We recently picked up a 1997 Chevy 1500 2wd truck that will become our next project vehicle. As usual, we barely made it home with the truck before changing something!
We picked up the truck for $1500. The truck seems to be in good running order aside from a few cosmetic flaws. We have already replaced the door handles, drivers side mirror and throttle position sensor. The truck came with a Fabtech Upper Control Arm kit which is well known for balding tires quickly. The BFG ATKO tires on it were showing metal through all four.
Toyo Tires has recently launched all new sizes of their popular Open County M/T tire. Our '97 is running 15-inch wheels making it a perfect candidate for their new 33x12.50R15 tire. This happens to be a favorite tire among many of the OFF-ROAD staff. It has an aggresive good looking tread pattern, tough side wall protection, tons of bite in the dirt and looks great driving down the road. These tires alone made our truck look more polished and ready to hit the dirt.
The future plans for the project are still on the fence. Do we create something that goes fast prerunner style? Do we build up a solid daily driver truck that can still hit the dirt on occasion and aid in towing responsibilities? Time will tell.
The '88-'98 Chevy 1500 is somewhat the "ugly duckling" when it comes to aftermarket suspension systems. Some companies even refer to it as the "fail platform" causing many companies to stay away from building setups like long travel kits. We hope that this project will encourage some of these companies to get on board and create worthy products for frustrated '88-'98 Chevy 1500 owners.