2004 Chevy Astro AWD "Astrid"

izaicinajums

izaicinajums.com
Hey Adventurers,

It's my pleasure to introduce you to "Astrid", 2004 Chevy Astro AWD.

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Astrid has been with us for over a year now and has taken us to some amazing places and tested trough some rough terrain and always brought us home back safe.

The van has been lifted, fitted with bigger tires and bed recently. I wanted to have a build thread were all of that would be summarized and written down, as well as all the new stuff would be posted. :)

Hope you enjoy this thread and maybe it inspires you to go out and buy Astro van as it's truly remarkable vehicle.

Couple more pictures:
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Oh and did it tell you it's very practical
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As of now, Astrid has following upgrades (Updated 2015-Oct-21):
- ~3-4"lift at front and ~3-4" lift at rear;
- BFG All-Terrain T/A KO2 LT225/75R16;
- Tru-Cool LPD-4490 Trans cooler;
- G80 locker installed (Astrid came as Base model with 3.42 gearing and no locker);
- 5% limo tint on all rear windows (blacked out basically);
- Hawk pads and AC Delco rotors on front and PowerStop brake rotor/pad kit on rear (30k km later almost no signs of wear);
- Night Hawk Low and High beam lights;
- ~50" wide x 80" long bed, that converts into couch;
- Passenger swivel seat;
- ARB 37QT Fridge/Freezer with tie down system and threaded socket;
- NorthStart Group 31 AGM battery (According to my research and other overlander suggestions these are very reliable and quality product);
- 100W Solar + MPPT Charging Controller;
- 1000W Power Inverter;
- T-MAX 47-3800 Dual Battery System (Great post on How-To-Install: http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/t-max-dual-battery-install.607791/);
- Fan-Tastic Model 1250 Roof Vent;
- ARB CKMA12 Compressor.

Notes:
Initially Astrid was built with 225/75R16 Cooper Discoverer A/T3's, which turned out to be great in terms of performance and terrible in terms of reliability. Had to be replaced.
 
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Slicky72

Adventurer
Cool vid , some of those side hill shots give me that uneasy feeling . What kind if mods do you have done to your van?
 

izaicinajums

izaicinajums.com
Cool vid , some of those side hill shots give me that uneasy feeling . What kind if mods do you have done to your van?
At the time of video 2" lift and 29" tires (2" bigger than stock I believe).

Since then I have installed ext. transmission cooler, new rear leaf springs (22-687) and about week ago G80 locker was added.
 

Slicky72

Adventurer
Sweet , that is pretty much what I am now running less the tires. I am still looking for a fourth wheel to complete my set of retro gm mags :)
 

Slicky72

Adventurer
Tires are fairly important for ground clearance and improve ride. :)

I totally agree I just want to mount them on a nicer wheel than what I am running now.

There was a guy on OLC I think that was talking to you at some point , he drives a Grand Cherokee and was telling me about meeting a guy with an Astro that had been up to molybdenite . I can't think too many have made the trek.
 

izaicinajums

izaicinajums.com
I totally agree I just want to mount them on a nicer wheel than what I am running now.

There was a guy on OLC I think that was talking to you at some point , he drives a Grand Cherokee and was telling me about meeting a guy with an Astro that had been up to molybdenite . I can't think too many have made the trek.
OLC, I believe stands for Overland Canad. Haven't been very active on that forum, and only guy who I have met with GC and talked about this is Justin from BC Jeep Club :) Not many Astro owners venture up there, you can see that from everyone's surprise when they see you there...

As for rims, if you are planing on doing some 4x4 in your van, I would suggest to go with steelies or leave what you have - they will be dinged and scratched anyways. I wouldn't put anything fancy on our van :)
 

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