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FL335i

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Everything posted by FL335i

  1. FL335i
    '14 5.3L, 3.42 gear, 4x4. Crew cab, short bed. I have been driving between Tampa and Orlando daily since I bought it. Burning 87 gas, shell or the cheap brands. 4,700 miles on the truck today. Mileage has been getting good lately. I've been averaging 18.7 to the tank per the DIC. Hwy, trips to the gym, errands etc. I can easily do 16 city. Hwy is funny. Speed, time of day, etc varies a lot. I've done up to 22 and as bad as 18. But for the most part it's about 19.5 or 20 hwy. that's with cruise at 78 or 79, Ac on. Very happy with mileage. I hear rattle sometimes, like spark knock. It's the ECM getting everything it can out of the gas. I have a sneaky feeling if I ran 93 I could get more out of it. The programming on these new trucks is pushed to the limit for MPG's. As a side note, I've been hand calculating fill-ups. the DIC is consistently 0.5mpg HIGH. I even used the same pump on one tank to rule out the pump variable. The DIC is giving a .5mpg inflation. FYI. My 2007 BMW 335i does the same thing. About .5mpg high. Must be the law allows them to be within a certain amount and they obviously want people thinking the car is getting the best mileage possible on the test drive to BUY them.
  2. FL335i
    Anyone have experience with the Extang Revolution? I'm ready to buy one..... doing the last minute checks.
  3. FL335i
    ^ I remember that 2000's Tacoma frame issues. I saw a car hauler full of bought back on a road trip one day years ago.
  4. FL335i
    what is the point of vent shades again? sounds like a bad idea from the 80's.
  5. FL335i
    I have an angle finder from the days when I built my rock crawler. It's now on my to do list to check the factory driveline angles next weekend. I will post up what I have and see what I think. I've worked on enough large custom trucks. my 4runner has a CV rear shaft, and Dana 44 front axle. Leafs all around. built in my driveway. 38" tires. 5spd manual. Winch, custom bumpers I built and all. Detroit lockers F&R I installed. I took that truck up to 100mph ONCE to see what it would do. Smooth as glass!!! So how can I build a truck in a driveway that's sitting on 38" tires, leafs at all corners that runs 100mph and smooth and GM can't build one at a factory to drive smooth??? HHMMMMM?? The new Tundra looks good now. If they offered a locker in the rear and got their MPG's up with the others they'll kill everyone. The tundra needs a 8spd trans and direct injection to help with MPG's. Maybe offer a 5.0L engine to help with MPG"s also. Let's face it, my 5.3L is great. It's a truck. not a race car. Operating costs go into your price that you pass along to the consumers. Trucks are tools. That's why I bought my truck. The GM trucks make the most business sense. Better warranty, MPG's which equals you can lower your cost of bids and get more jobs in construction.
  6. FL335i
    My truck has rust on the frame. Dealers are so swamped with recalls I took it in for the instrument, transfer case and rust. 8hrs later I got the Tcase recall done only. Most dealers are booked out 2 weeks around tampa. Frigin joke. Update. I went to home depot and picked up a can of flat black rust-o-leum enamel. Their top notch stuff. I already had some surface prep cleaner. I think I did an awesome job repairing the 4 major spots. I think it's where the frame was held by robots at the factory or where the cross members were welded in. In those areas, 2 on each side of the truck I had major rust. I took a rag with the prep cleaner and the stuff that was meant to come off, came off. Then I sanded the bad rust spots, wiped again, and did 2 coats of spray. Looks better than what GM did. I also found on the frame in front of the control arms, no coatings. I wiped and sprayed. So for now I have zero rust under the truck. The rear axle has some slight surface rust but I'm not terribly worried about it. When that gets worse I'll hit the axle. I should be good for a few years. I just hope the inside of the frame doesn't rust. Cost me about $7 and 2hrs of my time. Much better than dealing with the special Olympics GM calls the service dept. I had numerous dealers give me a hard time about the rust. Heck, I still need the instrument recall done! It's these kind of things that makes you wonder WTF did I buy this truck when I could of gotten a RAM. If it wasn't for the quiet cabin, G80 Locker and Direct injection.... I'd have a RAM. Direct injection and lockers are important to me.
  7. FL335i
    I have a bit over 2,000 miles on my '14. Plus the 5k miles I did on the company '14. So I've had 7k miles behind the wheel of identical 2wd 3.08 and 4wd 3.42 trucks. CC/SB, 5.3's. LT's. Both have a slight shake. In both trucks, I found that 35psi front and 33psi rear cold pressures helped out quite a bit. one idea that dawned on me is the driveshaft's on these trucks are 1pc, aluminum at that, and have no slip spline. So we have a 8' long aluminum pipe down there. I'd like someone to explain to me what happens in extreme temps and the thing is shrinking and down in 120F Florida expanding. The driveshaft should slip in/out a bit.
