[nealinator]

It is time to create a build log and share my truck and my experience with the forum. My plan is to make this a bit of a documentary as well as a chronicle of the changes and upgrades I do. I hope that is a ok format because I really feel that the story of our trucks says so much more than just the changes we make.

Here goes. I had just finished up the long hot summer with a host of projects that had me lamenting my choice of a commuter vehicle with great fuel economy. I had not too long ago purchased a 2013 Chevy Malibu with the 2.2 liter turbo engine and was getting over 29 mpg average. It ended up being too small back seat for any passengers, so I traded for a pre-owned 2011 Avalon Limited. This car had a V6 3.5 liter and was nearly getting 29 mpg average. Well...it is not a truck! I had been finishing up the summer projects with a huge task. Building a level base for a 8' x 12' shed in the back yard. The ground is not level and it required me buying hundreds of pounds of landscaping edging blocks and 12" x 12" pavers...all of which I hauled in my wife's 2011 Venza. I got it done, but I had an aching to be back in a full size truck with capacity for anything I wanted to do. I considered V6 engines for economy but none really presented much better mgp for what you got. Small trucks were just...small. I gave some consideration to the Tundra Crewmax but they were both pricey and not at good mpg. My first love has always been the GM products. I live in a cul-de-sac and every single house has a pickup. There must be 6 F150's! My neighbor has a Tundra and a GMC HD Duramax he picked up used. Who has two trucks??! That's another story.

I launched into my fury of intent looking to find the right truck for me. It was going to have to be used...and with some miles on it because I was on a budget. I did not want to be any further in debit than what I currently was on my Avalon (which I only had for about 4 months). I could write an entire blog on my vehicle switching history! I decided my budget was going to be around $24k. I searched high and low in the nearby area. I went out and checked out five or six trucks over several weeks and each time was disappointed. Two were sold before I got there (one of them I was told was there and wasn't). Many of them were decently low mileage (45-60k) for about a 3-4 year old truck...but most were not well cared for. I knew I would have to accept wear and tear on a used truck, but was looking for something that had been owned by a considerate owner and was kept up. I finally found one at a dealership that was about an hour's drive away. I called them up and inquired about the truck which had been taken in on a trade only weeks before. It was a single owner who lived locally. It had 92,000 miles on it though and was a 2010 GMC Sierra which was silver in color. I am really a big fan of blue but this looked good. I was certainly wary of the mileage. Was I prepared to go purchase my primary daily driver at what seemed to me near the end of its life?! From what I had seen so far though...the only way I was going to keep within my budget and get what I wanted was to check this one out. After speaking to the dealer and discussing pricing and trade numbers somewhat...I decided to drive over after work and try and make a deal. I got there and drove it and checked it over. This was a clean truck! I could not believe the difference in this one from the others I had looked at. It was obvious that the owner had taken care of it...and that gave me enough confidence to try and buy it. Well things did not go as planned. The dealer was firm on a low offer for the trade of my vehicle...even after coming down off the price of the truck from $22,795 to $22,000. I did not want to be that upside down on my trade even though I knew I was not going to get a full payoff. I held my ground and left. I was saddened and feeling that I was just not going to be able to make this work. The next day was a beautiful Saturday and I spent it with the family. Later in the afternoon I decided to reach out to the dealership and ask if they were willing to make any better offer. They were. I was offered an additional $1000 for my trade in (which the night before was the best they could possibly do) and that was enough for me. The numbers worked and I decided to head over there that evening. It was about 5:30 pm and the dealership which was an hour's drive away closed up at 7:00. My son and I hopped in the care and away we went. When we got there just before 7:00 the sales guy was having the truck washed and had the papers all ready. I had asked for a price for some OEM step tubes since this one did not have any. The price was $595! I asked if I could get it for their cost and the answer was no. Ultimately I decided to go with it. I did some quick research on eBay and whatnot and the price seemed to be in the ballpark. I signed the papers and then we waited a bit for the finance guy to finish up. Once we completed that I got the keys and switched over my stuff to the truck and said goodbye to the Avalon.

