Putting Some Cash Back Into The Wood Hauler

[stihlfanboy]

I drive one of those elusive 1500HD GMCs. Great truck. It does have the 4L80 tranny.

My 97 1500 2wd ext cab short bed has the 4l80 and a 5.7 Truck will haul anything I put in it or behind it, only limited by brakes and wore out original springs with 240,000 on it. Now I haul wood in the 98 1500 long bed with a 4.3 and a new 700r someone put in it. Hauls a cord pretty well for a 6 banger.

 

[mn woodcutter]

@svk I would recommend looking for a used ladder rack and some expanded steel. It has worked awesome for me and I have less than $100 into it.

 

[svk]

@svk I would recommend looking for a used ladder rack and some expanded steel. It has worked awesome for me and I have less than $100 into it. View attachment 461681

I'm going to fashion side boards off my headache rack. I still don't have the springs to pile it high but 8 more inches of capacity will make a difference.

 

[mn woodcutter]

I'm going to fashion side boards off my headache rack. I still don't have the springs to pile it high but 8 more inches of capacity will make a difference.

I guess you just need a Ford!

 

[Deleted member 83629]

my f150 has f250 springs and shocks so i can haul anything i want also got the heavy duty C6 automatic. chevy dodge make a great truck but i can't afford neither when people want 5000-7500 for a truck full of rust and got over 200,000 miles on it.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Why do waste oil (and money)? Using a synthetic easily will be good for at least 10,000 miles on most vehicles. Every ~3000 miles is crazy!

0* toe is not correct, that means your truck is toed out when driving. Proper toe is around 1/8-1/4" toe in, which nets about 0 toe when driving.

Tire cupping/scalloping s from worn out shocks, ball joints, wheel bearings or cheap/defective tires, not from alignment.
Bad alignment will cause tire feathering or uneven wear.

i do oil changes every 5000km with syn 5w30 so hopefully that will benefit the long run.

and these trucks all need proper alignments after a couple years. the camber is usually way out. i was getting the cupping on the front tires and that stopped with an alignment. i set it with 0 degrees camber and toe. it drives so much better now. and tire wear is even.

 

[MuskokaSplitter]

Why do waste oil (and money)? Using a synthetic easily will be good for at least 10,000 miles on most vehicles. Every ~3000 miles is crazy!

0* toe is not correct, that means your truck is toed out when driving. Proper toe is around 1/8-1/4" toe in, which nets about 0 toe when driving.

Tire cupping/scalloping s from worn out shocks, ball joints, wheel bearings or cheap/defective tires, not from alignment.
Bad alignment will cause tire feathering or uneven wear.

1/4 inch toe in? I dont use a measuring tape. I use a john bean wireless aligner at work. and and 0 toe is within GM spec. I actually have it set toe in on 0 degrees...yes the alignment machine is that precise. Like you said i realize driving the wheels do slightly toe out.

I do oil changes that often cause i get oil at cost. oh and i use a 15 $ k&n filter too.

I see far to many cars on 15000km oil change intervals and the filters are half collapsed. Oil and filters are cheap imo.

And worn out/loose ball joints and wheel bearings....change/affect your alignment. So a bad "alignment" will atribute to cupping

Not disagreeing as shocks will cause cupping aswell forsure.

 

[Trx250r180]

I prefer 1/16 toe in ,but i am weird that way .

 

[MuskokaSplitter]

Nice truck! Looks in great shape. The G80 locking diff is a pretty cool, very few with that option.

 

[Cody]

Nice truck! Looks in great shape. The G80 locking diff is a pretty cool, very few with that option.

Double that on the nice truck! G80's get criticized a whole lot in 10 bolts, but they're not a problem in the 14 bolts. That truck would sell for 3x that price up here.

 

[svk]

Finally got the headache rack installed. Of course the bolts and directions they provided didn't work so I had to scrounge up some in the garage but got it all set up.

 

[Cody]

I put together two box trailers this fall, out of a 90 and a 94 chevy truck frame. Had to go to the local grab n go to get a pickup box and came across a perfect, real solid 8' box, it's white and would probably look really good full of wood behind your truck!

 

[svk]

I put together two box trailers this fall, out of a 90 and a 94 chevy truck frame. Had to go to the local grab n go to get a pickup box and came across a perfect, real solid 8' box, it's white and would probably look really good full of wood behind your truck!

