Chevy Colorado 2016 and a 2011 Eagle

[buckland]

Thanks for the links... I went to OME and when I put in the Isuzu Dmax another truck came up which is indeed my truck. Called the Holden Colorado Diesel. Looks like I am on the right trail. I am clueless when it comes to shocks. I am not an extreme off road driver but I get pretty far out there. This new truck is heavy and the camper seems to add bounce. Not wanting to do a whole kit I'd like to add rear shocks that will smooth out the ride. The road I live on is a dirt road with a lot of seasonal surprises. They seem reasonably priced too.

 

[Squatch]

I would call ARB. They should be able to get anything they make for other markets, But you may have to wait for it to be shipped from OZ.

ARB's are not the worlds best shock. But they are quite impressive for the price point and seem to hold up well. The Aussie's understand washboard roads and ARB's products reflect that!

My Trooper has the same extra HD rear springs I'm using on the Moon Truck build. These are not normally imported into the states. Compared to the normal HD OME's for my applications they have an extra main leave and 2 extra overloads. Still ride pretty good though. I put it together with the OME Nitrochargers 75,000 miles ago. I haul heavy loads and tow often at the limits of my platform. They handle it very well and after all these miles still feel fine with no bounce.

I'm sold on them but of course YMMV.

One of the problems with a new platform is that it takes a while for the aftermarket to catch up. When I went looking I didn't see a lot of options yet for the new Colorado. It's popular so it's only a matter of time.

 

[buckland]

It seems that in Australia it is called the Holden Colorado diesel.... In Asia the platform is identical (except the hood sweep) on the Isuzu Dmax. I was hoping that the 2 rear shocks would be swappable as ARB says they aren't sure yet meaning the specs haven't arrived to compare them. Just part of my nature....hate waiting.

 

[buckland]

Off on the first trip with the Colorado Eagle to the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York. Put Air Lifts on and though different than Firestone... more pounds needed, All seem right. Will see.

 

[buckland]

Home a couple days early.... It would seem I don't know squat about suspension. The Colorado suspension (stock not heavy duty) is worthless. Not only did it bounce like a beachball but it would bottom out on potholes of just a couple inches. Otherwise the truck did fine. I should have bought heavy duty. That said ...my 2001 Tacoma struggled but the shocks never bottomed out or bounced at all.
It is like night and day. I certainly hope this is fixable. If there is anyone who has info on Bilstein or OME shocks. I need heavy duty. AND do I need to change the leaf springs? Egads.

 

[Squatch]

Bouncing is shocks that don't dampen rebound enough. Bottoming out is springs that can't carry the load.

My suggestion is to get a heavy duty spring pack made. It might even be worth contacting a GM dealer to get the stock HD package since the truck is so new. Maybe Alcan. Deaver, or a local spring shop. Local shop may be able to just make an additional leaf or 2 for your existing spring pack. Much different(and Better) than an aftermarket add-a-leaf. Once the springs are taken care of the shocks will have much less work to do.

For what it's worth. GM tends to err on the side of a nice soft ride.

My best words of advice that no one wants to hear these days. Pick up the phone and actually talk to these companies. The web is for finding their phone number not for a good conversation about YOUR NEEDS.

If you have the ability to weigh your truck with and without the camper then do that 1st. Local truck dealer. Southern states store, truck stop, even the landfill works for scales. That way you can talk real world numbers with the spring companies. It's a new truck. Do it right once and it'll make you happy for years.

 

[buckland]

Thanks for details ... I need em... I actually did add a leaf on the Tacoma for safety sake but it was a rough ride when camper was not in (6 months).
You are right ... do it right (the second time) ...wish I had realized the stock springs were so weak. I assumed as the truck was rated at 3/4 ton (more than Tacoma) that it would be okay. HA. I will do what's necessary and it sounds like that will be deciding whether to replace the whole pack or add a leaf (Fleet is nearby and did the Taco). Shocks.... finding who makes them for such a new truck is an issue.
I went on the ColoradoFans website and quoted below is what I got back ... Need to learn me up some...Eiback?


