Not really a tow rig.....BUT......New to me pickup

[2kwik4u]

Figured I would start a full thread for the new to me pickup. Drove up to IL and bought it from my Dad a few weekends ago (see BT Brake Controller Thread). He bought the truck brand new in '01 as an early '02 model. Window sticker shows an MSRP of $19,743. It's a 2002 2WD RCSB V6/Auto truck with only a few options. I think it has the chrome package, carpet, CD player, and power locks (still has crank windows which THOROUGHLY confused my 11yr old that had never seen them before now), but really it's a basic truck. Dad got tired of fighting an HVAC problem and decided to trade it away. During that process the dealerships were going to only offer $1,500 or so, and when he told me I jokingly said "Heck, I'll buy it for that".......well that escalated and here we are. It's got ~185k miles on it, but still runs pretty strong, shifts firmly, and is in overall good condition. Has some rust under the doors, and along the rear wheel arches like most GM's of this vintage. Parking brake needs to be addressed as it's currently inoperational. Shouldn't be a big deal, our old Yukon had the same issue every few years.

Goal for the truck is to clean it up a bit, fix a few small issues with it, and basically drive it. I'll likely use it for some home projects, as well as some general commuting. Doing regular "truck stuff" with it that I don't want to use the Audi for. Wife has some projects for me to complete, both for the house and for the camper this year that I'll need a truck for. Will involve hauling cinder blocks, and landscaping stones, and crap like that. I was on the fence about getting a utility trailer, but at this price point it was hard to pass up. Good chance it will sit at camp for a good portion of the summer as well. We towed our last boat with this truck while Dad was borrowing our Yukon. I'm sure it'll drag the little 190 around just fine as well.

My wife likes to name cars. Not sure what this one is going be, but I'm sure she'll figure something witty and creative out for it.





Fun fact.....Insurance (liability only) on this truck, is less than the cost of a monthly Netflix subscription. As someone that once paid over $400/mo for full coverage on an S10, the fact that it's so cheap now just completely boggles my mind.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Figured I would start a full thread for the new to me pickup. Drove up to IL and bought it from my Dad a few weekends ago (see BT Brake Controller Thread). He bought the truck brand new in '01 as an early '02 model. Window sticker shows an MSRP of $19,743. It's a 2002 2WD RCSB V6/Auto truck with only a few options. I think it has the chrome package, carpet, CD player, and power locks (still has crank windows which THOROUGHLY confused my 11yr old that had never seen them before now), but really it's a basic truck. Dad got tired of fighting an HVAC problem and decided to trade it away. During that process the dealerships were going to only offer $1,500 or so, and when he told me I jokingly said "Heck, I'll buy it for that".......well that escalated and here we are. It's got ~185k miles on it, but still runs pretty strong, shifts firmly, and is in overall good condition. Has some rust under the doors, and along the rear wheel arches like most GM's of this vintage. Parking brake needs to be addressed as it's currently inoperational. Shouldn't be a big deal, our old Yukon had the same issue every few years.

Goal for the truck is to clean it up a bit, fix a few small issues with it, and basically drive it. I'll likely use it for some home projects, as well as some general commuting. Doing regular "truck stuff" with it that I don't want to use the Audi for. Wife has some projects for me to complete, both for the house and for the camper this year that I'll need a truck for. Will involve hauling cinder blocks, and landscaping stones, and crap like that. I was on the fence about getting a utility trailer, but at this price point it was hard to pass up. Good chance it will sit at camp for a good portion of the summer as well. We towed our last boat with this truck while Dad was borrowing our Yukon. I'm sure it'll drag the little 190 around just fine as well.

My wife likes to name cars. Not sure what this one is going be, but I'm sure she'll figure something witty and creative out for it.

View attachment 193393

View attachment 193394

Fun fact.....Insurance (liability only) on this truck, is less than the cost of a monthly Netflix subscription. As someone that once paid over $400/mo for full coverage on an S10, the fact that it's so cheap now just completely boggles my mind.

Looks about perfect to me! What a cool truck!

 

[2kwik4u]

Had the truck at home now for almost a month. No real changes.

Tried 3 times to transfer it now, and am near my wits end with the indiana BMV. Each time I think I have it licked, and something comes up. This time they told me I have to get BOTH signatures on the Illinois Title. not sure why they didn't mention that the last 2 times. So it's send the title back to Dad AGAIN and have stepmom sign it this time. I'll try again next weekend I suppose.

