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Standby for pics next week, mines supposed to be at the dealer on Friday. Its currently in the shipping yard on Bristol rd. in Flint.

The gain does matter when you squeeze the manual controller. That's how you set the gain to the correct value. You drive at 25 mph on level pavement and squeeze the manual controller. The gain should be set to a level where the trailer brakes are just shy of locking up. The amount of gain needed will vary depending on how much weight is loaded in the trailer. If your gain is not at 10.0 then set it higher and try again. If you get to 10.0 and the wheels still do not lock up, then the brakes may need adjusted.

Think of it this way, there is no difference in pushing the brake or sliding the switch when it comes to activating the trailer brakes, gain controls the amount of trailer braking for both actions. The biggest reason the switch is there other than to test or set them is if the trailer starts swaying you want to grab that switch and NOT press the brake peddle and at that point they need to act just like you pushed the brake and NOT lock up, make sense?

Good point being Ford is the best selling truck. Maybe coming to a parking lot with a sea of white Ford trucks he can now easily identify his truck. I actually know a person who painted his shark fin on top of his popular SUV for that reason.

I have read your forums about installing an electric seat in place of a manual on a Silverado Trailboss. I wanted to share my experience. On a 2021 Tail Boss I removed the manual driver seat. I was able to purchase an electric seat out of a 2020 Silverado with 23 miles on it ($400). Attaches below is a Power Point I put together to help explain or guide you threw the installation. The seat I purchased had the side air bags in it. Seat bolts right in. Plug the truck harness into the seat and the air bag system works as it should. There are three wires to terminate. The black one is ground, Red is seat power 12 volts, and the small yellow/black strip wire is the lumbar 12 volts. I found no 12vt power in the two wires. I broke these out of the harness and wired them together and connected 12 volts to them. Simply Ran a Red 12vt wire using a 30 amp fuse. Grounded the black wire under the seat to the body. The electric seat including the lumbar works fine. The air bag system is still happy and working. I'm 5'2" and needed the addition.

On a completely unrelated note, I bought a 1983 Thunderbird and did a factory tour the week it was being produced. Always an interesting place to visit. Maybe they should do something similar to the Corvette and offer factory delivery. (No HD museum!) I suspect the dealers would be very unhappy.

Very true sir....This topic kind of reminds me of when I first starting learning the magic of load leveling hitches...I was like WTH...how can a couple of bars put more weight on your front axle? So I watched and read and learned and then I had that ahaaaa moment. There was one video that finally put that last piece of the puzzle in my brain and I was like ok....I get it now...lol...

The only dumb question is the one you don't ask. If you were closer Id say come by and I would be glad to help. I would also say this, adjusting drum brakes is an art you eventually get a feel for it, slight drag can have a different meaning to each person.

No

On flat and level it should not allow you to roll in drive at idle, but not regardless of gain setting. They do not need rotation, when activated it uses an electro magnet to engage the shoes assuming we are talking electronic controller with drum brakes on the trailer.

My truck was tentatively scheduled for a 5/18 build and I was trying to pull some strings to get a tour that day and see it being built. I get a call today from my insider who asks if I still want to see the truck built, I say yes. He calls me back 20 min later and says it was already built May 4th and its sitting in the yard on Bristol rd waiting to ship. UGH. My original plan was to get it in late June/early July but as it turns out it will likely be at the dealer on Friday. I called my salesperson who hadnt been notified and he confirms it all including a copy of the invoice. So it looks like next week will be spent getting to know my new truck.

Every time I've set the gain its when using the thumb trigger on the integrated controller. Assuming the brakes are adjusted, set the gain on the higher side and start rolling say 20-25mph. Squeeze the trigger. If the wheels lock up, adjust the gain down. You want them to be just off of a full lockup when manually applying so if they lock up at 6 gain, adjust down a 1/2 step.

Here's my inbox and timeline: Feb 24th - met with dealer after hearing of coming order slot Order placed Mar 2 by dealer - May1st, truck on dealers lot - But, I'm only 90 minutes front Flint. Va gonna take another day. Just my experience so order to del? not bad. Best it's been in couple years. they did tell me when GMC accepted, what week it would be built and it was spot on. The big fear from last 2 years was how long it would sit on the lot waiting on trucks. Some guys spent 6 months or more waiting. You can go to the GMC website and ask a live assistent if you have your order number. Not sure where I found it, but it's there. But I think it only keys on whatever emails have been sent. Maybe they know more, but worth a try.

You just got to figure when your dealing that its going to be a 2 year old pickup the minute you buy it regardless the miles. I once tried to trade in a pickup that was less than a year old, couldnt make it happen. When I did eventually trade it in 2.5s years later the allotted trade value was the same.

That is definitely true. Throughout my driving of 18 years I have only had a handful of alignments and only after performing the replacement of steering or suspension components. It's not something anyone in my family has put a lot of thought in to so as long as everything drives straight and the steering wheel is centered. If there isn't a problem my family has never gone looking for a problem to blow money on.

