But you don't like the "looks" of vehicles!
I love that grill/light combo. Best option I think for those older trucks. They look awesome on the newer suburbans/tahoes too.
Another option is the cadillac conversion.
GMC / Chevy Project Dual Sport ; 1998 GMC Sierra
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
-
- Tags
- build thread
But you don't like the "looks" of vehicles!
I love that grill/light combo. Best option I think for those older trucks. They look awesome on the newer suburbans/tahoes too.
Another option is the cadillac conversion.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
So I've decided to upgrade the radio in the truck... I've put up with factory radio's in many vehicles for way too long. I plan on spending a lot of time in this truck and want to have a nice audio system that I enjoyed listening to. I love music and I love technology, so the upgrades were based on those things. I'm far from a hardcore audio guy, but I wanted a clean, full sound and some quality components. I wandered over to Clutchfield.com decided to put together my own package.
I choose a Kenwood deck (Kenwood KDC-BT752HD) which is awesome! Streaming Pandora with Bluetooth over my phone, controlling my Ipod from the Kenwood receiver and taking hands-free calls thru the speakers and the deck, plus HD radio are just a few of the great features!
I also added speakers from Kenwood, 6-1/2" 3-way for the doors and 4" 3-way speakers for the back of the truck. To round out the sound and provide some punch, I added a powered subwoofer. It's a Sound Ordnance B-8PT and it fits perfectly under the seat. I like how small the unit is and how adjustable the speaker controls are. It's not going to rattle the windows, but really adds to the sound of the other speakers.
After pricing out the cost of having all that installed, the price was more than enough to convince me to do it myself! I spent half a day and installed it all, it was much easier than I thought! I love it, very pleased with the outcome!
I choose a Kenwood deck (Kenwood KDC-BT752HD) which is awesome! Streaming Pandora with Bluetooth over my phone, controlling my Ipod from the Kenwood receiver and taking hands-free calls thru the speakers and the deck, plus HD radio are just a few of the great features!
I also added speakers from Kenwood, 6-1/2" 3-way for the doors and 4" 3-way speakers for the back of the truck. To round out the sound and provide some punch, I added a powered subwoofer. It's a Sound Ordnance B-8PT and it fits perfectly under the seat. I like how small the unit is and how adjustable the speaker controls are. It's not going to rattle the windows, but really adds to the sound of the other speakers.
After pricing out the cost of having all that installed, the price was more than enough to convince me to do it myself! I spent half a day and installed it all, it was much easier than I thought! I love it, very pleased with the outcome!
TJDukit
I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
- Location
- Clearfield
Nice, can't beat good sounding music.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Thanks guys, a decent stereo is going to be so nice on those long trips. I really like how the interior of the truck is coming along! Now I just need to start on the fun stuff, torching off the IFS and bolting the One Ton parts underneath it!
New tow rig, eh Bart? Keep us posted on how it works for you.
OrvisKrawler
Captain Obvious
- Location
- Eden UT
Hell Yeah! :thumbs:
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Like I said, I love my music...
It was $200 at Crutchfield, but you can find it cheaper elsewhere if you shop around.
- Location
- West Jordan
Couldn't help but think of Kip's wedding song from Napoleon Dynamite when I read this... Oddly enough, I can picture you singing it too.
I like the audio setup... I need to do something similar in my rigs soon...
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Couldn't help but think of Kip's wedding song from Napoleon Dynamite when I read this... Oddly enough, I can picture you singing it too.
I like the audio setup... I need to do something similar in my rigs soon...
The only thing I'm waiting on is money. I had a pile of cash that was supposed to go toward wrapping up the front Dana 60 and purchase all the solid axle swap parts, plus shocks, springs, 37" tires, etc, etc, etc. I ended up using that cash to buy my KTM 690 outright and getting the title has been taking way longer than it should. Hopefully it should be here within a week or less, then I can take out a small loan on the bike and buy all the parts I need for the SAS. It's not like I'm waiting to tear it apart because I don't want to, I just need the cash to buy the remaining parts.
In the meantime, I'm not going to tear the truck apart without having the needed SAS parts, as the truck does get used and driven.
sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
Gotcha. For some reason I thought you already had all the parts you needed and all that was left was time. I'm excited to see this thing come together.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I wish, I wanted to have it driving by now on solid axles and 37's! I will be stoked to have it driving, hopefully it won't be too much longer.
ORD Stephen
New Member
The only thing I would do different is run a piece of light angle iron the length of the bed for the rack/tent mount and drill holes in the vertical leg for tie downs and maybe even run a length of light rod down it to form a tiedown rail. This makes the bed a way more usable space. We also put a small rack behind the tent that's nice for light bags.
I like the tent mounted below the roof a little, I also like the tent up high enough that I don't run into it when it's set up which makes it pretty high overall.
I really wish I had your extended cab or even a crewcab, I need the seats but we chose a single cab for harder 'wheeling just knowing it wasn't a family truck.
What's your plan for fuel capacity? We put a 40 gal suburban tank in the bed of our '99 and it's really nice having the range since the milage is pretty consistant at 10mpg. On the Hole in the Rock trip I carried 10 gal in cans to make sure we were good to get back to Blanding and it was overkill but nice to have in reserve.
I like the tent mounted below the roof a little, I also like the tent up high enough that I don't run into it when it's set up which makes it pretty high overall.
I really wish I had your extended cab or even a crewcab, I need the seats but we chose a single cab for harder 'wheeling just knowing it wasn't a family truck.
