BAD AIM 2003 Z71 Suburban

Lykos

Super Trucker
That's funny and a good pic.
The dark tint is a real hindrance driving at night in the middle of nowhere when you need to back up. You'll look back and see nothing but the reflection of your headlights ahead. You need extra / brighter backup or ditch lights if you choose a darker tint.
Also helps me to have added an aftermarket entertainment unit and shoehorning a double-DIN in-dash DVD player and optional rear camera in. I still intend to do the Z-71 roof rack rear backup spots. Tie them to the factory backup lights with a relay so they go on when I put it in reverse, and maybe with a manual switch for camp use.
Been chasing my tail with a failing driver window regulator / motor / switch lately and a few other fiddly things. Still need to tidy up my trans cooler upgrade with some proper compression fitting hard-line plumbing. still need to build my rooftop solar mount hardware. Rear Liftgate LED strip lighting has crapped out / needs a better replacement. Doing a bunch of MkII / MkIII sort of stuff, so nothing really new to show.

Been plagued with some rear tire slow leakage, thought it was due to having the vehicle overloaded a few times lately, repeated inspections for nails etc. nothing turned up, until last Monday when washing the vehicle when I got a close look at the rims and valve stems and found them cracked near their bases. That or finely cut. can't tell. Given that my vehicle majorly keyed right in front of my house a year ago, may be sabotage. shrug. can't tell, could just be 3-1/2yrs on cheap rubber valve stems. Anyway I took it in and got new / metal valve stems.

But that also triggers another issue. I went with factory tire size when I bought it, needed 2 tires immediately and I hadn't done much shopping and have I meantioned I'm cheap? Anyway the tires I bought have worked fine for my needs, but a background plan has been to sell them off at soem point and upsize, probably to 285s, with the re-sale helping offset the costs. I barely drive the thing 5k mi a year, so the tread is still healthy. BUT I've been reading anecdotes online about how many chain tire stores are now refusing to repair or re-mount tires that are more than 4yrs old, with liability as the rationale (but more an excuse to force an upsale of new tires). I'll have to look up the 'born on' date codes, but it's been 3-1/2yrs since I bought them. I'm probably running out of time to sell them to someone else. A couple more months at most. And I don't really want to divert ~$600-700+ to a new set of tires right now. By the time the 'Man Holiday' sales come up, they'll be too old to re-sell around here.
I'd only gain 1/2" of ground clearance from the tire upsize. That sure ain't worth a $1000 to me.

For many years we've been buying new tires by the pair on the missus' Tahoes. Put them on front, move the last pair to the rear, keep on driving. With some occasional rotations as the miles rack up. But always the oldest / baldest pair goes when there's a need to buy new. Helps level out the costs a bit. And hers are 99.9% highway miles anyway. So I guess I'll be doing the same with the Sub as time goes by.


I feel you on the window tint. They only time though that I really notice it is when I'm making a left hand turn. I sometimes have to roll the driver window down for a better view. I'm already running JDM astar 1200 lumen led reverse lights and they do a nice job. Same as you I plan on installing floods on the factory roof rack locations.
Perhaps it's the trucker in me but I rarely if ever use my rear view mirror. If it didn't have that handy little thermometer in it I would remove it in lieu of a switch panel, back up camera or maybe a gmrs radio.
Speaking of your suggestion regarding a new head unit with BUC I do in fact have that on the list. A nice little Kenwood with all the bells and whistles. Next week after the body work gets done a local installer is putting in a remote start. I should probably get the head unit first but this is how it's worked out. The head unit will come later in the summer.
Tires of quality are a real ********** to buy all at once. I buy four for at a time and run them until they are falling apart. The 285 ko2s are pricey at around $230 a piece. You might laugh but I budget one tire a paycheck and order online from whomever has the best deal at the time. I've got three and will order number four this week. It works for me and keeps me within my means.

I'm piecing together my aux battery setup. I think you'll like what I'm planning. That write up will come when it's finished.
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
If you’re looking to save a bit on tires you might consider the Falken Wildpeak in place of the KO2. I’m at about 20 months and 20k miles on mine and very happy with them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Lykos

Super Trucker
If you’re looking to save a bit on tires you might consider the Falken Wildpeak in place of the KO2. I’m at about 20 months and 20k miles on mine and very happy with them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had a set on my XJ a few years ago and they performed horribly in snow. They loaded up, wouldn't clean themselves and were all around pretty useless. Surprising because they have the little snow symbol certification thing.
Other's experience may vary but this was mine.

I really wanted to try another set but just couldn't.
 
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Lykos

Super Trucker
The Burb came out of the body shop on Saturday with fresh sheet metal welded in the drivers quarter panel and a cheap ebay factory bumper installed.
The prepainted bumper was ebay cheap and looks pretty decent. There's a few little fitment issues with the plastic trim but nothing you can't live with.
Yes, I know build threads are normally all about DIY repairs and mods. But, I'm no body shop guy and it was worth every penny to let a professional do the work.

