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88GMCtruck's 98 Silverado Towpig Build: "Black Fox"

DieselCash said:
Second battery was probably for the truck camper. Older truck campers always came with 1 battery. Two batteries is more practical for boondocking purposes. Also, most truck campers suck battery juice from the truck they sit in.

Just my $0.02! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
The truck came with factory dual batteries and a factory isolater. They added a second isolator for the camper/trailer 12V from what I could tell, so you wouldn't drain the truck battery. Which is pointless since the truck has a isolated starting battery anyway. Just more junk to not need in my eyes. If i'm camping that long I generally unhook the trailer anyway.
 
A little update.

The other day after it rained the passenger carpet was a bit wet. Yesterday morning, I found this....
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Damn. I hate chasing water leaks. It's like the trailer all over again. Play the "where did you actually come from" game. Poked around and determined the HVAC box was suspect. Pulled the blower...
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Yup. Water. After looking around with a light and my phone (to see around corners :lol:) i determined that it must be coming from the cowl intake area. So, playing with a bucket of water now...

After my creative investigating, the cowl came off. Turns out one of the screws directly above the HVAC intake was tightened too tight and caused it to be ALMOST stripped, compounded on the fact that the two screws on that side of the cowl were missing any sort of gasket. Seems like a stupid oversight on GMs part to put two screws directly above the intake for the HVAC that need sealed. Gave them both some RTV and called it a day.

After that little fiasco.... I went about installing the Rear Kodiaks. :) Now she's looking like a real truck.
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Also had a set of bosch injectors rebuilt for the 454 show up. No more hard warm starts in my near future.
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Another thing I've been tracking down is a bit of driveline vibration. It was there when I bought the truck, initially I thought it was the carrier bearing. While the trans was out I did all 3 rear u-joints and the carrier. The driveline pieces are keyed so you can't put them out of phase. I did pull the slip yolk u-joint and flip the rear shaft 180 deg from the front shaft, it seemed to help but the vibration is still there. I also noticed I have 1 wheel that isn't very true at all. Since these are Toyo tires I'm thinking I'll have les-schwab re-balance them all, maybe swap the seemingly bent wheel for the spare. Also considering getting the driveshafts re-balanced. Who knows maybe one lost a weight?
 
Oh yeah. I used the Kodiak rods, same as the front just as expected. Original lock rods would need modification to work.

Sent from my TBI 454 powered android device.
 
Played with a bit of plastidip to see how blacked out would look. Thinking I like it. Although it still needs a GMC grille.

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I think once I get the new grille and bumper I'll do something more durable, like POR15 epoxy or some bedliner.
 
Do you have a spare/busted tow mirror to try it on? I want to try and color match my tows and plasti dip MIGHT stick to them w/o as much prep as actual paint
 
I have a spare drivers side and a parts mirrors passenger side I need to ship out to someone. Was planning on keeping the spare since you can't buy singles

Sent from my TBI 454 powered android device.
 
as far as the vibration, pull the wheels, I wonder if someone put a different style wheel on without the tight center hole needed to keep it all true. the DRWs are hub piloted, the SRWs are stud and hub piloted, and run very true. the DRW can run true as long as no one let it get loose and wear down the "step" on the hub.
GMT400 also runs a tighter center hole than GMT800, IIRC so you really shouldnt even interchange old GM to newer GM. 73-2000 is all the same IIRC.
(then 2001-2010, then 2011 to current IIRC)
my college boss/ buddy had a 97 like yours, except maroon, and automatic. he had the left rear hub wallered, so they made some plastic shims to try to center it when ever they changed tires. he also ran some slop loose ford wheels up front, swapped a junkyard his bald tires and factory wheels for a pair of ford wheels and like new tires. great deal on the tires, but a big boo boo on his part on the rims. he never fixed the issue and traded the truck off.
 
They are all accuride wheels and all fit super tight. I'm going to pull them and see if the vibration exists with them removed

Sent from my TBI 454 powered android device.
 
Nope doesn't get any worse, only from about 25-35 MPH. Any gear, although seems worse in 3rd/4th as it's the best suited for that speed.
 
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