We headed home and I was thrilled with the truck! I was finally back in a GM truck and was ready to take on the world of projects (little did I know that they would be working on it!). Unfortunately due to the late timing of the purchase, the accessories department was closed and did not work Saturdays so I could not even grab the step tubes and put them on myself later. I would have to drive back over there after work on Monday.
My son and I headed out on Saturday morning for Corpus Christi for a camping trip with his Cub Scout pack on the USS Lexington. She is nicknamed the Grey Ghost.

Monday I got off work and headed down to get the steps installed. I noted a few oddities once the hour wait was over and they had finished. The main chrome body seemed to have a seam in the middle and there were only 3 support brackets for each side. I had seen 4 on others I looked at. I just blew it off and determined it must have been some changes or something. Tuesday evening I was looking over the truck and admiring it and saw what I thought was a bow in the step tube. Upon closer inspection there was a bow on both of them! It was nearly 3/8" down in the middle from what I could tell. I immediately called the sales guy and the accessory guy and fired off an email with lots of pictures.

They admitted there seemed to be an issue…and then to my surprise told me they were aftermarket…not even OEM! I was upset for sure. I clearly asked for and was told I was getting the factory GM parts. The sales guy had to talk to the GM and came back with two options…return the steps and get my $595 back or get the OEM ones (that they say were over $800) installed at no cost. Either way…it was another hour drive! I found a Craigslist seller with a brand new OEM set for $450 (you will see this story throughout my blog). I offered him $400 and he accepted. On the way down to the dealership to have them remove the steps…I stopped off and purchased the new OEM ones. Yay…I was $295 in the black (minus all the fuel) for more goodies!

 

[nealinator]

After installing the OEM step tubes myself (in about 30 minutes...not sure why the accessory shop at the dealor took so long) I wanted to remove the window vent visors that were installed by the previous owner. I don't care for the look myself and I was getting some wind noise that seemed to be coming from them...at least on the driver's side.

It took hours of tedious scrubbing with goo gone to get all of the years old baked on adhesive removed. This looks much better to me and also that pesky wind noise went away which I was quite happy about.

I also had the windows tinted. The front windows were already tinted but it was not the best shape due to being an older install I guess. The passenger window had some fairly bad bubbling and was coming up in several areas. I took it by a local shop and had them re-do the fronts to the same 20% and also install some tint over the back windows to bring them down to 5%.

 

[Texas_1500]

Thats a nice looking truck Neal. What are some other mods you got in mind for your truck??

 

[nealinator]

This was a fun and impactful project for me. I know that this is a very subjective issue and many would not have done it...but for me...I like wood grain. As soon as I got the truck and realized that I had the premium dash layout I planned to change out all the brushed aluminum for wood. I owned a Yukon Denali a while back and really liked the look...although the wood tone in them is a little dark and it does not stand out quite as much against the black dash. I began to search the internet and came across many individual components...some new...some used...and it looked like it was going to really add up in cost to do. Well...then I found it. A complete set on eBay that had been removed out of a Tahoe...with every piece I needed. The dash trim pieces complete with vents, the center radio surround and the console/cup holder as well as the front and rear door switch plates. All for $285!

The pictures were small and it was a bit hard to tell the condition...I had seen some that were quite scratched up. I asked the seller to send me some better pictures and to describe the condition...fearing that they may be scratched up due to the low cost. He described them as excellent condition with only micro scratches typical of any used stuff. I purchased them and was totally thrilled when they arrived...all the pieces looked fantastic and were exactly as described. The two front door switch plates even had the switches still in them which I was planning to sell either those or the old ones I was taking out of mine to re-capture some funds. My plan was to list my brushed aluminum ones and sell them online as well. More about this in a bit...

Here are some before and after shots of the install:

Once I got into the install...I found out that the switches that came with the set I purchased off eBay were not working properly. It seemed only the drivers window switch was working and nothing else and no mirror functions. I switched out the plate to my original switches and put it all back together. I contacted the seller to ask about this if he was aware of any issue...nothing was noted in the listing about a problem. He said everything was working when they were removed. We both seemed to feel that this could not be something that would need to be programmed to work...the switches were the identical part number as what I already had. I said that my only issue was that I had planned to re-sell them to get back some of the money...and he offered to refund me $50. I accepted this and so I was basically in it for the whole set for $235!