I also had a shop install a DEI Viper remote start today. I was on the fence about doing that one myself but I literally couldn't find anyone who said that's a good idea. Apparently remote starts are a ********** to install...


The remote start has an airmail feature where you can puritan it to start the vehicle ever three hours for up to six cycles. Now I'm thinking that for my purposes a dual battery setup with solar may not be needed.

What do y'all think? Use a good dual purpose starter battery and let the truck start and charge itself, for sixty minutes each time, every three hours when camping or install a house battery and solar?
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
You aren't going to get a lot of charge out of it at idle. Or much love from nearby campers when your vehicle starts in the middle of the night.
There are specialty alternators marketed for emergency and police vehicles to have a much higher power output at idle RPMs, but they are $500+
Aux battery and solar, I'd say. And if your platform design can accommodate it I'd even suggest a 3rd battery in the back. Dual house battery for your house loads. If your rear platform or drawers are already deep enough it's a pretty easy and safe thing to do. And if you aren't planning to draw winch-type power loads from them, the cabling doesn't have to be significant or expensive.

I've got all the parts I need now to re-power all my factory 'PowerPorts' off of my Aux battery and avoid repeating the embarassment of killing my starter battery by leaving a sixpack peltier cooler plugged in a for a couple days curbside. Had to self-jump to recover from that gaff. Cooler was plugged into the port on the back of the front center console, instead of the ports on the rear power module I'd gone to some effort to create. Just was too lazy to route the cooler's power cord to the rear.

I'm also soon to be re-working my folding solar panel kit and relocating the charge controller from the back side of the panel into that rear power module. Panel will have just wires on it. That way the controller isn't cooking in the rooftop heat when the panel is stored / deployed flat up on my roof deck.

I'd also discussed / planned the idea of adding (4) 10.5mAH wheelchair batteries into my rear power module and rigging things so they are also charge by either alternator or solar, but only discharge to the power ports I've added to both the front and rear of the power module. It's a complication, but I see it as adding another vehicle-battery's worth of juice for camping / small electronics. And options for my disaster prep ideas. Ultimately I want my added power module to be able to run or re-charge just about any sort of small electronics, phones, tablets, laptops, power tools, blender, LED string lights, etc etc
And I already have a 1000W inverter mounted in that box, too. My overall plans included facility for connecting a hitch-mounted winch at the rear, so once I'd committed to run the heavy cable setup for that, everything else became easier to implement.
 

Lykos

Super Trucker
You aren't going to get a lot of charge out of it at idle. Or much love from nearby campers when your vehicle starts in the middle of the night.
There are specialty alternators marketed for emergency and police vehicles to have a much higher power output at idle RPMs, but they are $500+
Aux battery and solar, I'd say. And if your platform design can accommodate it I'd even suggest a 3rd battery in the back. Dual house battery for your house loads. If your rear platform or drawers are already deep enough it's a pretty easy and safe thing to do. And if you aren't planning to draw winch-type power loads from them, the cabling doesn't have to be significant or expensive.

I've got all the parts I need now to re-power all my factory 'PowerPorts' off of my Aux battery and avoid repeating the embarassment of killing my starter battery by leaving a sixpack peltier cooler plugged in a for a couple days curbside. Had to self-jump to recover from that gaff. Cooler was plugged into the port on the back of the front center console, instead of the ports on the rear power module I'd gone to some effort to create. Just was too lazy to route the cooler's power cord to the rear.

I'm also soon to be re-working my folding solar panel kit and relocating the charge controller from the back side of the panel into that rear power module. Panel will have just wires on it. That way the controller isn't cooking in the rooftop heat when the panel is stored / deployed flat up on my roof deck.

I'd also discussed / planned the idea of adding (4) 10.5mAH wheelchair batteries into my rear power module and rigging things so they are also charge by either alternator or solar, but only discharge to the power ports I've added to both the front and rear of the power module. It's a complication, but I see it as adding another vehicle-battery's worth of juice for camping / small electronics. And options for my disaster prep ideas. Ultimately I want my added power module to be able to run or re-charge just about any sort of small electronics, phones, tablets, laptops, power tools, blender, LED string lights, etc etc
And I already have a 1000W inverter mounted in that box, too. My overall plans included facility for connecting a hitch-mounted winch at the rear, so once I'd committed to run the heavy cable setup for that, everything else became easier to implement.

The z56 police gmt800s came with 160 amp alternators. If I decide to forgo solar that will be a nice upgrade for my needs. Hadn't thought about camping neighbors. I don't need some music festival Wook banging on my window at 4am to tell me to turn off my engine so I'll at the least I go with the house battery for night use. I already have a aux battery tray and a Blue Sea 500 amp VSR ACR. I don't think running the engine during the day will be an issue though.
I hate adding anything I don't really need. I prefer KISS over over engineering. My best friend is an electrical engineer and we have great conversations over what I need and what I don't. You'd like him Rayra. If he had it his way I'd have a pull behind diesel generator just in case... ?
A lot of these convos have me saying "Jim, it's just a camper..."
 

