to turn it into one before long.
Anyway, I'm sure you're sick of reading by now if you even made it this far lol, here's a few pictures.