Yes, the first part by sheer luck and the second part by sheer desperation.
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It's been a great truck. 120,000 miles on it in 18 years. Been through several injection pumps early, while under warranty, when they wouldn't just admit they had a heat sinc problem and just replace the PMD module. It has the PMD relocated behind the front bumper, leaky oil cooler lines replaced three times (by me) and just well maintained. At 100,000 miles I replaced the injectors and glow plugs. It didn't appear to have needed it, though.
A year ago I installed the Heath Diesel computer chip (OBD-1 system) and boost controller. That really picked the power up and also reprograms the 48LE trans and lockup converter. It went from barely 180 hp to around 225 (I estimate it but it really is a noticeable improvement without putting too much boost into the engine). It pulls much better now and can actually make it up the big hills in PA without having to run down the one hill at 90 to get up the next hill at 50.
Mileage has always been around 13 (empty) and 10 mpg towing a loaded 24 foot trailer.
Oh, and over the weekend I also replaced the original brake proportioning valve that GM refused to recall on all of its pickups and Suburbans 1992-99. If you complained about the fact that 95% of your braking was being done by the front wheels and that it pulled to one side under hard braking, they pulled your prop valve and replaced it with one that more evenly distributed the braking pressure.
Owners (like me) who only found out about the problem years later when they wondered why, at 120,000 miles, they still have the original rear shoes with 3/8" of material left on them, got left out in the cold.
The rear drums have never been off and are now rust-welded to the axle flanges. I just bought new drums, shoes, springs and wheel cylinders in the event we can find a sledge hammer big enough to get those 75 lb. drums off the truck.
Here's a link to the article describing the problem:
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/63-gm-d...5-24-001-a.html