I'm new around here and I am so glad I found so many like minded people!
I'll start with a little background ......name is Jeff........... originally from Los Angeles, CA now living in Grand Rapids, MI. I have been working on cars since I knew the difference between 3/8 and 7/16. I have had lots of hot rods and CHEVY trucks. I have been on several off road racing teams and built hot rods, off road trucks and sand rails.
In January 2005 I bought a 2004 Avalanche. I was looking for a 4WD Silverado but the dealer showed me this slightly used Avalanche (600 miles). I had never seen one with out the cladding.... I was instantly in love. To say the least, I bought it. My payment was high but I planned to abuse it.
I bought my 2004 Z71 on a Sunday and the follwing Saturday (that's 6 days) I set off to hit some dirt. I custom fabbed a flag for my rear bumper and I was off. The trails were awesome and there was plenty of mud to get dirty in.
I went with a friend of mine (who is crazy) and I had to pull him out three separate times...... I couldn't have been happier. I kicked in the 4WD and pulled him around with no problem. I hit hills, slopes and deep mud puddles. I had my brand new AV up to door handles in muddy water.... kicked it in 4 Low and powered right out. We decided to stop and have some lunch and my buddy told me there was fluid leaking from my rear end. I got under the truck to discover there was an pinkie size whole in the diff cover.
I'm not some sally tow truck!!! I told my buddy to give me a ride to the local auto parts store so I could get a new cover. We went to all three auto parts stores and none on them had cover for my rear end (not even a crappy chrome one). So I decided I would pull the cover and take it to a muffler shop to get it welded and just change it out when i got home.
I went back and wrenched for a good 45 minutes (stupid sway bar). When I pulled off the cover, it was like a hockey player after a fight; pieces of the gears fell out like broken teeth.
I quickly put it back together!!! I had a fellow off roader pull me to a self car wash and sprayed off all the mud. I called my On star and had a tow truck come out. I was soooo worried I was going to have to pay for a whole new rear end. It was towed to a local dealer that was two hours from my house. I went home and waited for Monday. I called first thing in the morning and spoke to the service manger. He told me the whole differential housing was cracked and it was going to cost $1700 to repair and they were unable to determine if it was my fault. After a few hours of anguish I called the service department again and they told me that it would in fact be warrantied.
I got my truck back and I couldn't have been happier but that wouldn't be the last time my truck would see the shop....
I'm going to cut this story short............
There was about $4000 in additional damage done between the previous story and the following story...
My girlfriend and I (my wife now) set off for her hometown of Billings, Montana. It was beautiful and she introduced me to a lot of great people. One of her friends family had a farm. I told him I had never been stuck and that I wanted to see what my AV could do. He took me to his family's farm and told me that if I got stuck they had a 2006 Duramax that could pull me out (how can you lose). He took me out to this "pond" that turned out to be a reservoir. I went through it 5 or 6 times at about 35 MPH.
On my last try I got stuck about half way. I thought that the starter had just shorted out and called for the Duramax. Unfortunately, it was back at the farm so I had to drink a few beers and wait.
.... and wait....... and wait ...... and wait...
When the big Chevy Diesel showed up to pull me out, I couldn't have been happier that I had finally pushed my AV to the limit.
I finally cleared the water and my girlfriend (now wife) said there was oil leaking and I had a swimming pool in the cab.
I reached up and tightened my oil filter and tried to start her up............. nothing. I had the duramax pull me back but ripped off my air damn (the plastic where my fog lights are). I made it back to the house and tried to start it again ... but no luck.
I had it towed to the local dealer where they advised me that I had hydro locked the motor and shot a rod through the block the size of a quarter. ....... warranty wasn't going to cover it. I called my insurance and told them I had driven off the road into a ditch and sucked up water in the motor. My week long trip to Montana turned into a month. Luckily I had brought my tools and picked up a job pulling parts at a scrap yard. I finally got my truck back but they charged me $800 for betterment!!!! I didn't even know that was a word!! My soon to be wife and I headed back to CA and will forever have memories about our trip to Montana. .................. There are many more stories to tell but these are the ones I have pictures of.
Hope you all enjoyed

I'll start with a little background ......name is Jeff........... originally from Los Angeles, CA now living in Grand Rapids, MI. I have been working on cars since I knew the difference between 3/8 and 7/16. I have had lots of hot rods and CHEVY trucks. I have been on several off road racing teams and built hot rods, off road trucks and sand rails.
In January 2005 I bought a 2004 Avalanche. I was looking for a 4WD Silverado but the dealer showed me this slightly used Avalanche (600 miles). I had never seen one with out the cladding.... I was instantly in love. To say the least, I bought it. My payment was high but I planned to abuse it.

