'11 GMC Sierra 2500HD - Tow Mule & Travel Vehicle

[ridesolo]

I've been keeping eyes and ears open for a 3/4 ton truck for quite a while. I really like the Tundra and it's been a great truck and it JUST handles the 5th wheel safely but I wouldn't be comfortable dragging it up or down much of a grade loaded down like that. Being right at my weight max I've been very careful with trip planning so that I don't over tax the equipment. So far things have been OK but we want to go farther and longer in the future so more truck was a neccecity. The search for has been long and discouraging, the things are so well-built any more that there aren't many out there on the market and when likely candidates come up they are either extremely expensive and/or high mileage. I can't tell you how many I've seen that look great... and have over 200k miles!

We came across this one by the road w/ a For Sale sign. I called the guy and he and his wife are both people my wife has known since they were kids and I performed in a men's singing group w/ his dad. The next morning I went to see him and by 10:00am cash and keys had exchanged hands.

'11 GMC Sierra 2500HD, 6.0L gasoline, six-speed, trailer tow package, spray-in bed liner, solid folding tonneau cover, & a nearly perfect interior. It's got less than 53,000 miles, new tires, & brakes. I would have preferred a two wheel drive but those are almost impossible to find so a 4x4 will work fine. 4X4s have their use but I certainly won't be doing any off-roading in this thing and a 2X4 really suits my needs better. (The last 4X4 I owned was off-road only when it sat in it's gravel parking spot.) The price was excellent so I had to jump on this one.

When I get back home from winter in the south the fun will start. The clear coat is coming off in a couple spots so it's going to a body shop fairly soon after we get home. There's also a bit of bubbled paint on the back of the bed beside the tailgate that I'll have them fix. When the weather warms up I'll get underneath and reapply undercoating in a few spots.

GM seemed to have some issues w/ clear coat on wheels during that time and mine were good examples of that. I looked into replacements or other ways to correct and I had about decided to refinish them. I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of blocking up three tons of truck in the driveway, having the tires dismounted, wire brushing off the clear coat, paint or powder coat the wheels, re-mount the tires, and on and on. Yeah, coulda' done 'em one at a time. Anyway, did lots of searching and found a guy on Marketplace w/ four brand new take-offs just like mine available over in FL. We don't do FB so I contacted my friend in PA to see if he'd give the guy a yell. My buddy was at his kid's in VA so the guy from PA was in VA and contacted the guy in FL for his friend from OH who's in MS. (Ain't modern technology wonderful?) Anyway, the things are brand new and for $400 I would have been nuts to walk away.

The headlights are foggy and I could do a polish job but I got a decent deal on a new pair so they're ready to go on as well as all the required hardware to mount the 5th wheel.

 

[ridesolo]

I got the new wheels over in Panama City, packed 'em up so they'd ride around safely, and brought 'em home.

While we were gone it survived a break-in attempt. Grrrr.... (Damned scumbags!)

We got back from MS far too early...

EVERY year we've gone south for the winter there's been a snow fall after we get back home! We've decided that we'll be staying south for the whole month of March from now on!

When we got back everything looked good but, of course, the battery was dead, not just discharged, but dead. I wasn't real happy about that but when I did the replacement I discovered the one I pulled out was the factory original. Can't complain about that, I guess.

Once the weather cleared up I took on the task of getting the Tundra ready to sell. We got it emptied out, cleaned up, and looking good. I did up a Craigslist ad and in less than 24 hours I had a looker/buyer and the next day it left. I had it just under seven years, put on 42k miles, and sold it for only $5,000 less than what I paid for it. It was a good and faithful tow mule.

With the Tundra gone it was time to get to work on the GMC. Of course, wouldn't you know know it, the weather turned cold again! Over the winter I had ordered various goodies that I found on sale and they were waiting for me when I got back.

I found four WeatherTech mud flaps:

The headlights on it were going UV foggy. I've used the HF polish kit with decent success in the past but I've found that once you do that they only stay looking good for a year or two. I happened across a great deal on a set of replacement headlights from Amazon Warehouse and only paid about what two of the HF polish kits would cost. The installation wasn't exactly what I'd call easy but it wasn't awful (like replacing the starter in a Tundra!). They look pretty good. (Yeah, I should have put in all new bulbs while I had everything apart!)

Today I took it over to get the new wheels mounted. I've had decent luck w/ the nearest Walmart Auto Center folks so I went there. There are cheaper places in town but I've found out the hard way they don't always do a decent balance job and often don't know and understand TPMS systems.

Old wheels, pretty grody:

And the new ones mounted and lookin' good:

For now that'll have to do. I've got the Timbren SES set for it and the 5th wheel hitch mounts but they'll have to wait until the weather warms up some.