  8. FL335i
    Finding a good road force machine, tech and shop is a challenge.
  9. FL335i
    BMW has weights on the outside of the wheels? What year BMW, 1982. BMW like just about everyone uses inside stick-on weights. What a joker. Nobody uses outside weights anymore unless you have a hoopty. Find a good shop to do the 9700 road force. Costs me $25/wheel in Tampa. $100+ tax. Not cheap. Be careful, some shops have road force machines that are not the 9700.
  10. FL335i
    If you don't' witness the road force, it's not worth **** IMO.
  11. FL335i
    I only road force balance. But you need to make sure the tech is good and knows how to use it. I make the deal with the shop that if I can't watch him and witness the work, in the shop, right there, no business.
  12. FL335i
    Just bought a 2014 LT Crew/SB 4x4 today. Love it. It has the 18" SRA Wranglers. Vibrates like my company '14 2wd version does. Same sheit. You guys need to lookup the new 2014 Tundra videos with their chief engineer. I was watching them last weekend and one of the videos really caught my attention. Regarding the use of a steel driveshaft and the rear frame section nob being boxed. His response was that the aluminum shafts were harder to balance for quality control and the C-channel rear sections allowed some flex and helped reduce NVH. So pretty much we have a stiff frame and aluminum shafts which probably are not balanced like a one-off race shop would. I may take mine a local driveline shop if I get bored. It's not bad enough to mess with though. Here's the video. I found it. Driveshaft video: Frame video: I guess the Silverado "rides like a truck".
  13. FL335i
    I think RF #'s need to be under 12 #. That's always my goal. ON my cars it's usually under 10#. Michelin's balance out better from what I've seen too.
  14. FL335i
    I've been watching this thread for a few months. Was going to buy a F150 for work purposes but decided it's cheaper to let my company buy me a work truck. I got a new '14 CC/SB 5.3 2wd 3.08. Pretty nice truck. console, power options... awesome interior. Just did the first hwy trip from Tampa to Orlando. It does have a hwy vibration from the rear of the truck up through the seat bottom. Very slight tight vibration. Nothing that I'm going to waste my time on. But it's there. 18" SRA's. Build date of Aug 2013, Mexico. The vibration comes and goes. I did feel the truck smooth, then the vibration was back. I've felt vibrations like this before. Very small, annoying tight vibrations. It's something in the wheels or driveline. I need to pay more attentions if it's speed and/or V8/4 mode related. But I'm not losing sleep over it. Overall, I think the truck is great. Very quiet on the hwy. Great steering for a truck. Big interior. A+ brakes. the Pandora feature is great. Is the F150 might be a better "Truck". Maybe. But for the light duty stuff I do the Silverado that's free is un-beatable. And the column shifter is not as bad as I thought it would be either. I like the console space. I think the vibration on my truck is similar to what tires out of balance .25 Oz or 1/2 oz feel like. I honestly think it's rim/tire related and the tight suspensions. I don't think GM's "tolerances" of stuff have caught up with the level of product they are trying to produce. In the end, I probably would of bought a Ram. The price, incentives, interior, smooth German-esc driveline and power are hard to beat Vs the issues the F150 and GM's have.
  15. FL335i
    ^Arclight- F150forum.com I've looked at all the forums and trucks. They all have issues. I'm not brand loyal, I just want something to drive reliably for work and family use. I really like the new Silverado looks and interior. My father inlaw is retired GM, so that's why I started with the Silverado and then the layers started to come off the onion. For what I'm looking for, IMO, the F150 has the least amount of issues, mainly ones that I can either A- Live with, or B- get fixed relatively easy by the dealer in about 3 or 4 days. Vibrations and shakes. no way. I can't deal with them. My cars ride out. Even my old mud truck rode out at 80 w/out vibrations. Why should a new '14 $40k truck not? I built mine in the driveway for $10k. GM has engineers and built theirs in a factory. The F150 is the last year of a model. So naturally it will have less issues; and me more outdated. I'll take slightly outdated with no issues vs new with issues. Hence why I'm not looking at a new '15 F150... To make things fair here, in 2011-2013 I would NEVER have bought a Ecoboost F150 with the issues they had going on. But from what I've been seeing the issue is fixed. From what I've seen I think ford's reaction to their first ever turbo engine tweaks was "ok". not steller, but not terrible either; better than GM with the vibration. The EB's now have different spark plug #'s and tighter gap, redesigned intercoolers and the problem is fixed. One reason the F150 issue became huge was when the truck ingested water, it would knock a cylinder out, and then these people are driving down the road pumping gas into their cats causing 2ndary damage and then they'd fix the IC/Plugs and not the cats.. big mess is my point. But it's figured out and the turbo engines are the future. I hope GM comes out with a fix. More trucks to pick from is good for the consumer.
