Another great wheelin trip up at 7-Mile

[88GMCtruck]

Few friends and I went up wheelin at the ORV park in Spokane this weekend. Had one of the best times I've had in awhile, really felt good to put the truck to some use other than driving to campus. Brandon (07HDClassic) and I met up with a few Spokane Locals, including Cameron (Baden). By the end of the day we had 7 rigs in our group out messing around.
Within in the first 10 minutes I lost my brakes. First thing I thought was I broke a brake line… so after looking at it I ended up cracking the bolt loose on the front caliper, from overflexing the truck. I also found at this time my tires can rub the frame, inner fender AND shock while it’s stuffed. Once that was bleed we were on our way playing.
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Here is Brandon’s new toy…. 1988 GMC High Sierra 3/4ton Suburban. It’s a bare bones model with vinyl bench seats and vinyl floors. It’s gained the nickname “government rig” as it is so basic it just reminds me of a government vehicle. It does surprisingly well for how stock it is.

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[88GMCtruck]

One of Cameron’s friends, Doug found us before he was even there. He pulled up and asked “are you the guys from Pullman?” :lol:
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Another friend, Justin, met up with us in his 94 Sierra.
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And Cameron arrived later in the day
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[88GMCtruck]

Once everyone was there we started playing one of those follow me games. Well, Doug was driving over some ice and fell in.
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With Doug pulled out, and the water/ice hole nice and chewed up, everyone egged me on to give it a try. I couldn’t help myself… it wasn’t that deep so in I went. LOTS of back and forth movement, the ice was SUPER thick and I kept getting hung up on it. I could feel it under the truck. I finally after 10 or so tries I made it out on my own. I was revving the truck up to 5k in 2nd gear low range. I really cleared the carbon out on this trip she ran like a top on the way home.
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But of course, 5 minutes later I got stuck in the lamest way possible. I had already made it through this hole, and started heading right as I was following Doug’s Runner. Well the trees were too narrow for my rig so I backed up, right into the tracks where the ice was broke through. The rear diff got high centered, and the front wheels were both on a sheet of ice. Even if I had lockers, I wouldn’t have moved from this.
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[88GMCtruck]

The final place of the day; the rock garden. I didn’t try going through, but doug did and succeeded with a little help at the end.
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After everything was said and done, the trucks were dirty and we were nice and tired. The day after I took the day and pressure washed, washed, vacuumed my truck and assessed my damages, 99% of which I’m sure was from the thick ice.

1. Ripped a mudflap off
2. Bent a fog light bracket and shorted the wiring
3. Cracked the air-dam
4. Dented a rear shock
5. Dented the oil pan
6. Put a nice scuff in the rear bumper
7. Took a couple good chunks of tire tread off via. the fender
8. Bent my exhaust tips
9. Lots of misc scratches in the paint

This was the second outing with the 5-Speed, however I got to use the truck so much more on this trip than the last. The trans did great, and really it’s so much better offroad than the auto. It also is much better towing, the truck is like a completely different animal. Even with the trailer (granted it’s not heavy with just bikes on it) the trans only got up to 150*. All in all it was a great day. I can’t wait to go up again with this group, we really had a blast!

[Baden]

Good Work.

[88GMCtruck]

You know it. Next time you'll need to get up there sooner so we can put your truck through some tests.

[CKTA]

Great pics! :thumbup:

[fortplainman]

dude sick pictures!


oh yeah, who needs brakes anyway:crazy:

[Baden]

Hey man, I know you have experienced the problems of drinking and room-mates....well I'd assume.....No worries, gotta break it before I can fix it the "right" way...

[88GMCtruck]

dude sick pictures!


oh yeah, who needs brakes anyway:crazy:

HAHA I know. It was interesting, cause I was on a pretty steep hill when then went out. Trying to use the e-brake with a manual was interesting cause I ended up using my right foot to control the clutch and left the e-brake.


Hey man, I know you have experienced the problems of drinking and room-mates....well I'd assume.....No worries, gotta break it before I can fix it the "right" way...

Oh trust me, i'm the king of that. And yes, do fix it the "right" way. At least you have a full size template to look at.

[Baden]

Oh trust me, i'm the king of that. And yes, do fix it the "right" way. At least you have a full size template to look at.

for sure, doug and I were browsin parts today that we still need to pick up like the high steer arms and such that we dont already have..its all just money

[fortplainman]

HAHA I know. It was interesting, cause I was on a pretty steep hill when then went out. Trying to use the e-brake with a manual was interesting cause I ended up using my right foot to control the clutch and left the e-brake.

that takes some skills man, its gotta be awkward :lol:

[88GMCtruck]

Yeah lucky I was able to put it in low range first gear and pop the clutch uphill, instead of backing down.

[tatoodkelt]

:rocking:

Good stuff man, wish we had a place like that.

[ryan_thompson87]

Oh how I long for this snow to go away. The only fun I have had is pulling people out, It was getting bad in the latest storm. Just about had to duck a flying tow hook off a Duramax.