Lykos

Super Trucker
I'm going to jump the gun a bit here and post a partial dual battery install.

Installing a second battery in these trucks in stupidly simple.

IMG_20180614_195602855.jpg

The factory spot for a second battery is against the firewall on the passenger side.

IMG_20180614_195611732.jpg

Right there!


You remove the L bracket on top. Four 13 mm bolts. You remove two 10mm bolts. One holds the coolant over flow tank and the other is horizontal into the fender. Remove a few more 13mm against the firewall and the dummy bracket lifts right out.

Install your factory battery tray. I got mine from Advance auto for about $30.

IMG_20180614_201345334.jpg

Now, if you've already selected your aux battery you'll install it at this point. I haven't so I went ahead and put the fender bracket back in. I'm headed to Interstate batteries in Salem VA in the morning to pick out an AGM blem that suits my needs. Yes, I said blem. At 30% of retail with full factory warranty I could care less about scratches on the terminals. LoL


One thing I need to say about that fender bracket is that it's installed there for a reason and needs to stay in place. This means you'll need to find a side post battery or a battery you can mount sideways. Several install videos on the YouTubes delete the bracket. I went over this with my brother, a career auto body guy, and he concurs. Engineers put it there for a reason. Leave it be.

Steps off his soap box...

I'll be running a Blue Sea 7622 ACR with switch. I'm thinking of building a bracket and putting it here... IMG_20180614_202325828.jpg

Thoughts? I'm not going to mount it inside. I simply don't see the point on the extra expense and hassle of doing so. But, I'm not opposed to being proven wrong.

That's it for now.

Other than a quick game of find what doesn't belong under the hood for y'all that is. ;)




IMG_20180614_201724563.jpg


Later taterz

Chad
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
Back when I was researching my 2nd btry tray I wound up with a AC Delco / factory part. Somewhere in that I read that the design of the tray helped replaced the deleted bracket. (fender bone connected to the wheeltub-bone). I shrugged and left mine of. And later even permanently removed the cowl tab for it.
And mostly I left the bracket out as I couldn't fit a grp78 in the tray. I'd initially bumped the grp74 I had for a starter battery to the aux tray when I bought a new 78. It looked as if the bracket woulc fit over it, but I never tried it. But <yr later my pickup battery crapped out so I pulled the 74 for it. So I bought another 78 and bumped the prior one to the Aux and that sure didn't look like it would have fit. I still have the bracket laying around somewhere, I could test that.
Anyone fit a 78 under that bracket?


eta a low-angle shot on how tight things are with a 78 in that spot. Look at the fender height in relation to the battery top

blueseaAux2.jpg
 
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Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
I don't think you can fit a battery onto that tray with the brace still there. Certainly not a Group 34/78, whether it has side terminals or not.

Here's what a 34/78 looks like in the tray:

db9.JPG

Even without the top terminals there's not enough clearance for the brace. You'd need a shorter battery to fit in there.

IIRC the diesel trucks don't use the brace (the tray is for the diesel version since it had a 2nd battery) and if it's OK for them it's fine for me.

EDIT: As you can see, I mounted my solenoid to the firewall. I used jack nuts and machine screws but others have used sheet metal screws and it's worked out OK.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
That's right about where mine is. I crowded the cowl lip a little more, maybe 1/2" higher. And slathered all the terminals with 'liquid electrical tape' once I was done messing with it.

And you can see in Martin's pic how close the bracket mounting tab hovers over the negative terminal, part of why I elected to remove that tab.
Martin where did you route your negative for that battery, back around to the neg on the starter battery?

I elected to go south and ground it to the frame on that side, trailing the shock mount area, there was already a hole in the frame there, as if waiting for the self-tapping shoulder bolt which I used. I'm supposing on a factory dual battery install that's where they route it to. With front and rear AC and an Aux battery and solenoid setup, that corner gets very complicated in a hurry. I still ant to run another pair of cables for a front bumper winch connection. And I have an aux fuse panel hanging off it now too. I don't think I can even re-charge my AC right now without having to disconnect some of the mess. Needs a re-think.
 

Lykos

Super Trucker
I don't think you can fit a battery onto that tray with the brace still there. Certainly not a Group 34/78, whether it has side terminals or not.

Here's what a 34/78 looks like in the tray:

View attachment 454815

Even without the top terminals there's not enough clearance for the brace. You'd need a shorter battery to fit in there.

IIRC the diesel trucks don't use the brace (the tray is for the diesel version since it had a 2nd battery) and if it's OK for them it's fine for me.

EDIT: As you can see, I mounted my solenoid to the firewall. I used jack nuts and machine screws but others have used sheet metal screws and it's worked out OK.
If the diesels don't have the bracket I can too live without it. Seth, the brother, mentioned he's seen them missing in an impact and is caused issues.
I'm trying not to outsmart the engineers. LoL
 

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