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Court
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 06:28 am: | 
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One thing I like about my off road "beater" Colorado is that parts are cheap. I spend 10 hours a day in tough off road conditions. While the Colorado has very little ground clearance it's done ok. I've ripped off the front valance twice in March but they are..... I was happy to find.....$56 shipped to by door. |
Pwnzor
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 07:21 am: |
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Court... man... I thought you were a Ford guy.
Now my whole perspective is shot.
I can forgive you though, everybody makes mistakes. |
Court
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 08:03 am: |
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No . . .no . . don't get me wrong. This Chevrolet is a company vehicle I use daily for my off roading. Frankly, it's a joke for off road (it has the ground clearance of my MGB) . . . but, it's what they gave me.
In view of the fact that it's not mine, I've razored the carpet to expose the sheet metal and mounted several Ram-Mount bases, an inverter, Motorola radios, and 2 sets of 4 outlet 12v panels. This allows me to mount instruments, dash cam and I have a backup iPhone and Global Star SatPhone mounted next to an iPad on the console.
The vehicle is pretty much trashed but it has the recovery hooks which make it easy to recover (I've never lost it but I've been driving 4WD since I was a kid . . but my 22 year old intern had to be recovered with the winch on a D8N last week).
The transfer case in the Colorado is clunky and a throwback to the 1979 Chevrolet K20.
Frankly . . . if it were my money I'd have an F-250 with lock-out hubs and the line construction option with the printer scanner and mobile repeater mounted in the rear portion of the cab.
I'm headed out today to start establishing GPS coordinates for helicopter LZ's. It's just starting to melt the last of the snow and I'll see how the mud is . . . I've been walking a lot the last couple days rather than tear up folks' fields.
I'd be driving my AWD Escape (which will pretty much go anyplace a Jeep CJ will) but I don't want the scratches and body scars I'm putting on the Colorado.
But the Colorado is the card I've been dealt, it's free and I'm making it work. It's getting about 16 MPG in my off road adventures which I think is pretty good. The oil change warning has been flashing for the past 4 months and I should really do something about that soon. Funny how, with your own, you use the Amsoil Signature and with this as long as it starts I could care less.
The Colorado is also a pretty cool looking truck. It''s more a small car with a bed. But handy. |
Pwnzor
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 08:57 am: |
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OK, I figured you would have an explanation.
You're excused. |
Froggy
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 09:04 am: |
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quote:I ordered and got a Z71 Colorado SS
Z71 SS? What is this sorcery? I can't find any information online about an SS variant other than speculation. I don't see anything on Chevy.com either.
Court, you can leave that valance off, most of the off road guys do. It sounds like yours is the Z85 model, the Z71 has a boatload more ground clearance, real auto locking rear diff, skid plate, bigger tires and some other off road friendly goodies. |
Fresnobuell
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 02:42 pm: |
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quote:if it were my money I'd have an F-250
Boy, around here the rage is for guys who need an ego boost to covert these 3/4 ton trucks into faux-monster trucks...and the real cool guys have diesels.
I must not be aware, but there must be someplace in the CA vehicle code that says it's ok for anyone with a raised truck to run it with open exhausts, black out all the windows, drive while on the cell phone, tailgate everyone, cut people off, ignore all speed limits (Especially in residential areas,) etc.
Bunch of pea brain idiots. |
Whistler
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 02:44 pm: |
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Yes, got me too with the SS. I was feeling like I had missed out on an opportunity.
Court this is my first Chevy but best I can tell the 2015 Colorado is something of a departure from previous years. |
Just_ziptab
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 09:37 pm: |
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There are not too many things I don't mess with just a little to make a statement with out shouting......
Throw a couple bucks at ebay when emblems come up for 99¢ and a Colorado SS becomes a reality.
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Ulyranger
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 09:56 pm: |
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I don't know about the F250 SD love, I drive one daily and hate it. The lock outs on the front axle are not like the old Fords. Two settings, Auto and Locked. The Auto function dies within the first twenty thousand miles (whole fleet has done this). The lock outs freeze up because they are housed in crap pot metal, replaced twice already. The rear limited slip (actually unlimited spin) rear diff is awful, most times in a limited traction situation you get the kitty corner one front, one rear tire opposite sides with power applied. The transfer case has a mind of its own, sometimes it's In w/o the indicator light, sometimes the lights on and it's Out. Many times it will not disengage w/o going through the flick the switch, roll forward and backwards thing a few times. There is virtually no axle articulation in off camber situations limiting tire contact with the ground. Plant a front tire in a hole and the opposite rear is hanging in the breeze. She's heavy as an M1 tank. As an "off road" vehicle it is hands down the worst full size truck I've driven. It can literally get stuck on wet grass.
They are well known for exhaust leaks, gaskets replaced twice in 90K, cracked headers once. The calipers freeze up, particularly on the rear disks and they are not cheap. Yes, I know NY winters are tough on rear calipers, but my truck is serviced many times a year and greasing the sliders is done at least annually. I could go on with the critiques all night.......these are not the 250s of days past.
On the bright side, it's strength as a pavement princess is towing and hauling. It does that quite well, very stable even with the heaviest trailers we have. The integrated brake controller flawless. As much as I think the 5.4 triton is gutless in daily drive mode, in tow/haul mode with a load it has the same performance and mileage. Freaky. It gets between 10.5-13 mpg no matter how you drive it.....admittedly I don't baby it.
The SDs I drove years ago, particularly the diesels were good. I know, haters gonna hate, just can't wait till something different hits the contract list....and there are better choices for off road applications IMHO.
Let the flaming begin  |
Pwnzor
| | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2015 - 10:39 pm: |
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340,000 miles now on my E350 Super Duty, no problems with it at all... other than getting stuck in the mud at C3 during Glitch Badness that is.
My trucks have all been flawless, and king of their respective domains. From the 5.4 Triton to the 7.3 Powerstroke, engines have been free from gremlins one and all. |
Whisperstealth
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2015 - 04:06 pm: |
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I want to see if they are going to put a ZR2 edition into production. The ZR2 concept truck on chevy.com looks pretty rad. |
M1combat
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2015 - 05:24 pm: |
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"There are not too many things I don't mess with just a little to make a statement with out shouting......
Throw a couple bucks at ebay when emblems come up for 99¢ and a Colorado SS becomes a reality. "
So it's MexiBling/JDM stickers...
Gotcha. |
Court
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2015 - 05:48 pm: |
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Fun pic from yesterday . . .
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Just_ziptab
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - 12:52 am: |
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If I'm really careful....
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