Unfortunatly when I was trying to remove the first piece (the vent to the left of the steering wheel) I cracked the trim. I was so annoyed. It is a very thin piece and I was very concerned about re-selling. I proceeded with the rest of the pieces with more caution but everything else seemed to be more sturdy and I had no more issues. I did struggle a little with the radio surround trim. That one was really on there snug with very little gap around it to grab. I had ordered a set of those plastic prying tools to help this as I knew I would need them. They were only like a couple of bucks from Harbor Freight.

Once I got everything off, I cleaned them up a bit and repaired the cracked piece the best I could. I went to list them on eBay to re-sell and could not find a set like that listed at all. I decided from the individual prices I was seeing that this set would probably get a good price. I listed it for $585.

I was clear about the cracked piece and subsequent repair as well as the overall condition. Everything was in great shape with only a spot or two noted on the center console cup holder tray piece. After about a week or so, I received a best offer of $500 from a buyer. I countered with $565. He then countered with $550 which I accepted. After paying for shipping ( I listed it with free shipping since it was priced well enough for me to make a profit and as a buyer...I like to see free shipping) of around $25 and the PayPal fees (2.9%) of $15.95 I was at a net gain of around $275! Time to buy some more stuff!

 

[nealinator]

Thats a nice looking truck Neal. What are some other mods you got in mind for your truck??

Thanks Nate. I am working on chronicling what I have done so far. It is a bit of catch up and I am trying to put the story together. I am having fun with this for sure!

 

[Texas_1500]

Very nice write up. The whole story of your truck. Creative. Once i get back to the states i will start the build thread on mine. Probably wont write up a whole story like this tho. I'm not that great of a writer. ha.

 

[coacht]

I want one of those flip ups to replace the cup holder and that big hole in my truck.

You have a sharp looking ride! Heard anything back on your wheel issue? Can't wait to see them on there, can't imagine how you feel...

 

[nealinator]

When I purchased the truck it was in fantastic condition as I described earlier on. There were a few areas of wear that I knew I would be addressing as time went on. One of the first was the center console armrest. There was a worn spot with rips in it due to elbow wear and tear.

It was crusty and scratchy and appeared to have had an attempt to patch or repair it somehow. I started looking for new lids and it was going to be $250 to $300 for a complete new lid. I was not happy about this pricing but was not seeing much in the way of used ones being much less cost. I ended up coming across some sellers with just the vinyl piece already cut and stitched which you could install yourself. The prices were much more reasonable. I settled on a seller which was quite low cost but listed their material as actual leather, which would be a step up from the factory vinyl used.

I knew this would be an interesting process, since I have not done any upholstery work before. After a bit of research I knew that I would need to be stapling the material onto the plastic armrest underside. This was not going to be very easy with a hand stapler...so I picked up a pneumatic staple gun and various lengths of staples from HF for like $25.

I did not take pictures of the process unfortunately...I will be better about stuff like this going forward. It was quite the tedious process and I was super glad I invested in the stapler...made it much easier. The main problem I ended up having was that the leather piece was not cut correctly and there ended up being some gap in the front switch trim that I could not hide. The pictures show more gap as I was sending this to the seller to get my money back. I was able to balance it out on both sides to hide it best I could. I ultimately was refunded all my money for this ($22) so it ended up being free...except for the new tool...which I wanted anyway!

The final product looks and feels much better. I debated about buying another one from another seller and re-doing it...but for now...I am just going to use this one for a while.

 

[nealinator]

I want one of those flip ups to replace the cup holder and that big hole in my truck.

You have a sharp looking ride! Heard anything back on your wheel issue? Can't wait to see them on there, can't imagine how you feel...

Hey Gage...thanks!

I actually debated about getting one of the plain black ones that has a lot more storage for stuff than the wood and brushed aluminum ones. Although they look nice, they do not hold much of anything. I hate having to flip up the armrest to get things in and out when driving. A little more thought need to go into these trucks. It seems the newer models have this a bit better but still needs improvement. It is a delicate balance between form and function as always.

