73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => 73-87 Chevy & GMC Trucks => Topic started by: fitz on February 07, 2011, 05:41:00 pm
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Looking on craigslist you can't help but notice some of the trainwrecks people have done to some 73-87's.
It got me to thinking about the big mistake I made with one of these trucks.
Years ago I bought a 88 Crew cab dually 4x4 3500. It was a nice solid truck with a strong drivetrain- 454 TBI, turbo 400/205, Dana 60, all the good 1 ton stuff.
My plans were to use it a tow vehicle. Within the first 24 hours of owning it the truck blew a brakeline and a heater hose, and I noticed an uncontrollable shake. Although the frame looked good to me, You guessed it, this poor truck got cut up into pieces before I learned about the "death wobble" associated with the Dana 60.
Had I known about this site back then that truck would still be alive.
Please tell me I'm not the only one?
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Biggest mistake I made was insuring it. Spend a ton of money for them to give nothing back when its damaged or wrecked.
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Bought an 84 chevy crew cab that some one had hacked the harness swapping a sbc for the original 6.2l, lights hacked, brakes rigged. Wound up junking the truck after brakes went out causing me to go threw a barrier to avoid plowing a mini-van. Paid $500 for it sold for $150. I wish I would have looked truck over alot more than I did.
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Hitting a curved brick wall at 70 in my '86....
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Biggest mistake I made was insuring it. Spend a ton of money for them to give nothing back when its damaged or wrecked.
hey i'm from Diamond, kinda nice to see a local on here...
nothing so far... just bought it recently...
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Selling 'em. Always had seller's remorse when selling one of these trucks.
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Selling 'em. Always had seller's remorse when selling one of these trucks.
Selling my 82... I have never had a bad experience with any of my dozens over the years. My extended cab is the nicest one to date but my most expensive truck I remember buying was my white one I have now and it was only $900 when I bought it about 5 years ago.
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Yep, selling my '86 burb was my biggest mistake. Sold it over 15years ago, and just recently bought an '85 K20 burb to fill it's shoes.
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Leaving mine in a sheeps field while I was deployed. Came back with two dented fenders...
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Selling 'em. Always had seller's remorse when selling one of these trucks.
AMEN to that :'(
I sold my 84 K10 lwb(my first square body) and regretted it ever since
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selling a lifted 75 with a built 350 ready to go besides the wiring had burnt up for 350 and giving away a 82 k10 for junk iron after i wrecked it man i have needed some of those parts
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Selling 'em. Always had seller's remorse when selling one of these trucks.
I was always afraid of remorse, so I just can't let it go. I've had mine for about 23 years. My biggest mistake is I've had a couple K5 Blazers I wished I would have kept.
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Selling 'em. Always had seller's remorse when selling one of these trucks.
Selling my 79. I still miss that truck. First substantial thing I bought after I moved to Az
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My biggest mistake, aside from selling all the ones I've owned was after I had installed a new motor in a sweet 77 SWB. I got it started, kicked the rpm's up to break-in the cam, I was so proud it sounded great. Then I noticed a fog in the garage, I forgot to hook up the trans lines. Biggest mess in history! Trans fluid all over everything, never made that mistake again!
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If I had a second chance with my 82, instead of just getting it going and driving it after it sat for so long, I would have completely ripped it apart and restored it from the frame up. We sold the other vehicles, so it's just the truck and the wife's car. It's nearly impossible to make good progress working on it when it has to be operational again by monday mornings, and I have all the body work and a fair amount of mechanical work ahead of me before it's "done".
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Selling my 100% rust free 83 K5. :(
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I trusted my machinist when he did my block and turned my crank. Was my first engine build and I didnt understand the importance of plastigauge. Needless to say I fried that crank after driving it to the exhaust shop.
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Turning down a serious offer when I told the guy what it would take to buy it.
