I bought the Crew to use as my weekend beach beater. My wife and I enjoy surfing, boating and just relaxing on the beaches of Assateague Island here in VA, and many of the NC beaches from Hatteras down to Ft. Fisher. My previous beach toy was a Ram 2500 Crew Diesel, which was so large it wouldn't even fit in our garage. That, plus the fact that the price of diesel fuel is through the roof, got me looking for something different. Not that I have anything against Jeeps ( I actually think they are great trucks), but buying a Jeep was out. I get tired of seeing the same old thing driving up and down the beach. I thought about the fact that I have owned a few S-10's in the past, and I am very familiar with their workings, so I started looking for a later model S-10 4X4. Honestly, I had totally forgotten that GM produced a Crew Cab version of the S series until I ran across one for sale. That narrowed my search down to nothing but a Crew.
I picked up my '02 Crew in upstate NJ last year. It had relatively low miles for its age, 97k to be exact. It had been garage kept and had been very well taken care of. My first tasks were to slap on a new set of treads and new brakes all around. I put 255/70R15 General Grabber AT 2's on the stock wheels. I wanted to keep the overall diameter similar to that of the 235/75's that were on it, but needed a wider tire for its added ability in the sand. I have used the AT2's on almost of my beach trucks, and have always been very pleased with them. After that, new brakes, new shocks, new all aluminum high capacity radiator, new plugs, rotor and wires (Autolite, Accel, and Taylor Spiro-Pro of course!), auto dim rear view mirror, all LED bulbs, Big 3 upgrade, all new front end components, Rancho steering stabilizer, Trailblazer cross bars with semi-custom roof basket, and a ZR2 rear (completely rebuilt w Richmond ring &pinion set, Timken bearings throughout, Eaton posi LSD, relocated breather and Moser Engineering Diff. Cover w stud set).
As for future mods, I am going to do the MML minus the body lift, possibly add a winch behind the front bumper, some LED auxiliary lighting, and, if I am ever able to locate a set; ZR5 wheels. I never know what I might find at the wrecking yard, so I'm confident this list will grow.
So, again, to everyone who contributes here, thank you. I hope that at some point I will be able to contribute something useful as well. This is a great site with what seems to be a very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and most of all, down to earth group of participants. Seldom can you find that anymore.......
Keep up the great work
,Rob