I will be posting about the wheels stuff before long. The seller is shipping me a new one and sending me a shipping label to return the incorrect one.

 

[nealinator]

Very nice write up. The whole story of your truck. Creative. Once i get back to the states i will start the build thread on mine. Probably wont write up a whole story like this tho. I'm not that great of a writer. ha.

Thanks again Nate. I wish there were more stories on here and maybe others will start doing this a little more. I could be a trend setter! haha :lol:

 

[Texas_1500]

Maybe you will be a trend setter. ha! its a good idea. just like i said, im not that great at writing. I'll probably do more pictures with captions of what i did. :lol:

 

[Samcro]

Was it really that hard to remove the window visors? Looking to do mine I'm just worried the paint will be a different shade underneath or ill peel the paint.

 

[nealinator]

Project truck bed cover.
I had owned a Silverado years ago and had purchased a Pace Edwards retractable cover to go on it. I was fairly happy with it but had a few concerns/issues. The first one was the main set up. You end up taking up room in a small tool box type area toward the cab that is always blocked. I was not thrilled about this, but certainly liked the functionality of how these things worked. Part of me really wanted to find a cap like a Leer or ARE to go over the bed. Buying one new that was the nicer ones with the flush mount windows and painted to match was going to run upwards of $1800 to $2200 from what I could see. I searched all over on eBay and Craigslist to try and find something used. There was just not that much out there. If I did run across one that would fit, it was not the right color and then I would have to have it painted. I was getting nowhere fast on that avenue. I discussed it with my wife and she stated that she did not like the look of them on trucks. Well fooey…I did not want that. She said it was my truck and I could do what I wanted…but it got me to thinking that I do like the lines of a truck and adding a cap changes that.
Low and behold what did I see?? One day I was looking around at what Craigslist had to offer and what was this?...a guy selling a brand new Retrax Pro retractable cover for $1000. It was listed as still in the box never installed. I looked it up because I was not familiar with the brand or product. It turned out that these things were $1750 everywhere. Wow…seems like a deal. I investigated further and the Pro series was aluminum channels that could hold up to 500 lbs distributed on top vs their standard line that was a Lexan construction. One of the hang-ups I had with the Pace Edwards was it got sticky and hung up on me after a while. The guides were a friction slide that had some Teflon pieces in there. This Retrax product has roller bearings and was supposedly much more reliable and smooth.
So I reach out to the guy and inquire if the price is negotiable. He ends up taking $900 for it. As usual, I try to ask a few questions to try and make sure the deal is legitimate and not stolen stuff. It turns out that this guy actually works at a local truck customizing shop and can get them for good prices…but this one, his wife bought him for Christmas as a surprise and paid full price for it. He is now going through a divorce and just wanted to get rid of it. A bum deal for him…but a good one for me I guess. I met up with him and purchased it a day later.
After a few days I found some time to get it installed.

One of the other issues I had with the Pace Edwards that I had before was that there seemed to be water getting in there. What was the point of having dry storage if it does not stay dry? I picked up a full kit to seal up the bed of the truck. The kit includes foam blocks to block out dust from coming up between the bed walls and into the bed. It also has standard tailgate seals. There were seals for the front of the bed, but since my truck had a spray in liner, those front edges were sealed fairly well.

It really did not take all that long to unbox and pre-assemble the top. I was hoping a neighbor would be handy to help me lift it into the back, but nobody was out and about and it ended up not being too heavy so I did it by myself.
If I was buying this new from a store, I would have gone with the MX series which has a mat black finish vs the more glossy finish this one has…but for a $900 savings…I will live with it.
I am very pleased with the outcome of this. The rails do stick up a tad more over the rails than I would prefer. I recall the Pace Edwards being a bit more flush.

 

[nealinator]

Project Borla dual cat back exhaust install. Touring series. P/N 140341

I copied this over from another post I did and pulled it over here so it was in my build thread.

