I got me a new pick 'em up truck so I don't have to drive the firebird through the snow



It's a '96 Silverado 4x4 (K1500) with a 5.0L vortec extended cab standard bed, PW/PL/PM, has an aftermarket radio already, power lumbar support, trailer hitch with a 4 pin trailer connector setup, fiberglass cap and bedliner and some really nice cooper A/T tires. All for a small fee of 1900 bucks. It's got 181,xxx miles on it, and drives like a dream for a truck with such high miles on it.

So that's to replace this old beast:



That one is a '89 Chevy "Scottsdale" AKA silverado. The odometer broke at 61K which was before my dad got it. He put an engine in it and rebuilt the front end several times, then the brake lines blew out and the frame got some rot holes in it ... then I got it. I fixed the brake lines, rebuilt the rear brakes, fixed all the leaky rims, fixed the parasitic draw, put a battery in it, new radio .... then drove the sh*t out of it. It's an incredibly reliable truck, but with winter coming ... and those rot holes in the frame ... not to mention the body mount rotted through so the door hardly closes, and there's a gigantic hole in the driver side floor board. Not to mention that the blower motor circuit has developed a short somewhere in the recent weeks. So there's no heat.

It's weird .. this is my first OBD2 vehicle, and it's got power everything ... and .. carpet on the floor. And air conditioning. And the blower motor works. And the roof doesn't leak. And the windshield isn't cracked. I guess what I'm trying to say is, WOW this is a REAL truck compared to my super old way-past worn out truck.

 

Nice upgrade!
Prices on these trucks are really affordable.
We really like the power lumbar on our 2000 crewcab and is on LS trim. Wish GM offered it on more lower trims like they used too.

 

Congratulations, looks like a good buy.

 

NICE !!! VERY NICE. Congratulations on the step UP. Looks great

 

Real truck? bleh, REAL trucks have bench seats, lift kits, manual transmissions, and no topper

Nice truck, and nice price. My brother just bought a 98 and paid $3800 for it. I paid $6500 for my 05

 

great looking truck better looking then the old one good year too alot of parts and accessories are cheaper beacasue there are so many after market for those years keep us posted

 

Thanks guys!

Well, this truck has the 40/70 split thing? The driver seat includes the middle seat, and the passenger seat allows entry to the rear. So ... kinda a bench? And mine's got a floor shifter ... for the 4x4! LOL

Yeah I like this truck allot better. I'm also pretty familiar with the newer powertrain and accessories and what not. So really, this is truly and upgrade. Not scary to work on either. So far I've put new rotors on it and sanded the pads flat (the PO put brembo pads on ancient rotors ... they were dangerously thin), sway bar links (that was fun ...), serpentine belt, oil change, a new wiper pulse module, seafoam in the gas.

Cool story about the wiper module is, RIGHT after I got the truck, the first thing I did was go to autozone and get a serp. belt and the oil change and what not. Well A guy with a 98 z-71 parked right next to me and was admiring my truck, so when I came out, he had just bought an air filter as well and watched me slam my air filter in in a matter of seconds. He was like, wow that was fast, I guess it's easy to do then? So I showed him how to do it and we got talking, and he mentioned on his truck, he had to smack his wiper motor to keep it working ... so guess what my wipers did today. They quit working, so I jumped out and smacked the wiper motor and they started working! So go figure, he outright told me that at some point I'll be replacing that little pulse module ... well, four days later I did!

It's got a real nasty rim leak on the front tires (I rotated them to the rear) ... so I'll have to figure out some way to get time off work to get in there and fix the corrosion. What I usually do for work is grind the rim with a cookie and a die grinder, new valve stem and use beadsealer for re-assembly. Seems to work really well for my customers ... worked okay for my Firebird. Took them dry-rotten tires up to 110MPH right after I fixed the leak and re-balanced 'em

So far so good on the truck though. I'm still kinda waiting for the "Oh ... THAT'S why they sold this truck ........" moment. I can't seem to find anything massively wrong with it. It needs a pitman/idler combo, and there's a clunk I need to investigate in the driver's front, but man. For $1,900, this is sure one heck of a truck.

 

I don't have room to talk. My truck is all heated leather bucket seats, push button everything..

 

heh yeah but that's part of what makes a workaholic silverado such a nice truck! It's luxurious, but you can still work it to the bone and it'll keep coming back for more! These trucks just don't give up. Even my old rotten 89 never gave up .. she just needed some encouragement... and repairs. But man that frame and rotten cab started to get concerning :|

I'm gonna get some pictures of it this weekend after I wash it up real good.

 

I know the feeling bro. I had the bed fall OFF of my old ford because it was so rusted out, and then the frame actually started to sag and bend so I got rid of it.