So I'd like to think I'm already fairly familiar with these from dealing with the ones my dad has owned, and I've been thinking I've wanted one for a long time.
I'm thinking I want a regular cab long bed 1/2 ton 2wd with the 5.3. It'd mostly be a daily that would see rare single car open trailer duty. Is there anything I need to watch out for if I start seriously looking for one?
Bobzilla to the courtesy phone, please...
Transmission is the weak spot, but I suspect you knew that.
Rust if you live in an area for that.
Generally worn suspension pieces.
So basically the normal used truck concerns. I live in southern Kentucky, seems like most of these trucks I see are still pretty solid rust wise, unless they've been beat to death as farm trucks all their life.
You might find useful stuff at
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-road/learn-me-gm-4x4-pus-roughly-10-years-old/104331/page1/
or
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/quick-guess-the-cause-of-the-overheat-99-chevy-truck-with-57-vortec-engine/120730/page1/
The comment that raised my eyebrows was someone who said the brake lines on this generation were "made of salted cheese," so that's something I would definitely look at either before or very shortly after purchase!
The nice thing with the GMT800 2wd's are the R&P steering and no-torsion bars. faurly stout, runs forever. the 99-03 trucks all had 4-whl discs. Rear calipers were likely to freeze from lack of use. the 04-06 trucks went back to 13" drums and used 2-piston front calipers on 13" rotors. These require 17" wheels. I personally like hte brake feel of the newer rear drum trucks, but YMMV.
Depending on how hard they have been used the trans will probaly need a rebuild once in the life of the truck. In the rustbelt you will probably need to replace a few brake lines. The rear rotors have a fairly short life. The exhaust manifold bolts tend to break off for no reason and cause exhaust leaks. That being said, besides the trans they are all cheap and fairly easy fixes, and beside the rotors these are all most likely jobs that will only need done once. 2wd trucks don't command the price premium that the 4wd's do and they live long happy lives with very few problems. Just add gas and go. I do recommend.
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