2018 GMC Canyon MTB/Overland/Adventure Rig

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ChasingOurTrunks

ChasingOurTrunks

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JCWages said:
I scuffed, cleaned and primered the chrome grille before painting but I hold no illusions it will hold up for long. Looks good for now. I used Duplicolor Perfect Match Polar/Arctic White BGM0153. The paint code for Summit White calls for Olympic White but that looks way too dark. Polar White is a little too bright with a hint of blue but it's closer than Olympic. *shrugs* Good enough.
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For what it's worth, what you are calling "Good enough", made me go back to page 3 to find a 'before' pic, because I couldn't even tell what you had painted. Honestly, the black-out looks incredibly cool, and it's so well done I thought it was Factory and I was thinking you must have somehow gotten an Elevation package on a Canyon! Looks fantastic.

Also love the look of that winch and rear bumper. Good work on raising the rear -- I think it looks really good snugged up like that.
 
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JCWages

JCWages

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Grass Valley, CA, USA
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Wages
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ChasingOurTrunks said:
For what it's worth, what you are calling "Good enough", made me go back to page 3 to find a 'before' pic, because I couldn't even tell what you had painted. Honestly, the black-out looks incredibly cool, and it's so well done I thought it was Factory and I was thinking you must have somehow gotten an Elevation package on a Canyon! Looks fantastic.

Also love the look of that winch and rear bumper. Good work on raising the rear -- I think it looks really good snugged up like that.
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Thanks! I notice details and from 3 feet away you can't really see any imperfections but up close you can tell it wasn't professionally done. I guess I put a disclaimer in there because there are people who really put their heart into their work and you can see the detail in person but not so much on the internet. I don't want people thinking I'm that good. lol
 
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JCWages

JCWages

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And this is why we can't have nice things......

Got rear-ended today. The poor older man made a simple mistake and is pretty shaken but no one was hurt in an obvious way but you really never know until a couple of days later. For that I am grateful. He was very nice as was his family that happened to be nearby in another vehicle.

The bumper bracket on the drivers side (my initial guess) bent ever so slightly (maybe 1/4") and pushed the bumper into the body. Other than that there are just scratches all over the powder coating. Hopefully that's all the collision center will find.

Scratches but no dents or broken welds in the bumper


Where it pushed into the body slightly on top of the bumper


Where it pushed into the lower fender enough to scratch the paint a little


The other car didn't fare as well.
 
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ChasingOurTrunks

ChasingOurTrunks

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Yikes! Sorry to hear about the accident JC but your focus on everyone being healthy is admirable. Cars are replaceable and bent back into shape, people not so much.

I'm no forensic expert, but lifting your bumper that inch or so to better match the body lines may have been the reason your truck fared so well relatively speaking; it looks like his hood took the brunt of the force and that you sort of scraped over the front/top of the engine bay. If your bumper was a bit lower, it may have been much more direct in line with the mass of the little car, and that may have caused more damage.

I hope everything is back to 100% in no time for you.
 
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JCWages

JCWages

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ChasingOurTrunks said:
Yikes! Sorry to hear about the accident JC but your focus on everyone being healthy is admirable. Cars are replaceable and bent back into shape, people not so much.

I'm no forensic expert, but lifting your bumper that inch or so to better match the body lines may have been the reason your truck fared so well relatively speaking; it looks like his hood took the brunt of the force and that you sort of scraped over the front/top of the engine bay. If your bumper was a bit lower, it may have been much more direct in line with the mass of the little car, and that may have caused more damage.

I hope everything is back to 100% in no time for you.
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You may be right. The hitch took quite a hit too and the shackle punched right through his bumper. You can see the holes it left. The entire receiver shackle combo is scratched all to heck.

But you're right. The poor guy made a simple mistake and at his age it could cost him his license. :( We are all unharmed and insurance will take care of the rest. That's why we have it. No need to make matters worse by being angry with each other.
 
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JCWages

JCWages

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Ohh and from what I can tell it's just the driver side bumper bracket that bent a little. The hitch looks a little uneven though so I'll have it all checked out just in case. Considering that is an area I use for hard snatch recoveries I want to ensure it hasn't been comprimised.
 
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dj_mccomas

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Sorry to hear bro, but you handled it amazingly. Definitely have things checked out like you said. Hopefully it gets corrected quickly for you.
 
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djbkm said:
Sorry to hear bro, but you handled it amazingly. Definitely have things checked out like you said. Hopefully it gets corrected quickly for you.
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Thanks man. I'm sure it will be handled quickly. The body shop called me 1hr after I got off the phone with my insurance. :)
 
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JCWages

JCWages

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I swapped out the Eibachs for these....



The install would have only taken a couple of hours but I spent a good hour trying to figure out how to follow the directions when the driver side shock had the lower bushing pressed in backwards. Then I used an angle grinder to make a pair of snap ring pliers.... I failed at getting the bushing out to try and flip it so I installed the shock as is. I'll call Accutune in the morning to figure out why the bushing is offset. I assume it's to clear something.



