ITGuy's 2003 Sierra 1500/2500 4x4 RCLB Build Thread

Bought some factory style fender flares.

Picked this up today as well..
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HD hood for modding.
 
This thread might be coming to an early close, sadly... even as parts are being shipped..

We put the truck on a lift today, and spent a good 2 hours going over everything and making a punch-list of what it needs.
It's pretty much lost it's battle with frame rust. I could put a new back clip on it but even then the corrosion is really tearing apart the drivers side behind the wheel (it's already been welded once) I have 2 cross members that are shot in the back, and the mounting points for my torsion bars are starting to separate.

I need to dwell on it for a couple of days, face the facts, and then see what comes of it. Either way it was a sad day today my truck loving friends.
 
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sucks to hear man !!! i think you should try find another truck, maybe if your luckey a red 4x4 ecsb gmc with a 5.3 ....and swap over all the parts IMO
 
Try and look for a frame, and we can put the lift and everything on it, then swap everything over. would be a long but fun swap.
 
Yeah not sure what direction to go, that's why I want to garage it and look at it for a few days. The frame is just rotting from the inside out it seems. It's progressed a lot just in the months I have had it.. the span of a winter. Thanks for the advice though, it helps.
 
Put axles and stuff on new frame or theres always adaptors lol. Id vote for finding an 5.3 truck. I think excab sb also has the same wheel base and the frame would still work too.
 
the body on his truck isn't going to be much better then the frame IMO

i say try find a clean red ECSB 4x4 with a 5.3 and swap over grill, bumper, tows, handle, rims, maybe even the brakes ....get hood painted...if you ordered the lift put that on there

and in the end you will have an awesome truck IMO
 
Actually the trucks body is in excellent shape. Cab corners have some surface rust from paint peeling, so do fender edging but very very solid and clean. Shockingly clean despite the frame. It was garaged for some of it's life.

If I switched to an HD frame / drivetrain with big gas or diesel, I know I would have to sell rims, lift and fenders.. maybe a few other things. I am pretty open to any possibilities.

Just out of curiosity (and my previous swap/conversion plans) I would like to know what truck frames that would fit. I'll start looking around today. I have the truck still at the shop today and will go take a look again this evening... but at this stage I am at a full stop and just brainstorming.
 
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the reg cab long bed, extended cab short bed, and crew cab 5'9" bed all use the same wheel base I believe, so you could potentially make your body sit on any of those frames, but crew frame would look weird. The cab will fit on an HD just fine too, all use the same cabs and cab mounts on reg cab that I know of. Fender flares will also work no matter what body you decide to use, again, they're all the same. The major difference of an HD truck is since the frame is 2" taller, the bumpers are mounted lower, that's why HDs have taller bumper caps, or the GMCs have the spacer on the bottom of the grille. But you can always raise up the bumper mounts too so it will still look like a 1500.
 
Same for the Silverado's 2003+ as well? Like 2500HD etc?

There are a couple of really low milage silverado duramax work trucks near me.. but I think they are 2WD.
extremely low mileage though. Could be good candidates.

I might look further down the coast. I don't mind going south to get a better vehicle that hasn't seen our winters.

GMC-Sierra & Silverado history
 
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