White1500's 2000 extended cab intro

white1500 · June 9, 2013

The new heater hose went on today (in 110degree weather) and everything seems fine. The trial by fire will be monday when I will have to drive her to work and run around town to get some errands done. Now I'm just waiting on the rotors/pads...

And after driving my dad's 06 Silverado today it was a night and day difference while working since it has an amazing a/c system, I really appreciated it when I would get cold and it's 110degrees out. That's the only advantage that it has over my truck, but soon it'll be gone. Mine just feels so much more planted and solid, and I can't stand the electronic throttle and drum brakes!

white1500 · June 13, 2013

Overheating topic here...

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/152349-overheating-problems/?p=1341146

And now I'm just waiting for the pads to arrive. The rotors have been here since Monday. =/

white1500 · June 13, 2013

And she's been doing great on the highway aside from the slight vibration due to the warped rotors. The Latitude Tours are quite and have excellent braking capabilities, but the shocks and worn out rear pads are letting them down at times.

white1500 · June 29, 2013

The Centric rotor/AC Delco Durastop ceramic pad combo has been working great!

Extremely low dust and the bite is great, with zero noise to boot.

LongrangeLauber · July 7, 2013

The Centric rotor/AC Delco Durastop ceramic pad combo has been working great!

Extremely low dust and the bite is great, with zero noise to boot.

Welcome to the site! These trucks last forever. Im bout to roll over 340k, but I replaced the motor at 308k. She towed her entire life, so I don't think it was too early. Anyways, the motor that I replaced it with already had 100k on it when it went in. I got quite a bit of rust spots, especially over the rear fenders. She going to be getting some body work done soon when funds are available

white1500 · July 8, 2013

Why did you end up changing the engine? Did it blow or just because you could?

This engine is still very strong and she hasn't towed much during her life. The loads are on a once a week basis but they're only a few hundred pounds so it's not bad at all.

And she doesn't have any significant rust, which might be the only perk of living in the desert.

But I do want to get the 05+ front brakes like you and possibly even the electric fans sometime down the road. Although right now I want to focus on overdue maintenance, like the entire suspension front to back and all of the seals on the engine, along with some minor interior parts.

LongrangeLauber · July 8, 2013

Why did you end up changing the engine? Did it blow or just because you could?

This engine is still very strong and she hasn't towed much during her life. The loads are on a once a week basis but they're only a few hundred pounds so it's not bad at all.

And she doesn't have any significant rust, which might be the only perk of living in the desert.

But I do want to get the 05+ front brakes like you and possibly even the electric fans sometime down the road. Although right now I want to focus on overdue maintenance, like the entire suspension front to back and all of the seals on the engine, along with some minor interior parts.

I replaced it because I had a parts truck that I bought for the rear end and tranny, and my old 5.3 was burning like 3+ quarts between 3000 mile oil changes and figured since I had a good motor on hand, might as well do it with the tranny swap, which was only a month after I did the rear end, I think I was happy to have my truck back after 3 months of it being down haha

The brakes are great, but hydroboost is where you should put your money if your doing any brake upgrades (just typed up a how-to on it today, check it out!)

Electric fans are amazing. You can watch your temp. drop after about 5 min. of idling after towing

As for suspension, I put full Energy Suspension bushings on the entire front suspension as well as the rear leaf springs. Greatly improved handling, but it did give it just a tad bit stiffer ride. My lifted truck handles as good as my sisters VW Rabbit, which is not the greatest handling car, but you can definently whip around corners with it. I can pull corners in my truck at 60+ mph easily

If you need any advice or where to buy some stuff for these trucks, just PM me and I'll do my best to help you out!

KMGZ400 · July 8, 2013

. I can pull corners in my truck at 60+ mph easily

video or it didnt happen haha

LongrangeLauber · July 8, 2013

I'm not saying like 90 degree turns, but like on the way to work in the morning I'll have like 50 degree bends that I pull at 60+ mph and the truck don't lean much and tires squeal every once in a while.

Fastest I've taken an actual turn was 40 mph and that was kind of scary

LongrangeLauber · July 22, 2013

I'm not saying like 90 degree turns, but like on the way to work in the morning I'll have like 50 degree bends that I pull at 60+ mph and the truck don't lean much and tires squeal every once in a while.
Fastest I've taken an actual turn was 40 mph and that was kind of scary

Whoa got my angles messed up, I guess it would be like a 130 degree angle. I can pull those pretty fast at about 60-70

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white1500 · September 2, 2013

She got the Michelin's rotated and balanced on August 25. The truck felt a lot better for a few days, until I drove on a gravel road a bit too fast and the vibration's came back. Damn wheel weights must be made out of silly putty.

And the oil was changed today at above the 5,000 mile mark. Most of these miles were highway since I started my new job back in late May, hence the reason I let it go this far. Castol GTX High Mileage was used along with an OEM ACDelco filter, the oil is so clear you can barely see the level on the dip stick!

And she was also washed and waxed along with all of the usual plastic/rubber/wheel treatments.

kstruckcountry · September 2, 2013

You should send in an oil sample, they can tell you whether or not you should run your oil longer.

white1500 · September 3, 2013

Even if they tell me that I can get more miles out of the oil it's not worth it, I would still not have piece of mind. Slightly past 5k is good enough for less than $30. But I have been thinking of sending in a sample to blackstone, but it will have to wait until next time when I can get a clean and uncontaminated sample.

And..... wtf. That's all that comes to mind with this truck and it's odd behavior. Up to Friday the vibration that had returned was still there, and then I changed the oil just yesterday (Sunday)... and then today I got on the highway and abrakadabra no more vibrations at all! Magic? The god's smiling down on me? She has a mind of her own? I'm not quite sure.

And with the new oil she's just amazing. I'm not quite sure if it's mostly in my head but wow she feels great. At idle she just purrs so nicely. Can you tell that I'm in love haha.

Not to forget, I drove to my parents house today and as soon as my dad and I went off to work it started to rain cats and dogs! I enjoy the rain but not the day after I've washed my truck, but I just dried her off later today and went through all of the treatments again so no worries.

I hope you guys had a relaxing labor day weekend!

white1500 · November 28, 2013

I'm not so new anymore but I still wanted to share some pics.

She's at a few miles above what the picture shows by now, but I can't believe that I've been driving around 300 miles a week since May 31st! But thank goodness that I'll now have a 6 mile a day commute instead of 50, I'm sure she'll appreciate it.

The Michelin's have been holding up great as expected and the performance in every condition that I've put them through is beyond my expectations. And my dad says the same and he's been through heavy mud and even water crossings. Hopefully my truck will see some snow action up north in the upcoming months.

And even though the hitch has only been used once or twice since we've had her, it'll be used tomorrow when I'll be using a trailer to move.

I can't wait to put the 5.3 and 3:73's to good use!

And nothing has been done to her except the usual oil change and washing/cleaning. She has an oil change coming up in a thousand miles or so.

white1500 · January 11, 2014

Well she did tow but its a PITA to upload pics from my phone. The trailer was the largest open Uhaul available and while I could certainly feel it the truck didn't mind too much.

And as I had mentioned, she will get an oil change tomorrow as she approaches 216,000 miles. Once again I'll use Castrol high mileage 10W30 but this time with an ACdelco filter that the ends with 61 instead of 46. The 46 is tiny compared to the 61 and I didn't feel right when I bought in September, I should've known. And the current oil was run for about 4,000 miles, mainly highway until a month ago.