Smol Truck Lyfe: Homeless Edition

[wap]

I never think of Illinois/Michigan as such ? Who does ? I think of Kansas, Ohio, Nebraska, Dakotas and swaths of texas as boring flat wastelands.

Surprisingly Florida is flat and ugly AF also outside of the beaches.

North/northeast is very green/tree/mountain filled.

Those who have visited and driven through these areas.

The Dakotas get MUCH more interesting once you get into the Badlands.

And yeah, Florida is very flat/boring away from the coasts.

[Huckleberry]

North/northeast is very green/tree/mountain filled.

You are the second person from the west to point this out.

Since I lived in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic my entire life, I never really picked up on the lack of trees in other areas.

It is one of the many reasons why fall is my favorite time of year.

[D Griff]

5/7 photos and Mini lakeside session!

[D Griff]

After driving through most of the country over the years, there are pockets of nice stuff in many unexpected placed. Western TX has some amazing mountains/beaustiful areas despite much of TX being The great lakes area is very pretty and certainly differentiated from some of the lower midwest flat nothingness. New England is just gorgeous when you get out of the big cities where everyone goes.

Fall is coming on strong here in Charlotte just now, first week of November is basically the peak. I love it.

I do love deserts and the open land of the west as well , both can be 5/7.

[wap]

After driving through most of the country over the years, there are pockets of nice stuff in many unexpected placed. Western TX has some amazing mountains/beaustiful areas despite much of TX being The great lakes area is very pretty and certainly differentiated from some of the lower midwest flat nothingness. New England is just gorgeous when you get out of the big cities where everyone goes.

Fall is coming on strong here in Charlotte just now, first week of November is basically the peak. I love it.

I do love deserts and the open land of the west as well , both can be 5/7.

Agree with all

[ChrisoftheNorth]

I love this entire country, there's redeeming qualities in just about every corner if you keep an open mind and look for them.

I decided to never assume anything about an area when Western Nebraska (which I had previously assumed was all but flat boring farmland) ended up being:







Looking out in the plains, the Badlands are the bumps to the right. This is not just an isolated area of the state, a lot of it looks like this:



Nebraska absolutely me.

[wap]

Road trips are the absolute best way to see, experience, and learn about 'Murica, without a doubt.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Road trips are the absolute best way to see, experience, and learn about 'Murica, without a doubt.

Wife is hellbent on another fly and drive because of this, which I'm looking forward to quite a bit. Thinking about starting in ABQ and going north in April or May (the worst months here because we don't get spring). We didn't spend much time in the Badlands on this trip, and we could spend an entire week in the black hills if we had the time. We also didn't make it to Wyoming.

BUT, if the weather blows...maybe head east. Many people have told us about neat areas in Texas and Oklahoma to check out. We've also never been to Arkansas, and that looks pretty awesome in spots too.

[D Griff]

Road trips are the absolute best way to see, experience, and learn about 'Murica, without a doubt.

Wife is hellbent on another fly and drive because of this, which I'm looking forward to quite a bit. Thinking about starting in ABQ and going north in April or May (the worst months here because we don't get spring). We didn't spend much time in the Badlands on this trip, and we could spend an entire week in the black hills if we had the time. We also didn't make it to Wyoming.

BUT, if the weather blows...maybe head east. Many people have told us about neat areas in Texas and Oklahoma to check out. We've also never been to Arkansas, and that looks pretty awesome in spots too.

ABQ/NM are quite cool, Santa Fe and Santa Fe National Forest are both dope as well.

Definitely check out Big Bend National Park in TX if anywhere near, it is amazingly beautiful but really impossible to get to by plane. I enjoyed Little Rock recently, I'd love to check out NW Arkansas, some nice looking mountains and allegedly world class MTB there.

I haven't really loved much of OK and I've been a bunch, but Tulsa is a neat little city.

[D Griff]

I love this entire country, there's redeeming qualities in just about every corner if you keep an open mind and look for them.

