I bought a truck for $0.41/lb

...and I overpaid for it. 

I didn’t think that my first build thread here would be for a truck, but here it is. This is my 97 k2500hd. It’s a 350/4L80e truck with a 9.5” 14 bolt rear end.  When I bought it a few weeks ago, it was rusty, leaked coolant and fuel, and was deafeningly loud due to a missing muffler. It’s still most of those things, but it’s a work in progress.

So why did I buy such a beautiful machine? My wife actually encouraged me to. I’d been whining about missing my old truck for a while, and she found me this to shut me up. A family friend was in need of some cash, so we worked out a deal. $2500 for 6000 lbs of truck.

In the glovebox I found paperwork for a transmission and transfer case rebuild roughly 10k miles ago, and all of the brake hard lines and the alternator were replaced by the PO before I bought it.

So what’s the plan?

First, fix the leaks. Next, I’d like to do something about the rust. I’m not sure if that’ll mean patch panels or just hitting it with rust bullet or something. 

After that, I’m not sure. I’ve already become WAY too attached to this thing, and have been thinking about a big block or LS swap. 

Two days after buying it, I put it to work. Nothing too crazy, just hauling sound and light equipment around for my church. It did well, but on the final return trip, the coolant leak got exponentially worse. But it still got me home, running as smooth as ever. 

I pulled the truck into the garage to look it over and it quickly became apparent what I was dealing with. Lower intake manifold seals. So then this happened:

I used metal backed gaskets from felpro and replaced a radiator hose and the thermostat while I was at it. Surprisingly, it fired right up afterwards. 

On a similarly surprising note, my wife absolutely loves the truck. She thinks it’s cute. Not quite the word I’d use for it, but whatever. Its the most she’s ever liked one of my project cars. I won’t complain 

While I don’t have any pictures of the stuff, I’ve made a little more progress on the truck. I picked up a set of aluminum wheels from a GMT800 with some nearly new tires, and found a new tailgate, a muffler, and some random interior bits from a local pick-n-pull. Unfortunately, I don’t have a welder, so the muffler will have to wait. I’d also like to fix the fuel leak before I ask someone to weld underneath the truck lol 

During this trip, I also found a new problem. The rear axle makes a horrible whine between 50-60 mph and also above 70. I changed the fluid, which made it quiet down a little, but it’s still making more noise than I like. Looking into bearing kits, it looks like it’s more cost effective to find another axle in a junkyard or something

This brings me to a bit of a conundrum. I can’t really find a direct replacement for the 9.5. I’ve found a few 10.5’s, which would be a nice upgrade, but they’re different gear ratios, which obviously isn’t ideal. My brother in law also offered me the axle out of his old Duramax for a ridiculously low price. It’s an 11.5 with the g80 posi and the correct gear ratio, and it would give me rear discs. Unfortunately, it’s not a direct bolt in. I’d need to change or move the spring perches, and adapt the driveshaft to fit. I think I’d either need a different yoke or u-joint adapter of some kind. Any thoughts?

Cool truck. Those old beater trucks worm their way into everyone's hearts. 

Regarding rearend, I'd probably just rebuild the stocker, but that's just me.

In reply to Turbine :

Might also have to change Master cylinder due to disc brakes.

wheelsmithy said:

Cool truck. Those old beater trucks worm their way into everyone's hearts. 

Regarding rearend, I'd probably just rebuild the stocker, but that's just me.

 

I agree, rebuild. I'm guessing that I have the same rear end in my gmt400, the 14-bolt semi floater. A clutch type limited slip and the transmission cooler are the only modifications in my truck.

If your rear end is an open diff, I would definitely install a limited-slip.

Welcome to the forum!

Oh man, I am so jealous! Wish I had 3/4 running gear on mine. My 5500lb tow rating is pitiful.

Totally agree that these trucks really grow on you, I'm in love with mine. Looking forward to watching you fix it up!

idkeep looking for a direct replacement. They are out there....

Neat truck, I also have a project gmt400 and am in the researching stage of figuring out what rear end to go with.

As others have mentioned if it’s just whining now it may be worth it to just rebuilt it. Or find a junk yard bolt in unit and do the easy swap.

If you put new bearings on the diff, you can then ignore the gear whine for a couple of hundred thousand miles.  A used one will be old and, well, used, and they really aren't designed to be silent.

Nice truck! Also, your brights are on.

In reply to Esoteric Nixon - Jordan :

Thanks! And yeah, a few of the bulbs in the cluster were burnt out or completely missing when I got it, including the bright indicator and the turn signals. It made the first few drives interesting lol 

Thanks for all the feedback, guys! I really didn’t expect this to get too much attention since there’s so many other awesome projects here.

Seems like the overwhelming consensus is to rebuild the axle. According to the tag it’s a g80 (posi) but I haven’t verified it. It’s not powerful enough to check it the normal way lol I’ll have to find a gravel road. 

Based on when and how it whines, it sounds like the pinion bearings are bad, but I’ll plan on doing both the pinion and carrier while I’m in there. I’ve never rebuilt an axle before, and I’m a little nervous about shimming it and getting it set right, but now’s the time to learn. At worst, if I fail, it’ll give me an excuse to upgrade to the full float.

A few updates: 

The noise coming from the rear axle has quieted down to a point that I’m comfortable with, so I’m calling it good. At least for now. I also managed to fix the stereo so I have more than one working speaker! It’s made a world of difference in commuting. 

However, regularly commuting in the truck has exposed a HUGE problem. The brakes are horrible. From reading, I understand that GMT400 brakes were never that great, but these are deadly. The ABS light is on, which is an issue, but the rear drums/hardware are basically brand new (according to the papers that the PO showed me at least). I’m also lucky enough to have one of the few HD trucks without hydroboost brakes. Lucky me. Are there any budget friendly brake upgrades for these trucks? 

Here’s some more recent pictures in case anyone needed to see more of a 20 year old rusty truck