I bought my 2004 Z71 on a Sunday and the follwing Saturday (that's 6 days) I set off to hit some dirt. I custom fabbed a flag for my rear bumper and I was off. The trails were awesome and there was plenty of mud to get dirty in.

I went with a friend of mine (who is crazy) and I had to pull him out three separate times...... I couldn't have been happier. I kicked in the 4WD and pulled him around with no problem. I hit hills, slopes and deep mud puddles. I had my brand new AV up to door handles in muddy water.... kicked it in 4 Low and powered right out. We decided to stop and have some lunch and my buddy told me there was fluid leaking from my rear end. I got under the truck to discover there was an pinkie size whole in the diff cover.

I'm not some sally tow truck!!! I told my buddy to give me a ride to the local auto parts store so I could get a new cover. We went to all three auto parts stores and none on them had cover for my rear end (not even a crappy chrome one). So I decided I would pull the cover and take it to a muffler shop to get it welded and just change it out when i got home.
I went back and wrenched for a good 45 minutes (stupid sway bar). When I pulled off the cover, it was like a hockey player after a fight; pieces of the gears fell out like broken teeth.

I quickly put it back together!!! I had a fellow off roader pull me to a self car wash and sprayed off all the mud. I called my On star and had a tow truck come out. I was soooo worried I was going to have to pay for a whole new rear end. It was towed to a local dealer that was two hours from my house. I went home and waited for Monday. I called first thing in the morning and spoke to the service manger. He told me the whole differential housing was cracked and it was going to cost $1700 to repair and they were unable to determine if it was my fault. After a few hours of anguish I called the service department again and they told me that it would in fact be warrantied.
I got my truck back and I couldn't have been happier but that wouldn't be the last time my truck would see the shop....
I'm going to cut this story short............
There was about $4000 in additional damage done between the previous story and the following story...
My girlfriend and I (my wife now) set off for her hometown of Billings, Montana. It was beautiful and she introduced me to a lot of great people. One of her friends family had a farm. I told him I had never been stuck and that I wanted to see what my AV could do. He took me to his family's farm and told me that if I got stuck they had a 2006 Duramax that could pull me out (how can you lose). He took me out to this "pond" that turned out to be a reservoir. I went through it 5 or 6 times at about 35 MPH.

On my last try I got stuck about half way. I thought that the starter had just shorted out and called for the Duramax. Unfortunately, it was back at the farm so I had to drink a few beers and wait.

.... and wait....... and wait ...... and wait...
When the big Chevy Diesel showed up to pull me out, I couldn't have been happier that I had finally pushed my AV to the limit.

I finally cleared the water and my girlfriend (now wife) said there was oil leaking and I had a swimming pool in the cab.


I reached up and tightened my oil filter and tried to start her up............. nothing. I had the duramax pull me back but ripped off my air damn (the plastic where my fog lights are). I made it back to the house and tried to start it again ... but no luck.

I had it towed to the local dealer where they advised me that I had hydro locked the motor and shot a rod through the block the size of a quarter. ....... warranty wasn't going to cover it. I called my insurance and told them I had driven off the road into a ditch and sucked up water in the motor. My week long trip to Montana turned into a month. Luckily I had brought my tools and picked up a job pulling parts at a scrap yard. I finally got my truck back but they charged me $800 for betterment!!!! I didn't even know that was a word!! My soon to be wife and I headed back to CA and will forever have memories about our trip to Montana. .................. There are many more stories to tell but these are the ones I have pictures of.
Hope you all enjoyed