What's your plan for fuel capacity? We put a 40 gal suburban tank in the bed of our '99 and it's really nice having the range since the milage is pretty consistant at 10mpg. On the Hole in the Rock trip I carried 10 gal in cans to make sure we were good to get back to Blanding and it was overkill but nice to have in reserve.
Tacoma
Et incurventur ante non
- Location
- far enough away
Nice to see you here, Stephen! That truck, and even more so the green/orange crewcab that came before it, are favorites of mine. All hail the fullsize rig!!
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
The only thing I would do different is run a piece of light angle iron the length of the bed for the rack/tent mount and drill holes in the vertical leg for tie downs and maybe even run a length of light rod down it to form a tiedown rail. This makes the bed a way more usable space. We also put a small rack behind the tent that's nice for light bags.
I like the tent mounted below the roof a little, I also like the tent up high enough that I don't run into it when it's set up which makes it pretty high overall.
I really wish I had your extended cab or even a crewcab, I need the seats but we chose a single cab for harder 'wheeling just knowing it wasn't a family truck.
What's your plan for fuel capacity? We put a 40 gal suburban tank in the bed of our '99 and it's really nice having the range since the milage is pretty consistant at 10mpg. On the Hole in the Rock trip I carried 10 gal in cans to make sure we were good to get back to Blanding and it was overkill but nice to have in reserve.
Stephen, thanks for adding your insight and experience to the build ideas, it's very valuable! I like your suggestions for storage in the bed, I plan to add more options to make it easier to tie down tools and equipment. The angle iron is a good call, I'll have to add that to the list!
I like the size of your GMC, for a hardcore fullsize trail rig, a regular cab shortbed is probably best. I'm happy with the extended cab so far, I think it will be a little more comfortable than a regular cab for our use. I'm hoping the 142" wheelbase and 37" tires will be a good balance for us.
I should have decent mileage range, as the truck sits I'm getting around 380 miles out of each tank, which is great! The Vortec 350 seems to manage 15-17 MPG average on the road, which is pretty respectable. Obviously mileage will decrease with 37's, 4.88's and the added height, plus off road travels will lower the mileage even further. I do have 3, 5 gallon Scepter Fuel Cans that I plan on making a bed mount for. 15 additional gallons ought to be more than enough to get me out and back from most or the remote places I plan to go.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Ok guys, on to the good stuff... finally!
Last week I made a visit to Offroad Design in Carbondale, Colorado. They're only a couple hours from me and were more than happy to let me drive up to pick up my parts, rather than have them shipped. It was nice to spend more time talking with them in person about the finer details of the Solid Axle Conversion and related work. My list of needed parts was pretty long, from the solid axle conversion, to the shackle flip, cross-over steering, Tuff Country 2" leaf springs, extended brake lines, Bilstein shocks and a whole lot of smaller parts to finish rebuilding the front Dana 60, plus u-bolts, spring plates, etc, etc. We loaded up my boxes of parts and I headed home.
Here are a few of the major components, the solid axle conversion brackets and shackles, plus the rear shackle flip.
These parts are amazing, the welds are beautiful... I had to take pictures before I covered them up with paint! The parts are made very well, I'm impressed. Beefy as could be, clean edges and cuts, etc. I should clear coat them...
I need to finish up building the front Ford Dana 60, with the parts from ORD, an order from Randys Ring & Pinion and some additional parts from Ebay, I now have 4340 shafts, 35 spline outer stubs, Spicer 5-806x joints and a pair of Warn 35 spline premium hubs! With the kingpin rebuild parts, plus the new bearings, seals and other goodies, I should be covered!
At this point, I'm still waiting on some stuff, but I hope that I will be torching off the crappy IFS in about 2 weeks... and working on rolling 1 ton axles under the GMC!
Last week I made a visit to Offroad Design in Carbondale, Colorado. They're only a couple hours from me and were more than happy to let me drive up to pick up my parts, rather than have them shipped. It was nice to spend more time talking with them in person about the finer details of the Solid Axle Conversion and related work. My list of needed parts was pretty long, from the solid axle conversion, to the shackle flip, cross-over steering, Tuff Country 2" leaf springs, extended brake lines, Bilstein shocks and a whole lot of smaller parts to finish rebuilding the front Dana 60, plus u-bolts, spring plates, etc, etc. We loaded up my boxes of parts and I headed home.
Here are a few of the major components, the solid axle conversion brackets and shackles, plus the rear shackle flip.
These parts are amazing, the welds are beautiful... I had to take pictures before I covered them up with paint! The parts are made very well, I'm impressed. Beefy as could be, clean edges and cuts, etc. I should clear coat them...
I need to finish up building the front Ford Dana 60, with the parts from ORD, an order from Randys Ring & Pinion and some additional parts from Ebay, I now have 4340 shafts, 35 spline outer stubs, Spicer 5-806x joints and a pair of Warn 35 spline premium hubs! With the kingpin rebuild parts, plus the new bearings, seals and other goodies, I should be covered!
At this point, I'm still waiting on some stuff, but I hope that I will be torching off the crappy IFS in about 2 weeks... and working on rolling 1 ton axles under the GMC!
Tacoma
Et incurventur ante non
- Location
- far enough away
Looking forward to seeing it!! I like getting boxes from ORD, have to order some more stuff soon. Post pics!!
LT.
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Los Alamos, New Mexico
Whoa! That is a lot of parts! I am extreamly jealous you went to Off Road Designs shop in person. I have wanted to take a gander at what they do and how they do it for years. I can't wait to see how your project comes around.
LT.
LT.