I decided to never assume anything about an area when Western Nebraska (which I had previously assumed was all but flat boring farmland) ended up being:







Looking out in the plains, the Badlands are the bumps to the right. This is not just an isolated area of the state, a lot of it looks like this:



Nebraska absolutely me.

The badlands are so underrated, seemingly almost unknown to most Americans.

Omaha and Lincoln are both as well.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Wife is hellbent on another fly and drive because of this, which I'm looking forward to quite a bit. Thinking about starting in ABQ and going north in April or May (the worst months here because we don't get spring). We didn't spend much time in the Badlands on this trip, and we could spend an entire week in the black hills if we had the time. We also didn't make it to Wyoming.

BUT, if the weather blows...maybe head east. Many people have told us about neat areas in Texas and Oklahoma to check out. We've also never been to Arkansas, and that looks pretty awesome in spots too.

ABQ/NM are quite cool, Santa Fe and Santa Fe National Forest are both dope as well.

Definitely check out Big Bend National Park in TX if anywhere near, it is amazingly beautiful but really impossible to get to by plane. I enjoyed Little Rock recently, I'd love to check out NW Arkansas, some nice looking mountains and allegedly world class MTB there.

I haven't really loved much of OK and I've been a bunch, but Tulsa is a neat little city.

We'd be coming into ABQ to fly and possibly buy a vehicle (sticking with S10s because I know them now, probably try to find a Blazer since demand seems to be higher for them here and sleeping in the back is a possibility), then leave straight for Santa Fe pretty much. It's high as a possible winter target for us to settle in at some point.

I've heard about Big Bend and it's on the list for sure.

A former co-worker moved back to his home town of OKC last year. I questioned that move and he sent me a bunch of pictures of areas within ~1hr drive of OKC. Just stunning country, and again...I refuse to pre-judge an area without seeing it for myself now.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

So, the S10 has managed to work its way into my heart. In anticipation of needing to spend time sitting at the airport while I'm travelling for the new gig, I gave it a full rust proofing underneath with Fluid Film and a quick spray wax. It really cleaned up nice...



I've been tackling little issues, and ran into the most ridiculous recently.

I fired it up on my way home from the airport, it was cold out, and something was squealing under the hood. Assumed it was the belt being cold, ZFG. The next day, tried again and the same squealing. I wanted to make sure an accessory component wasn't about to seize up, so I pulled the belt and found the alternator bearing toasted. It was screeching and grinding like crazy and felt like a bag of sand, so I knew it was toast, or about to be. The belt was in OK shape, but it was a bit old, and the pulley on the tensioner wobbled a bit, so I figured I'd replace the belt, tensioner, and pulley.

A new AC Delco alternator, belt, pulley, and tensioner was $150 shipped from Amazon. The parts swapped on ZFG, and I went to fire it up and immediately there as a knocking sound it wasn't making before. Sounded like rod knock, which terrified me at first. Pulled the belt, and it was quiet, so thankfully nothing in the engine. The new alternator pulley spun freely and silently, as did every other accessory component. One by one I swapped back on the old parts...tensioner (no change), pulley (no change), then inexplicably, I put the old belt on and it was dead silent. Somehow that brand new AC Delco belt with the exact same size and part number as the old one was creating a knocking sound that resembled rod knock. How in the actual fuck? Returned it and I'll run the old belt a bit longer.

Lesson learned, never assume even the simplest new parts are good

The thing runs like a top now and has surprisingly good power, sounds great, and is way more fun to drive than it should be. homeless lyfe in that thing.

[Valkyrie]

New parts being junk is one of the most annoying things to deal with when you're DIY - it's not like you have another one on the shelf to just swap in like you would in a commercial shop.

[wap]

So, the S10 has managed to work its way into my heart. In anticipation of needing to spend time sitting at the airport while I'm travelling for the new gig, I gave it a full rust proofing underneath with Fluid Film and a quick spray wax. It really cleaned up nice...