Diagnosed the HVAC issues last weekend. Got the blend doors figured out. Actuator was bound up on the outlet select (Floor/Vent/Defrost) actuator. It was an aftermarket part not a GM piece, and I had to open the holes on the mounts a little to let it move into a position where it reliably works, but appears to be in good shape now. Temperature blend door works just fine, but the actuator isn't working. volt meter shows output from the head unit, and you can physically move the door to affect temperature, but actuator isn't doing anything. SO, ordered a new one of those from RockAuto this morning.

Been driving it a little and had a low coolant light once, accompanied with a slight coolant smell once parked. Found the heater hoses are cracked and seeping coolant onto the passenger side exhaust manifolds. Ordered new hoses with the HVAC piece this morning. Should be an easy fix, just need the pieces/parts.

Speaking of driving around. All in all, it's a completely driveable machine. It's not exciting, fun, or anything like that, but it's retrieved some stuff from home depot already that would've been a roof rack load in the Audi. The seats are WILDLY uncomfortable. Like I can NOT stand the super extra double holy crap huge amounts of lumbar support these seats have. Combined with the bouncing (because truck), and it literally chaffe's the center of my back. Going to have to take the seat apart and figure out a way to reduce that if I'm going to drive it very much. Stereo is 110% shot. It's all factory stuff, and it's over 20yrs old now. Can't hear it with the windows down above 30mph. Gonna have to source some cheap speakers and a new head unit at some point. Steering wheel also needs to be addressed. Top/Center is badly pitted and UV damaged. Saw a thing on YouTube the other day I'm going to try. Guy used handlebar tape from a bicycle to rewrap his steering wheel. $7/roll seems like a fix worth trying.

 

[Coult45]

There have been several periods in the past where I have been without a pickup for a few years, and I'm still not sure how I made it through those dark days.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

The seats…. a Chevy thing, I call them Polly Perfect Posture seats..a friend of mines 1974 chevy pick up seats were beyond uncomfortable.

The ride quality of that vintage truck and the late model trucks is pretty amazing. do you think the shocks are in good shape? How about a set of Koni’s or Bilstein’s? Once the rebound damping starts to go away the pogo stick feel starts to show up, and tge feel is less planted.

Sounds like you’re getting it dialed in!

 

[2kwik4u]

There have been several periods in the past where I have been without a pickup for a few years, and I'm still not sure how I made it through those dark days.

I've always been a pickup guy.

First truck was a '94 Ford Ranger, then moved to a '96 Nissan Hardbody. had '00 S10, an '04 S10. Had a few years with just a Yukon and an A4, then went back to a truck with the Sierra and remembered how much I liked having a pickup around.

This is the second cheapest vehicle I've bought......wait....3rd. Got a "free" cutlass once when I bought a set of seats from a guy. That was a fun trip

 

[2kwik4u]

The seats…. a Chevy thing, I call them Polly Perfect Posture seats..a friend of mines 1974 chevy pick up seats were beyond uncomfortable.

The ride quality of that vintage truck and the late model trucks is pretty amazing. do you think the shocks are in good shape? How about a set of Koni’s or Bilstein’s? Once the rebound damping starts to go away the pogo stick feel starts to show up, and tge feel is less planted.

Sounds like you’re getting it dialed in!

Shocks are in pretty good shape honestly. It's not bouncing like busted shocks, it's just typical empty bed on not great roads issue.

I won't lie, I've been pricing drop kits, if that comes to pass I'll be forced into new shocks anyway. Will likely avoid Bilsteins, I've had them on 4 vehicles and never really been pleased with them. No idea what I'll put on there at this point.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Shocks are in pretty good shape honestly. It's not bouncing like busted shocks, it's just typical empty bed on not great roads issue.

I won't lie, I've been pricing drop kits, if that comes to pass I'll be forced into new shocks anyway. Will likely avoid Bilsteins, I've had them on 4 vehicles and never really been pleased with them. No idea what I'll put on there at this point.

Right on… That’s interesting on the Bilsteins… I’ve run Rancho adjustable shocks for years but their QC on the adjustment knobs got worse and worse, and now that I live where road ice melt is present a lot those knobs poor quality really shown through, as in they seize. A friend swears by the Bilsteins, I’ve never used them but was considering them for replacements on my new truck so I appreciate your feed back.

