Daily Diesel Colorado

[SuperBuickGuy]

the tailgate locks. without the bed box, I'm not sure I cared but now, it'll be nice to be able to unlock with the second click of the remote

[silver_bullet]

Nifty!

[SuperBuickGuy]

locking tail gate

It's been awhile since I bought the lock system - and to be honest, I was a bit concerned after my stuff with the Kicker amp that the wires would be wrong. They were, but fortunately, someone did a youtube and they were right.... so here we go



basically it pulls the latch out and replaces it with a different style - where before you'd turn the lock 90 degrees to lock, this basically works like any door, 1/4 turn to the left unlocks, right locks


then you have to pull the wiring harness through. In the center of the gate at the bed is a plug so you can remove the tail gate, the lock system has a plug as well - I put it in the same location as the GM plug


wiring goes up through a drain plug then into here


and complete


I really need to get some skid plates under here


the spare hangs so low because the DEF tank is above it



and the hated reburner


soon there will be longer arms here

[SuperBuickGuy]

aforementioned video

[mike343sharpstick]

Love this truck!
I recently saw some info on the Colorado ZR2, I liked it. Didn't realize GM was putting diesels in the Colorado, it sure seems like a nice useful engine.
I've wanted to do some updates to my '13 F150 but I'm so far following my rule, don't F with the daily driver.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I love the mileage and the ease of parking it.... and I'm resisting the urge to 'just do a few things' to the suspension.... fortunately, I'm so overloaded on other stuff that there's no chance I can focus on this.

[mike343sharpstick]

Parking my F150 gets a bit tight, a Colorado would be much easier to live with. Same with me, there is some nice suspension upgrades I really want to do!
Have you pulled a loaded car trailer down the interstate with it?

[SuperBuickGuy]

I've pulled a trailer maybe 3k load it does nice with the diesel torque. That said, the 94 Suburban is more the car-trailer-hauler because it has 10 ply tires on it.

I struggle to describe this to people. The truck weighs 5000 lbs, and Lord knows that I've hauled huge loads with smaller vehicles - but those, like this, isn't meant for that. A camp trailer or overland trailer would be a nice tow-behind, but a car trailer would be pushing the limits just because it doesn't have mass. With that said, I tow a car trailer maybe once or twice a month and usually for very short distance.... and with that said, at 25-30mpg, I can afford to own a 454 dually (or in my case a 6.5 turbo-diesel Suburban) to handle large, heavy loads.... and finally, the funny part is the Colorado has an amazingly-good trailer brake and towing-setting (trailer brake is built in, it also has a Jake brake and adjusts the transmission shifting to help brake and preserve the transmission by keeping it out of 6th gear when towing)

[mike343sharpstick]

I know exactly what you are saying, My F150 is great at car pulling, but it's just so damn big for a daily driver. I have had it now for 5 years and put just about 100K on it, so a few years from now I'll be re-evaluating.
Unfortunately I don't have room and time to maintain a fleet of vehicles. To be honest I don't have time to keep up with the 6 vehicles (3 drivers) we have now. (2 of those are collector vehicles, which have had very little use this summer ).

[SuperBuickGuy]

I know this story well. It's why I segregate cars. The Corvette is to go fast at race tracks and to the occasional car show, the FJ40 is for bouncing in the woods, The Rubicon is my wife's traveling dog kennel and her DD (because she also goes on missions from work), the Suburban is backup DD (for both of us) and dog carrier. It's also my camping vehicle and tow rig. There is some overlap but the DDs are all fairly new or new cars so I don't have to spend additional time fixing something I need to get to work. Both her Jeep and my Colorado cannot easily haul both of us and our 3 dogs (granted, my dogs are all super-sized)...

Cars are so cheap anymore that having a car for each duty works for us. I thought seriously about a 2 1/2 ton flatbed or tow truck - but in the end trailers don't require insurance and are cheap to license.... were that me, I'd keep the F150 or even get a F250 then find a small DD. If you want a Ford, the Ranger is coming in a few months....

I really liked my Hummer, but this current fleet is working pretty well for us... now just to get the C3 on the road....

[silver_bullet]

we too have many vehicles, some are better at towing than others. the bullet is Tammy's summer driver and our normal road trip and Power Tour car.... The Avalanche is the winter driver for her and a pretty good tow vehicle... Sean's S10 Xtreme is his baby, and the 99 Silverado that I bought new is his DD and a better tow vehicle. The 02 ZR2 is my DD with 225K miles on the clock... I have a 32 chevy to get to work on, Sean has High expectations and we have another ZR2 to eventually build into another DD for me.... The bullet has more upgrades coming one day, but life has its own plans as well

[SuperBuickGuy]

in between everything else, I did get an update done to my Colorado. I replaced the rear bumper. While the steps are cool, they're also plastic.... not cool as one tried to leave, it was time to make it a bit more robust
first - that number is the combined weight of the Colorado, trailer and the what was left of the denali - the denali was 4400 lbs


much better and has space for lights

[SuperBuickGuy]

for those curious - the weight of the Colorado is roughly 5000 lbs. I weighed it with me and the tongue of the trailer at 5900 lbs.... by comparison. The 83 K20 pickup I had was 5600 lbs (diesel, 4x4, 3/4 ton) and the FJ40 is 4600 lbs. The Corvette comes in (the last one) at 3100 lbs. There's scales nearby that are unguarded so I routinely run cars across them just to see.

[Loren]

Yeah I just stop in at the waste transfer station to ask a question and the scale weight shows on the wall behind. I don't actually believe I'm fooling them. If you need a cert they'll charge though.

Only got the cert once when I suspected the crushed-rock guy was under loading me. Yep about 600 lbs. under on two tons. Weight scales a good reality check.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Yeah I just stop in at the waste transfer station to ask a question and the scale weight shows on the wall behind. I don't actually believe I'm fooling them. If you need a cert they'll charge though.

Only got the cert once when I suspected the crushed-rock guy was under loading me. Yep about 600 lbs. under on two tons. Weight scales a good reality check.

this is Schnitzer Steel's scale. They are as big as they are because way-back-when their competitor got caught weighting the scales and basically got fined out of business. While they have no problem paying you tin price for steel, their scales have always jibed with the DOT scales that are also nearby.