strutaeng's 04 2500 4x4 project Suburban

[RAMurphy]

Nice job. Body work was never a talent for me.

 

[Geotrash]

Nice job. Body work was never a talent for me.

Same. This work is inspiring for me because I have an '07 that will need paint in the next few years.

 

[strutaeng]

Same. This work is inspiring for me because I have an '07 that will need paint in the next few years.

I painted the hood on my first car, 99 Chevy Malibu back in college. When I bought it, it was in a collision and they had repainted the hood and it faded within 2 years. I used a generic Porter Cable spray gun and 6 gallon compressor. The results were fair, but had horrendous orange peel. SMH

The good news is that today, there are SO MANY good spray guns out there! It's unbelievable. I did all of this work with that gun from Amazon (Aeropro A610) I linked in there BTW. It used to be only guys actually doing this professionally could afford those expensive sprays guns. But you gotta give credit to the Chinese here for creating clones, LOL. And all of the knowledge on the YT videos is amazing too.

Check this video out:

BTW, I did find the roof rack mounting pads at the junkyard. I painted them and finally reinstalled it yesterday...a little side job I decided to do, is paint these DIY speakers I put together with my son. It has everything you need, just assemble the cabinet and put together the crossovers. Used the same paint as what I used on the roof rack pads (and wiper arms). Actually turned out really nicely. It's the C-note kit from Partsexpress. Fun little project

 

[strutaeng]

I came across these guys that have somehow figured out how to put a locker on the front IFS 9.25" axle. Sounds that it's a mechanical locker that automatically locks when the front driveshaft transmits power to the front. The reviewer says it even works in reverse.

Chevy GMC 9.25 Locking Front Differential | Kodiak Truck

Chevy GMC 9.25 Locking Front Differential for GM 1500HD, 2500HD, 3500HD with 6.6 Duramax Diesel, 6.0l and 8.1l gas engine from Kodiak Truck.

kodiaktruck.com

Kinda interesting actually.

The only other option im aware of is the ARB locker, which is like $1300, although you still need an air compressor or tank.

 

[Bigburb3500]

I came across these guys that have somehow figured out how to put a locker on the front IFS 9.25" axle. Sounds that it's a mechanical locker that automatically locks when the front driveshaft transmits power to the front. The reviewer says it even works in reverse.

Chevy GMC 9.25 Locking Front Differential | Kodiak Truck

Chevy GMC 9.25 Locking Front Differential for GM 1500HD, 2500HD, 3500HD with 6.6 Duramax Diesel, 6.0l and 8.1l gas engine from Kodiak Truck.

kodiaktruck.com

Kinda interesting actually.

The only other option im aware of is the ARB locker, which is like $1300, although you still need an air compressor or tank.

My only concern on this is that it states “once in 4wd the unit locks.” Does this mean you cannot use 4wd or auto4wd when you have bad weather?

 

[strutaeng]

My only concern on this is that it states “once in 4wd the unit locks.” Does this mean you cannot use 4wd or auto4wd when you have bad weather?

I would imagine "locks" means that the mechanical locker engages (both front wheels spin at the same rate) vs open differential.

Not sure how that would work with the AutoTrac NP246? I'm thinking maybe swapping that to a NP261 manual lever transfer case down the road. I believe that's an easy swap. A NP263 (button shift, non-AutoTrac) is another option. Both of those came with the same transmission on the HD trucks I believe, actually I think they are called NP261HD/NP263HD according to their nomenclature. The Internet off-road "experts" on various forums say the NP246 is not very strong, but I really don't know?

 

[Bigburb3500]

I don’t either but my history has been in the Toyota group and many things the “off-roaders” complain about being “not strong” are talking about off-roading where most of the population will and won’t ever take their vehicle lol!
A front locker is just sooo nice for those handful of times that throttling thru an obstacle seems reckless.