"I've got virtually the same truck as you, a Canyon, long bed, DMax All Terrain, and recently completed our first extended tow of our 19' travel trailer. I posted in this thread about our previous Nissan Frontier, which needed more power, but handled extremely well when towing, and had the OME suspension changes. And in another thread, I recently posted about our 1500+ mile tow in the Canyon, commenting about the need to beef up the suspension for towing. Just last week, I installed Auto Spring's add-a-leaf to the back, and Eibach Pro Truck shocks at all four corners, with the front being ride height adjustable so I could level it after the added lift at the rear. The add-a-leafs, which I asked be made with the lowest lift possible, added just under 1.5" to the rear, so set my ride height adjustable Eibach front shocks to the 1.4" lift setting".

 

[buckland]

For those who are interested ...The Truck is great...the diesel flies like the wind.....but the Air Lifts did not inflate properly (the shocks still stink but I can fix that). Apparently the Air Lifts need to be inflated way up high (80 lbs?) before camper is installed otherwise after camper is on with low pressure ..say.. 20 lbs.. the compressor pumps in air ....pressure reading says 60 lbs but the bags are still small...haven't expanded. SO... be sure to not do as I did... Be sure to super inflate first then deflate . (I never had this issue on the Firestone air bags... but they aren't available for Colorado yet). Hope to find a great set of shocks for the four corners ... keep suggestions coming.

 

[john6216]

I need to do this same thing! We needed a bit more carrying capacity than my 2005 Tacoma offered, and got the 2017 Chevy Colorado with the Duramax. No air bags available as stated, but I'll look into the air lifts. Did you do the spray in bed liner, or just the friction pad? I am uncertain on how to prep this truck for my 2015 FWC Fleet model.

I'll build that platform that I see in this post, that looks great. I also love the idea of the foam, since I live in Anchorage and it get's used all year. (after I get the camper in the truck that is.) I panicked since I read that Chevy reckons the Colorado is not made for a slide-in camper and any damage from the camper will void the warranty. But it is a heck of a truck and it gives me 700 pounds of payload after the dry weight of the Fleet is considered. I just found this forum today, and could use you folks guidance.

Should I do the bed liner? Also what say folks about that disclaimer from the manufacturers about the slide-in camper warning?

thanks!

 

[Desertratduo]

We too love our 2016 Colorado diesel and it is a great combo with our new Fleet. Despite having the heavy duty 4WD options (off road package), we have blown two sets of Airlift airbags. Airlift is honoring the warranty and we have just installed the third set. Wish I had seen this forum....I think our first installer did jack up the camper when installing the first set to get the psi correct, but the bracket holding the airbag slipped position and the bags failed. The second set they installed also failed, but the brackets didn't slip, so not clear what was happening. Since we tired of driving more than 200 miles to get to the installer, We went to a local off road specialist and they recommended adding an additional leaf to beef up the suspension since we were sitting on the stops with our deflated airbags. They said this one leaf was all that was available for the Colorado. I'll take the the info I found here on the OME suspension options since they didn't seem to be aware of the Holden Colorado diesel. Thanks to this forum I now have some hope. I was beginning to feel like I had no good options for solving our problems. Buckland, did you solve your suspension problems?

 

[buckland]

Hey there Twin fans. (Colorado/Canyon). Much has transpired since last posting and all is good. Have faith this is a great platform for the camper.First off... truck companies are putting that disclaimer (Dodge Ram too) in their new tracks as a way of avoiding any warranty claims, just lawyer stuff). My install went fine and the camper sits well and secure in the bed.

The suspension: After the last post I fixed the airbag situation (There is a Firestone Ride Rite for this truck...not on website you must call them). The air lifts are different in that they need about 30 pounds in them before the camper is put on...can't start from 8 pounds. I had the camper on again in September for a few weeks and the airbags did great thereafter.