I see what you are saying - your alignment technician aimed to go for as close to the center of the spec as possible. my alignment tech aimed for being "within spec." I actually dropped by the alignment shop about a half hour ago. I was told everything was perfectly normal because they are steer tires and that the alignment is perfect because it is in spec "as can be seen on the sheet." He mentioned that if the alignment was off that the outside tread block would be experiencing wear throughout rather than on the very edge like I showed. I was hoping that they'd put it on the alignment rack as a courtesy to check, but obviously they are too busy and overworked and unenthusiastic to do so. So much for that. He also said that I need to keep up on tire rotations every 6,000 miles otherwise I'd blow through tires in 25,000 miles. That doesn't exactly sound right to me, but I informed him that at about only 4,700 miles I wasn't even at the need for a first rotation yet either.

thats unacceptable , i have the same tires on my 2014 with 30k rotated every 6k miles and they have worn evenly. you need to try another alignment shop, if left that tire will be garbage at 20k. either camber or tow is out or both. what sucks is now that tire will continue to wear that way.my 2014 has 170k miles with original front end componets

If I did it wouldn't be a Ford

The front tires steer the vehicle, so they are subject to scrub because of the steering. All that weight up front will push the sidewall over. That is completely normal wear for a tire.

First impressions compared to the 19 Ram 6.4 cc/lb we had for a few years. On the positive, turning radius and suspension around corners is way better than the tradesman which was the biggest *MFer* about driving that thing to jobs around town in sketchy u-turn or turnaround situations. Its also a little bit lower to the ground so the boss doesn't need the steps installed like before which is nice. The embedded step on the side and rear corners is also much welcomed although I wish they put that side step closer toward the rear wheel because with a toolbox door open its sort of awkward with it right in your face fetching stuff out of the box. On the negative, I don't know if its sloppy converter/converter tuning, or bad trans gearing but honestly, the Ram felt faster and snappier when you floored it while at speed or from a dead stop. The tradesman brand new and not outfitted, went a bit sideways into 3rd gear on crappy base trim tires and that thing weighed considerably more than this truck off the lot. The 6.6 sounds strong but its almost like somethings holding it back and it fells like its in the trans but what do I know. This, apparently, is a new Allison 10 speed. I bet that thing gobbles up all kinds of potential power but hopefully lives forever. We're not racing it, its a work truck so its peppy enough to get the job done. Also, theres more gizmos and gadgets and places to put things on the inside with the tradesman than the WT. We work out of our truck all day so places to put things easily accessible kinda matters. The sensor alerts seem annoying and useless but maybe they'll save our lives some day. Unsure on that. And lastly, I know its a WT but I was kinda pissed they didn't make auto folding mirrors a std feature. Come on! Big dumbo ears, every time we park tight or go through a bank teller drive-through. Ok, here we go, windows down, fold the mirrors in, do our business, expand them back out, windows up. Annoying PITA! Thats my review and comparison. Take it or leave it.

I'm sure everyone knows that, but most that are going for that leveled look aren't towing or carrying heavy loads on a daily or even weekly basis. I surely don't and if I was, I'd just get air bags to compensate. It's all about the look. I didn't want to go to 35's because I swapped out the factory flaps for the molded ones that hang down slightly lower to prevent rock throw from hitting the panels and that would require even more modifications. I think 34's are the best I'll get and I'm ok with that.

Twin Pines Truck Stop in Cedar Rapids Iowa was just down the road from the house I grew up in before I-380 cut a swath through there. Diamond Reo dealership as well. Use to ride in the yard horse as a kid. Twin stick 4 over 4 transmissions. Loop the arm through the steering wheel to get a hand on both. Pretty sound that lazy shift. Lay in bed at night and listen to them rumble down US-30 one slow gear change at a time. Beautiful trucks.

I was there when Diamond T combined with REO. I was assigned the task of converting our Diamond T inventory to Diamond REO. The conversion kits came in a large box including blueprints. It was a fun project.

I started my work career at a GMC/Diamond T garage back in 1965. Being low man on the totem pole, one of my duties was to check every fluid level on every truck we sent out the door new or used. And I don't remember ever finding a new vehicle with a low differential. Times have changed. A new pickup back then was probably 2-3 grand.

Bottom line? You pay the price they want because it isn't negotiable.

How old are you? I ask as an older person's memory would not permit them to ask that question. I'm guessing you never sat in a 70's all day gas line or lived with a national 55 mph speed limit that OPEC 'greed' caused. Paid $6 a gallon for fuel at that time. Paid a 17% FHA home loan. Double digit inflation. How about early 2000's $5++ gas prices? This isn't new or even a fad. It's a cycle that goes decades in the making. Just long enough for the next generation to have no memory and enough of the older to die off so as not to educate them. If by chance you are older, then brother, you have some memory issues that need looking into.

Let's wake this up. Here's mine.