[BigBlue2014]

Brought the truck to the dealership yesterday because of an intermittent squeal upon startup that sounded like the serpentine belt or pulley. But it only happened a few times when it was really cool out overnight (around 50's), and it hasn't done it in the past few days because its been very warm during the day and overnight. So when I told the service advisor about everything I figured that they would say that they cannot duplicate the issue and send me on my way. Well, to my surprise I got a call saying that they replaced the belt, as they were able to replicate the noise upon startup.

I was surprised to say the least... Figured i will have them do anything and everything that can be done to the truck while I can get them to pay for it, since its easier on my wallet and hands.

 

[nealinator]

Wow...that is pretty surprising they would swap a belt out at no charge on an older used truck after the sale. I guess they are thinking you will be adding to the fleet for some other family member or yourself and want to be in your good graces! Nice either way.

 

[tsuintx]

40 bucks for the steps??? Around here you need to add another zero to the end to get some. :roll:

Nice loooooong truck, BTW.

 

[BigBlue2014]

Wow...that is pretty surprising they would swap a belt out at no charge on an older used truck after the sale. I guess they are thinking you will be adding to the fleet for some other family member or yourself and want to be in your good graces! Nice either way.

I don't know the exact reason, but I am not complaining at all. I did mention to them that I used to be a service advisor way back in the day (which is true) and they know that I am familiar with vehicles and working on them, or that I have deep pockets??? Especially since they already saw me there with my Blue 1500 and I had my Infiniti there at the time of drop off. Either way - I don't care as long as they fix what needs to be done, on a truck that I have on our possession for a bit over 2 weeks.

40 bucks for the steps??? Around here you need to add another zero to the end to get some. :roll:

Nice loooooong truck, BTW.

Yeah, it was a nice score. They seller was thrilled to get rid of them and I was up for the gamble at the time (since I didn't have the truck yet). I was actually looking at another listing on FB marketplace for (2) different sets of OEM steps off of crew cabs, all for $50. The seller was very arrogant in the listing, but I figured for that price, I don't care. Use the one set that I like better and sell the other set for the same $50 and score free steps for the truck? Why not? So I messaged him, and waited a few days... No response, so that's when I messaged the seller from the steps that I currently have. Within an hour of messaging the person, I had them back at home. Over week later I got a message back from the seller of the 2 sets of steps. I told him that I am no longer interested because I purchased another set. Then he gave me some attitude and said that they are available if I change my mind...

At the time I type this, they are still available for sale - for $50.

 

[nealinator]

Man. Seems like longer than two weeks. I guess Covid time passes slow. haha.

I looked back at your initial pictures and recalled thinking the belt looked pretty off colored in the pic.

 

[desertboy13]

Truck is looking good..

Yeah the tint will be good ..

Theres a Denali Grill for sale that would look good on ur truck....
It's on the for sale section..

I have one on my truck they look good

Sent from my SM-A102U1 using Tapatalk

 

[BigBlue2014]

Man. Seems like longer than two weeks. I guess Covid time passes slow. haha.

I looked back at your initial pictures and recalled thinking the belt looked pretty off colored in the pic.

Yeah, it looked a little bit discolored but it really looked worse in the pictures than in person. At least it was a quick and cheap fix on my end because if I was to do the repair I would have gone all out and replaced the pulleys as well. Figure that I am already in there, just do it once and be done.

Truck is looking good..

Yeah the tint will be good ..

Theres a Denali Grill for sale that would look good on ur truck....
It's on the for sale section..

I have one on my truck they look good

Sent from my SM-A102U1 using Tapatalk

I saw that listing and thought about it, but I didn't know if it was something I want to do, especially since I want to do a black set of wheels for the summer and the aluminum wheels for the winter. Figured I might leave the massive amount of chrome for my blue truck.

 

[BigBlue2014]

So I got a set of Sealight X2 H11 Led bulbs for the truck in the mail today and I was going to install them tonight until I realized how much of a pain it was going to be, since it wasn't going to be as straight forward as anticipated.

I knew I was going to have to remove the air box to get to the passenger side bulb. So far no big deal. What threw me off (because I forgot) was the 2nd battery on the drivers side. I am going to have to remove that as well to gain access to the back of the drivers side head lamp housing.

None of this is that big of a deal to do, but now I am thinking that I should just get the high beam bulbs and replace everything while I am removing parts to gain access to the housings.

 

[tsuintx]

None of this is that big of a deal to do, but now I am thinking that I should just get the high beam bulbs and replace everything while I am removing parts to gain access to the housings.

