1985 GMC High Sierra 2500 with 454

[98Murray]

Hello, I am a new member but have been reading this forum for awhile. I am 16 years old and live just south of Dallas Texas. This is my project truck. It has been sitting on the fence row at my grandfathers farm for about 20 years. My grandfather said if i wanted it I could have it so I drug it home a few months ago and started working on it. Its a 1985 GMC High Sierra 2500 2WD with a 454, 4 speed with granny first gear, 4:10 rear end, and a longbed. We used it for a long time out here on the farm until in 1995 the engine started knocking so it was taken out, rebuilt, and installed but never finished. In 1997 my brother who was only 10 at the time decided he was going to try and get it running but the carb backfired and burnt up some things under the hood, nothing terrible tho. So far I only have about $50 invested in the truck and it does run. The carburetor is not correct because it has an electric choke but should have a hot air choke so I need to replace it. Also it needs a new clutch master cylinder and a battery. This has been a fun project and I cant wait to finally drive it. Its not going to be a daily driver but probably just a feed truck used for hauling hay. Here is some photos of the truck and also a video of it running. A friend of mine has been helping me out with the truck and getting it running but most of the work I have done myself. Let me know what yall think of the ol girl. I will post updates and new photos/videos as I work on the truck.

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uorh...w9UMprgPDsFElw

Photos. As you can see I have some other projects as well. BTW I have matching original wheels, the chrome one is just a spare

[98Murray]

Where it sat for many years.



The day I drug it home (only had about a mile to drag it off road)



And here's more pics













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[Hankster]

Looks like you got a good start! Its got a heck of a drivetrain in it! I'm 15, So I know what your going thru, lol I'm building a 86, Check out the build thread in my signature!

[98Murray]

Nice truck Hankster. I mocked up a headache rack today and I'm kinda thinking about mounting it. What do yall think?

[Hankster]

Thank you, and I like the headache rack with the long bed!

[98Murray]

Havent been doing much to the truck due to some rain and work but I have decided to mount the headache rack and also a full set of chrome modular wheels since they look good. Gotta clean up the wheels and get some tires swapped over but for now I have 2 on the truck. Also have to get some bolts and a drill bit so I can mount the headache rack.

[98Murray]

Havent been doing much to the truck due to some rain and work but I have decided to mount the headache rack and also a full set of chrome modular wheels since they look good. Gotta clean up the wheels and get some tires swapped over but for now I have 2 on the truck. Also have to get some bolts and a drill bit so I can mount the headache rack.

[98Murray]

Whoops. Didnt mean to post twice. How do I delete a post?

[aotte1]

How to delete or edit a post, no expert, their is an icon at the bottom of post once posted "edit", that allows you to make changes for 30 mins. after post.

On hyd clutch master cylinder, my truck was in storage for long time and it leaked. I replaced both cylinders, along with line. I needed to bleed new cylinder on firewall before connecting to line going to lower cylinder on bell housing. I bleed mine in the truck connected to reservoir, with pedal rod in engine compartment. I pushed rod in and out until all air bleed out. I then gravity feed the rest of system, not letting reservoir fluid go empty.

Sounds like you have a nice truck, lots of options to work with.

Les

[Flatpat]

Welcome to the forum! Always nice to hear from fellow Texans. Looks like a pretty solid truck to start with.

[98Murray]

Thanks Flatpat! Nice to see other Texans here too! Well this evening I mounted the headache rack and also pulled the rubber floor liner and insulation to see what damage the bad heater core did 20 years ago. The paint bubbled up and there is some rust but nothing terrible and no holes. I am going to wire brush it the best I can and then sand it good and prime it so that i doesn't get worse, then probably just get some floor mats for it. Sorry about then crappy night time photos, I will try and get some better ones tomorrow.

[Wrecked1982]

looks like a solid southern truck, hey does that small trailer self load a round ball just by backing up against it?

[98Murray]

Originally Posted by Wrecked1982

looks like a solid southern truck, hey does that small trailer self load a round ball just by backing up against it?

Yes it does. There called Tumblebug trailers. Here is a video of one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAICrNsv0CQ

[Wrecked1982]

thats pretty inginious ! never saw that before altough im not much around farm stuff

[98Murray]

Got a little work done to the GMC today. It is suppose to have a hot air style choke but the carb is a replacement Quadrajet with electric choke but we swapped it to manual choke thinking it would be the easiest way to do it but after messing with it for a few hours the manual choke just wasent going to work so I put the electric choke back on and now I just have to wire it up to a toggle switch in the cab. Also I got some better photos of the floor. Its not really bad on the drivers side, most of its on the passenger side. I think I am going to treat it with some rust converter first before painting it.

[98Murray]

Havent done much to the truck lately because I have been a bit sick and I have to fix up a old tiller so the GMC is on hold for about a week but as soon as I get back to it I am rebuilding the carburetor and putting in a new clutch master cylinder. For now here is a older photo of it

[98Murray]

Did a little work to the GMC today. Got the old clutch master cylinder off and also my mom was nice enough to paint one of my hubcaps that had lost all of its red. I think I will run some of these caps with some black wheels, it looks nice. and yes that is finger nail polish she is using lol I sprayed some clear coat over it.

