Hello, my name is William....

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

TheWarBeast

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2013
Posts
163
Reaction score
184
I can stop any time I want...


So I was perusing Craigslist the other day and I came across an and for a 99 K2500 350 engine with a blown head gasket for $650. I went to look at it. I offered him $550.


So it came home with me.
burb.jpg

Not a bad looking truck on the outside. The interior is a different story. It was used in a construction company. It has a bench front seat. The buckets for the third row are there, but the seat is gone. I have seat to put in it.

The next day I got a message on facebook from a guy out on the coast. He had a 96 C2500. Another 350 truck. From what he said it was a good gamble to drive 200 miles to look at it. So I did.


I drove my wife's S-10 out. And then...

18922202_10155535579349739_8560635672596704652_n.jpg

It smelled like a dead elephants butt so I stopped right away and got a bottle of Febreeze.

He said the AC compressor needed to be replaced. I decided to gamble again and bought a big can of Freon with a hose on it. the compressor works fine. I drove home with AC.

So I may have a problem with GMT-400 trucks...
18893349_10155536665269739_2888395662960187735_n.jpg

Keep in mind there are 4 not in that picture for a total of 9!
 
OP
OP
TheWarBeast

TheWarBeast

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2013
Posts
163
Reaction score
184
I did some work on the C2500.

The receiver was rusted in place on the hitch. I can only assume the truck was used to put a boat in the ocean since I bought it from the coast. There is no other rust on the truck.

The hitch wouldn't come out so we chained it to a tree. A couple of tugs and this happened.
19059203_10155558409054739_867430380097831173_n.jpg
Fortunately I have a spare hitch.

While we worked on that Heath worked on his car.
19060162_10155558413419739_4425265539466144459_n.jpg
Neither front window worked right and the passengers side interior door handle didn't work at all. I kept having to run around the truck to let people out. That got old.

A few days ago we noticed the AC started waning so that needed to be addressed as well.

I got on the AC while my wife pulled the door panel off the passengers door. (Yes she works on stuff too).

Right off the bat I found the high side pressure fitting was leaking. I pulled it off and sent Steph to get one.

When she got back I put it on and tried to pull a vacuum. It would not pull down. It wasn't leaking, it just wouldn't pull. I got out my homemade fitting and pressurized it with air. It went right up to 90 psi and held for 10 minutes. So no leaks. Then I tried a vacuum again. It pulled right down. Ok this truck is weird already.

While it was holding a vacuum I took a look at the door. Oddly enough as soon as she took the door panel off the interior handle started to work. See weird.

She pulled the door panel off the parts truck and cut the pigtail to the window motor as long as she could. I hooked it up straight to a battery. No go. SO the good motor got pulled off the parts truck metal panel and all.

Unfortunately there were slight changes to the metal panel that mean you can't swap them. Dangit.

GM also used 4 of those off three finger rivets. Not a big deal, except that two of the heads face one way and two the other. The two facing the wrong way are not accessible due to the window motor. So i got a wood chisel and chopped them out. I tried a cold chisel and it didn't want to cut the aluminum like it should. I get tons of wood chisels out of scrap vehicles so I have a pile of them.

While I was chiseling I sent Steph to Ace to get 1/4 x 20 bolts.

Once she was back we got that door panel together and installed without the upholstered panel.

Then we did the drivers door. It went together with no problems.

The passengers door, however, was a PITA. I put the interior panel on and off 4 times. Each ti me it was on the interior handle would not work. Off it did. Finally I got pissed while sitting in the truck with the door close and beat the crap out of it with my elbow. It worked after that. See weird truck.
 
OP
OP
TheWarBeast

TheWarBeast

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2013
Posts
163
Reaction score
184
Found more exciting stuff on the Burb.

We had to go get a load of sand in the dump trailer on Monday . So I took a look at the wiring. I found this mess.
19399333_10155584796589739_8194545533104692284_n.jpg
It had been on fire at one point. Lucky me.

So I sliced all the wiring out and fortunately had a new 7 pin connector in the shop.

We headed down to get the sand. I drove the tractor, the wive drove the Burb. The trailer brakes worked perfect - till we got to the guys house with the sand.

After I loaded 8000 pounds of sand on the trailer and we headed to deliver it the trailer brakes failed. Nothing scarier than being on a 2600 pound tractor and stopping and hearing the probably 12000 pound truck sliding up at me with the brakes locked and my wife looking like her set was electrically charged. FYI - A Ford 1720 does not accelerate all that fast from a dead stop.


Today I went out and finally had time to look at it. Turns out the brake controller was fried. So $110 later it works now. No I don't cheap out on brake controllers. They are life savers.
 

07Burb

GM fan for life
Staff member
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Posts
49,908
Reaction score
15,449
The fun just continues lol
 

Fosscore

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Posts
10,471
Reaction score
18,073
I want to see a picture of all 9 GM trucks. That is a collection for sure. lol
 

07Burb

GM fan for life
Staff member
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Posts
49,908
Reaction score
15,449
I want to see a picture of all 9 GM trucks. That is a collection for sure. lol
...and a couple of them he works rather hard :waytogo: over the years I've been pretty impressed with what he can make a gmt400 do with the loads if can tote :)
 

Forum statistics

Threads
128,781
Posts
1,805,305
Members
91,760
Latest member
MyCleftNut

Latest posts

Top