[Underpowered]

that place looks like a blast man

[Baden]

that place looks like a blast man

Its a kick ty..the only problem with it being and ORV park is that you have to watch out for the bikes and crap. But its nice to inter-mix the 4x4 stuff with the bike stuff....

[88GMCtruck]

Yeah, depending on the day the bikes can get really bad....

[CountryChevy15]

Looks like fun.

You know where the guy with the darker ecsb truck got the front bumper? I like it and im not a fan of most aftermarket bumpers.

Also how do you have your shackles mounted in the front?

[88GMCtruck]

That is Baden's truck, you'll have to ask him.

My front shackles are mounded on the rear of the leaf, they are the OEM compression shackles from the rear of a 77 GMC 1/2ton. You can see them in my build thread.

[Baden]

Looks like fun.

You know where the guy with the darker ecsb truck got the front bumper? I like it and im not a fan of most aftermarket bumpers.

Also how do you have your shackles mounted in the front?

I made it for my '78, and then when I body lifted my obs I decided to fab it up and make it fit. It has taken some abuse from my '78 and some tree running from my obs. If you want specs let me know.

[CountryChevy15]

Im headed over to your build thread now.

This is the truck im wondering about, is he a member here?

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[Baden]

yes...I am...

[CountryChevy15]

yes...I am...

well then...where you get your front bumper and do you have some close up pics of it?

[Underpowered]

well then...where you get your front bumper and do you have some close up pics of it?

he answered that a few post up :read:

it was made for his 78, then he modded it to fit his OBS after the body lift.

[CountryChevy15]

he answered that a few post up :read:

it was made for his 78, then he modded it to fit his OBS after the body lift.

we posted at the same time. But i figured it out and now i want to fab up some custom bumpers for my obs. I have been looking at pics for the last few hours

[88GMCtruck]

Cameron, nice sig. :D

[Baden]

Cameron, nice sig. :D

Yea, I just couldn't resist. I liked the picture when I first saw you post it up, and it looks good, so I figured why the hell not...If only it were a wee bit taller....soon enough though

[88GMCtruck]

Yeah, it's a good thing. You know what was funny, Doug at first said he didn't notice the SFA until he watched me go up one of those ruts and he saw the flex. I honestly like how it seriously looks stock. I can't tell you how many people ask if it came this way.

Oh yeah, I was thinking.... If you have any desire to switch to a floor shift transfercase, I have 2 of them sitting in the shed back home that are pretty much useless to me.

[Baden]

Yeah, it's a good thing. You know what was funny, Doug at first said he didn't notice the SFA until he watched me go up one of those ruts and he saw the flex. I honestly like how it seriously looks stock. I can't tell you how many people ask if it came this way.

Oh yeah, I was thinking.... If you have any desire to switch to a floor shift transfercase, I have 2 of them sitting in the shed back home that are pretty much useless to me.

passenger or driver? I like the feeling of reachin' down and throwing it in and knowing that it is in for sure...unlike the electronic stuff...

[88GMCtruck]

Yeah, I have two driver's drop NP241's. One needs a seal on the input shaft and the magnet put back in it (It got left out when we swapped input shafts on it).

You would need to get the linkage/shifter assembly out of a parts truck still, but otherwise it's a direct bolt in.

[Baden]

Yeah, I have two driver's drop NP241's. One needs a seal on the input shaft and the magnet put back in it (It got left out when we swapped input shafts on it).

You would need to get the linkage/shifter assembly out of a parts truck still, but otherwise it's a direct bolt in.

so one is a parts one and the other is ready to go? finding the linkage would be cake...

[88GMCtruck]

They are both good. I'm planning on saving one since the internals are the same as what I have now.

The one I planned to keep came out of my 88. The other one came from the 94 parts truck (came with my NV4500) and I swapped the larger input shaft out of it to use with my transmission. It needs a new input seal and we forgot to put the magnet in it, otherwise it's ready to rock. Putting the magnet back in is only like a 15min job, at best. Worst part is having to re-seal the case halves again....

You'll also need the little bucket thing that goes in the floor that holds the shifter, a little bracket for the trim, the floor trim and the wiring. All of those would be easy to get honestly.

[Baden]

They are both good. I'm planning on saving one since the internals are the same as what I have now.

The one I planned to keep came out of my 88. The other one came from the 94 parts truck (came with my NV4500) and I swapped the larger input shaft out of it to use with my transmission. It needs a new input seal and we forgot to put the magnet in it, otherwise it's ready to rock. Putting the magnet back in is only like a 15min job, at best. Worst part is having to re-seal the case halves again....

You'll also need the little bucket thing that goes in the floor that holds the shifter, a little bracket for the trim, the floor trim and the wiring. All of those would be easy to get honestly.


for sure...ill see what im going to do...dougs tranny problems kind of threw a kink in our chain so we might doing something else about parts and such now...so..I might be going with a 79 chev donor and going that route...but for now im still stickin to the hp44 front and 60 rear...but if I have to ill be swapping to chev parts.