[98Murray]

I have been doing alot of little odd things to the truck today. Mostly electrical. I got all my lights inside and out working good and once I get a license plate lamp and 2 new headlights the truck will be completly lighted lol.

[COS399]

Looks like you got a good truck to start with, it reminds me of my first truck. Mine had the same drivetrain and color except it was a Chevrolet. I ran mine on propane so I never had to worry about the choke. Propane made it start and run just like a fuel injected vehicle. I'm partial to the white steel wheels with those nice hubcaps.

[98Murray]

Originally Posted by COS399

Looks like you got a good truck to start with, it reminds me of my first truck. Mine had the same drivetrain and color except it was a Chevrolet. I ran mine on propane so I never had to worry about the choke. Propane made it start and run just like a fuel injected vehicle. I'm partial to the white steel wheels with those nice hubcaps.

Thanks. I thought about keeping the stock white wheels but with a beige truck, white wheels, and mostly silver hubcaps thats just not enough contrast with the look and I am just picky lol so Id like it to have a little contrast and black wheels will do that. Also they look good

[98Murray]

Been doing some work on the GMC. Took out the plate gooseneck hitch that weights an absolute ton and cleaned up the bed underneath. Found alot of bubbled up paint and pitting so I'm going to clean it really good with a wire brush. I may do a roll on bedliner later on for this truck. The hitch got taken out because mostly it wasent good or safe to use with its rusted bolts which 1 of 4 broke so I will be replacing them with new Grade 8 hardware. Also I found a receiver hitch to use but its a little too wide so we will cut it and narrow it or just cut off the center and weld it on the bumper. This is a farm truck and wont tow may non gooseneck trailers so this will do for now unless I can find a correct receiver hitch for this truck. The last thing I did was change out the headache rack I had which was pretty darn big for another one that is a little smaller, has bed rails, center cut out for sliding rear window, and mounts for 2 lights and also I think it look better. Just gotta drill the holes and bolt it on but it also needs to be re-welded in one spot and cut down a couple inches because its just a little too high. Also I got a free orange construction truck light thing and I stuck it on the GMC lol. The original plan for this GMC was to make it a hauling truck that was also legal to drive on the road and that is still the plan but now it may become a makeshift water truck with a tank in the bed and a pump and also a couple of wide spray nozzles on the back. Still have to rebuild the carburetor and get a new clutch master cylinder but the project truck money tree is pretty dormant right now so those things will have to wait a little while. For now I will keep finding small things I can do to the truck until I get the parts. Heres some photos

[98Murray]

I got some work done to the GMC today. I know its not important stuff that will make it run or drive any better but its stuff I can do while I'm waiting for some truck money and it keeps me busy working on it so it doesn't sit and I don't loose intrest. The truck money has been going into some small engine work and I just finished fixing this 1975 Double A front tine tiller and now I just have to fix a 1994 Murray 20" push mower then the truck can start seeing some parts



Now the only thing I have done today was take the receiver hitch off our old farm truck which was a 1996 F250 and mocked it up to to the GMC and it fits perfectly. Just have to drill some holes for it but other than that it will work great. Tomorrow I will see about mounting a 6 hole plug in the bumper and a newer electronic brake controller in the cab. I am not going to do any wiring or bolt the hitch or headache rack on until the truck is driveable. The truck did have a brake controller in it but it was an older hydraulic style and was froze up so I am going to replace it with a newer electric style one and rebuild the hydraulic one for a future project since it is a period correct style part. When I started this project I wanted it to be period correct but since this is just a farm truck and needs to be very reliable and safe I have decided to use some modern parts that will benefit the truck and make it better. Here are some photos of the receiver hitch mocked up on the truck.





As you can see it is not against the frame and it wasn't on the truck I pulled it off of either because It had some spacers at the back and in the middle but that was also a different truck so I will just see how this one will work best and mount it up with new Grade 8 hardware. I also will probably have the cut the bottom of that welded on 2" ball on the bumper off because it seems to interfere with the receiver hitch. You can also see there is a 6 hole plug in the bumper like I had said earlier in this post and that is where it will mount but it will be horizontal instead of how it sits here. Thats all for now, I should have another update tomorrow.

[manimal]

Cool truck! Is that blue Ford a '69 Ranger?

[98Murray]

Originally Posted by manimal

Cool truck! Is that blue Ford a '69 Ranger?

Thanks and its a 1968. It was my dads old truck and is a slow restoration project.

[98Murray]

Got my 6 hole plug installed on the bumper and the newer electrical brake controller installed in the cab. I was thinking about using another Berg Shur-Lock 6 hole semi trailer connector like the one already installed in the bed but these are very old and i'd rather save them for a period correct truck. These Berg Shur-Lock connectors seem to be pretty darn rare now days too, I can not find much of anything on a google search. Luckily I have two female connectors but no male connectors to match. I will be getting new Hopkins heavy duty 6 hole connectors for the bed and bumper. The Pollak plug I installed in the bumper is a bad plug but I used it so that I could get my holes drilled correctly. Ended up putting in larger holes that I wanted but oh well. The brake controller I installed in the cab is a Tekonsha Voyager from 2004 and while it is almost 10 years old I am still going to use it because I don't like the newer style ones and this one is still good. Heres some photos.

Berg Shur-Lock connector in bed


Pollak 6 hole connector in bumper


Tekonsha Voyager brake controller in cab