• If you currently own, previously owned or want to own an Avalanche, we welcome you to become a member today. Membership is FREE, register now!

My Avalanche So Far

TheTez

Full Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
12
Hey All,  I've been having some fun with my avalanche, so i thought i'd share my story and what i've done so far with it.

So to start off, ill just say my Chevy Colorado died, It served me very well, but i neglected it and ended up paying the price,  I was on the hunt for a new truck.  This happened while i was laid off, and needed to find work, I also found out my colorado was on its way out the same day i found out i owed 8k in taxes.  It wasnt a good time,  I recently bought a house and havent quite recovered my savings, so i set my budget for a truck pretty low. 

Onto the facebook market place and craigslist i went!  Not being a huge dodge fan, i found a Dakota and an Avalanche that both seemed pretty ok. Keep in mind my budget was pretty low,  I was talking to the guy with the dakota and he was telling me about work he had done to it, he talked very highly about the truck and himself,  But i was worried he had cheap autozone / ebay type upgrades that may not help the truck but may even hurt it.  I went and looked at an avalanche i had found online for $2,500  Its a bare bones 05 z71, No cladding just simple and white,  The interior looked fantastic and the upper portion of the body looked pretty good.  I took a quick glance under the truck and it looked pretty solid, reasonably rust free on the frame, and the oils all seemed to be there, and dirty enough to know he didnt just replace the oil.
    The guy listed the issues with the truck, and from what i could tell and everything i saw it seemed to be pretty spot on.  The biggest two issues were some body rust, but the potentially bigger issue was the AC wasnt working, and im sure you guys know when that goes, you may never get it working quite right again.  Now i'll be honest i was NEVER an avalanche fan, i thought they were just basically luxury 'trucks' and didnt care for them so i really didnt look into them or know anything about them.  When i found this truck i started doing some research and found out that they are pretty bad butt trucks. and they are build on the suburban chassis.
avalanchenew.jpg

I sat on it for about a day and went back test drove it, (which it drove pretty beautifully) and picked it up.      When i got home i did some more investigating obviously, and was a little upset with myself, i looked underneath and i missed the butt load of rust on the frame,  just not the portion i had glanced at initially. 
But i figured id tackle the body rust because besides that the truck atleast LOOKED good. 
over the next week i sanded grinded and cut up the rust on the body, behind the wheel well, and some of the other lower body panels.  I took out massive chunks, some as large as 12x17" sections.   
I ended up getting some perforated 1/16" steel sheet from work cutting them to the shapes , riviting them on, fiberglass bondo-ing and priming those areas.
rustcut.jpg
holes.jpg
bondome.jpg
primer.jpg


If you notice the rust spots were just about all under that main body line, that helped me make my decision to bed line from that point down,  I used herculiner and rolled it on after i had scuffed/sanded from that line down.  Whats nice  is that body line matches the black in the bumper and goes all the way back to almost the black on the tailgate.  so it looks SEMI original,  or at least intentional. 
rinostart.jpg
rinotape.jpg
fullshotteaser.jpg

with the bed liner on the lower body, it looked a little to clean, which is fine because i had planned on putting fender flairs on because that one rust spot around the wheel well went above the body line i was covering. 
wheelwells.jpg


So,  im sure you've noticed it,  With all that fresh black on the truck, that 'cladding' is anything but black,    So kinda wierd, but i had some left over leather die from a project i was doing, i figured, screw it,  let me see what happens.  Let me just say that it worked beautifully, and DONT get it on the body. 
beforeafter.jpg
fullshot.jpg


Up until this point i spend probably a little over 200 bucks getting it to this point.  im trying to make it as nice a truck as i can for as little as i can.

the truck was in MAJOR need for new shocks, so i sprung for that, and when i ordered that, i just got the whole rough country leveling kit (shocks and torsion keys/rear 3/4" spacers)  It was fun getting the keys out with the major rust, but nothing i wasnt ready for took me about 2 hours a side i would say. So the exterior of the truck is just about done. 

Oh i almost forgot,  the tires were nice and bald, and some wire was showing, so i picked up some new tires, 33" M/T's  With the leveling kit they fit perfect.  they dont look big under there at all, they look like what belongs on the truck.
truck3.jpg
truck2.jpg
truck1.jpg


It was less than a week after the new Shoes, And i found out that morning (sunday) the drive in movie theatre near me was having a Mud bog, I figured... lets test out the new tires!  so about a month into owning the truck, i took it mud bogging,  it was probably about 1.5' to 2' deep mud, and the truck did great.  ... im just still trying to get mud out from my engine bay....  its everywhere still, even after power washing, hosing and car wash.
mudfront.jpg
mudside.jpg
quads.jpg


Next up on the list is new headlights / fog lights,  i've got them picked out, just waiting on a little extra spending money.
Also, A guy from work and me may make custom bumpers for our trucks.  im thinking something similar to this (but finished obviously) with mount points for shackles.  and a skid plate down to the factory plate.
bumper.jpg


Oh 2 things i forgot,  145k i bought it with, and The AC i noticed a dry rotted belt sitting on the skid plate, i bought a new belt, went to put it on, and the tensioner was rusted frozen,  replaced it, and it started working great and has been for over a month and a half.
 
Great story.

I'm glad to see you fixing up your truck.

I'm sure you're going to be enjoying it for a long time.

Well done, sir.

(y)
 
kinda looks like a cladded avalanche now...

Well done.

Now time to coat frame with POR-15 to eat the rust and leave behind a protective coating.
 
Excellent work man!  Looks great as it is, and will be even better with that custom bumper if you end up going that way. 
 
ygmn said:
kinda looks like a cladded avalanche now...

Well done.

Now time to coat frame with POR-15 to eat the rust and leave behind a protective coating.

That's next up, as soon as I get a little time and nice weather.
 
lunchwagon said:
Excellent work man!  Looks great as it is, and will be even better with that custom bumper if you end up going that way.

I know. I'm really wanting to do it. But that's some time I'm not sure when I'm going to get.
 
Great story, greater work. You've done her proud and she'll reward you for a long time to come.
 
Back
Top