Sierra 1500HD tow/haul rig sorta build

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

This won't be much of a build, but I take pictures when I do stuff so it's going here. It's an 03 GMC Sierra 1500HD. Originally I hated the fact that it was just a half ton and never really understood the point of the 1500HD, however it has grown on me having a low 4wd truck that rides nice, but still has respectable payload and towing capacity.

Here she is doing what she does:

I acquired this truck through horse trading some time ago, and it was never meant to be anything I kept long term. The PO, a friend of mine, had it on the "deferred maintenance" program, as in nothing was fixed unless it actually prevented the truck from moving. Stopping? Ehhhh, not so much... When I first got it I threw a set of rotors and pads on the front as both sides were at about -15% , just so I could use it to move some vehicles, of course the calipers were dunzo'd so I trashed the new rotors and pads in short order BUT at least it stopped.

Luckily Amazon mispriced the whole Powerstop truck and tow brake kit for the truck. I paid $420 for it, retail is supposed to be around $1100 I believe. That's for all new drilled/slotted rotors, carbon ceramic pads, and calipers/brackets all the way around.

Brake fluid was a nice green colour... I remember looking at it when I put the first set of pads and rotors on just to get it going, and thinking "That's not something I'm dealing with now."

I didn't take a picture of the worse side of the front, this one looks pretty bad for rotors with about 3000km on them, the other side was way worse.

Snapped my crappy ol' PA breaker bar trying to get the caliper brackets off.

New bling.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Of course the wheel seals in the rear were leaking, and I was concerned about the wheel bearings. One of the biggest downsides to the 1500HD is that it uses the 9.5" semifloat 14 bolt rear end, and it's just not quite as robust as the full float versions.

So I got to take a look at things inside the diff in order to get the damn C-clips out. At least everything looked good so I have a little extra piece of mind that this axle will last for the time being. Ultimately I'd like to find a 14 bolt FF to swap it out for, apparently it's basically bolt in (even takes the same calipers) assuming it's out of a GMT-400 truck.

New bling on the rear.

Another thing I noticed the last time I used it to move my trailer was the brake controller was intermittent. Sometimes it would work, other times not. Then it just flashed a SO message and did nothing. I figured I'd open it up and look for carnage.

Surprisingly it looked okay.

But ah, a resistor broke its leg.

While repairable I decided not to bother, and bought a nice compact Reese unit. Okay, nice might not be the right term, but it has a proper display and buttons, no more spinning potentiometers and hoping you're doing something.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B017NA ... UTF8&psc=1

Installed

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Next I'd like to actually get a headache rack for it, instead of leaning stuff on the cab or sticking it out the back. A set of wheels that aren't so mangled and corroded that they actually don't leak would be nice for next spring too. The Cambodian Tire tires on it also suck badly, like I'm impressed how bad they are, to the point I'll probably put them on my trailer.

[Scoobienorth]

https://backrack.com/truck-racks/safety-rack.html

For what it’s worth this is a solid headache rack. I had it on my superduty work truck and beat the stuffing out of it. You buy the rack and the bolt up kit for each individual truck. They all bolt on. No drilling. They are available at most places. I can’t remember what I paid but it wasn’t very much.

[pointsnorth]

yeah gm has some wierd build code options. In fact there are a few two wheel drive heavy half ton 6.5 diesels around here.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

https://backrack.com/truck-racks/safety-rack.html

For what it’s worth this is a solid headache rack. I had it on my superduty work truck and beat the stuffing out of it. You buy the rack and the bolt up kit for each individual truck. They all bolt on. No drilling. They are available at most places. I can’t remember what I paid but it wasn’t very much.

I think Lordco is a dealer, so I'll look into it. Was trying to find something used, but nobody will respond to their Facebook ads or bother to put a tape measure on it to see how wide it is.

"What does this fit?"
"Don't remember. Been sitting out back."
"Okay, how wide and long is it?"
*crickets*

yeah gm has some wierd build code options. In fact there are a few two wheel drive heavy half ton 6.5 diesels around here.

They were the masters of weird builds until 04 or 05, then they stopped making some of the dumb stuff, like 5 lug light duty 3/4 tons and whatnot. At least this thing is in 3/4 ton except for the rear axle (which was used in 3/4 tons in the body style before this).

[Keegan]

Maybe i have been looking at that same brake controller, need to get that in my Dakota so I can sort of tow with it...
Looks like similar stuff to what I’m doing on the Dakota (except the whole needing an engine thing...)

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Actually I'm really happy with the brake controller, I guess after so many years of using ones that were complete crap it seems amazing since it actually works.

[Keegan]

Actually I'm really happy with the brake controller, I guess after so many years of using ones that were complete crap it seems amazing since it actually works.

Ya no doubt eh, they usually have wonky gain controls and shit, really hard to find the sweet spot....

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

https://backrack.com/truck-racks/safety-rack.html

For what it’s worth this is a solid headache rack. I had it on my superduty work truck and beat the stuffing out of it. You buy the rack and the bolt up kit for each individual truck. They all bolt on. No drilling. They are available at most places. I can’t remember what I paid but it wasn’t very much.

Amusingly enough I finally found one of these for the right price. Lightly used but with a few little paint touch ups it's nicer than the rest of the truck. And it is way sturdier than I would have thought given that it's a no-drill install. I was prepared to put some extra bolts in it but you're right, it's fine.



You can tell they really are pretty universal. Multiple holes so it can fit different things. There is a few different widths though because there is a big difference between some of the smaller and larger trucks.



Anywho, I'm pretty happy I finally found something for way less than retail. I kept thinking how pissed I'd be if I took the rear window out because I was too cheap to just buy one.