Mike GMC

I've now had experience with 2 different K2s with ranchos. Oddly, they are not the same. My 15 SLT AT had 18" wheels and ranchos. I really thought it rode fine. My 18 LTZ Z71 has 20" wheels and ranchos. It seems to feel a bit nervous to me. My 15 I bought used at 28k miles and my 18 I bought new last weekend. I wonder if the sidewall height difference between the 18s and 20s are making a difference or if the newer shocks are just not as good as my older one were. I have Bilstein 4600 on my 2000 Z71 and they are fine, but I wouldn't rave about them. I also have Bilsteins on rear of my 2000 Camaro SS and Koni adjustables on the front. Talk about night and day over stock. The Camaro stock rode and floated like an old Caddy. Now, I autocross it and do track days. It's great fun and just feels right. Anyway, I'll give the ranchos on the 18 a while and see if they still feel weird or not. If they do, I'll be getting 5100s or fox 2.0 if I can afford them. No, I didn't vote because I don't know yet.

Yep, quality is key. Cheap is not your friend.

I have a little experience with slip on spacers as well as thicker bolt on spacers with studs. I ran several different sizes and styles of slip on spacers on my Camaro. I had some cheap cast spacers for a while. They suck. They do not hold torque well at all. The billet machined spacers are much better and are more stable. Just make sure you still have enough thread engagement, minimum is 1.5 x stud diameter. If you are short of this, ARP makes some nice longer studs. Same goes for the bolt on spacers, billet machined are way better than cast. Make sure they have quality studs and nuts. "Flame suit on". I have found zero difference in performance between hub and lug centric spacers. Not in drivability, steering shake, perceived wheel shake or bearing life. The way I see it, the lugs MUST help center the wheel anyway with tapered (acorn) lug nuts other wise tightening them down would try to split the wheel if one or more were off center. I think hub centric is nothing more than an assembly aid to help the lugs center up on the assembly line to speed things up. "Flame suit off". Just my opinion.

I agree about the donors, no work saved plus you're still installing old parts. At $100 per side I would probably just get all new stuff, but much more is probably too much for me. I'm surprised Eibach doesn't off a complete unit preassembled as an option, maybe it's because you have choices in how to set the snap ring. The fox 2.0 units are interesting, but they are way more money.

It seems there aren't very many parts reused from the existing coil over assembly. Is it worth pulling the factory assembly apart to salvage them, or would it be better to just buy a few more new parts and assemble the new coil overs prior to installation? Anybody price out the extra parts? This way you just pull the old assembly and pop in the new one.

Don't use the gmt800 master. My 2000 feels exactly like you describe, mushy low and only marginal braking power. I may be looking at a wilwood master and booster in the future.

I guess every @ss has it's own opinion, but I like my seats and my brakes for that matter. Of course I'm comparing to my 2000 Sierra.

Yep, diffs and t-case are easy, I also use Amsoil products in everything.

They are not that good and if you plan to make the truck last as long as possible, you will not try to run them that long. I can't tell you what the "right" interval is, but I can tell you I have already changed all the fluids in mine and it only has 39k on it. The t-case fluid looked particularly nasty. The diffs weren't too bad, but looked like they were ready. The coolant was definitely ready. The trans fluid is still clean looking and slightly sweet smelling so it has not been changed yet. Go figure.

I don't know how odd that size is. I was thinking of that size as well. It gives just a bit more tire size without needing a level. I agree though that not many would pull off usable tires to change to this size. I will be waiting until my oe tires are worn out. The 285/65 option does sound interesting as well, but I would think the 265 width might be better in rain and slushy snow.

So an engine part, fuel injector, is not covered under the Powertrain warranty? WTF? Are they calling it fuel system or something? Under that thinking, a broken cam would be the timing system. What other engine parts are they weaseling out on?

So where do you overland? Are you blazing trails where no vehicle has gone before, or are you on established trails, fire roads, old mining roads or what? Most places we went, it was illegal to leave the established path.

That would be fun. Way more off road capability, but I bet was less comfortable on road.

Your right about trailering the really hardcore rock crawlers. That's not what we did. The vehicles I showed above were driven daily as well and used off road. We frequently did overnight camping/4 Wheeling trips as well as some longer ones. We once did a trip to Utah to run the Hole In the Rock trail on both sides of Lake Powell. I could be missunderstanding what overland is, but it sounds a lot like what we used to do. Yes, I actually drove that Wrangler on 36" swampers daily for a couple years.

Here are a couple pics of Jeeps I built.

It's interesting to me that folks are building these trucks for "overland" use. 20 years ago we just called it 4 wheeling. I've built a Wrangler and 2 Cherokees for offroad use, but we would almost never see full size trucks out on the trails. They were handicapped by their width and length. The approach, break over and departure angles were bad unless they were so high that they became unstable on side hills. Even full size Broncos and Blazers were rare. It would be really cool to see the capabilities of these trucks when properly built.

The position sensor is part of the door latch assembly. Unless there is something obvious you can see from the outside, you will likely need to take it in. If you have the ability to work on it, you can try throwing parts at it to see if a new latch will fix it. I had a similar problem with driver's door of my 08 Caddy. I read through the procedure to diagnose it and realized I didn't have the tools to properly test everything. I swapped the latch assembly and all was good again. I got lucky that the latch was not just a waste of time and money.

I believe you. Mine stays 97-98% dry with my cover and I didn't try real hard to make it perfect. But dry from a rain storm or car wash is not the same as light proof, or truely water tight. Even if I thought mine was 99-100% dry, I wouldn't trust it to anything that absolutely could not get wet. Besides, if it can't get wet, it probably wants to stay clean, and I get some dust in my bed even with the cover closed.

I hate to "that guy", but you have a pick up truck, not a Suburban. The tail gate was never intended to be water tight. Even with a camper shell or a 1 piece cover, that gap will always exist on a truck. If you have "valuable" stuff that can't get wet, put it inside. If it's too big for inside, maybe you should have a 'burb or a van.

My first guess is that the shocks are too long for your ride height. When you hit bumps, it bottoms out the travel and shoves it up through the mount. But that is just a guess.

I really like the bucket seats in my 15 SLT. I still have my 2000 SLT with bucket seats as well. Those seats are also great, but I actually prefer the 15 seats for long distance. I'm 6'-2" 225 pounds so maybe that has something to do with it. I also really like the seat in my 2000 Camaro SS. Everybody seemed to complain about those, but not me.

I've been thinking about adding this to my 15. But if the newer model have a factory actuator, can it be added and wired the same as the pop and lock? This seems it might be a bit more reliable and more positive operation. Just a thought. Any one tried it?

Check the u-joints.

You probably have done this, but it might be worth getting underneath and checking the entire drivetrain for loose bolts. I'd also check the U joints. If you can get it up on 4 stands, you might even be able to run it and listen to see if you can pinpoint where the noise comes from.

Can you explain more about what you mean by clunky? Are you referring to an actual clunk noise, or are you referring to jerky, slow awkward shift that throw you forward before it throws you back?