 

[drewkaree]

Figured I would start a full thread for the new to me pickup. Drove up to IL and bought it from my Dad a few weekends ago (see BT Brake Controller Thread). He bought the truck brand new in '01 as an early '02 model. Window sticker shows an MSRP of $19,743. It's a 2002 2WD RCSB V6/Auto truck with only a few options. I think it has the chrome package, carpet, CD player, and power locks (still has crank windows which THOROUGHLY confused my 11yr old that had never seen them before now), but really it's a basic truck. Dad got tired of fighting an HVAC problem and decided to trade it away. During that process the dealerships were going to only offer $1,500 or so, and when he told me I jokingly said "Heck, I'll buy it for that".......well that escalated and here we are. It's got ~185k miles on it, but still runs pretty strong, shifts firmly, and is in overall good condition. Has some rust under the doors, and along the rear wheel arches like most GM's of this vintage. Parking brake needs to be addressed as it's currently inoperational. Shouldn't be a big deal, our old Yukon had the same issue every few years.

Goal for the truck is to clean it up a bit, fix a few small issues with it, and basically drive it. I'll likely use it for some home projects, as well as some general commuting. Doing regular "truck stuff" with it that I don't want to use the Audi for. Wife has some projects for me to complete, both for the house and for the camper this year that I'll need a truck for. Will involve hauling cinder blocks, and landscaping stones, and crap like that. I was on the fence about getting a utility trailer, but at this price point it was hard to pass up. Good chance it will sit at camp for a good portion of the summer as well. We towed our last boat with this truck while Dad was borrowing our Yukon. I'm sure it'll drag the little 190 around just fine as well.

My wife likes to name cars. Not sure what this one is going be, but I'm sure she'll figure something witty and creative out for it.

View attachment 193393

View attachment 193394

Fun fact.....Insurance (liability only) on this truck, is less than the cost of a monthly Netflix subscription. As someone that once paid over $400/mo for full coverage on an S10, the fact that it's so cheap now just completely boggles my mind.

Confusing the kid on the window crank is awesome ??

My mom had to name all the cars too, maybe that's a woman thing. My mom even went so far as to name my cars even when I was no longer living at home!

C'mon, that's an easy one, that's the Old Gray Mare!

 

[2kwik4u]

Right on… That’s interesting on the Bilsteins… I’ve run Rancho adjustable shocks for years but their QC on the adjustment knobs got worse and worse, and now that I live where road ice melt is present a lot those knobs poor quality really shown through, as in they seize. A friend swears by the Bilsteins, I’ve never used them but was considering them for replacements on my new truck so I appreciate your feed back.

I put the 5100's on the '15 Sierra and they honestly felt no different than the Rancho's that came from the factory with ~50k miles on them. They looked nicer, but that was about it. I could have levelled the front with them, but didn't. Juice wasn't worth the squeeze there IMO.

I put factory bilsteins on my '00 S10 back in the day. The 4cyl trucks got one brand (I forget the name), but the V6 2WD ZQ8 package trucks got Bilsteins. I bought new from GM as a "cheap upgrade" and again wasn't impressed. Rode/felt like a set of factory shocks and honestly no better than the ones I took off.

Finally, I upgrade the RX8 to a set of Bilstein struts all around. Should've bought coilovers instead. They weren't terribly expensive then, but they were just firmer, not any better at rebound or compression damping than whatever was on there.

In general, I think they're a bit over-rated. I've run some other shocks that were worse, so I don't want to knock Bilstein quality. Bel-Tec's are garbage. Wildly underdamped for the target audience. Monroes are also somewhat underdamped for my taste. KYB's are OK, but didn't really stand out from the crowd. I suspect most people that like the Bilsteins are coming from blown factory shocks and that's what generates the rave reviews. A new set of OEM's would have likely been sufficient. I've also put Viking double adjustables on a few vehicles and been VERY happy with those, however they're expensive and beyond the scope of stock replacements for obvious reasons.

 

[2kwik4u]

Confusing the kid on the window crank is awesome ??

My mom had to name all the cars too, maybe that's a woman thing. My mom even went so far as to name my cars even when I was no longer living at home!

C'mon, that's an easy one, that's the Old Gray Mare!

He's since figured them out, but the first experience was pretty funny.

We've just been calling it "The Truck", and that seems to be sticking. Might float " 'Ol Gray" and see if that sticks.