  16. FL335i
    I for one am not buying a Silverado over this issue. It's too risky. And personally working with someone who had a buy back just strikes close to home. It's sad, I've owned a lot of GM's and so has my family. My father in law is a GM retired employee with good discounts. I'm test driving a F150 next week when I have a free day. The '14 F150 has 1 TSB at current time. I am on the F150 forum, and have been for a while researching. They have a clip/snap with their driveshaft/pinion when changing gears. Does not shake or vibrate or affect performance. And after 1 or 2 visits the Ford dealers have it fixed.
  17. FL335i
    Well, all that anticipation for something for nothing but BS from GM. More hose clamps. I'm now off the GM fence. in the F150 camp. Last year of the model, no recalls, only like 2 TSB's and the intercooler fiasco is fixed (spark plugs are now different and IC is changed). More power, more torque, HID headlights and rear a/c vents and a real E-locker. I cannot go blow 40K on a truck after I've been following this thread for like 2 weeks now and personally know a co-worker that had is bought back for a vibration. There is an issue with the vibration. But my co-workers was a '12 or '13 model, not the new '14. So I don't even know if GM will fix the vibration in the '15 when they couldn't fix it during a complete redesign for '14 from the previous gen. This should be illegal how they can just make and sell crap. This is exactly why I'm not brand loyal. BMW, Ford, GM etc do not pay my mortgage. It's not like it's 1965 where they can keep making and selling crap to people b/c this family is a GM family and that family is a ford family. Look on the bright side, the ignition switch should be good Can't wait for the '15 F150 to hit lots so I can vulture a '14.
  18. FL335i
    Got my popcorn out. waiting to hear Boughtalemon's outcome.
  19. FL335i
    ^ The '14 F150 is a strong option. It's the last year in the generation, so a lot of the bugs are gone. A '14 F150 only has 2 TSB's as of today!!! And the Intercooler problem has been fixed. Their torque comes on like a diesel at 2,500 (or 335i bmw). Very strong mechanical platform. Oh yea, no shakes.
  20. FL335i
    What is wrong with the rear-ends? I don't get it. New axle assemblies should be spot on.
  21. FL335i
    ^41 and 35 Lbs of road force? !! OMG. That's crazy high. 12 LBs for cars, 15 for trucks man. I've always managed to get them down. Takes work. Clocking the rim and tire, matching the rims and tires etc. But it can be done. Like I said before, my favorite tire to balance is a Michelin.
  22. FL335i
    on the previous gen truck the front CV's did spin at all speeds in 2wd. The T-case disengaged. Not sure about the new trucks. But I think some folks here have 2wd's with vibration correct?
  23. FL335i
    I was reading some financial articles this morning. Some as new as Friday. The old 2009 model F150 has sales up 3.9%. Ram is up like 22.5%, outselling Silverado now. Silverado is down a few points. So GM threw April money and now May money at these '14's. GM is worried about losing the #2 spot to Ram making them 3 for the year. I think for one, maybe GM should build a truck that doesn't shake and vibrate, then maybe people taking test drives won't be like... "Man this Ram drives smooth compare to the Silverado I drove this morning". Same with the F150. GM is losing sales to a 2009 F150 and 2009 Ram platforms. Pretty sad, the F150 is a 2009 truck with updated engines from 2011. And the Ecoboost V6 has a slew of issues on the ford forums too. Ram only was updated in 2012 with cosmetics really. And the Ford's interior is outdated. Sad GM will let the best truck of the 3 get hammered over not addressing some QC issues. GM's new truck has the highest safety ratings, good brakes, quiet cab etc. But you can't buy a $37-45k truck that shakes going down the road in 2014. And people do not take "it's a truck, that's normal". That' old school mentality is gone. I did watch the fast lane truck pulls going up Ike Gauntlet on youtube. I watched the 1st and 2nd round they did. The 6.2L Silverado was outperformed by the Ecoboost F150. Again, a truck from 2009 and engine from 2011 with a bad wrap. And right now, as of this morning Ford has minimal May incentives for the F150 and GM has 8k+. I was thinking, hey I'm looking for a work truck, who cares about the interior as much. I have my BMW and wifes new car. But the old F150 is actually more expensive!!!
  24. FL335i
    ^ LMFAO. Band clamps. on a brand new truck. That's great for testing. But this confirms a lot if they did fix the vibration.
  25. FL335i
    ^ two clamps? Really. Pic? I think a high speed spin balance by a shop is in order.
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