Huck's daily - 2005 Z71 crewcab

The tonneau I went with was a Tyger roll-up. It was like $185 and what sold me on it is that the rails sat on top of the bed rails instead of inside them. I can't tell you how many times I've knocked off those inside rails on friend's trucks when we're loading/unloading stuff. I'm very impressed with this for the money. Fits perfectly, was nice and tight right out of the box and functions very well. Highly recommended

So then I got a wild hair up my ass to paint all the black plastic trim on the truck before we left. I'd had my guys order me a case of Krylon Fusion a few months back to use on our trailer and that never ended up happening so I grabbed a can to use on my truck, figured I'd just replace it for the company. Taped it all off, quick scuff with the scotchbrite and I sprayed the front bumper/valence...gloss I'd spec'd satin/semi-gloss and of course they bought the wrong thing





So to Walmart I went that night to get a few cans of satin. The next day I was at work till 11pm redoing that and painting the rest of the trim





Did the honeycomb in the grille and the bowtie too, truck looked so much better

My first thought was going to be LS Swap. But, I guess you will have to settle for an LS upgrade to a 6.0 Looks pretty clean. I can honestly say that's the first Cat Eye I have ever seen where the front bumper/fascia doesn't look like it's having a stroke I don't know what it is with those things hanging on by a thread

So then, the day before we're supposed to leave, I decided to tackle the brakes cuz I've had a drum brake "moan" come up the last couple weeks. Figured I'd slap some rotors/pads and shoes on it real quick. Front rotors and pads took 20min a side before work. The LR drum came off fine, the RR drum was STUCK



Here and there throughout the day I'd work on it, sledge/lube/etc, nothing touched it. I finally used a combo of that giant pry bar a 4lb sledge and my pure redhead rage and beat it off. Turns out, the Ebrake cable had come out of the shoe and someone had crammed the adjuster as far out as they could and the leading shoe had really done a number on the drum. It had a deep ridge in it and was completely blue. So off to the parts store I go again for some drums. Again, at work till 10pm and still had an hour drive home and to do laundry/pack



But, after all that work, she made the trip without a hitch! I took my temp gun with me to make sure I had the drums adjusted well and they were perfect! We took the scenic, backroad route and stopped in at my old college town. Got 19.5mpg down and 17.5mpg coming back home. Had a nice vacation and even got to check out the old Hutchinson Island racetrack. I used to run SCCA AutoX there in college, sad to see it in such a state of disrepair

SquareRoot said:

My first thought was going to be LS Swap. But, I guess you will have to settle for an LS upgrade to a 6.0 Looks pretty clean. I can honestly say that's the first Cat Eye I have ever seen where the front bumper/fascia doesn't look like it's having a stroke I don't know what it is with those things hanging on by a thread

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You're right! Every one I've owned before this and buddy's trucks have all had the sag. It's an easy adjustment, other than taking a hit, idk how they all get like that

TotalyHucked said:

Jacked it up by the hitch to let them droop and zipped them off. They were only held on with 1 really small exhaust clamp

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After measurement

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Much better. Now instead of 2.5" of rake, we have the factory 1.5

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Keep going, another few inches lower haha

TotalyHucked said:

Next up was an oil change and some rear Bilstein 5100s since the original shocks were completely shot

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So then I decided it was time to take off the steering wheel cover and order a double din. I'd been worried about the condition of the wheel underneath

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But it was mostly fine. The leather is not worn through, just worn from the cover.

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Started wiring up the HU. I went with an Atoto double din at the recommendation of a couple friends. Also made the mistake of ordering the Bose/steering wheel adapter harnesses off Amazon...

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I just ordered an Amazon HU for my Tahoe like 10 minutes ago. We'll see how they work out. Good luck with yours.

TotalyHucked said:

I think that's what this one was. I junked it in favor of a Pioneer. Same thing, I just have the stock Bose setup for now but I ended up hating that Atoto

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Ya mine might eventually get replaced too, if I had to deal with it daily it would be more of an issue for sure.

I replaced the stock stereo with a Kenwood Excelon DPX795BH from crutchfield, along with some JBL speakers because Bose were toast. It was mostly a plug and play install purchasing the wire kits. The center sub was good so left it but I had to find compatible components which the Kenwood and JBL fit the bill. Overall, I’m happy with it for a truck I drive occasionally and I didn’t want to go overboard on price. I also didn’t want to cut the rear mount and many reviews said they didn’t have to hack it out.

mxer147 said:

I replaced the stock stereo with a Kenwood Excelon DPX795BH from crutchfield, along with some JBL speakers because Bose were toast. It was mostly a plug and play install purchasing the wire kits. The center sub was good so left it but I had to find compatible components which the Kenwood and JBL fit the bill. Overall, I’m happy with it for a truck I drive occasionally and I didn’t want to go overboard on price. I also didn’t want to cut the rear mount and many reviews said they didn’t have to hack it out.

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Yeah I've used JBL speakers in previous Bose equipped trucks and they worked well. I've also completely ripped out the Bose for a custom setup before. I doubt I'll do that with this truck, just some quality Bose compatible speakers and probably one 10 under the seat will be fine for me now. I will add some sound deadener though

Crutchfield is definitely the move for audio.

Nice truck!

CountKrunk said:

Crutchfield is definitely the move for audio.

Nice truck!

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Yeah it’s like the one consistent thing in life..lol.
30+ years ago they were getting it right and now they still do.
I don’t do many stereos but if it’s in need of the right adapter harnesses etc, I trust Crutchfield will have the right parts in the box when it shows up.

Grit dog said:

Yeah it’s like the one consistent thing in life..lol.
30+ years ago they were getting it right and now they still do.
I don’t do many stereos but if it’s in need of the right adapter harnesses etc, I trust Crutchfield will have the right parts in the box when it shows up.

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Yep, I know better. I've always used Crutchfield in the past but I was trying to save a few dollars. Amazon had the "correct" harness listed ~$40-50 cheaper, I shoulda known better. Oh well, lesson learned

So after that trip to Tybee and back, I decided I couldn't live with the broken down seat bottom foam anymore. Dorman makes a replacement that's a firmer foam than original that I've used before and it fits really nice, so I ordered that and also ordered a Pioneer DMH-W3000NEX to replace that Atoto.

It looks decent in pictures but you can see that outside bolster is tired. I also sunk into it, it sat super low.


Pulled the seat out, not too bad. I've cleaned up wayyyy worse



Found a pocket knife!



The rear height adjustment motor is dead. I need to see if I can revive it or I'll just manually crank it when/if I need to move it

Two front 10mil bolts, a few connections and the bottom comes off



Ewwwwwww



No broken wires or springs, so that's good





Cleaned and lubed everything before going back together. Also had stopped by a junkyard a couple weeks prior and scored a new side trim piece. Much better, much more comfortable. I do sit up slightly too high now though and I couldn't revive that rear motor, I need to crank down the rear height adjuster manually