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nvestysly · 12-21-2015, 07:38 PM

In one of the earlier posts of this thread somebody showed a sliding bed tray made of wood and a series of roller bearings. I love that idea but decided to take a different approach for our 2005 Suburban.

We already had a used Extendo Bed in our 1996 Suburban and I love that thing! We bought it used, from a fire department, via eBay. Pictures of a similar product are found HERE.

When we purchased a used 2005 K2500 Suburban a few years ago I knew I wanted some sort of slide out tray option but the Extendo Bed, as cool as it is, is really heavy. The design of Extendo Bed allows the tray to slide out a full 110% so you can access everything from the rear and sides. As I said, it's way cool. But I wanted something lighter weight - the Extendo Bed probably weighs 500 pounds by itself - so I started looking for other options.

I found a used Bedslide on Craigslist and the price was right - I think I paid $225. I had a local welding shop make an aluminum shelf and that allowed me to put all my camping equipment as well as most of the tools I use for Habitat for Humanity on the modified Bedslide. I put another $300 into the aluminum frame, plywood and misc. hardware so for just over $500 I have a very workable solution for our needs.

Here are a couple pictures of the original Bedslide. Notice the original came with a 4" aluminum edge on three sides of the tray.

The second set of pictures shows the enhanced Bedslide. I removed the 4" aluminum sides and replaced it with aluminum angle that creates a 1" lip around the perimeter of the original tray. The shelf is slightly shorter (front to rear) than the bottom tray so allow for a few "tall" items such as a tool box, air compressor and water softener. The shelf is constructed of aluminum and creates a lip around the top shelf. I drilled a series of holes so I can use elastic cords to secure items.

By the way, the entire weight of the enhanced Bedslide is about 175 pounds. Consider that we removed about 75 pounds by taking out the 3rd row seat and the Bedslide only adds 75 pounds. The "stuff" on the Bedslide weighs 380 pounds.

The Bedslide only pulls out 70% so it's not quite as easy to access everything but we're saving several hundred pounds. We'll give it a try for a while and see how it compares to the Extendo Bed.

BoldAdventure · 12-21-2015, 09:31 PM

Wow! That's a lot of stuff. Pretty awesome slide for sure!

nvestysly · 12-22-2015, 06:31 AM

Moderator, here's the new picture

crispyboy · 12-22-2015, 06:50 AM

Last year I had a mechanic tell me that the ball joints were starting to get loose in the truck (Dodge 2500). Since I planned on getting new tires I thought this would be a good time to replace the ball joints, new tires and finish up with a front end alignment.
I plan on keeping my pickup for several more years so I decided that I would spend extra money and get some top shelf ball joints. These are greasable and warrantied for as long as I own the truck. I did this job back in November but I didn't take any pictures. I did snag a picture from the internet of the new ball joints. Probably not too exciting for you guys but the truck does track nicely with the new parts, tires and alignment. The ball joint change out was one of the physically harder jobs I have tackled in awhile. One thing that helped with installation is that I put the new ball joints in the freezer for two days before pressing them in.

Click image for larger version

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nvestysly · 12-22-2015, 07:03 AM

I like the freezer idea. That probably gains you a "thousandth" of an inch. I guess if needed, the opening in the A-arm could be heated and that would gain a few thousandths in the other direction.

What did you use for a press? Maybe you have a hydraulic or arbor press - in which case, I'm envious. Otherwise, I've seen something that resembles a large C-clamp for removing ball joints.

I suspect I need to replace the lower joints (press-in style) on my 1996 Suburban and as you said it looks like a physically demanding task.

crispyboy · 12-22-2015, 08:22 AM

I had the large C-clamp tool along with 1/2" drive, 3/4" drive, cheater bars, penetrating fluid, smoke wrench, etc........
One of the hardest parts is trying to get the C-clamp in place with the various adapters - many days I should have been born with a few more arms.

Tuco · 12-22-2015, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crispyboy

Last year I had a mechanic tell me that the ball joints were starting to get loose in the truck (Dodge 2500). Since I planned on getting new tires I thought this would be a good time to replace the ball joints, new tires and finish up with a front end alignment.
I plan on keeping my pickup for several more years so I decided that I would spend extra money and get some top shelf ball joints. These are greasable and warrantied for as long as I own the truck. I did this job back in November but I didn't take any pictures. I did snag a picture from the internet of the new ball joints. Probably not too exciting for you guys but the truck does track nicely with the new parts, tires and alignment. The ball joint change out was one of the physically harder jobs I have tackled in awhile. One thing that helped with installation is that I put the new ball joints in the freezer for two days before pressing them in.

Attachment 254320

How many miles did you get out of the original ball joints?

crispyboy · 12-22-2015, 09:37 AM

62k miles though I think I could have milked more out of them. According to my dial indicator I was getting in the neighborhood. The factory specification actually allows for a lot of slop. I'm a stickler for good steering - or at least as much as a solid front axle will give you.

nvestysly · 02-17-2016, 08:35 AM

Our 2005 Suburban had a water leak on the passenger side. After a heavy rain we would find the floor mat thoroughly soaked. However, the carpet (under the floor mat) was typically not wet and the Husky floor liner (on top of the floor mat) was not wet.