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Taking one completely apart,
buying one site unseen (other than pictures)
slamming a perfect truck into a telephone pole
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Leaving mine in a sheeps field while I was deployed. Came back with two dented fenders...
Did it get "Rammed" ?
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yup
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Blowing up my 400 and not being able to drive her...
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I had a '76 3/4 ton 4x4 Camper Special perfect body, perfect interior, factory tach, SB 400 that I bought for $450. I sold it for $2000 for a down payment on a PowerStroke! That was a BAD idea!
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thinking about selling my 78. looks like she is gonna get a chunk of money this year, especially if i can locate 31's for it
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Hmmm, I did a lot of dumb driving maneouvers in my 81 Jimmy 2wd I had in high school. Not sure if they were mistakes though because they were a lot of fun at the time ;D It liked to swap ends on icy roads when panic stopping, which I found out the first night I owned it lol But when you jumped it, it did so pretty level compared to my friends 84 Suburban :)
On my current truck, I wanted to jack up the one side of it, so I put my 3-ton floor jack under the frame rail right about where the cab and box meet. Started jacking it up and it was moving and then heard this horrible sound. Lowered it back down and found I caved in my frame rail a bit where the jack was :o Darn c-channel frames.....
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Selling my '76 C20 for $500 more than I'd paid for it...
...then seeing it two years later beat to heck and gone, used by a landscaping contractor.
Boy that sure stung a bit. :'(
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So far I would say buying one :) I find I always get to a frustration point when you are close to driving it but cant seem to get the last steps done... in a couple weekends I will say I love everything about my truck
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I drove 12 hrs after buying mine sight unseen to drive it home, trusting the guy selling it that it run fine. I couldn't make it out of his driveway. Renegotiated the price to allow for shipping and drove home without it.
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So far I would say buying one :) I find I always get to a frustration point when you are close to driving it but cant seem to get the last steps done... in a couple weekends I will say I love everything about my truck
Hey Bud
I hear you there, Mine is coming back from paint on Monday, still need the oak for the floor a carpet and a rear bumper. Going insane waiting to drive this thing..... The last details seem to take all the time ad cost the most....
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My biggest mistake was having the 700r4 transmission rebuilt on my 82 diesel Suburban. The transmission was way too weak behind the 130 hp diesel engine and only lasted 1 year which was a few days just past warranty. For this reason, I hate automatic transmission especially in trucks. On my 1990 Suburban, I didn't make that mistake again and installed a NV5600 6 speed manual. That manual is able to handle the power of the mighty Cummins.
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Biggest was absolutely selling my 76, couldn't ask for a better truck other than the rust. Then it would probably be buying any of them, if I had waited and saved the money I could have gotten a much nicer one, rust free. Thats what I'm doing now save save save. Looking to go south to get a k10 Silverado longbed with power everything and a 4 speed.
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Biggest mistake I made was selling my '78 C30. This thing would tow anything I wanted and somehow with a tweaked 350, TH350 trans and a 4.10 geared 14 bolt I managed 16 mpg! My other mistake was selling my '75 K30 shortbox with 8" springs on it and 38's, rattled your teeth out but loved that truck!
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so far i havent really had any big mistakes i caused but for my truck the biggest thing im now not going to do is drive on the interstate due to a 366 isnt very well with high rpms and my low gears mean i have to have it high rpm to stay at the speed limit on the interstate. if i have to go on the interstate ill be having flashers on due to im not going over 55
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My dad restored a 78 Chevy Cheyenne in the 80s. I'm from southside Chicago upon him completing the truck we drove as far west as Wyoming as far south as North Carolina,We went out east to in the mountains. He retired around 04 and gave it to me. He restored, and painted it himself no help. I had it parked it by a swimming pool, it got hit parked. I never should have parked it there. After it got hit I drove it home the bed half off, and frame bent.. It's a Chevy redone by my old man it was still going.. So this year I got a 80 k10 Chevy Cheyenne it's not the same but it is nice..