I've been tackling little issues, and ran into the most ridiculous recently.

I fired it up on my way home from the airport, it was cold out, and something was squealing under the hood. Assumed it was the belt being cold, ZFG. The next day, tried again and the same squealing. I wanted to make sure an accessory component wasn't about to seize up, so I pulled the belt and found the alternator bearing toasted. It was screeching and grinding like crazy and felt like a bag of sand, so I knew it was toast, or about to be. The belt was in OK shape, but it was a bit old, and the pulley on the tensioner wobbled a bit, so I figured I'd replace the belt, tensioner, and pulley.

A new AC Delco alternator, belt, pulley, and tensioner was $150 shipped from Amazon. The parts swapped on ZFG, and I went to fire it up and immediately there as a knocking sound it wasn't making before. Sounded like rod knock, which terrified me at first. Pulled the belt, and it was quiet, so thankfully nothing in the engine. The new alternator pulley spun freely and silently, as did every other accessory component. One by one I swapped back on the old parts...tensioner (no change), pulley (no change), then inexplicably, I put the old belt on and it was dead silent. Somehow that brand new AC Delco belt with the exact same size and part number as the old one was creating a knocking sound that resembled rod knock. How in the actual fuck? Returned it and I'll run the old belt a bit longer.

Lesson learned, never assume even the simplest new parts are good

The thing runs like a top now and has surprisingly good power, sounds great, and is way more fun to drive than it should be. homeless lyfe in that thing.

Good story 5/7 would read again.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

New parts being junk is one of the most annoying things to deal with when you're DIY - it's not like you have another one on the shelf to just swap in like you would in a commercial shop.

That's why I've gotten in the habit of holding onto the old parts if they're not broken...like in this case. I'll replace the old belt eventually, but at least I had it on hand to prove the new one had an issue.

New parts quality is horrible. Even spending extra on "genuine OEM" parts is a crap shoot. A simple belt should never make the noise this one did.

[max225]

So, the S10 has managed to work its way into my heart. In anticipation of needing to spend time sitting at the airport while I'm travelling for the new gig, I gave it a full rust proofing underneath with Fluid Film and a quick spray wax. It really cleaned up nice...



I've been tackling little issues, and ran into the most ridiculous recently.

I fired it up on my way home from the airport, it was cold out, and something was squealing under the hood. Assumed it was the belt being cold, ZFG. The next day, tried again and the same squealing. I wanted to make sure an accessory component wasn't about to seize up, so I pulled the belt and found the alternator bearing toasted. It was screeching and grinding like crazy and felt like a bag of sand, so I knew it was toast, or about to be. The belt was in OK shape, but it was a bit old, and the pulley on the tensioner wobbled a bit, so I figured I'd replace the belt, tensioner, and pulley.

A new AC Delco alternator, belt, pulley, and tensioner was $150 shipped from Amazon. The parts swapped on ZFG, and I went to fire it up and immediately there as a knocking sound it wasn't making before. Sounded like rod knock, which terrified me at first. Pulled the belt, and it was quiet, so thankfully nothing in the engine. The new alternator pulley spun freely and silently, as did every other accessory component. One by one I swapped back on the old parts...tensioner (no change), pulley (no change), then inexplicably, I put the old belt on and it was dead silent. Somehow that brand new AC Delco belt with the exact same size and part number as the old one was creating a knocking sound that resembled rod knock. How in the actual fuck? Returned it and I'll run the old belt a bit longer.

Lesson learned, never assume even the simplest new parts are good

The thing runs like a top now and has surprisingly good power, sounds great, and is way more fun to drive than it should be. homeless lyfe in that thing.

the belt pulley and tensioner at $150 sounds way too cheap. What kind of parts are these ? Normally alternators are 200-$1500, tensioners are 50-250 and belts are $25-100... are these OEM? Or some sort of knock off "ac delco" crap?

