Smol Truck Lyfe: Homeless Edition

[ChrisoftheNorth]

and I have been struggling with mental health issues that we're working on solving both separately and together. We went on this trip with the perspective of "nothing bad can happen"...in the sense of, if something bad DOES happen, find the positive. She was amazingly calm when the truck died, and we kept level heads to problem solve. When we got it towed and were stranded, we took it as an opportunity to explore a place we'd otherwise never go to, and ended up having a fun time. We did discuss the possibility that the truck was FUBAR, and we made a few contingency plans just in case...including possibly buying the spotless 2015 reg cab short bed 5.3 Silverado the garage had out front for sale for $25k. We settled on if the S10 turned out to be an easy and reliable fix, we keep going, if it was a mess, figure something else out. She left it up to me to make the call for us. The truck ran SO WELL after the distributor cap change and Gary said almost everything looked new (I forgot to mention that he asked me if I'd sell it), that I went for it. Glad I did, I honestly really like the thing.

She actually TODAY after all the chaos, mentioned the idea of doing this again! She likes road trips and adventures and is willing to take the risk of failure for the reward of a big trip. Rust free trucks sell for a premium where we are, so buying trucks out west and bringing them back to drive then eventually sell could be a fun hobby. Making money wouldn't be the point, but the adventure is awesome. We both love the freedom to go and do whatever we please, and you can't really do that with a rental car. And since we're both remote, when plans get derailed like they did, it's not really a big deal since we can just work from whatever hotel has internet (all these days). I'm not quite as sold on the idea because the stars really need to align for the right vehicle. I was honestly expecting the S10 to not work out, it was just a pleasant surprise. Who knows though, it could be fun.

No interior photos, I'll take some once I get home and clean it up. I'll also take some photos of underneath. It looks like a California vehicle underneath, but it never left the Colorado mountains. Insane.

This isn't going to be a daily driver, I don't need a daily driver. The 4R will continue to be our primary vehicle, this thing will just be around to haul stuff (plants, construction stuff, etc), take camping, and drive if we both need to go to separate places at the same time (rarely). I don't intend to drive it in the winter, and it's purpose is to be a tinker machine. I don't see anything yet that can't be solved with a bolt-on fix, which was big for me. No body work, rust repair, or any fab work needed in any way. Replacing the dash will be a project, but it's not necessary, just for cosmetics. I'll only tackle projects when I want to, otherwise it's a solid running and driving truck and I'll keep it that way. No modz, I have a romantic idea of making it the nicest stock S10 ZR2 around. You never see them anymore, especially s

The garage the truck was at was next to a Ferd They had 3 new F150's in stock, all XLTs and the cheapest was $62k. They had a huge lot that was empty, clearly they have no problem slinging $60k trucks in the middle of nowhere (way more remote and destitute than where we live). I had a $10k target for our second vehicle, and even that seemed like a lot. I just can't even remotely justify these crazy prices and markups. It helps that I'm not desperate for a vehicle, but buying new right now just doesn't pencil unless you really need something.

Hi.

If you needed an idea for a YouTube channel, THIS IS FUCKING IT.

Travel to interesting places, buying interesting cars/trucks, taking interesting drives back home, documenting the adventures along the way, and then selling it.

You can literally monetize your content, and you can profit from the sale of the vehicle.

Fucking DO IT.


EDIT: saw that others suggested something. You were an auto journalist, correct? So, you make a BLOG and document the adventures, it'll be great therapy and positive energy for you to recollect the adventure and document it as you go along. can use her social media prowess to document it THAT way, and you might benefit from both fronts.

The best part? You don't NEED the clout/money, and the origins would be genuine and grassroots.

Yep, I was a journalist in my early career. It was my favorite job yet, just didn't pay anything and was going to be a constant struggle to find work and make sure it paid enough. I use DFD as my "blog" outlet, which is why I post longer stories and whatnot.

Not a bad idea, really. I know how to create a blog and do that stuff, just doubt we'd ever have enough content to really sustain something. We can only do one maybe two trips like this a year while working, and people would get bored with that I think.

Depends how much interest there is in the "restoration". I found a 2002 S10 ZR2 locally with a perfect interior for $1k because the frame rusted in half. I'm super tempted to buy it and swap the interior over to my truck, which could be interesting? Buying trucks in the west and restoring them here is interesting to me. Trucks don't rust out west, but the interiors and trim get destroyed. Trucks rust to death instantly here, but the interiors and trim stay flawless (less sun, more humidity, etc). S10's in particular are pretty worthless, especially when rusty. Buying a dead truck to scavenge parts off of to restore another to make an epic truck appeals to me.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Hi.

