00 GMC 3500 Dually "Atlas Duce"

Earlier this year as some of you know I wrecked my 97 Chevy crew cab dually on my way back from my Christmas vacation in Montana as I was traveling through Nebraska headed to Texas.



I hit a pothole going 75 mph, needless to say it was not good for my suspension and it caused a ball joint to separate, bent the frame and screwed up the cab when the tires slammed into it. As well with the wreck the engine would no longer start and thus the insurance company decided to total it.

So there I was standing in Nebraska, still a thousand miles from Houston, wondering what I was going to do because unbeknownst to me I did not have rental reimbursement on my policy.

I called Uhaul and asked about a truck, the cheapest I could get was about $1,350.00 going to Houston, and I'd still have to buy gas for it.

The issue was I had my dog and tools with me, so a regular rental car would not work. I wound up talking to the guy who owned the towing company where my truck had been towed, he sold me a 1970 Chevy C/10 that had been an impound.



I wound up having a pretty epic adventure driving that truck back to Houston, not going to get into it here, but the old truck did good, it made it. averaged 16 mpg the whole way too all loaded down with my junk. I was fairly impressed of the old truck for that.

Since then that is what I have been driving.

Now originally the reason I had a Crew Cab dually is I was planning on buying a Goose Neck trailer and hauling all my stuff back to Montana when I finished school, and recently I have been needing a truck with a trailer on several occasions and my C/10 just has not been cutting it.

Thus I have spent the last couple of weeks truck shopping and found this one:











I made the deal on it today, and this weekend I will be driving to Dallas to pick it up.

Tomorrow the guy I am buying it from is going to get it over to a shop to have a B&W turnover ball installed in the bed. This is so I can also get this:





It is a 26' 21K goose neck. I am super excited about it because this is a huge mile stone for me because it is the means by in which I will be moving when I graduate college back up to Seattle. This trailer is going to get that job done for me.

I am really excited about it, I will post pictures when I get my hands on it, and show you all the little road trips I make with it.

The truck has a Vortec 7400 in it right now, I am thinking once it is ready to be replaced I will put a Cummins 12 valve in it.

All I know though is that it is going to feel so good having a solid truck again that actually has power steering and air conditioning.

Well a small update, tomorrow it is going over to get a B&W turnover ball installed in the bed, then I will be picking it up Saturday afternoon.



When I make my trip to Montana my dad has a B&W 5th wheel coupler I am going to take off his hands.



And I am going to get one of these for the trailer:



That will convert it to a 5th wheel, which I prefer because I think they tow a lot nicer, and you don't have to crank them up super high when you are unhitching.

It will be really nice if I put air ride on the truck because I wont even have to crank the trailer up then, I can simply set the landing gear down, drop the bags and slide out from under it.

I just ordered a set of mirrors for the truck.





They are heated power adjustable and have the turn signals on them. I am going to get everything wired up proper I think it is going to be very nice having that all setup. They are going to be really nice over the stock sport mirrors.

sweet trailer!!

Spent the last 6 hours designing this:





I think since I have some time on my hands where I can do it I am going to build it.

It is a 24' Gooseneck, the deck is 20' with a 4' dovetail. The ramps are 72"

Things have been a little crazy for me, There was a delay in getting paid some money I was owed, so it took longer to go get the truck than I was hoping for.

Finally yesterday I got the check I was waiting on, and I scurried up to Dallas and got my truck. I was pretty happy.



I ran over and rented a uhaul trailer so I could get my other truck home. And on that note for being a 42 year old truck that old C/10 didn't skip a beat the whole way to Dallas.



Also on the way up I saw this old guy at a shell station where I stopped for Gas.



I think it is a 53 5 window. It was a pretty cool truck none the less.

As far as the new truck goes, I did have a few issues with it, when I got there the battery would barely turn the engine over. and the the AC was not working, nor were the dash lights. I checked around for a little bit, but could not find why, so I had to get on the road.

I made it about 50 miles and the cruise control quit working, I pulled over and shut the truck off, hoping that turning it off and then back on would help, but the truck would not restart. I pulled the battery out of the C/10 and was able to get it to start, but the cruise did not work.

About 5 miles up the road there was a gas station, I stopped there and got some food and drinks, when I came back out the truck again would not start, it was just clicking. I wound up pulling the battery terminals apart to find that they were very badly screwed up, I cleaned them up the best I could, but the cables had already been shortened several times, so I was left with not much I could do.

The truck did start up after a bit of protest, and all of the sudden the AC was blowing cold, albeit out the floor vents. But that is an easy fix.

I got on the road again, I made it another 20 or so miles and the dash lights lit up and worked with out issue the rest of the trip back.

The motor has a hesitation to it, and does not idle well. I am thinking that either it is having the distributor issue many of these trucks had, or it is suffering from the leaky injectors they also suffered from. I am not sure which it is, we will see, I am going to run over to a friends shop today and set the timing.

Also the transmission as I was getting close to home started shifting really hard, and most of the trip back it wanted to stay in 3rd instead of going into 4th. I am guessing I will be putting a trans in it since it does have 151,000 on it, and with that it is about due so I am not going to get really upset about it, even with these issues I still got a pretty good deal on it.

It also appears to have a rebuilt engine, it has a couple of new pulleys on the engine, and the paint on the engine is new, as well you can see the gaskets are new.

Over all I am pretty pleased with the truck, I am going to have to find a new dash for it, a new B pillar plastic, and the trip piece for over the back window is busted, the drivers seat is a bit wore out. But other than that it is pretty clean.

The plan for today is to first get the mirrors thrown on it, then I am going over to a welding supply place to make some new battery cables. Then I will head over and kick off the uhaul.

Once I get back to the shop I am going to see about getting the AC blowing out the dash vents, then I will get to work getting my alarm installed in it.

I think all said and done after a bit of cleaning up and a transmission I am going to have a damn nice truck on my hands. It rides really nice and it did pull that C/10 like it wasn't even there. I suspect the combo weighs about 6500-7500 lbs.

I did notice the truck ran better the closer we got to being home, it may have been that the gas in it was just a bit stale and needed to work its way out of it.

I also have to get underneath and make sure nothing got damaged, I had an idiot lose a motor cycle helmet out of the back of his truck in front of me yesterday and I went right over the top of it and drug it for quite a ways.

I will post some pics later when I get the mirrors all mounted up.

sounds like quite the adventure. There is nothing like the stability of a daully when towing.

I had a 250 superduty years ago and got rid of it. Bought a 04 Silverado a couple yrs ago and HATED it after pulling my Trans Am once. Quickly got rid of it, and bought my old 89 CC dually. Gas mileage SUCKS- but I wouldn't go back to a half ton for anything.

Hope you get everything worked out- it is a nice looking truck...even like the checkerd flag.

I got up early this morning and started digging into the truck, the first thing I found is that the stepper motor that directs the air to the dash vents is bad.

I will pick up another and it will be working well.

Then I got my stereo stuffed in the dash, so now I have tunes and my iPod

Then I got the mirrors on the truck.

Before:





After:





I need to run over now and get some welding wire so I can make battery cables, then I will be able to get the electrical issues fixed up.

Will post more later.

The last 5 years I have always had a dually, spending the last 7 months with out one has been terrible, never again!

Im diggin those mirrors, looks good. And I really like the graphics, but I haul race stuff, so I'm sort of biased. Nice looking truck.

Not being nosey or anything, but what did you pay for it?