Just bought first Square Body...need advice

[Mr.Rogers]

So I just purchased my first square body, it’s a*78 GMC Sierra Classic 1500 LWB pickup and I love it. I am going to be using it for daily driving and to tow my Harleys occasionally. After searching for almost a year I found the perfect truck for me and my needs. I pop the hood and I find dual batteries and the proper isolator wiring, fresh spark plug wires, a clean distributor cap, long tube headers, clean air filter, I see that is has factory air (that works), and although there were some spider webs and a little debris it was very very clean. I look to the rear end and I see dual flowmaster mufflers, I notice that it is riding somewhat high for a 2wd so I count out 11 leafs in the leaf spring pack, Monroe Air Shocks, and ride assist airbags. I look upfront and it has the disc brakes, a sway bar, Rancho shocks, and all the bushings are look to be in good condition. After pumping the gas pedal a couple of times it lit right up and roared to life. The interior could use some TLC but taking into account that it is an original almost 40 year old truck I can live with that. All in all I feel like I got one heck of a good deal when I consider that I purchased it from the son of the original owner for only $1,800.00.

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After driving everyday it for the last week I have no real complaints but I have noticed a few things:

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It does a have a bit of an oil leak so I need to figure out the source of the leak. Any insight would be helpful.

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The AC gets cold but could blow stronger so I will most likely replace the blower motor and the resistor.

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The suspension is REALLY stiff and there is a lot of hard bounce when I go over any small or big bump in the road. Thr truck starts to acts as a seesaw almost and i have to apply my brakes to come out of it. So I need to figure this out ASAP plus I want to lower it but I am think of only a 2.5/4 drop and sit it on 18’s or 20’s with a nice amount of sidewall on the tires. To obtain that drop I was thinking of replacing all the shocks then doing 2.5 drop spindles up front and just removing 2 or 3 of the leafs in the rear to get that desired drop in the rear but will keep the ride assist bags to help with any load I may trailer and also install a sway bar in the rear. However, I will take any and all help in this department.

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Yesterday after getting off work I went to start it up so I could go home and nothing. I ended up jumping it and turned over so I went to Napa to have them test both batteries and my system. I was told that each battery failed and then they said that each battery passed (makes no sense), then after they jumped the truck again and it turned over they tested the system and told me that my voltage passed, the diodes passed, but output failed. This leads me to believe my alternator may be failing but I was going to get home*today*and take both batteries out and take out the alternator and have them checked individually and see what the read out is. Depending on that I will either replace the alternator or replace both batteries. Let me know if I am on the right path with my thought process.

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Again, this is my first square body and I can use any and all input that you all have to offer up. Thanks in advance

[bake74]

     First off, congrats on the truck.  If you were trying to post pics (in the middle of the paragraphs) it did not work.
   
      Oil leak.  Clean real good and find the leak, remember driving down the road will make the oil transverse from front to back.
     
     AC.  You could do that or do blower upgrade, which blows harder.
     
     Suspension.  Sounds like it was beefed up some for the farm.
     
     Alternator.   If it is your alternator, here is a direct bolt in upgrade to 95 amp, or more upgrades.
   
     Good luck and happy reading, keep us informed of what you find.

[79K10Crusher]

The blower could be working fine but having a bent arm that keeps it blowing out between your feet and face vents.  Check it first before you go spending $ on something you don't have to.  Take off glove door box and you will see it towards left side on top of duct.

[Blazin]

Bouncing like a sea saw sounds like maybe bad shocks.

[Mr.Rogers]

     First off, congrats on the truck.  If you were trying to post pics (in the middle of the paragraphs) it did not work.
   
      Oil leak.  Clean real good and find the leak, remember driving down the road will make the oil transverse from front to back.
     
     AC.  You could do that or do blower upgrade, which blows harder.
     
     Suspension.  Sounds like it was beefed up some for the farm.
     
     Alternator.   If it is your alternator, here is a direct bolt in upgrade to 95 amp, or more upgrades.
   
     Good luck and happy reading, keep us informed of what you find.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I am going to take it to a buddy who is a detailer and have him clean up the engine compartment and the chassis so that I can better locate the oil leak.

I saw that post about the blower motor and will most likely go with the 94 but my other question to that is will or should I replace the resistor as well?

Regarding the suspension I spoke with the guy I bought it from on last night and he did mention that his father used it for camping and hunting and that it had a big camper on it and he would tow with it also. My thoughts are to remove a couple of leafs out of the leaf springs get rid of the air shocks from the rear and heavy duty off road shocks from the front and repkace all 4 corners with moroe sensa track shocks and keep the assist bags then see where it sits. I deflated the assist bags this morning and aired up the shocks to 50 psi to see if that will help with the ride in the interim.

Last night I removed both batteries and the alternator to have each one tested individually and it ended up being both batteries that were bad but they also happened to both be 5 years old so I replaced those and bolted everything up and it started without a problem.

[Mr.Rogers]

The blower could be working fine but having a bent arm that keeps it blowing out between your feet and face vents.  Check it first before you go spending $ on something you don't have to.  Take off glove door box and you will see it towards left side on top of duct.

Thanks for that bit of info, I checked it out and it's working fine from there. So it's just weak airflow so I checked Napa and they have the blower motor and wheel for $25

[DnStClr]

How does your ac condenser look? Since it sits in front of the radiator it can pick up a good bit of dirt and bugs which can block airflow thru the condenser fins and affect the ac temperature. If the condenser gets a lot of stuff in it, a spray foam can be used to help clean it out.