Since buying my Sierra, I have been trolling Craigslist from time to time to see what I may "need" for it. I came across a post for a Borla 140341 cat back kit that was new never installed for $325. I inquired about it and it was still available. I asked if the price was negotiable and offered $250 which the guy accepted. I got online to research this specific kit and found out it was retailing at almost $1000! I am always concerned about buying stolen stuff so I asked a few more questions of the seller to try and figure out what the deal was. He said he bought it from Summit for his truck and when he got it he opened it up and threw away the packaging...then later figured out that this kit which is for the 5.3l engine would not fit his V6. Said he had it for 8 months or so and was just wanting to clear out his garage. Seems a tad fishy that someone would spend that much (maybe he got a deal but still would have cost a bunch) money and not research what he was buying and if it fit. I do realize there are people out there that make rash decisions and goof up from time to time. Anyway...I decided it wanted it and after some back and forth...was able to meet up and buy it. Everything looked great.

This kit is the dual side exit which at first I was not really wanting. I had thought that I would prefer the rear exit set up. The cost was certainly a big factor in making the decision. Now that I have it installed, I think it looks great. I really like the fact that it looks balanced with a pipe on each side and not just one side like the stock pipe is. The sound is nice. Not too loud but is a noticeable difference. Really what I was looking for. It only kicks in on acceleration and is mild at idle or cruzing speeds.

One thing that caught me off guard...after I installed the exhaust and went for a bit of a drive...when I got out of the truck I smelled burning and started looking around. Then I noticed some smoke coming out of the pipes. I got a bit worried and then thought about it for a bit. The oils and whatnot could be burning off. Later I went back through the detailed instructions (which were skimmed at best) and noticed a note near the end stating that this would occur and was normal. They use some oil in the pipes during the bending process and that get burnt off when you first run it in. Whew....was worried that my smokin deal was really smoking!

I was hoping to keep the stock system in tack in case I wanted to put it back on if I did not like the sound or if I wanted to try and sell it...but that was wishful thinking. I ended up having to cut it twice to get it to fit. I suppose someone could re-weld it back together. It was a lot heavier than the new exhaust even with dual exits.
Here are a few more pictures of the build. I have a slight difference in the left and right side tips. I plan to go back under and do a bit of tweaking to even them out. I was just in such a hurry to test it out and hear the new sound that I moved a bit quickly.

 

[nealinator]

Was it really that hard to remove the window visors? Looking to do mine I'm just worried the paint will be a different shade underneath or ill peel the paint.

Removing the plastic was not too bad. These were 4-5 years old and very brittle due to UV sun aging. They broke here and there as I removed them...the tape was still holding pretty strong. The double sided adhesive tape was the pain. I used a plastic trim tool to carefully scrape off the glue. I used it dry at first then decided to wrap the end with a paper towel and squirted Goo Gone on it. It was very slow and tedious. The thick stuff came off without too much struggling...but once you got down the the tinly remanents of glue on the surface...it was a lot of work and elbow grease to remove. I just kept working it with the plastic wedge tool wrapped with paper towel and soaked with Goo Gone. Eventually I got it all off. No damage to the clear coat, but I am sure there are micro scratches that buffing would restore. There was nothing really noticable so I have not done any extra polishing or anything. Maybe at some point when I wax it I will buff those areas well.

 

[nealinator]

Project bed bull ring tie-downs.

I had wondered what those little oval shaped plastic plugs were in the truck beds. There are a total of 9 of them. I was thrilled when I found out you could purchase extra tie downs for them. I really like the Bull Ring products. The fact that the pop up or push down as needed is a good feature. They seem sturdy and well built. I decided I was going to add some to my truck for extra tie down anchor spots. Unfortunately one of the drawbacks to having the retractable cover is that 5 of these anchor points are blocked. Three across the back bed wall and two on the sides near the back wall.

I got these off of eBay for about $50 for a set of 4. Here is the website for info: http://www.bullringusa.com/shop/retract ... vy-bullet/

My truck had a spray in liner that covered over the plastic plugs. I used a utility knife to carefully cut away the spray liner and then removed the plugs. The directions showed assembling this one way, but I found doing the opposite seemed to work better. There is a metal plate that you fish though the oval hole and is what secures the anchor to the bed. The directions showed installing the bottom first and then the top of that plate...I had trouble until trying the top first and then the bottom went right in.