Speaking of waiting, I've got a GM nav radio system on order that's been a real comedy of errors. I'm being patient, the company is claiming problems w/ their new computer system install but I probably would have given up on them already if they weren't about the best and nearly only place to offer the kit I need to get the job done. We had a nav system on the Tundra as well as a back-up camera and wanted the same on this one. There are aftermarket systems available but I want the reliability, look, and ease of OEM.

 

[Redbird]

Dude! Nice ride
On the headlights though... Rubbing Compound and Carnuba Wax. I just polished out the haze on the Sentra's headlights today, as I've done every 4-5 years since it's purchase. Cleans them up to 'like new' status. I have to admit, new fixtures will last much much longer. But if the price point isn't optimal, one can maintain the clarity in them cheaper than new, or the 'kits' that are advertised.

 

[ridesolo]

Thanx Chris. I'm pretty happy w/ it though it's certainly larger and heavier than anything I've had before.

I wouldn't have gotten the headlights unless they were a really great price. I'm usually willing to "spend" elbow grease and materials to get things done when ever possible. Same thing w/ those wheels; I would have refurbed the originals but those take-offs were hard to pass up.

 

[Hurco550]

Looks great Cory! Those wheels and headlights make all the differnce!

Remember during the school year for things like tire changes and balances, the school treats Vets well on doing said things as customer service!

 

[ridesolo]

Looks great Cory! Those wheels and headlights make all the differnce!

Remember during the school year for things like tire changes and balances, the school treats Vets well on doing said things as customer service!

I thought about the school but wasn't sure if they could do the TPMS stuff... shoulda' asked!

 

[ridesolo]

I had a window of perfect weather so I used it to get the 5th wheel hitch installed. The task involves bolting on brackets made for the make, model, and year and the bolting the hitch rails through the bed floor to the brackets. Sounds good... harder than it sounds.

The brackets weren't too bad. I had to remove the plastic inner fender liner and then the holes in the bracket match right up to holes pre-made in the frame.

That was the easy part. Then I had to measure and drill holes in the bed floor. Again, easy... if you measure correctly the holes drilled match up exactly to the holes in the brackets. Fortunately I did that right. Then came the hard part; getting my hands into the space between the top of the bracket and the bed floor to put in spacers and nuts to secure the rails. Once that was done then the even more difficult task was to get those nuts tightened. I could get a ratcheting 3/4" wrench up in there but there was only enough room to click, pull, click, pull, click, pull, repeat, one click at a time. The instructions give torque specs, but there was no way to get a torque wrench anywhere near so I just pulled for all I was worth and then some. If I ever have to take the fender well liners out again I'll attempt to see if I can get another click or two on each one.

Here's a shot of the rails in place and the base of the hitch sitting there. Another small victory was that all the years I used that 5th wheel hitch on the Toyota the frame was always a tiny bit "kinked" and required that I slightly loosen bolts on it after pulling the pins in order to pull it out. I was able to mess around w/ a couple of large washers and get it so it works as it's supposed to; pull the four pins out of the rails and lift the hitch out.

AND... with all of that done wouldn't you know it, we've decided to sell the trailer! We love the thing and with all the improvements we've made to it. It's very comfortable and we've enjoyed spending our winter months in it. We're going to try and find something just a little bit larger with room for a washer/dryer and a slightly different layout.

 

[ridesolo]

Earlier I mentioned out changing the radio for a nav/radio unit. It's been a pulling tooth venture. The company I picked is supposed to be about the best at this but the process has been going on for six weeks and isn't 100% done but is getting there and will eventually be complete.

I started off w/ this:

It's pretty basic and didn't sound awful. It's pretty much the same one that's in our car except this one has Bluetooth. We liked having the nav radio unit in the Tundra The new truck has OnStar, steering wheel controls, XM Radio, and other stuff and I discovered in my research that very few aftermarket units offer compatibility with all of those things so we decided to go the direction we did.

So this is what we've got:

As I said it's been ongoing; I contacted the company over six weeks ago and was sent a totaly incorrect unit. They had just switched to a completely new computer system and all their product data hadn't been completely migrated. After it got here I knew right away that it wasn't going to work but had to convince two different people including a know-it-all salesman guy of that. I finally got a guy who realized it, was thoroughly embarrassed, and got things corrected. Then it took three weeks to get the replacement and that same three weeks to get refunded for the original unit I had to return. The right package finally arrived and it's exactly what it's suppose to be... EXCEPT that the amplifier doesn't work! The radio works fine w/o the amp but isn't very loud and when you plug the amp and cable in there's no sound. (Even the backup camera that I added works perfectly. Yay!) I called them and they sent another amp and cable. No work AGAIN! I called them again and they are in the process of getting a test vehicle like mine into their lab to check things out. They're pretty sure it'll just be a matter of moving a couple of pins in the cable plugs to get things working. So for the time being the radio isn't very loud and the various sound alarms in the thing can't be heard but I can live with that for a bit.