The test drive was done without the sway bar connected but WOW. They're not even broken in yet and it's so smooooth. At least up front. I'm still on the oem leafs and Icon 2.0 rears.

The most interesting thing I noticed is Accutune set me up with 14" 550lb springs. Reading all the Tacoma King threads had me thinking I would need 650lb springs. I actually gained 1/4"+ over the Eibachs (checked after a quick drive with moderate braking). From the ground to fender it's sitting at just about 39.80" on the passenger side and 39.90 on the drivers. Crazy

They arrived with only 4 threads showing above the collar. So there's not much preload which is perfect.


For reference before the winch goes in. Steel winch bumper and 300lbs or so in the bed plus full tank of gas.
 
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JCWages

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I got the winch installed, sorta.

My truck has the active grille shutters which get in the way of the winch. I decided to do some trimming of the lower shutter frame and I got the winch to fit without much trouble but the winch control box isn't going to fit without removing the lower shutters completely. Removing the shutters will cause an SEL light so I want to avoid that if possible. I'd like to find an easy solution for others who use the same parts I am working with. The winch control box can be mounted remotely so this isn't a huge setback. I think a simple L bracket can be fabed up to hold the control box on the far right of the winch and the remote outlet and wireless switch will still be easily accessible. I'm done for now though. I just needed to get most of the winch installed so I can get the truck aligned after the new Kings coilovers install. :)

Looks good installed even if it's not operational yet. #poser


Here you can see where I used an angle grinder and Dremel to cut out some of the lower shutter frame after removing the plastic grates.


The winch mounted without the control box that normally mounts to the top.
 
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ChasingOurTrunks

ChasingOurTrunks

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JCWages said:
I got the winch installed, sorta.

My truck has the active grille shutters which get in the way of the winch. I decided to do some trimming of the lower shutter frame and I got the winch to fit without much trouble but the winch control box isn't going to fit without removing the lower shutters completely. Removing the shutters will cause an SEL light so I want to avoid that if possible. I'd like to find an easy solution for others who use the same parts I am working with. The winch control box can be mounted remotely so this isn't a huge setback. I think a simple L bracket can be fabed up to hold the control box on the far right of the winch and the remote outlet and wireless switch will still be easily accessible. I'm done for now though. I just needed to get most of the winch installed so I can get the truck aligned after the new Kings coilovers install. :)

Looks good installed even if it's not operational yet. #poser


Here you can see where I used an angle grinder and Dremel to cut out some of the lower shutter frame after removing the plastic grates.


The winch mounted without the control box that normally mounts to the top.
Click to expand...
I’m super grateful for your build pics, let’s me know what to expect with mine.

You have probably already seen this but one mounting idea since your winch has a detachable control box is to copy the AEV Colorado solution that you can see in the Xoverland video. They mount the control box for the winch under the hood near the rad. You have to pop the hood to plug in a remote (may not be an issue with wireless) but it makes for a nice and clean install.

Winch looks great on there!
 
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JCWages

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Thanks guys! I'll check out those spots for mounting.

On a related note, during the cutting of the lower shutters I had wound the air temp sensor wire around one of the shutter blades to keep it up and out of the way. I forgot to unwind it and ziptie it in front of the shutters before putting everything back together. When I got on the freeway today a check engine light came on. It took a minute to systematically think through everything I touched during the winch install before I remembered the damn air temp sensor. I guess when I hit the freeway the shutters tried to close but got caught up on the air temp sensor so they freaked out and threw a weird code. I cleared the code after fixing the sensor outside my chiropractor's office. The SEL hasn't come back so I'm pretty confident it was the shutters. :)
 
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13ADVXterra

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Loved reading the build thread. Those wheels are so nice for $140 a wheel!! I wonder if they have those in 16's?
 
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JCWages

JCWages

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Wages
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I lowered the lift height on my King coilovers by 1/2 to try and diagnose my vibration issue. What a piece of cake! Simply jack up the front end, loosen the collar set screw and start cranking on the collar to adjust preload. Ridiculously easy!

I'm sure raising the ride height will be a little more difficult but using a longer pipe over the adjustment tool makes for easy work. I'm a little in awe it was so simple. Interestingly, despite having "soft" 550lb springs the ride height available out of the Kings on this truck is amazing. Even with preload backed off to only 1 thread showing I am still able to achieve well over 2" of lift. With the 1.25" body lift, 33" tires and 1 thread of preload I am seeing 39.5" from ground to bottom of fender. That's with a heavier bumper and 80+lb winch up front!

*later in the evening*

Well, lowering the front of the truck didn't help with the vibration issue. It did, however, make the ride quite a bit softer.

I also felt like I needed to curse a lot so I re-installed the diff drop kit I bought last year. I really hate installing those things. That didn't help the vibration either.

I'm starting to wonder if it's a ball joint, a-arm related issue or simply a bent axle.
 
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