If you needed an idea for a YouTube channel, THIS IS FUCKING IT.

Travel to interesting places, buying interesting cars/trucks, taking interesting drives back home, documenting the adventures along the way, and then selling it.

You can literally monetize your content, and you can profit from the sale of the vehicle.

Fucking DO IT.


EDIT: saw that others suggested something. You were an auto journalist, correct? So, you make a BLOG and document the adventures, it'll be great therapy and positive energy for you to recollect the adventure and document it as you go along. can use her social media prowess to document it THAT way, and you might benefit from both fronts.

The best part? You don't NEED the clout/money, and the origins would be genuine and grassroots.

It would be legitimate great content. That said, turning it into a video would turn it into work to a larger degree I think, you'd have to have cameras rolling, talk to them as an entertainer, always stay on while they're going, make the local interactions weird by filming them, edit the footage, etc. It would be a great channel though, would watch and/or read a blog version.

social media prowess would be a good way to market a blog or whatever.

That said, nothing wrong with just doing it for fun and not trying to get internet famous.

Yea, video content is a I have no interest in being an entertainer, and I don't think anyone would want to watch us anyway, we're not that interesting.

And yes, if I actually did any sort of blog, it would just be for my personal therapeutic benefit, like Brad mentioned. If people got interested in it, great. That wouldn't be the point for me tho.

[Devilchrono]

Hi.

If you needed an idea for a YouTube channel, THIS IS FUCKING IT.

Travel to interesting places, buying interesting cars/trucks, taking interesting drives back home, documenting the adventures along the way, and then selling it.

You can literally monetize your content, and you can profit from the sale of the vehicle.

Fucking DO IT.


EDIT: saw that others suggested something. You were an auto journalist, correct? So, you make a BLOG and document the adventures, it'll be great therapy and positive energy for you to recollect the adventure and document it as you go along. can use her social media prowess to document it THAT way, and you might benefit from both fronts.

The best part? You don't NEED the clout/money, and the origins would be genuine and grassroots.

Yep, I was a journalist in my early career. It was my favorite job yet, just didn't pay anything and was going to be a constant struggle to find work and make sure it paid enough. I use DFD as my "blog" outlet, which is why I post longer stories and whatnot.

Not a bad idea, really. I know how to create a blog and do that stuff, just doubt we'd ever have enough content to really sustain something. We can only do one maybe two trips like this a year while working, and people would get bored with that I think.

Depends how much interest there is in the "restoration". I found a 2002 S10 ZR2 locally with a perfect interior for $1k because the frame rusted in half. I'm super tempted to buy it and swap the interior over to my truck, which could be interesting? Buying trucks in the west and restoring them here is interesting to me. Trucks don't rust out west, but the interiors and trim get destroyed. Trucks rust to death instantly here, but the interiors and trim stay flawless (less sun, more humidity, etc). S10's in particular are pretty worthless, especially when rusty. Buying a dead truck to scavenge parts off of to restore another to make an epic truck appeals to me.

The blog and restoration part could be an interesting idea honestly. You've clearly got the chops for it, and I think the continuation of the trip with the restoration process could be a lot of fun. You could treat the travel portion to show what you've found, document why you went, what you bought and the journey back; then use the restoration process kind of as a 'shad tree mechanic' sort of thing to create tutorials for a lot of the basic maintenance that most other car blogs/channels gloss right over anymore. Sure, it might generate tons of clicks or revenue, but that doesn't sound like why you'd want to make something like that anyway.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

I posted this in a different thread, but might as well keep this one holistic.

We drove to Green Bay, WI the day before yesterday, which is just across lake Michigan from our house. There's a large car ferry that traverses the lake, and we bought tickets for ourselves and the truck to go across the lake from Manitowoc, WI to Luddington, MI. We haven't been on the boat before, and it seemed like a fun thing. With loaded and unloading the boat, we'd save MAYBE 30 mins of driving, so the plan was more for the experience than time saving.