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

I think it has the chrome package, carpet, CD player, and power locks (still has crank windows which THOROUGHLY confused my 11yr old that had never seen them before now), but really it's a basic truck.

When our daughter was in college, we bought here a new, leftover 2014 Chevy Sonic. Nice little inexpensive car with lots of safety features. One quirky thing, however, was that it came with crank windows! As I have had older pickups before, my daughter wasn't perplexed by the crank, but many of her friends were. Last year, a hit and run driver totaled her Sonic and she got a great deal on a new Jeep Renegade. She and I went to the store and she waited in the Jeep, I came out to the Jeep to ask her a question and she couldn't get the window down! She got so use to the crank and there wasn't one on her new Jeep!

Got my first truck in 1979, a 1971 Ford F-250. Trucks weren't as common back then and usually came with a vinyl bench seat. Had some friends who went to the junkyard and replaced their seats with premium bucket seats from other vehicles. Is this still a possibility as it might be a way to get decent, inexpensive seats?

Jim

 

[2kwik4u]

Is this still a possibility as it might be a way to get decent, inexpensive seats?

I had an '03 Yukon that had great seats in it. I'm like 99% certain the floor pans are the same between those SUV's and this truck. I also know some of the regular cab pickups came with buckets and a console (although somewhat rare), and that LOTS of the 4dr trucks came with buckets and a console. Really good chance I can find a set of electric seats from a higher trim that will fit, and won't feel like a visit to a chiropractors office!

 

[BlkGS]

Shocks are in pretty good shape honestly. It's not bouncing like busted shocks, it's just typical empty bed on not great roads issue.

I won't lie, I've been pricing drop kits, if that comes to pass I'll be forced into new shocks anyway. Will likely avoid Bilsteins, I've had them on 4 vehicles and never really been pleased with them. No idea what I'll put on there at this point.

YEAH. DO IT. LOWERED FTW

 

[BlkGS]

I had an '03 Yukon that had great seats in it. I'm like 99% certain the floor pans are the same between those SUV's and this truck. I also know some of the regular cab pickups came with buckets and a console (although somewhat rare), and that LOTS of the 4dr trucks came with buckets and a console. Really good chance I can find a set of electric seats from a higher trim that will fit, and won't feel like a visit to a chiropractors office!

You can swap the front seat parts in. At least if it's an extended cab or larger for sure. You could go all out and do cooled escalade seats if you wanted to go nuts.

 

[2kwik4u]

You can swap the front seat parts in. At least if it's an extended cab or larger for sure. You could go all out and do cooled escalade seats if you wanted to go nuts.

We'll see where I get with a seat lumbarectomy plan first. Only about $1,600 into this truck right now, would prefer to keep that number as low as possible.

 

[2kwik4u]

Have to give RockAuto the "Best packaging of the day" award. This is how my single gallon of coolant showed up!





They could have easily put the hoses in there too. WTF guys!


Anywho......Drove the truck up to camp last night to drop off the patio furniture we bought off Marketplace Sunday night. Did just fine up there and back, but got a low coolant light on the way home. Gonna pull it in the garage tonight and try to swap out these hoses and see if that fixes the issue.

 

[drewkaree]

I'm guessing they've had enough problems with bad seals and rough handling, wrecking the other stuff in the box with coolant all over it, that it's better for everyone if they do that.

I've gotten some stuff that busted open in transit, and the shipper basically relied on crossed fingers and a rabbit's foot to get it to me intact ?

 

[drewkaree]

I used to have a Sierra work truck that had an issue with the coolant sensor and constant false alarms. I can't recall the year, but maybe some online investigation might turn up some info for your model year. Guessing the parts are pretty interchangeable for many GM/Chevy trucks.

Mine was an '01 or older. The job provided it, and took care of all maintenance and repairs, so I didn't really invest much interest in it other than to keep the fluids and fuel topped off.

 

[2kwik4u]

I used to have a Sierra work truck that had an issue with the coolant sensor and constant false alarms. I can't recall the year, but maybe some online investigation might turn up some info for your model year. Guessing the parts are pretty interchangeable for many GM/Chevy trucks.

Mine was an '01 or older. The job provided it, and took care of all maintenance and repairs, so I didn't really invest much interest in it other than to keep the fluids and fuel topped off.

I think the sensor is OK on this one. It's actively dripping from those two heater lines, and you can smell it when you drive the truck. Reservoir is low as well.

I get the packing thing too, just hate to see the waste.