tnchevy

No, you just probably bought one of the later built 14's. My december 2013 built truck had some rust on the frame when new. I told them about it and they took it back in the shop and sprayed what they could reach with some sort of undercoating. They just masked the rust with it and didn't really fix the problem. I am not to worried about it, just more of a cosmetic issue. If people think the painted frames on Fords are better then they should have a look at my 2012 f150 work truck, it covered in rust on the frame.

I took my truck in for its second free oil change and I stayed outside to make sure the kid doing it was actually gonna rotate the tires. He did rotate them and put in 8qts of oil per the new bulletin on that. Took my truck out to the interstate and accelerated hard to 80 mph and stayed in the 70-80 mph range. Truck is not vibrating near as bad as it did when new, just a very slight vibration in the low 70's but hardly noticeable. I am pretty sure my vibe problem is related to these crappy GY tires.

My truck is smooth in V4 except when the throttle is lightly pressed while in V4. Mine then slightly shakes and has a slight drone. I put on a dynomax VT muffler and that just magnified the problem but still only when the throttle was lightly pressed. Give it more gas and even if it stays in V4 the shake/drone goes away. I sent back the catback because of it.

I am running the stock 18's with stock good years. I have not touched my "trip 2" since I bought the truck and it says 19.5 mpg but it is about a mile per gallon off. My hand calculation has me at 18.8. I don't go by the 25 and 50 mile averages, they are useless. I have always got at the top of what the epa stickers say in every vehicle in my household but this one. 19 mpg is not bad but for all this extra technology I am not impressed compared to GM's trucks from 15 years ago. Once I put more aggressive and heavier tires (like my last truck that got 17.8 mpg) and take the air dam off I am sure I will be getting around 18 mpg or worse.

You are right and I am not complaining about the gas mileage as much as I am complaining about all this extra stuff going on with this new truck to improve fuel efficiency nets about 1 mpg more than previous models for my driving habits and area. The one thing I am definitely not complaining about though is the power. I owned a 4.8 and had a 2003,2006, and a 2009 with the 5.3 and 3.73 gears as work trucks and this new motor blows them away in the power dept.

My truck is the 5.3 V8 with 3.42 gears and factory street tires. My work truck is a 2012 with the 5.0 V8 and 3.55 gears, both trucks are 6 speeds. My mpg and yours will always be different because of the terrain we live in. Down your way in NO it is flat as a pancake so your truck is not working as hard and is in V4 more often. There is nothing flat up my way and I am not on the interstate very much. I keep detailed spreadsheets of the gas mileage of every vehicle I have owned in the last 15 years (including my motorcycles) so I have a lot of data to go off of. I had my 2002 for 12 years and my overall average was 17.8 mpg and the truck was rated at 14city 18hwy (still have the window sticker). After 9 months and 6k miles my 2014 is at 18.85 mpg over all average and rated at 16city 22hwy. My 2012 is rated at 14city & 19 hwy and I was averaging 18 mpg for the 2 years it had the factory tires. I am a conservative driver and have always got gas mileage on the upper end of what they say the vehicle gets but not on this one.

I am rarely on the interstate but on a lot of 55mph two lane roads in TN, VA, NC which are rarely flat. This truck pulls them just fine but only 1.5 mpg better than my 2002 which had more ground clearance and heavy LT tires with 4.10 gears is kind of sad IMO. I've got 6,000 miles on mine so it is pretty much broke in. Gas mileage is not a huge concern for me but with reduced ground clearance, lighter materials, street tires, direct injection, and cylinder deactivation I expected more. My work truck is a 2012 Ford F150 with a huge brush guard and winch (3.55 gears) and when it had "AT" street tires on it I was getting right at 20 mpg in the summer, and this is from a truck without the fancy fuel saving gimmicks. I've got heavy LT tires on it now and I am down to 17.5 mpg in the Ford.

So it looks like a 1.5 inch level would probably come close to making the cab level?

Dr. Evil, I am also from East TN and have the same set up as you, but I am not getting what you are. I have had my truck for 9 months and during the winter I got 18 mpg and now that it has warmed up I am up to 19.5. I am not really too impressed considering most of my driving is on highways. My last silverado was a 2002 ext cab with the 4.8 and 4.10 gears and LT Nitto terra grapplers and I got 16mpg in the winter and 18 mpg in the summer. I figure once I put on AT tires and remove the front air dam I will probably be getting the same gas mileage as my 2002! I can't really understand how a truck with this much technology can't do any better on gas. I also do not go off of what the computer tells me, it is usually 1 mpg off or more. The upside is that this truck has a crap load more power than the old 4.8!

Makes me wish I had my 84 model back! I sometimes think about going out and buying a simple carb ran 70's to early 80's truck just to keep in the back yard because of crap like this.

Hey, new guy here but found this forum because of this thread shortly after I bought my truck in Sept. 2014. I don't ride the interstate much but a few weeks after buying the truck I took it for a 3 hour ride down the interstate and back and noticed a slight vibration in the steering wheel. Took it into the dealership and they drove it and confirmed the shake. Re-balanced all the tires and said shake was gone. It did make it somewhat better but I still get these random shakes at around 72 mph that sometimes can be really bad. Funny thing is it will just go away and be smooth again and then out of no where it will shake again. I think the crappy tires do have a lot to do with minor vibrations but something is going on in the driveline for the rest of it. Most of my driving is vibration free since I am not on the interstate very much but I am not letting the dealership mess with it till there is a definite fix.