Don, sorry to hear about the wreck ... but in all honesty, that's God doing you a favor! I wish I saw this thread when you were truck shopping. The GMT-900 series trucks are THE WORST trucks GM ever built. If you enjoy troubleshooting complex problems, and figuring out jigsaw puzzles of which combinations of extensions, swivels, and sockets will work on certain fasteners, and repairing before the 21st century unheard of driveline failures, then you'll love the 900 series.
To be honest, the last solid truck GM ever built was the 400 series. I believe that ran from '88-'94 in half ton pickups, and a bit later in the Tahoe/ Suburban and heavy duty trucks. That said, after 1995 even the 400 series became failure prone with all the OBD-II garbage bolted onto it. Even '95 wasn't quite the same. Better than the 900's any way you slice it, though.
In my opinion, you'd be much better off finding a 400 series, or even what you had previously (800 series) from down south, rust free, fix the worn out stuff, OIL THE UNDERCARRIAGE, then move on with a trouble-free life.
I own a 900 series truck. Bought it brand new in '07. Right off the showroom floor on the test drive, the brakes pulsated enough to about rattle my fillings out of my teeth! Then the door trim fell off a week later. Then the interior developed annoying squeaks and rattles that they just couldn't fix because of the shitty extended cab design with no B pillar. Then the air vents started making strange noises - they did manage to fix that for a few years until I had to fix it again just recently. Then the 4x4 switch began failing - I didn't know any better and let the pricks kick that can down the road until it was out of warranty. Then at 38k the state inspector said my lower ball joints were about smoked. At 50k, the uppers failed, 1 strut failed, front diff started leaking, and engine started burning oil (5.3, LMG). Around 60k the hub bearings got SUPER noisy. I dealt with that until 70k when I couldn't take it anymore. The replacement Moog hub bearings lasted 20k miles. Now running SKF bearings - already passed 20k miles. At 97k I went to change my rear diff oil, and found the tips of all the spider gear teeth in the magnet! Who knows how long it had been that way. Judging from the excessive backlash I had, probably since 50-70k miles. Installed an Ox Locker pneumatic locking diff with 4 spider gears. Then just 6k miles later, at 103k miles, the 4L60E lost 3rd and 4th gear, completely without warning! One minute it was working, the next, it was NEUTRAL.
Recently I started looking into making some big horsepower with a supercharger, since I tow frequently and can't afford a diesel, even used. I talked to a guy down in CT that tunes and builds high HP modern GM engines. When I told him my plan, and how many miles were on the engine, he said I was nuts. Said I'd be lucky to get 20k miles out of that engine after all that money and work! The stuff just ain't built like it used to be. I sold my 400 series with 266k miles on her to buy this toilet. Talk about a mistake!