2000 Silverado

merec01 · January 17, 2008

I just got a 2000 2wd silverado 1500 and i love my truck but i have a few questions i am hoping someone can help me with here.

1. I have a vibration that occurs around 40 mph that im not sure what it is. any ideas?

2. I am wanting to put a 3 in body lift on it. how does it look?

3. I eventually would like to put a v8 in it as i currently have the ever popular 4.3l in it currently? what can i use and how hard is it to do?

4. I would like to do a little bit of off roading in it and i was wondering what is the best thing I can do for it short of a painstaking 4wd conversion?

THANKS in advance for all the help. This is my first truck that i have personally owned although my dad always had one while i was growing up.

Wingnut · January 17, 2008

First off...Welcome to the boards.

1. You'll have to be more specific on when/how it's vibrating. Is it the steering wheel? The rear end? The whole truck?

2. Body lifts look fine, and work fine as well. Suspension lifts are better...But cost a LOT more too.

3. For the V8 swap...Check out www.ls1truck.com. It's a pretty straightforward swap evidently.

4. Best thing you can do for off-roading is add a locker in the rear end. Maybe get shorter gears.

Check the 2001 in my sig. It's a 2wd with the 3:42 (open) rear end and the 4.3 V6. Got a 3" suspension lift on it too.

BTW, with the open rear diff, it'll just about get stuck on a gravel road.

SKYrado03 · January 17, 2008

Yes! Welcome!,

Wingnut has some good questions there.

You noticed the vibe, only at 40?, hows the tires? Do you see wheel weights on 'um?

Does it go away above/and or/below 40?

Has it been State Inspected?

Did you get under to check the exhaust system?

Wingnut.....nice truck!!

Hang in there merec01 where all in this together......

Skyrado Steve

d3athsong · January 17, 2008

As long as you like looking at your frame, the body lift will be fine, and as wingnut mentioned, alot cheaper..

RyanZ71 · January 18, 2008

Vibration could be anything.. out of balance drive shaft, tire, maybe shudder from the tranny/OD..

KantKwit · January 18, 2008

2. I am wanting to put a 3 in body lift on it. how does it look?

Here is my 2000 2WD Silverado with a 3" Fabtech Spindle lift and 265/75's.

merec01 · January 18, 2008

thanks everyone for the warm welcome. I noticed the vibration doesnt come in till right around 40 mph and stops around 45 mph. i can feel it in the gas pedal and floor pan along with alittle in the steering wheel and seat. I can usually get it to vibrate the same some by just BARELY pressing the gas pedal.

im fairly new to this putting a "locker" in the rear diff. how do i go about this and where would i get the parts for this? maybe a picture or something...

3 inch lift looks pretty nice there kantkwit. i like the way that looks. I realize it prolly wont look as nice as a suspension lift but its hundreds cheaper!

j.roffel · January 18, 2008

The nice thing about the 2wd is you can get coil spring spacers for like 70 bucks and then an add-a-leaf for another 70 adn put them all in yourself for about 2-2.5 inches of suspension lift. As for the locker, something like this is what your looking for. The truck get's stuck pretty easy with the open diff, not to say that I havn't gone pretty much everywhere I've tried succesfully, I'm rather good at driving if I may say so myself there are however times like say this winter, when I've gotten stuck in my driveway because of the open diff...

merec01 · January 20, 2008

The nice thing about the 2wd is you can get coil spring spacers for like 70 bucks and then an add-a-leaf for another 70 adn put them all in yourself for about 2-2.5 inches of suspension lift. As for the locker, something like this is what your looking for. The truck get's stuck pretty easy with the open diff, not to say that I havn't gone pretty much everywhere I've tried succesfully, I'm rather good at driving if I may say so myself there are however times like say this winter, when I've gotten stuck in my driveway because of the open diff...

now if i do these suspension lifts AND a bodylift will i need anything extra such as extendors for the steering or anything?

merec01 · January 25, 2008

something new i noticed about the vibration is that if i push the tow/haul button it goes away.... any thoughts?

Wingnut · January 25, 2008

Suspension lift shouldn't require any steering shaft modifications, but a body lift will (it should come with the kit though).

Your vibration sounds a lot like ujoints.

merec01 · January 25, 2008

Your vibration sounds a lot like ujoints.

I just jacked the truck up and checked over them to see if I noticed any play in them or not and i didnt notice any except by the carrier bearing i could wiggle the drive shaft about 1/8th of an inch up and down. could this be a possibility?

jrrod2004 · January 26, 2008

I would say so, I do not believe that there should be even that much play, but is it balanced? (Driveshaft)

Wingnut · January 26, 2008

I've had them go bad where there was zero wiggle in them.

On my '02, it didn't vibrate a bit, there wasn't any play in the driveshaft, NADA...But it was squeaking at slow speeds and clinking when going into/out of gear.

So I pulled them off, and two of them were completely dry and rusted out. One of them didn't even have any needle bearings in it.

Morals of the story? Ujoints can do some wonky things when they go bad, and when you buy new ones, get spendy and splurge that extra $2 on greasable ones.