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(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/wes2880/87%20Chevy%20Wreck/004.jpg)
(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/wes2880/87%20Chevy%20Wreck/006.jpg)
Second goes to selling my 77. ::)
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My 78 looked about the same wow man it was not fun seeing it like that.
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Letting somebody related by law to me work on my truck def. the biggest mistake. He just rigged it all up, and it caused a pretty big rift in my family for quite some time now.
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U mind me asking what they did to the truck?
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Oh filled rust holes with bondo, the paint job is pretty nasty, put the tailgate handle assembly in upside down, let a lot of my parts and truck sit outside uncovered, under a tree, tree limb fell on it....all of this I paid for, nothing was on a favor, Im just glad all I really got left to fix as far as rust goes is just re seam sealing the rocker panel in. :) Lifes just an ongoing listen, and Id like to say that the rift wasnt caused by me, but just by other family members seeing what it was after he was done, and them knowing what I paid for it.
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Yea, I won't even change the oil in any family members autos, due to if something breaks shortly after I don't want the blame. My cousin had no clue about the simplest thing when it came to cars,and blammed me for her car overheating,soon after I changed her oil (as a favor). So when she demanded that I fix it, that was the end of the family favors. I stick to working on my vehicles only. Saves alot of b.s.
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Three8six any pictures before and after? To the other poster that sucks fight with family over a vehicle you know but that's life
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My biggest mistake was about 15 years ago, I did not act fast enough to buy an original owner '73 short bed stepside 4x4 w/ 350/auto/205, etc. for ~$1500. It was for sale in the paper about a week later for $3000. I called the guy about it. A real jerk. Just wanted to play dumb about condition, how the truck was optioned, mileage, etc. Obviously trying to flip it and didn't really care about the truck.
Three weeks ago on Craig's List in Alaska was a pretty beat up '73 4x4 like above but pretty bad shape. Price was right but with my bad health and injuries, it didn't make sense to acquire it. I'm still depressed. So many vehicles, so little time. lol.
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@burrboy haha thats great, reminds me of a time we sent my friends g/f into autozone for "blinker fluid" to fix her turn signal.
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mean. but we play pranks on boot Marines too, like finding humvee keys, refilling the scuttle butt, finding 100 feet of flightline (flightline is the airport runway) etc.
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mean. but we play pranks on boot Marines too, like finding humvee keys, refilling the scuttle butt, finding 100 feet of flightline (flightline is the airport runway) etc.
@burrboy haha thats great, reminds me of a time we sent my friends g/f into autozone for "blinker fluid" to fix her turn signal.
...or making the newbie take the freshly assembled peice all apart to double check that the lock-nuts are not upside down... heh heh.
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(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/wes2880/87%20Chevy%20Wreck/004.jpg)
(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t195/wes2880/87%20Chevy%20Wreck/006.jpg)
Second goes to selling my 77. ::)
That's one mean tailgate and band!
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mean. but we play pranks on boot Marines too, like finding humvee keys, refilling the scuttle butt, finding 100 feet of flightline (flightline is the airport runway) etc.
@burrboy haha thats great, reminds me of a time we sent my friends g/f into autozone for "blinker fluid" to fix her turn signal.
forgot about going to hardware store for the board stretcher and the plaid paint. Or the muffler bearings or send some one to the tool crib for a long weight.
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In high school we sent a girl to Jiffy Lube to get the winter air changed out for summer air in her tires. Also suggested they top off her blinker fluid while they were at it. She came to school pretty mad the next day.
Biggest mistake for me was putting an aftermarket poly cell under my bed in the 87. Nothing but problems with the fuel system since, and it's been parked in my driveway for over 5 years now. Just about have all the pieces I need to get it back to factory, just short on time.
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Selling 'em. Always had seller's remorse when selling one of these trucks.
Same here!! Sold an 86 GMC K1500, parted out an 82 GMC C1500, man I miss those tricks!!