For shits and giggles googled it...
Yep... Reman OEM is $497 MSRP and $300ish...
https://parts.chevrolet.com/product/gm- ... 179,320018

I know the truck is old but I refuse to use any non oems parts... There has been issues on the toyota side with FAKE parts all over ebay and amazon. In particular Spark Plugs etc.. They come in the boxes that say OEM whatever... but they are fake... its crazy but true.

[Desertbreh]

New parts being junk is one of the most annoying things to deal with when you're DIY - it's not like you have another one on the shelf to just swap in like you would in a commercial shop.

+ 1 billion. This sends me into dark places of anger management. How hard can it be to manufacture a part that is not defective ab initio?

[ChrisoftheNorth]

So, the S10 has managed to work its way into my heart. In anticipation of needing to spend time sitting at the airport while I'm travelling for the new gig, I gave it a full rust proofing underneath with Fluid Film and a quick spray wax. It really cleaned up nice...



I've been tackling little issues, and ran into the most ridiculous recently.

I fired it up on my way home from the airport, it was cold out, and something was squealing under the hood. Assumed it was the belt being cold, ZFG. The next day, tried again and the same squealing. I wanted to make sure an accessory component wasn't about to seize up, so I pulled the belt and found the alternator bearing toasted. It was screeching and grinding like crazy and felt like a bag of sand, so I knew it was toast, or about to be. The belt was in OK shape, but it was a bit old, and the pulley on the tensioner wobbled a bit, so I figured I'd replace the belt, tensioner, and pulley.

A new AC Delco alternator, belt, pulley, and tensioner was $150 shipped from Amazon. The parts swapped on ZFG, and I went to fire it up and immediately there as a knocking sound it wasn't making before. Sounded like rod knock, which terrified me at first. Pulled the belt, and it was quiet, so thankfully nothing in the engine. The new alternator pulley spun freely and silently, as did every other accessory component. One by one I swapped back on the old parts...tensioner (no change), pulley (no change), then inexplicably, I put the old belt on and it was dead silent. Somehow that brand new AC Delco belt with the exact same size and part number as the old one was creating a knocking sound that resembled rod knock. How in the actual fuck? Returned it and I'll run the old belt a bit longer.

Lesson learned, never assume even the simplest new parts are good

The thing runs like a top now and has surprisingly good power, sounds great, and is way more fun to drive than it should be. homeless lyfe in that thing.

the belt pulley and tensioner at $150 sounds way too cheap. What kind of parts are these ? Normally alternators are 200-$1500, tensioners are 50-250 and belts are $25-100... are these OEM? Or some sort of knock off "ac delco" crap?

For shits and giggles googled it...
Yep... Reman OEM is $497 MSRP and $300ish...
https://parts.chevrolet.com/product/gm- ... 179,320018

I know the truck is old but I refuse to use any non oems parts... There has been issues on the toyota side with FAKE parts all over ebay and amazon. In particular Spark Plugs etc.. They come in the boxes that say OEM whatever... but they are fake... its crazy but true.

I cross-shop Rock Auto and Amazon for only AC Delco parts (GM). Both have drop-ship agreements with AC Delco, confirmed by the "From" shipping labels when I get them. These are sent from GM warehouses, so unless they're sending fakes (I don't know how that would be possible), it's possibly they've lowered their quality to get cheaper parts. The "gold" designation could be the "cheap" versions.

Alternator:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007QBR3BA?ps ... ct_details

I actually bought the belt kit from Rock Auto:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 659&jsn=17

Everything was in AC Delco boxes, unopened, and looked like solid quality.

[max225]

Yea I honestly don't know... I am a bit out of the game when it comes to these things. But the toyota thing came to my attention, and it was terrifying. People are FAKING $7 oil filters... and are littering 3rd party places like Amazon/Ebay. You can lose an engine to a $7 part...