Load. In my old Taco I also installed an extra leaf as I worry about being over the weight "suggestion". It helped a great deal though the Taco was way under powered it carried the load. Now that I am in the Colorado which is a higher center of gravity, I decided to do the following (probably over kill but hereafter I will not worry about it):
* added an extra leaf made specifically for the Colorado from Boise Spring works
* added a Heilwig Sway bar
* added Bilstein 5100 RHA (ride height adjustable) shocks ...these are not "ride stiffness" adjustable but height only. This will raise the front end 1, 1.5, or 2" (I'm doing the 2") This will level the truck whic has a slight rake as well as the higher extra leaf rear lift of
1".
* replaced the front plastic (!) 'skid plate' with a 1/4" thick aluminum 'Superskidz' skid plate.
* I did put in a bed mat.... not really needed but it does separate the cold metal from the camper wood
* bought the Chevy rear camera and installed it on bottom of camper ... plug and play.
* I decide to do a spray in liner after the bed gets all scratched up in a couple years.

The 2.8 diesel doesn't even know the camper is there...with the 369 foot pounds of torque I could easily also pull a trailer at the same time (7000 capacity).

my mileage has ranged from 32 highway w/o camper and 25 mpg with

feel free to ask questions and if i have been there I can help... If you do a WTW search on Colorado you will find a lot about the State but there is more there about the truck too.

Good luck!

 

[Esus]

Your posts helped me out quite a bit in getting my 2015 Colorado prepped for my 2015 Fleet.

I have the ride rites from Firestone as well. Such a big difference. I use the Airlift wireless compressor to fill them. I mounted the compressor and transmitter in the engine compartment next to the battery. It has independent lines which is quite handy as the camper is not evenly weighted. Interestingly, I see no noticeable difference between filling them with the camper already on (from 5 psi) or in advance. I do fill them close to the max. I think one side is 80 and the other is 90. Firestone says not to exceed 100.

I also added 2" to the front to get rid of the rake, add clearance, and level it seeing as how even with the bags at 5 psi it still adds a touch to the rear over stock. Speaking of rake, the bed rails are weird too right? I built a similar platform to yours and permanently attached it to the bottom of the camper.

I ripped that plastic air damn off the first time I went four wheeling... turned out to be way easier than disassembling the bumper and removing it the correct way!

You must have a bit more weight than I do. While close to the GVWR, I don't think I've gone over it and I'm satisfied with just the ride rites and the spacers in the front. The ride is fine even on four wheel trails. I keep meaning to pull into a weight station and see exactly where I'm at when fully loaded.

Sure wish I could have held out till 2016 for the diesel. The 3.6L v6 does quite well though. Plenty of power even fully loaded with the camper and very good mpg all things considered. I camped a few hours away from Denver last weekend in the South Platte area and averaged 17 mpg which was quite good.

Glad you're happy with the rig now that all the details are sorted! I'll be posting some details about my build and some pics once I get a few more things wrapped up with my solar install.

Cheers!

 

[buckland]

Ya I took the air dam off as well first week. useless. In my Taco using the Firestone bags I never filled over 35 pounds. With the Air lifts on the Colorado I am at 50 pounds.

Yes the bed of the truck is not parallel with the rails! how weird is that?!... the rails are about 3/8" lower up by the cab... stupid just to get a 'look'... I find the bed side-rails 3" too high....backs it hard to reach into the truckled when loading freight/haulage. But I'll live with it. I think my camper all loaded for a month trip with a couple light canoes comes to 1500. (beer included).

Good luck and would like to see photos.

 

[Squatch]

Good info!

I hope you folks had your headlights realigned after lifting the front end.

 

[Esus]

Good info!

I hope you folks had your headlights realigned after lifting the front end.

Oh snap! That hadn't occurred to me and I bet 2" makes a big difference to oncoming traffic. Thx!