Our neighbor's daughter was house sitting our dog and cat for us this week, and had told us she was going back to school at the end of this week, so we were going to ride the ferry home tonight. Well, she texted us while we were at dinner last night and said "I need to go to school tonight for orientation, sorry I need to leave". UHHHHHHH??? How do you not know when orientation is? Pulled up google maps, it's a 6 hour drive from Green Bay to home. Time to wheel, we paid our bill and hit the road. Lake Michigan is so big, that the entire 6 hours was just driving along the shore to home. Uneventful overall, but getting home at 2am wasn't ideal. Man, I'm tired today.

A few truck issues crept up.

Monday, the AC decided to die. The compressor wasn't engaging, so I assumed maybe it was low on coolant. Bought a recharge can and the gauge indicated that the system was fully charged, so I started checking switches. I pulled the plug on the low pressure switch first, and jumped it with pliers...the compressor turned on! I asked for a bobby pin, stripped the ends, popped it in the plug, and the AC started throwing snowballs. Taped it up against the firewall, and it threw snowballs the rest of the trip...10 hours total. So I need to replace the low limit switch on the AC, $20 part, NBD.

The bigger issue was last night while driving, the blower would just randomly stop blowing air inside. The blower is under the hood and working fine, the air just isn't coming in the cabin. If I change the setting (face/feet/defrost/etc) it would blow for a short time then stop. The blower door is vacuum actuated, and very likely there's a vac leak. That's the other risk of dry western vehicles, rubber like vac lines gets destroyed. I'll have to do some trouble shooting on the vac system to find the leak, which is the hardest part of the fix.

Now that I'm home, here's what I'll be working on:

CLEANING...the thing is dirty, the dude brought it to me dirty, and I think a good solid cleaning will make it look near new. Looking forward to this one.

AC and HVAC fix. I'll swap out the low pressure switch on the AC system to fix that, then I need to chase vacuum leaks.

The front tires are worn really weird and are quite loud and bouncy. They're worn like they were underinflated forever (outside edges worn more than inside), which is extremely likely, but I need to go through the front suspension and get it aligned if all checks out. The tires are only a few years old, but they're "Big O" brand AT's, and being worn weird makes them crappy on the road. The wheels need to be refinished or replaced to look 100%, so I may try to find a set if I don't buy a junk truck for the interior that happens to have good wheels (ideal)

Interior...dash is cracked and I'd like to replace it for cosmetics. I suspect I may end up in there while chasing vac lines anyway, so it might be a worthwhile job. Just need to find the new part, which maybe I'll just buy a rusted truck and swap parts over from as I mentioned above.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Yep, I was a journalist in my early career. It was my favorite job yet, just didn't pay anything and was going to be a constant struggle to find work and make sure it paid enough. I use DFD as my "blog" outlet, which is why I post longer stories and whatnot.

Not a bad idea, really. I know how to create a blog and do that stuff, just doubt we'd ever have enough content to really sustain something. We can only do one maybe two trips like this a year while working, and people would get bored with that I think.

Depends how much interest there is in the "restoration". I found a 2002 S10 ZR2 locally with a perfect interior for $1k because the frame rusted in half. I'm super tempted to buy it and swap the interior over to my truck, which could be interesting? Buying trucks in the west and restoring them here is interesting to me. Trucks don't rust out west, but the interiors and trim get destroyed. Trucks rust to death instantly here, but the interiors and trim stay flawless (less sun, more humidity, etc). S10's in particular are pretty worthless, especially when rusty. Buying a dead truck to scavenge parts off of to restore another to make an epic truck appeals to me.

The blog and restoration part could be an interesting idea honestly. You've clearly got the chops for it, and I think the continuation of the trip with the restoration process could be a lot of fun. You could treat the travel portion to show what you've found, document why you went, what you bought and the journey back; then use the restoration process kind of as a 'shad tree mechanic' sort of thing to create tutorials for a lot of the basic maintenance that most other car blogs/channels gloss right over anymore. Sure, it might generate tons of clicks or revenue, but that doesn't sound like why you'd want to make something like that anyway.

What to look for buying a used vehicle, maintenance, and road side repairs up front ( called me a car genius after the AC "fix" with a bobby pin), the adventure where we just go and see whatever obscure stuff we can (this trip included some dooseys), restoration at home, then probably selling. I can't have a truck collection, so if I bought something new, I'll either keep what I already have or keep what I just bought.

But this sort of stuff will never pay much of anything, so I don't really care about revenue from it. Good to know there's some initial appeal.