That would be cool. Or two of them like that one guy out west who had a "train" behind his Chevy

 

[Cody]

That would be cool. Or two of them like that one guy out west who had a "train" behind his Chevy

Eh...we tried that here awhile back and above 25 mph the back trailer would start swaying causing both trailers to oscillate, lost two pieces of wood before it was under control. On gravel we could do nearly 40 mph before that back trailer started swaying, empty we could go as fast as we wanted until we started to slow down.

Picture is uploading to photobucket as I type this...

Photobucket is so sllllloowwww...

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Didn't know you worked in a shop. I must have had a few "difficult" customers that day or something.... you know like the ones that keep bringing something in to fix and it's broken because of something they are doing but refuse to do different.
Like killing bar oil pumps in a saw... because they are dumping in whatever **** slurry of goo handy... stuff that might have been usable engine or gear oil 10 years ago.... so... my apologies.

Toe setting all depends on the tire size and suspension setup, though I can't think of many pickups that called for 0* toe. It's been almost 15 years since I've worked in a shop that had an alignment machine though.

For a long time I sent in oil samples on several vehicles I owned and even at 20-25k miles the same oil it was coming back ok. That with with using Shaeffer or Rotella 5W40. At $23/gal for Rotella it's not something I'd like to use for starting fires in the shop stove early. I usually go 10,000 miles, depending on what the oil is in. For equipment, 250-300hrs.

My C30 dumper I'm not sure I'll ever bother to change the oil, maybe just the filter every year or so. It uses and leaks enough oil to keep it topped off with fresh oil. I think I went through 2 gallons in it this year, maybe did 10,000 miles.... granted working the old 160hp small block pretty hard.

1/4 inch toe in? I dont use a measuring tape. I use a john bean wireless aligner at work. and and 0 toe is within GM spec. I actually have it set toe in on 0 degrees...yes the alignment machine is that precise. Like you said i realize driving the wheels do slightly toe out.

I do oil changes that often cause i get oil at cost. oh and i use a 15 $ k&n filter too.

I see far to many cars on 15000km oil change intervals and the filters are half collapsed. Oil and filters are cheap imo.

And worn out/loose ball joints and wheel bearings....change/affect your alignment. So a bad "alignment" will attribute to cupping

Not disagreeing as shocks will cause cupping as well forsure.

 

[Bartman]

[photo=medium]2260[/photo] 88 GMC half ton with 1 ton springs. Hauled a lot of wood. I've always used Cenpeco oil.

 

[MuskokaSplitter]

Just had a middle leaf break on my 2011 sierra. Im debating putting an extra leaf in there while i got it half apart.

Yea i know the older trucks with a steering box and like 6 greasable joints definatly would have more toe out while driving, i think the new trucks with a rack have a tighter front end. but you are right most rear wheel drive trucks / cars call for 0* - 0.05* toe in.

As for oil even my coworkers think im the odd duck lol. Truck gets 5000 km on 5w30 syn and the mustang wont see more than 3000km on 10w30. well the stang barely sees 3k a year now anyway.

 

[svk]

New tires and probably the first car wash it's seen in my ownership.

This truck always had 245/75/16's on it from new. I jumped up to 265/75/16's and it put the speedometer right on to 1/2 mile slow of actual speed at 70 mph.

 

[benp]

Eh...we tried that here awhile back and above 25 mph the back trailer would start swaying causing both trailers to oscillate, lost two pieces of wood before it was under control. On gravel we could do nearly 40 mph before that back trailer started swaying, empty we could go as fast as we wanted until we started to slow down.

Picture is uploading to photobucket as I type this...

Photobucket is so sllllloowwww...

SWEET!!!

Hauling wood North Dakota Style!!!

The North Dakota Style term comes from an Rv pulling a tag-a-along vehicle which is pulling a boat.

A common sight up here in the summer and they almost all have NoDak plates.

New tires and probably the first car wash it's seen in my ownership.

This truck always had 245/75/16's on it from new. I jumped up to 265/75/16's and it put the speedometer right on to 1/2 mile slow of actual speed at 70 mph.

View attachment 475566

Looks good!!!! How do you still have cab corners on that? They look great for that year Chev truck that see's MN winters.

I really like they heavy mesh headache rack. Looks great!!!

 

[svk]

Looks good!!!! How do you still have cab corners on that? They look great for that year Chev truck that see's MN winters.

I really like they heavy mesh headache rack. Looks great!!!

I'm lucky that my doors got the rust rather than the corners. Much easier to fix!

That rack is 99 bucks delivered from Blain's website. Great deal.