 

[nealinator]

Project power fold mirror repair.

I am pretty sure when I purchased the truck that both mirrors were power folding. At some point I noticed that the passenger side was not folding in. I use this feature a lot due to the tight parking everywhere around here. I started doing some searching for parts and was not able to find that this is available as a repair part. You can get ahold of the mirror adjustment motor but not for the power fold. I found a complete set of new mirrors on Craigslist from the same guy that sold me the step rails. These were DL3 mirrors but also had the UFT blind spot signal as well. These I decided were a bit overkill to spend and am selling on eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/361237762357?ss ... 1555.l2649 and http://www.ebay.com/itm/361237757788?ss ... 1555.l2649) if anyone is interested.

I found a local seller in my area who had a used mirror for sale for $150. I contacted him and told him all that I really wanted was the motor out of a mirror. He said that he would be willing to take off the chrome cover and remove the mirror and sell me the carcass for $75. I asked if he would take $60 and he did. He did not think it was possible to remove the motor out of it and suggested I just move my stuff over to this mirror and install it. Within an hour of buying it, I had the mirror completely dissembled and the motor removed. This was actually a fairly in-depth task. You have to remove plastic pieces, disconnect several plugs, drive out three pins and break off one plastic pin that is located on the face where the three mounting studs are.
Here is a picture showing the mirror partially disassembled. The mirror and the adjustment motor has been removed. You must be very careful with the removal of the two heater element connections. These are connected to two flat blade connectors which are attached to a ribbon material on the back of the mirror itself. If you pull too hard on one of these, you can very easily rip the ribbon and mess up the defrost capability.

I removed the door panel, and removed my current mirror to do the swap. The wire harness in held onto the door with three plastic push pins. There is a plastic clip that sort of holds the mirror onto the door once the nuts are removed from the studs. A light pull and it comes off.

Re-assembly went well right up to when I was putting the mirror back on. I guess I got in a hurry and was not using my brain. I had trouble with the mirror not grabbing the 4 clips on the motor assembly and ended up cracking it because I was pushing on the outer edges of the mirror. I had to call my mirror guy back up and buy the mirror he had…cost me $50. Boy was I mad at myself. The trick is (I suppose more commonsense than a trick) to apply even pressure right in the middle of the mirror sort of with the palm of your hand. You have to sort of wiggle it around and get all the 4 clips aligned and when you do it pops in fairly easily without having to push with much force.
Once I got everything back together I reinstalled it on the door and it works like new!

 

[Omega1300]

Great build write-up! Wish I could have gotten that DIC button & brushed aluminum vent housing from you! Those are hard to find! Keep up the good work!

 

[nealinator]

Project Denali 20" replica wheels.

I have been looking for some replacement wheels to upgrade the look of my truck. I had been close a few times to buying some OEM takoffs in my area that I have seen on Craigslist. I like the OEM look and quality so this seemed to be a great value. Currently I have 18" chrome rims that come on the All Terrain trim. They look nice and are all chrome, but ultimately I keep feeling that that the diameter is too small. I would also like a wider tire since these are 265 65 R18's. I recently ran across some replicas that I think will look very nice on the truck. The OEM version is a 22" rim and I did not want to go that big. I wanted a bit more tire exposure and the 20" seems to be a nice compromise. I also really like the Michelin LTX M/S 2 tires and they do not come in 22" from what I have seen. The replicas are a silver finish that will go with my silver truck nicely with some chrome accents. Here is a crude mock up I did to see how they would look.