Might as well. That's what I did with my NNBS. Saves the trouble of doing the removal twice. I actually changed the whole headlights on it while I was in there. :lol:

 

[BigBlue2014]

None of this is that big of a deal to do, but now I am thinking that I should just get the high beam bulbs and replace everything while I am removing parts to gain access to the housings.

Might as well. That's what I did with my NNBS. Saves the trouble of doing the removal twice. I actually changed the whole headlights on it while I was in there. :lol:

Also add the variables of me being on the shorter side and the truck is very large to make things more interesting.

 

[BigBlue2014]

Called the tint shop that I deal with and made an appointment to get the truck some tint work. Nothing fancy but I am thinking 20% on the back doors and back window, plus a tint strip. This way when we have tools/equipment in the back of the truck it will be harder to see and it wont be like driving around in a fishbowl. Now we just have to wait another week so we can drop it off.

 

[BigBlue2014]

So I got anxious and decided to install the headlight bulbs today, even though I know I will need to do it all over again to install the high beam bulbs in the near future.

Instead of taking out the 2nd battery and the intake to gain access to the headlamp housings I decided to take them out. After watching some videos on youtube I realized how easy it really was. The whole process from start to finish was about 20 minutes.

So taking the headlamp assembly out was very simple. After the 8 or so clips on on the plastic shroud above the radiator, it was (2) 7mm bolts in the fender, then (3) 10mm bolts holding the headlight assembly on the truck.

As you can see, Passanger side has the LED's in the low beam housing and the Driver's side is still stock.

Both sides done.

Night shot - The cutoff isn't too bad, especially since the bulbs have a shield over them inside of the housing.

Overall, very happy with them. Drove around once it got dark and being out in the country on pith black roads it's a world of difference. Can't wait to do the high beams and install and upgrade the fog lights.

 

[BigBlue2014]

So today I was able to replace and upgrade the previous lcd mirror with a new one. After messing with the old one it only got worse. The image was backwards, very dim, and even would blink/flicker when backing up making it very dangerous.

I replaced it with this one by Master Tailgaters, and it's an OEM replacement mirror and a night and day difference. Now I can't wait to get the truck tinted and things will be even better.

 

[desertboy13]

Those LEDS make a world of difference

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[BigBlue2014]

Those LEDS make a world of difference

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The LED headlights? Yes they do. It's amazing the difference they made. I'll be doing the matching high beams in the near future so I can have the full set, plus I'm out in the country and we have wildlife in the roads at times.

 

[BigBlue2014]

So all day today I was thinking that there has to be a way to adjust the camera in the rear handle to make it display the rear bumper and help when backing into a parking spot (up to a pole) or up to a trailer since the truck is so long.

The first thing I did was obviously take the camera out to see what I was working with

Looking at the camera in the assembly it looks like there was some adjustability but when taking a close look the camera was already pointing down as far as it would go.

So the next thing I figured is that I would make more room for adjustability since it pivots on a single screw only. I used a sharpie to mark where I needed to cut and broke out my trusty dreamer with a cutoff wheel

After cutting the section off the camera has the room necessary to angle down

Now all the angles were just a guess, but the only way to find out if it was enough or not was to re-assemble everything and test it out.

Perfect! If you look at the corners of the monitor you can see the bumper, exactly what I was going for. Now I can comfortably get within an inch or 2 to something when backing up and see what I'm doing.

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[BigBlue2014]

So I took a small road trip to Massachusetts to pick up a cap for the truck. The story was that it came off the same exact truck but a different color and was in a front end collision and totaled.

The cap is actually in better condition than I was to believe in the pictures from the ad. It has new shocks and the seller even went out of their way and bought 6 brand new clamps for it yesterday to make sure it would be safe for the ride home.

We looked it over and there is one tiny scratch on it, and it's on the roof so it's out of sight, and no big deal.

Now my big debate is to keep it the metallic gray color or paint it white to match. The color contrast is growing on me, and it flows with the colors already and I'm planning on some black/gunmetal wheels for next summer. Also I think if I paint it white it will make the truck look like a van a bit too much...

Any opinions?

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[roorancher]

I like it as is....If you paint it white, the truck may look a little too imperial Storm Trooper-ish....

 

[nealinator]

Looks odd to me with a different color. I would color match it personally. A cap will always change the style and look of the truck.

 

[Chevrolado]

Man, lovin this rig and all the details you're building into it. Well done!
I vote to color match the cap too. Looks great on there.