So I am now only buying from dealer sites only. Too many bad experiences. Glad your other purchases worked out, those are some seriously low prices... I paid $170 for a Napa Gold alternator for a crown vic what now must be 10 years ago... I suppose inflation hasn't really hit every sector.

[Desertbreh]

Yea I honestly don't know... I am a bit out of the game when it comes to these things. But the toyota thing came to my attention, and it was terrifying. People are FAKING $7 oil filters... and are littering 3rd party places like Amazon/Ebay. You can lose an engine to a $7 part...

So I am now only buying from dealer sites only. Too many bad experiences. Glad your other purchases worked out, those are some seriously low prices... I paid $170 for a Napa Gold alternator for a crown vic what now must be 10 years ago... I suppose inflation hasn't really hit every sector.

Alternators are one of those areas where replacements are often not up to OEM durability. It's such a critical part because when it goes bad you are stranded in short order.

[max225]

Yea I honestly don't know... I am a bit out of the game when it comes to these things. But the toyota thing came to my attention, and it was terrifying. People are FAKING $7 oil filters... and are littering 3rd party places like Amazon/Ebay. You can lose an engine to a $7 part...

So I am now only buying from dealer sites only. Too many bad experiences. Glad your other purchases worked out, those are some seriously low prices... I paid $170 for a Napa Gold alternator for a crown vic what now must be 10 years ago... I suppose inflation hasn't really hit every sector.

Alternators are one of those areas where replacements are often not up to OEM durability. It's such a critical part because when it goes bad you are stranded in short order.

I went through 2 in the crown vic... until the Napa Gold... which outlasted the OEM... OEM went down at 150k... 2 replacements 10k miles each.. from O'Reilly... I said fuck it.. and bought the Napa with the lifetime warranty... the car ended up in the scrap yard with 410k miles and the Napa alternator and a 9 year old battery which was fine.

[Desertbreh]

So, the S10 has managed to work its way into my heart. In anticipation of needing to spend time sitting at the airport while I'm travelling for the new gig, I gave it a full rust proofing underneath with Fluid Film and a quick spray wax. It really cleaned up nice...



I've been tackling little issues, and ran into the most ridiculous recently.

I fired it up on my way home from the airport, it was cold out, and something was squealing under the hood. Assumed it was the belt being cold, ZFG. The next day, tried again and the same squealing. I wanted to make sure an accessory component wasn't about to seize up, so I pulled the belt and found the alternator bearing toasted. It was screeching and grinding like crazy and felt like a bag of sand, so I knew it was toast, or about to be. The belt was in OK shape, but it was a bit old, and the pulley on the tensioner wobbled a bit, so I figured I'd replace the belt, tensioner, and pulley.

A new AC Delco alternator, belt, pulley, and tensioner was $150 shipped from Amazon. The parts swapped on ZFG, and I went to fire it up and immediately there as a knocking sound it wasn't making before. Sounded like rod knock, which terrified me at first. Pulled the belt, and it was quiet, so thankfully nothing in the engine. The new alternator pulley spun freely and silently, as did every other accessory component. One by one I swapped back on the old parts...tensioner (no change), pulley (no change), then inexplicably, I put the old belt on and it was dead silent. Somehow that brand new AC Delco belt with the exact same size and part number as the old one was creating a knocking sound that resembled rod knock. How in the actual fuck? Returned it and I'll run the old belt a bit longer.

Lesson learned, never assume even the simplest new parts are good

The thing runs like a top now and has surprisingly good power, sounds great, and is way more fun to drive than it should be. homeless lyfe in that thing.

With the manual and 4.3 this is really, really, cool truck. Not too many factory lifted trucks out there and certainly not ones smol enough to do trail work. The "Trail Boss" full size pickups being advertised by Chevrolet now are impossibly huge.

[Desertbreh]

Alternators are one of those areas where replacements are often not up to OEM durability. It's such a critical part because when it goes bad you are stranded in short order.

