Question about a GMC

[Andrew_S]

Seems perfectly fine to me. 226,000km = 135,000 miles. My '04 Suburban had 136,000 on it when I bought it in 2015.
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There are two reasons you don't see too many GMT-900 builds on ExPo: The first is that there is a general preference by many users for SUVs and particularly the likes of Toyota, Land Rover and Nissan. Second, not too many people want to start building up a vehicle that is brand new, so vehicles have to move "down market" a bit (i.e. they have to get older and cheaper) before people are willing to start swapping parts and bashing them up in the wild.
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It's funny that you mention this now because I have been casually shopping around for a 2009+ Chevy/GMC 1500 crew cab 4x4 to replace my '04 Suburban, when it needs replacing (which will likely be next year.) They have moved into that part of the market where they're very affordable. 2009+ gets you the 6 speed transmission which should (theoretically, anyway) give better MPG. Also by 2009 AFAIK most of the AFM issues (that plagued the 2007 - 2008 models) had been worked out. The rest of the drivetrain should be rock solid. A topper should get you enough room to sleep in the bed (if you sleep diagonally!) and after that all you need is good tires and camping gear.

Wouldn't expect this out of any of the 5.3's. Unless you shut the afm off entirely it's always an issue from my experience. Had a 2012 and by 50,000 km's it was burning 2 quarts of oil every 5000 km's. I've read hundreds of forum posts regarding the same issues. Although they did make some "fixes" lots of guys were still having issues afterwards with later years.

 

[Choff]

We have 180,000 miles on a 5.3 in a 2005 GMC Savana AWD and running great -EVERY DAY , running Synthetic oil-going to take it to the Max miles then put new engine in

 

[bigjohndatsun]

Wouldn't expect this out of any of the 5.3's. Unless you shut the afm off entirely it's always an issue from my experience. Had a 2012 and by 50,000 km's it was burning 2 quarts of oil every 5000 km's. I've read hundreds of forum posts regarding the same issues. Although they did make some "fixes" lots of guys were still having issues afterwards with later years.

Afm has been an issue throughout the nnbs lineup-2007.5-2013. The fixes you mention are a new style valve cover designed to prevent oil into the pcv. Which does help with the oil burning, but afm in itself from gm is flawed because it uses oil. so any dirty oil will slowly degrade the system. For that reason the 4.8 is the best engine in those years. regardless if its ticked for a long time I'd just run it, no point in deleting the afm or turning ti off via tune.

Mine ko'ed lifters at 115,000km. Always ran synthetic and changed before I needed to. Fired it up one morning and rattle rattle. Redid the top end, new cam, lifters etc. Now I have the power of a 6.0 and the mileage has actually gotten a little better(trucks runs in the rpm range of the cam better).

I have used mine for many hard miles in the last 3 years with the usual maintenance. Be prepared for some ball joints and wheel bearings to be done. Both easy jobs to do but known issues on these years(pro tip if you want the wheel bearings to last longer, you can grease them through the abs sensor on the hub). Other than that its a pretty solid truck, is a pleasure to drive offroad compared to my old f250 with solid axles.

 

[mekcanix]

yeah I have already experienced the wheel bearings. I got the truck with 130 000 km on the clock. So in the last 4.5 years I have replaced both front wheel bearings, one rear leaf in the spring pack, the oil pressure sensor, the blend door motor (way easier then what I was told it would be, and a power steering pump due to blowing a line a few years back during a extremely cold winter and no one having any stock on the pressure line for about a month, which is insane to me, so the pump was run dry a few times, so the whining got louder so as a precaution I changed the pump before winter. So the truck owes me nothing and its paid off in July 2018. Part of my concerns of course are the afm and second that there is no skid on the plastic fuel tank. It did have one, a plastic one, that got pulled off in a snow storm. Anyone know of a company making skids for these things?

 

[Wilbah]

I have a 04 Yukon with 235K (miles) or so on it. Great for off-road on forest roads etc. as long as they are not too nasty. No I don't do any rock crawling but getting me to camping and fishing spots its awesome. Plus its comfy on the highway, and I can sleep in the back of it with the 2nd row seat folded down. But one of the best things is that its paid for. I usually have a $500 "car payment"...per year....it comes once and I don't know when it will be. Its the larger type repair that sneaks up on me. I can do brakes in less than a half hour, belts- I finally replaced the original serpentine belt at 225K because I was sick of carrying the new replacement I had under the seat. LOL No lie. I sort of wanted to see how many miles I could get out of it and finally said screw it I will put the new one in I have. And a lot of other stuff I can still do myself- sensors are easy with a scanner, front wheel hub unit, I paid a garage to do the fuel pump. But they last. I use synthetic too and I get the valve tic when I start it. Once it warms up its fine. I say as others have- keep it and drive it into the ground. Dunno what sales tax in your neck of the world is but here in MA if I get a new to me $20K vehicle I'm going to pay $1250 just for the pleasure of buying it. That's two years of my 1x a year repair.

You might try ebay or a junkyard for a skid plate for the gas tank. Or get a metal shop to bend one up for you.

 

[rayra]

I havne't been able to find anyone making gas tank plates for these trucks / SUVs, as an 'in stock' item. Lots of places that can make a cu$tom one, though.

I've been talking for a while about making a 'second skin' sort of plate with some bends in it which will utilize the existing tank saddle straps to mount it, with the rest of the plate standing proud of the plastic tank by 1/2"-1". Enough to absorb a hit from say a ladder laying in the highway. But of no use to support the vehicle weight while high centering.
One major issue in my design considerations is that the bottom of the tank is essentially flush with the bottom of the frame rails alongside it.
I've also given some thought to a design which would use rivnuts in the bottom of the frame rail and the cross member at the front end of the tank and then use a metal tubing framework to support the inboard / driveshaft edge of the plate. With a vertical support tied to the saddle strap mounting locations fore and aft. With the trailing end of the plate being bent upward so it doesn't hang on anything while backing. It would necessarily hang loose in the frame arch area of the rear axle, in front of the rear axle.
I've been harvesting large box remnants from Christmas to use in some 'Cardboard Aided Design' in a couple months.

I don't think the strap spacing is the same, but the design solutions should work, the tank setups are generally quite similar.

Then I just need to get a larger press brake and find a less expensive source for aluminum plate.

 

[mekcanix]

Good luck with the Aluminum plate I worked in a metal warehouse manufacturing business for 4 years as there Maintenance Manager and the best deal I could get on them making me a skid was almost in the 300 dollar range. I sourced it through another shop (our competition) and got the price cut in half but was very disapointed in the final product to the point I refused it as it did not match the supplied plans.
I will see if I still have a paper copy of the plans kicking around

 

[BPD53]

I'm currently using aluminum skids. They stick to rocks like velcro. I'm switching to steel. I'd avoid aluminum personally...just my 2 cents.