HoosierZ

Thanks!

Mastercraft tires are made by Cooper. The Courser AXT is their equivalent of the Cooper AT3. I've had them 5 yrs and roughly 40k miles. Most of those miles were from running them on my ‘08 spring thru fall. I had these tires as well as a set of AT3s on my ‘08 and I liked the Coopers more. The AXTs this past winter were downright horrible on slick roads. They’re getting replaced before next winter.

275/65/18 on 18x9

You’re welcome

Wire loom hides the wires hanging below the dash.

It’s mounted to the metal support above the parking brake pedal using the double sided foam tape that came with the controller. The wires to the LED and dial were barely long enough to reach up to the pocket. The wires are ran along the bottom of the dash and across the fuse panel. I’ve since molded in a panel over the pocket.

I pulled out the fender liners, removed the running boards, popped out all of the plugs from the rocker panels and rear fender wells and flushed everything with water to get the salt out since it looks like winter is finally over. I also repainted the running board brackets since they were starting to rust. I used my homemade under body sprayer to spray off the bottom of the truck.

Here you go.

Thanks! I built it myself. Before anyone asks, I have no time or interest in building another.

Looks great Daryl! The silver on the bumper cap and tailgate is how GM should have painted it from the factory. I would have painted the handles too.

My 2016 LTZ has the 5.3 w/ 6 spd. I believe the 8 spd was a late ‘16 or ‘17 change.

I epoxied a panel over mine and put my brake controller adjuster and LED in it.

I’ve been thinking about doing that and running a small round Magnaflow muffler between the stock pipe and the frame. I would still have the stock quiet exhaust for long trips and to keep the wife happy. Then, at the flip of a switch, have a louder exhaust without it being obnoxious.

The NXTs come in three lengths, reg cab, ext cab, & crew cab. The boards are universal and the brackets are model specific. The ext cab boards are about 3-4” shorter than the cab so I bought the crew cab length. They are a few inches longer than the cab but they are long enough I can put one foot on the board and the other foot on the tire to reach into the front of the bed.

Shaved the pocket from the switch bezel for my trailer brake controls. Looks much better than the plate held on with velcro I had before.

Another vote for old iron. In the long run, an old ‘70s garden tractor (not lawn tractor) will save you money as long as you find a good solid unit. My ‘64 and ‘72 Cub Cadets were built when they used steel and cast iron instead of plastic and flimsy sheet metal. There were so many built that good used parts are readily available and the Cub Cadet dealers can still get a lot of parts new. I will admit though, my zero turn sure is quicker and easier to maneuver. However, I don’t expect it to still be working when it’s 50 yrs old.

2” level with stock 265/65/18s and with 275/65/18s

I like my DeeZee NXT boards. I wanted the GoRhino RB10 boards but everyone was having issues with the coating peeling. They are adjustable in-out 1” so with them slid in they are flush with the stock tires. They are powdercoated aluminum so rust isn’t an issue. I added fillers between the boards and rockers to hide the gap and made some flaps at the front to protect the front doors from rock chips. I’ve had them over a year and they still look like new even after all of the road salt this winter.

How would you describe the sound? My 2005 Colorado had a whistling sound from the firewall area that turned out to be from an AC line under the hood running along the top of the firewall. It was a design flaw that was replaced with a redesigned line that was relocated along the fender. The noise went away.

The part #s for the skids are: Front from behind bumper to first crossmember. 23135960 Rear from first to second crossmembers under axle/rack. 23135959

One thing the cavity wax will do that paint and bedliner paint can’t do is penetrate into the pinch welds and harden to seal out water and salt.

Spraying the back side can’t hurt as long as you’re careful not to plug any of the drain holes. The problem with the rockers is they are a blind cavity that water and salt get into and if they aren’t protected internally and flushed out after salt exposure, they end up rusting thru like yours. If your rockers have plugs in them similar to my ‘16, it’s a good idea to remove them a couple times a year and flush out the rockers to clean out the salt and dirt. I neglected to do that until it was too late on my ‘08. I was shocked when I did and I saw dirty, rusty water pouring out of the drain holes for several minutes.

Wow! That’s some serious rot. Since most body panels rust thru from the inside, the bedliner only really protects from rock chips and the subsequent surface rust. You may look into a clear or paintable chip guard for the lower body to reduce chips.

After the new rockers are on, be sure to coat the insides with some kind of rust prevention or cavity wax to help them survive. When you weld on the replacements, some of the primer inside burns off exposing bare metal and they’ll rust out quicker than the originals did. I used Noxudol 700 on my ‘16 after finding the rockers were rusted thru on my ‘08. Time will tell if it helps but it definitely can’t hurt. Your truck will look great with painted bumpers. I never could stand that GM didn’t paint the bottom edge of the tailgate on the two-tone trucks.

It has a 2” level in the front, 18x9 +12 offset Black Rhino “Lucerne” wheels. I removed the plastic from the front bumper and built the skidplate. It has the GM aluminum skidplates and the running boards are DeeZee NXT crew cab length.