I ordered the rims from a shop selling on eBay. I placed the order on Wednesday, March 25th and figured it would take a week or more for them to come in. I got notification that it shipped within a few hours via FedEx ground and that the expected arrival date was Saturday March 28th!! My excitement began to build! I had my exhaust installation going on that morning and then shortly after I was done, a truck rolls up and there they are! Sweet! On to Discount Tire to get the TPMS swapped over and some new tires installed. Well…things did not really go as planned. I got the rims loaded in the truck...waited like 20 minutes at DT before even being helped...explained what I needed and wanted and paid....waited like 30 minutes before they pulled the truck in...walked out there to see them get started...and then things started going wrong. The first rim was unboxed and it ended up being a 22" instead of the 20"!!! What?!! I was in a panic because that is not the size I wanted. I began to ask to see the Bridgestone that would fit this rim(but I really wanted the Michelin and it is not in a 22" size at all). Then I ask them to open some other boxes to see what those were...turns out the other three are 20" so dang....no wheels and tires were gonna be put on today.
I contacted the seller on Monday and they sent me a return label to ship back the incorrect 22" rim and got a 20" rim in the mail that afternoon. I had requested overnight shipping initially and the guy seemed to be not able to do that…so I asked if he would throw in some new chrome lug nuts that they also sell for $50. He said he would put them in the box with the new rim. Currently the tracking is showing arrival of the rim on April 3. I am not sure why it is taking one rim longer than 4 to get here…but that should work out for me. I will add real pictures when I get them installed.

 

[nealinator]

Well that pretty much brings my truck up to date on the mods I have done so far. I have been working on fixing various chip in the paint with the touch up I bought. I have several items lined up to do which are pictured below on the cluttered workbench. I wanted to replace the shocks since it has 94k miles on it. The ones on there are the original ones. It does not seem to have too much bounce but I can tell a little tire hop over some bumpy road sections. These should help to smooth things out. I also wanted to OEM actual shocks and not aftermarket. I finally hunted down the actual part numbers I needed by going to the AC Delco catalogue search (http://parts-catalog.acdelco.com/catalo ... %20catalog). I have found this catalogue to be very helpful in hunting down OEM part numbers. You get the AC Delco number and doing a search for that you readily find out the GM part number. I found them at a good price on Amazon and have just been waiting for a decent time to put them on. Hopefully this Friday or Saturday. I have a 2" level kit that hopefully will arrive so that I can put them on the same time I do the front shocks.

Some other items that will get done hopefully this weekend also are the spark plugs and wires. Also got these on Amazon. The spark plugs were decent price and I am getting a $2 each rebate on them as well. Also in the pic below are some Bull Rings for my stake pockets. Due to the aluminium rails on the Retrax cover, I will need to do a bit of cutting to install these. You can actually order the rails with the cut outs already on it to use the pockets for these, but since I purchased mine used from Craigslist…was not an option.

I have a new set of OEM chrome door handles to install. I ran into a bit of trouble on my initial purchase of these. Seemed to be a set of 4 for just over $100 most places I was looking. There were multiple sellers on eBay and a few of those were dealerships selling them. I found a set for $89 and it said they were OEM. I went ahead a purchased them and when they came it in was clear they were knockoffs. I was annoyed and contacted the seller. They said for me to ship them back on my dime and they would refund me my original purchase price. I said no way...this is your issue and you need to send me a return shipping label. They refused so I opened up a case on eBay. eBay sent me a return label and I sent it back to the seller and got my money back. I had to leave negative feedback on these guys due to their poor customer service and their outright deception of their product. I now have a replacement set that are the actual OEM ones I paid about $104 for and should be putting them on before long. My handles are silver painted to match and there is some chipping off of the paint due to years of use. I thought for the cost, the chrome ones would be a nice addition.

Another mod that is already in progress and will be finished in the next few days is the re-configuration of the rear emblems. I really liked the look of the new 2014 and 2015 tailgate with the large GMC logo in the middle of the tailgate. I decided to purchase one and install it on mine. I have removed the smaller GMC emblem off of the lower right hand corner and installed an OEM All Terrain emblem in its place. I also decided to remove the SLE logo and just leave the Sierra. The 2014 and up rear emblems were like $70 - $80 all over eBay and I would not even want to know what a dealer wanted for them. I ultimately found one for $40 shipped to me. It arrived a couple days ago and had some scratches in it. I complained to the seller since it was advertised as new. He told me to send it back and he would send another to me. I did not want to wait so I asked if he would just refund me $10 and we would be square…he did and I was ok with that.