Why do we have a factory floor mat and a Husky floor liner. Who knows?

So somehow the water was making the center of the sandwich wet but not the top and bottom (bread) of the sandwich. I was finally annoyed to the point that I decided to investigate.

Danielle helped me to methodically apply water to the passenger side of the vehicle. We started near the front fender, slowly worked our way to the bottom edge of the windshield, moved up the edge of the windshield, then to the antenna mounted on the roof just above the windshield, then to the sun roof, then to the roof rack. We spend an hour or so and no evidence of water. Arggh!

We put all our investigatory tools away and I was discouraged that we hadn't found the leak.

Then I had a aha moment. The proverbial light bulb turned on. What if water had leaked in but it simply hadn't made its way to the carpet yet?

I removed the plastic cowl from the passenger side of the floor area and found a cup or so of water poured out. Hmmm. We began repeating the water test and quickly found water dripping from the HVAC blower motor.

Ultimately, water was entering in to the fresh air intake because of a poor/damaged gasket on a plastic cover. I removed the windshield wipers, removed the cowl grill and found the plastic cover was not very secure. The plastic cover was difficult to remove and I broke a few tabs during the removal process.

A new cover, gasket and some RTV and snapped the cover back into place. No problems after a month or so since the repair. We've had several heavy rains so seems to be fine for now.

The carpeted floor mat extended up near the blower motor. The Husky floor liner stopped short of that. So when water dripped down it landed on the carpeted floor mat and prevented water from reaching the carpet. Consequently, the middle of sandwich would get soaked but not the top and bottom.

BoldAdventure · 03-30-2016, 06:49 PM

New truck, new mods.

Getting this installed tomorrow or Friday, depending on how busy the shop is. And installed my new Air intake this afternoon:

m.hony · 03-30-2016, 07:18 PM

Magnaflow?

Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

BoldAdventure · 03-30-2016, 07:49 PM

Magnaflow 12589 to be exact

DavidsonOverlander · 03-30-2016, 08:49 PM

The windshield wipers on our 2005 F350 have never worked well. Even with new blades (we've tried several kinds over the years) there would be places where the wiper wouldn't stay in contact with the glass, especially at highway speeds. The force of the blade against the window of these wipers is weaker than on our other vehicles. A few weeks ago I got a pair of SUREWIPE wiper springs and now the wipers work like they should. They're easy to install and are available at Canadian Tire for CDN$10.99 or on Amazon for US$18.50 including shipping. Easy to install and a cheap fix to an annoying problem!

crispyboy · 03-31-2016, 08:56 AM

Hope you don't put too much dust into your engine with the K & N filter......

Airstreamer67 · 03-31-2016, 09:19 AM

After 20 years' service, the radiator on my '96 F250 diesel finally started leaking. So, this week I installed a new all-aluminum Mishimoto radiator. While doing that, I decided to upgrade the small factory auto tranny cooler with a much larger Tru Cool unit and also put on new associated tranny hoses to the radiator and new cooler. And while I was on a roll, I also put an in-line B&M tranny screw-on-filter kit to improve tranny filtering and to protect the new radiator and cooler should the 20-year-old tranny decide to start sheading parts on my next trip.

BoldAdventure · 03-31-2016, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crispyboy

Hope you don't put too much dust into your engine with the K & N filter......

Here we go

- "If it lets in so much air it must let in more dirt"

I have a AFE dry filter anyways that is going on it.

crispyboy · 03-31-2016, 01:20 PM

I have heard many mechanics talk about the aftermarket filters often get over oiled and coat intake sensors with dirty oily residue - throwing codes, etc....
While this may not pertain to your new truck, Ram has voided engine warranty on the Cummins engine due to dust out conditions destroying the engine. I have also been told by a dealership technician that Dodge has put a lot of R & D into their stock filtering system and it works well in terms of air movement and dust.

Echelon73 · 03-31-2016, 01:59 PM

I am a huge believer in the K&N oiled intakes. I have used their fuel injection performance kits (FIPK) on our BMW's for years. One has been on our 2001 330Ci for well over 10 years. I have cleaned/oiled it twice and it has never fouled the intake air temperature (IAT) sensor. I think you would have to put a huge amount of oil on it or oil it from the wrong side for this to happen. I would think the oiled filter would catch more dust and dirt than a dry filter. That being said, I have used a dry AFE filter like Bold is describing for several years on our 240sx and it has worked great as well, but I still prefer the K&N filters.

m.hony · 03-31-2016, 02:31 PM

Until I get enough money to do a supercharger, true dual exhaust, and remap the computer I will run the stock air filter.

BoldAdventure · 03-31-2016, 04:25 PM

Thanks for the concern. I don't have a diesel. Also, no accounting for people over oiling things. That doesn't make it the products fault. If you suspect you are dumb and cannot follow instructions, you should use a paper filter and not modify your vehicle.

---

Got the muffler installed today. Removed the resonator too. Really kind of surprised at how quite it is. I guess I am just used to a dual exhaust setup.

And now for photos. I told the guy I wanted it subdued and to leave me with plenty of ground clearance so I don't have to worry about bashing my tail pipe.

This is what he came up with, and I'm really happy about this.

You can hear it, but you can't see it.

Just barely comes a little lower than the stock spare tire.