I went through 2 in the crown vic... until the Napa Gold... which outlasted the OEM... OEM went down at 150k... 2 replacements 10k miles each.. from O'Reilly... I said fuck it.. and bought the Napa with the lifetime warranty... the car ended up in the scrap yard with 410k miles and the Napa alternator and a 9 year old battery which was fine.

The alternator in my 20 year old Tahoe is OEM @ 169K. I would consider replacing it as preventative maintenance but I don't want to get a POS that dies on me. Maybe the "Napa Gold" is the way. I guess I can just put the old one on the shelf and see.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Yea I honestly don't know... I am a bit out of the game when it comes to these things. But the toyota thing came to my attention, and it was terrifying. People are FAKING $7 oil filters... and are littering 3rd party places like Amazon/Ebay. You can lose an engine to a $7 part...

So I am now only buying from dealer sites only. Too many bad experiences. Glad your other purchases worked out, those are some seriously low prices... I paid $170 for a Napa Gold alternator for a crown vic what now must be 10 years ago... I suppose inflation hasn't really hit every sector.

I buy very little from amazon because of the risk of fakes. The AC Delco drop-shipping thing is the only reason I consider it, really.

Rock Auto is one of the best because they just drop ship parts from parts warehouses. For AC delco parts, they go through GM warehouses, just like amazon. Little opportunity for fakes. I knew about that from my days working in GM accy's, it's a cool initiative GM took on to increase market share of parts. Also, this is a worthless old GM product, and as such, parts can't be expensive otherwise they won't sell.

It's very possible, though that these cheap parts are cheaper quality from AC Delco to meet a price point. Seriously, why the hell that belt made such a racket still perplexes me. We'll see if I get burned, but so far so good.

The truck might see a few thousand miles a year at most around town. If something breaks, it can sit in the garage until I fix it ZFG. I didn't buy it to be reliable transportation, I bought it to haul stuff around and keep my mind busy tinkering with it. It's really simple thing overall, the only known issue with them are usually auto trans related, so since it's a manuel, there's not much to fail. Even if the alternator did die, I could drive it home from anywhere I'd be on the battery. 4x4 is vacuum actuated and can be finnicky. That's about it.

[Desertbreh]

Yea I honestly don't know... I am a bit out of the game when it comes to these things. But the toyota thing came to my attention, and it was terrifying. People are FAKING $7 oil filters... and are littering 3rd party places like Amazon/Ebay. You can lose an engine to a $7 part...

So I am now only buying from dealer sites only. Too many bad experiences. Glad your other purchases worked out, those are some seriously low prices... I paid $170 for a Napa Gold alternator for a crown vic what now must be 10 years ago... I suppose inflation hasn't really hit every sector.

I buy very little from amazon because of the risk of fakes. The AC Delco drop-shipping thing is the only reason I consider it, really.

Rock Auto is one of the best because they just drop ship parts from parts warehouses. For AC delco parts, they go through GM warehouses, just like amazon. Little opportunity for fakes. I knew about that from my days working in GM accy's, it's a cool initiative GM took on to increase market share of parts. Also, this is a worthless old GM product, and as such, parts can't be expensive otherwise they won't sell.

It's very possible, though that these cheap parts are cheaper quality from AC Delco to meet a price point. Seriously, why the hell that belt made such a racket still perplexes me. We'll see if I get burned, but so far so good.

The truck might see a few thousand miles a year at most around town. If something breaks, it can sit in the garage until I fix it ZFG. I didn't buy it to be reliable transportation, I bought it to haul stuff around and keep my mind busy tinkering with it. It's really simple thing overall, the only known issue with them are usually auto trans related, so since it's a manuel, there's not much to fail. Even if the alternator did die, I could drive it home from anywhere I'd be on the battery. 4x4 is vacuum actuated and can be finnicky. That's about it.

What about something like this..........

https://www.tucsonalternator.com/high-o ... %20325CID/