Garage too short for my new GMC Sierra. Ideas?

LeeDowney · January 28, 2014

Hey guys. Bought my new Sierra last week. Prior to buying, I measured my garage at 230 inches. The truck dimensions are listed at 229.5 inches. I was figuring on a very tight fit but failed to realize GMC gives that measurement "without" the rear bumper. So I'm actually about 6 inches shy of getting the truck in the garage. The back of the garage has a 28 inch brick wall with a 5-6 inch kickback for the sheet rock. I thought about using ramps in the garage to lift the rear of the truck up to clear the brick wall but still think it will be tight.

Any thoughts or modification ideas? Before someone says it, no I'm not buying a shorter truck. If I can't get it to fit, it will just become an outside truck.

klrrdr · January 28, 2014

The old saying measure twice cut once

seatec · January 28, 2014

The old saying measure twice cut once

That saying does not apply here. He went of the dimensions given by GM. Who would've thought they show dimensions without bumper.

The ramp thing might work. Do the math and see how much elevation you need to gain the 6 inches. Also, what garage door do you have? if you have one like mine you might need even more space. I have the ribs on the garage door to give it strength and they protrude inward at least 2 inches and could be hitting your hood.

bozfour · January 28, 2014

I was almost touching the wall last night and I am like 3 inches to long on the hood! I really wanna get in the garage. What about parking at an angle or does it matter?

TimmyG · January 28, 2014

Remove some brick? How's your height? Might be a reason for a small lift!

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LeeDowney · January 28, 2014

That saying does not apply here. He went of the dimensions given by GM. Who would've thought they show dimensions without bumper.

The ramp thing might work. Do the math and see how much elevation you need to gain the 6 inches. Also, what garage door do you have? if you have one like mine you might need even more space. I have the ribs on the garage door to give it strength and they protrude inward at least 2 inches and could be hitting your hood.

Thanks for the helpful reply. The height of the doors won't be a problem. My garage doors go up about 15 feet then back. The garage has an 18ft ceiling in it so I'm not worried about hitting the truck. I actually wish I could get the doors to move outward. That would gain me nearly a foot. I really don't want to expand the rear because it would require knocking sheet rock out. That would be a mess not to mention the comments coming from the wife.

When I did the math, an 18 inch rise over 230 inches would gain me about 1 inch. I think the real gain would be clearing the brick low wall in the garage and being able to back up to the sheet rock. That would gain me 5 inches.

Green 1364 · January 28, 2014

Post some pics of the garage back and front wall. I'm a builder maybe I can figure something out that would be cheap for you to do.

LeeDowney · January 28, 2014

I was almost touching the wall last night and I am like 3 inches to long on the hood! I really wanna get in the garage. What about parking at an angle or does it matter?

Wouldn't be able to park at an angle. It's a 2 car garage and there's not much room on the sides.

klrrdr · January 28, 2014

If it was that close I would have measured one on the lot,even someone else s in the mall or something

LeeDowney · January 28, 2014

Post some pics of the garage back and front wall. I'm a builder maybe I can figure something out that would be cheap for you to do.

Post some pics of the garage back and front wall. I'm a builder maybe I can figure something out that would be cheap for you to do.

I will post some pictures when I get home today. Thanks for offering to help. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

LeeDowney · January 28, 2014

If it was that close I would have measured one on the lot,even someone else s in the mall or something

Hindsight...I should have done the test drive to my home. Honestly....I probably would have still bought the same truck. I love my truck and needed the full size rear doors for the family. I knew it would be close, just was learning on the optimistic side of things.

TxTruckMan · January 28, 2014

Do you have the long bed or short bed? This is the exact reason I went with the short bed - I couldn't fit a long one in my garage.

LeeDowney · January 28, 2014

Do you have the long bed or short bed? This is the exact reason I went with the short bed - I couldn't fit a long one in my garage.

I bought the short bed. 5'8" bed. Yeah, I didn't even consider the long bed which I think is 10 inches longer because of this garage issue.

TxTruckMan · January 28, 2014

Have you had the truck in your garage yet? I thought that the dimensions now included the bumpers. I had the same concern when I first compared the dimensions to my 1996 EC. The '96 Z71 EC was 218" (not including bumper) and the 2014 is 229". The 2014 fit into my garage just the same as my 1996.

You might consider removing your rear bumper and going with a flush roll pan if that's the only part that's not fitting. Then I'd look at removing a portion of the brick wall since it doesn't appear to be structural. There might be a way to extend your garage door out, but that will depend a lot on your roof/eave/house design.