[max225]

Does it have a common size like on the Tacomas 265/70/16 ? You can just swap those tires over from take offs and then sling the wheels. It usually nets a set of tires for $200 or less that way.

How many miles did you put on this thing already ?

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Does it have a common size like on the Tacomas 265/70/16 ? You can just swap those tires over from take offs and then sling the wheels. It usually nets a set of tires for $200 or less that way.

How many miles did you put on this thing already ?

31x10.5x15 They're a very common AT tire size. They came with BFG AT's from the factory, I'd love to put a new set on for that OEM restore.

Ideally, I'd find a new set of wheels in nice shape, put new tires on those, then sell the wheels/tires on it now for ~$200 or so. The tires are good, they're just worn weird and noisy. I'm sure someone will want them for cheap.

I'll need to look at the odo, but I should have put at least 2k miles on it now over the last 10 days. It probably won't see that many miles for the rest of the year.

[max225]

2k miles is I’m just about 1k on my homeless rig also.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

OH, and last night was the first night I drove it in the dark. The dude I bought it from replaced all lights with LEDs. Everything inside and outside is LED, and they look nice.

When I first turned the headlights on, they were aimed at the ground and I couldn't really see anything. I pulled over to get gas and after filling up, pulled up behind the gas station to shine the headlights at the wall and adjust the aim. Less than 5 minutes twisting screws and headlight performance. It's seriously on par with the 4R LEDs for brightness. The guy said he spent "way too much" on the headlights, and I think that's an accurate statement. I got the adjustment right because I didn't get flashed once from oncoming traffic, but the brightness is crazy. With the high beams on, I swear reflectors over a mile away were shining. It's pretty incredible.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

2k miles is I’m just about 1k on my homeless rig also.

It's 1,500 miles from Denver to home if we drove straight, which we didn't at all. We easily added 500+ miles just adventuring around. Pretty amazing to drive that far on a truck I bought somewhat on a whim. Just that one distributor cap issue, and it's been fine.

We'll still be driving the 4R mostly, just for comfort and refinement. I'll be surprised if I put another 1k miles on the truck for the rest of the year. May drive it down to Detroit to show my old man, but

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Took some additional photos...

Interior:



Door panels are near flawless:



Dash and steering wheel, not so much:



Need a new center console armrest:




This may not excite western/southern folks, but this underside is impossible where I live:

[CaleDeRoo]

I love the seats on these things.

Pic of the "bad" wheels? Were these painted, or machine faced from the factory?

[max225]

Seats look very comfortable Also minimal wear on the brake/clutch pedal even with nearly 200k miles... usually the start to look "smooth" at that point.

Console lid + steering wheel should be super easy "junkyard " finds. I probably wouldn't fuck with the dash. that seems like an endless headache. I'd just get one of those dashpads and call it a day.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Seats look very comfortable Also minimal wear on the brake/clutch pedal even with nearly 200k miles... usually the start to look "smooth" at that point.

Console lid + steering wheel should be super easy "junkyard " finds. I probably wouldn't fuck with the dash. that seems like an endless headache. I'd just get one of those dashpads and call it a day.

The seats are really comfortable, surprising actually. The cloth also wears like iron, there's no wear that I can see at all. Funny you noticed the clutch pedal, so did I...it looks new. Not sure how it was driven or maybe someone replaced the rubber pads on the pedals at some point.

I can get a flawless steering wheel on eBay for $100. It's the same steering wheel that was in Silverados, Avalanches, Astros, G Vans, etc, etc. The console lid is more unique, but equally easy to find.

I'm torn on the dash. I really don't like those covers, but the cracks are pretty bad. My thinking is to keep an eye out for a good one at the junkyard and have it on hand in case something fails that would necessitate dash removal to fix (like HVAC or something). Then I can just put the good one in instead of the old one. I've also debated repairing the dash. I've successfully repaired leather chairs with leather repair goo that could work really well on the dash like this. Could at least make the cracks a bit less visible, would be cheap, and simple. And if I do fuck it up, dash cover.

The wheels are machined with painted pockets. As I washed the truck yesterday, I noticed that the wheels themselves are in phenomenal shape with no major scratches or curbing or anything like that, but the clear coat applied over them is gone so the "machined" look is just a dull gray now. I'm going to play around with some aluminum polish to see if I can make them shiny again, and if so, I'll just clean them up really well, polish them, and spray a coat of duplicolor wheel clear over them and call it a day. The painted pockets are in ok shape, but the center caps are a bit worn, so I may repaint them as well.