 

[buckland]

Yes Sir! I had that done.... nothing pisses me off more than either high beams.... fog lamps on w/o a need ...or someone with the aforementioned problem.... be a good camper and keep it roadworthy!

 

[john6216]

Do you folks have some mounting suggestions for the eye bolts on the 2017 Colorado?

I can't get that rear plate totally flush in the back (part of the install hardware supplied by FWC) so found an area where I can get a good bit flush, but the top washer needs to be downsized a bit since it won't be flush. The front is not so bad.

in the attached photo the square highlighted secition shows another option (perhaps). This is where the bed mounts to the frame on one of the corners. There is an empty bolt hole, so one could possibly use a long eye bolt, and forego the plate altogether on the bottom and just use washers.


What have other folks done for bed eye-bolt insallation?

Thank you folks, this is my last hurdle (I hope)

 

[buckland]

I am having my morning coffee and still fuzzy but seeing the photo makes me wonder... I used the same measurements as I did (via Terry) on the Tacoma... measured from the back wall (front of bed) ...this a quote from Terry.." The front eye bolts should be 11” from the front of the truck bed and 60” for the rear ones.

So if you measure this out ( I assume you do not have the short bed) there was enough space to mount the plates. I had a tight fit on the front drivers side as the DEF (diesel full) hose is packed in that corner. The in bed top washer should also be robust,

 

[john6216]

Thanks for the post Buckland.

Your experience is helping me a bunch. My Fleet model has come off a 2005 Tacoma, so with this model they anchor points on the Fleet are moved to from the usual position where the back eyebolts would sit nicely at 61" from the front. Instead the rear anchor point on the camper for the turnbuckles is at 41". Since I originally had the 2005 Tacoma, FWC built the fleet so it would sit in that truck, thus the shenanigans with fitting the eye bolts on the truck bed. I looked at moving the rear anchor points on the camper, and it is a bummer... So instead I believe I have settled on a solution. I think I'll shave the backing plates down to 2 1/2" wide and slide them in the location in the photo then drill at that point, I may have to shave a bit on the washer so it sits flush. This should be fine, I spoke with the FWC folks, and they stated that the primary role of the washer is to keep it on the eye bolt shoulder which won't be a problem. The location that my camper wants with the rear eye-bolt installation is 52" from the front.

I built a platform to raise the camper but I looked at your rig in the photos and it seems you just mounted two stacked 2 x 4" s to the cross-supports on the bottom of the camper, then placed foam and a sheet of plywood at the very bottom of the whole rig. That seems like a better solution then my platform, It seems lighter. The very last cross-support on the camper may be floating free since it will over hang slightly past the bumper. Did you find that to be the case? (I have the 6 ' bed)

Also what do you reckon about shaving that backing plate off a bit so it fits in the indicated place in the diagram (for the rear). Thanks for your help. The front eye-bolt install should be straight forward.

 

[buckland]

Hey there just in.... just to be sure .... the camper anchor eye bolts are set up so that when you attach with the turnbuckles they are at opposing angles. meaning.... the front ones are at a 45 degree angle from the camper to the truck ...same as at the back... Due to the added height (platform) I added a 3/8" link (buy at any Tractor supply or auto)... like a link with a screw lock. This extends the turnbuckle so that it will reach. This set up keeps the camper pulled forward and also back ...opposing lock down. I did add a locking nut to the turnbuckle to give a bit more insurance from loosening.

So to recap: the eyebolts in the truck bed are farther apart than the camper eyebolts. This is how the camper gets locked in the bed.

Your plate should be able to be as it was made ..... in the position that the FWC suggests. The plate does not have to lay 100% on flat metal... just parallel to the bottom of the bed.

I sure hope this helps... I know the angst going into drilling holes in the bed and hoping not to screw up.
Do not hesitate to ask more questions if what I stated is not clear....

Buenos Suerte! (good luck)