[CaleDeRoo]

Ok that's how I remembered them but I wasn't sure if I remembered correctly or not.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Ok that's how I remembered them but I wasn't sure if I remembered correctly or not.

Yea, the tough part is all those shiny machined parts are dull light gray now. The clear coat wore away and was replaced with oxidation. Hopefully some aluminum polish can shine them up, we'll see. Then I can put decent tires on it and

[ChrisoftheNorth]

And I really don't want to go aftermarket on the wheels. The goal here is OEM style restoration. As dumb as that is on a worthless truck, I really like the thing for some inexplicable reason.

[max225]

And I really don't want to go aftermarket on the wheels. The goal here is OEM style restoration. As dumb as that is on a worthless truck, I really like the thing for some inexplicable reason.

I can't think of single example where the aftermarket is WORTH more than the OEM. OEM is ALWAYS money well spent.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

And I really don't want to go aftermarket on the wheels. The goal here is OEM style restoration. As dumb as that is on a worthless truck, I really like the thing for some inexplicable reason.

I can't think of single example where the aftermarket is WORTH more than the OEM. OEM is ALWAYS money well spent.

[CaleDeRoo]

I had a set of wheel powder coated a few years ago and asked them to machine the outer lip which they did for free. The entire set finished was $400. Might be worth looking into just in case you give it a go but aren't completely happy with the result.







Hard to see because 2016 potato quality but they even put clear powder back over after the machining

[MexicanYarisTK]

I just came, thats just one hell of a story. Its the chinese shit is useless that I found it hilarious

[D Griff]

Seats look very comfortable Also minimal wear on the brake/clutch pedal even with nearly 200k miles... usually the start to look "smooth" at that point.

Console lid + steering wheel should be super easy "junkyard " finds. I probably wouldn't fuck with the dash. that seems like an endless headache. I'd just get one of those dashpads and call it a day.

I agree with all of that. I don’t really care for dash mats but it makes sense here. All of the clips and fasteners will break with dash removal and then it’ll be a rattle trap even with a nice non cracked dash.

[D Griff]

Seats look very comfortable Also minimal wear on the brake/clutch pedal even with nearly 200k miles... usually the start to look "smooth" at that point.

Console lid + steering wheel should be super easy "junkyard " finds. I probably wouldn't fuck with the dash. that seems like an endless headache. I'd just get one of those dashpads and call it a day.

The seats are really comfortable, surprising actually. The cloth also wears like iron, there's no wear that I can see at all. Funny you noticed the clutch pedal, so did I...it looks new. Not sure how it was driven or maybe someone replaced the rubber pads on the pedals at some point.

I can get a flawless steering wheel on eBay for $100. It's the same steering wheel that was in Silverados, Avalanches, Astros, G Vans, etc, etc. The console lid is more unique, but equally easy to find.

a C5 steering wheel

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Seats look very comfortable Also minimal wear on the brake/clutch pedal even with nearly 200k miles... usually the start to look "smooth" at that point.

Console lid + steering wheel should be super easy "junkyard " finds. I probably wouldn't fuck with the dash. that seems like an endless headache. I'd just get one of those dashpads and call it a day.

I agree with all of that. I don’t really care for dash mats but it makes sense here. All of the clips and fasteners will break with dash removal and then it’ll be a rattle trap even with a nice non cracked dash.

Yea, which is why I probably won't change it unless I have to remove what's there to work on something behind it.

I'm going to try filling in the cracks with some leather repair stuff I already have. Can't make it worse, so it's worth a try.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

The seats are really comfortable, surprising actually. The cloth also wears like iron, there's no wear that I can see at all. Funny you noticed the clutch pedal, so did I...it looks new. Not sure how it was driven or maybe someone replaced the rubber pads on the pedals at some point.

I can get a flawless steering wheel on eBay for $100. It's the same steering wheel that was in Silverados, Avalanches, Astros, G Vans, etc, etc. The console lid is more unique, but equally easy to find.

a C5 steering wheel

We always joke about that, but it's not! The air bag is a lot smaller and the wheel is all different. The C5 wheel was unique to the C5

If It bolted on without effort, I'd swap on a C5 wheel for the lolz. But since the airbag is different, I don't want to screw with that, so I'll put a Silverado wheel back on