Grumpy Bear

Thanks. If I didn't know better I would swear I was looking into the box of my own truck. These two tops look identical except mine is not that tight. Know what the replacement will be now.

Milestone mileage!

I have the Lund soft roll up on mine but the Access Lorado looks smoother and more taut. How much and what style of bridge work is under it? Photo? Thanks.

Bemis Body Shop. De Kalb, Illinois did a nice job and as usual went beyond the contract. When the paint was removed there were indeed several flaws in the prep work that caused the blisters. The shop also disassembled the inside panels for a look behind the sheet to assure the zinc was in tact and nothing sneaking up from within. This was totally a GM flaw. A replay of my 1976 experience with Ford except this time I caught it soon enough. Rust through in six months and not covered on that one. This time to many miles for corrosion and not enough damage for rust through. This is why I find warranties worthless.

285 characters. 5.1 letters on average per word in the English language then add a trailing space. 15 to 20 words per sentence, they say, and some punctuation will make it by my figures using 18 words per sentence and 2 punctuation marks per a document length of about 47 words. The length of the above paragraph is what I’m told is the attention span of today’s reader. Less than 4.5 lines in Word with 16 point type per post or the reader gets all blurry eyed and drifts off into unconsciousness. Bored? Disinterested? Lazy? Rude? Ops, used up two post of material. That’s one paradigm, and the another would be…….

Ben and I are done playing phone tag. New 600# King springs are ordered. This should lower the spindle to fender 1" adding nearly 2" of rebound provide more road imperfection compliance. The conversation was well worth having. Phone is always better than emails or PM's for getting nuts and bolts sorted. Again, this is not an aesthetic modification but a ride compliance motivated exchange. It was noted during the last tire rotation how little the wheels dropped when lifted by the frame and measurements showed the droop, while in spec, was indeed at the upper end to the preferred range. I mentioned in another post that I've never struck the bump stops and the upper ball joints are under no distress however having spent this type of money to get what I want I will ferret out the remaining devils cut from this set up and find the perfection I seek. Fact is 500# springs are what the math indicates but we agreed that even 600# under the influence of a leverage ratio of about 2:1 is a HUGE step from the factory installed 750# springs. Elephants are best eaten a little at a time. Ben confided that this has been a fun project for his team as Filthy Motorsports bread and butter is, as you know, off road racing and while they do street occasionally it's often that they get the chance to sort one out like this. I guess most buyers are one and done. Whey they arrive Deegan's will swap springs. Reset the front rear leaf bushings and upgrade the grease. Install a ride height correction shim to the left rear leaf and realign to my specs. I'll have about 100 miles to evaluate the set up if I wish to take advantage of Ben's spring exchange program. If all good I have about 20K on this set of tires to assure the alignment is still giving the wear patterns I like before giving her some new shoes. Updates as they happen.

Filthy Motorsports. I mentioned something is in the works and the something is a spring swap up front. King builds these OEM replacements with the intention of adding a front lift level which they calculate at about 2" lift. They are build around GM's most popular truck, the CC V8 pretty well optioned. That truck isn't my truck. That truck is nearly a thousand pounds heavier than Pepper which means....it's over sprung. This isn't just a ride quality issue, it's also stance and geometry related. 5/8", that's how far the spring compresses between off her wheels and on the ground. Very near the top of 4+ inches of shock travel and yet it has never topped out or hit the bump stops. Amazing valve work. I have two choices on spring and that process is in the works now. More later. Removed the winter grill cover. 300 mile jaunt yesterday to Peoria and back to Hoerr Racing. Oil run. This makes the 7th tank and again mid 28 mpg numbers. Return so far on a fresh tank above 29.5 with half a tank used. On the 12th tank since the thermostat delete. Over 4,000 miles and average is running 2 mpg above life time average. There are other factors beside the thermostat. Two of these a seasonal. 1.) Spring Fuel change. 2.) Warmer weather brought her well off her winter lows and back to life time numbers 3.) Switch from Hydrocracked Group III to a 'real' synthetic, a blend of POA and Esters. 4.) Thermostat delete, quicker warm up, lower running temperatures. Stability. 5.) Tires under 7/32" Redline Oil. Been running 5W20 in a motor built for 5W30 based on 'actual' operating temperatures from the cold Jet Performance thermostat. I've experienced zero adverse affects and now over the 62K marker where the horror stories say the bottom falls out and oil usage becomes unbearable I'll be trading down to 0W20 at the next service. Running viscosity at full heat temperatures goes unchanged but during that critical warm up period the 'average' viscosity will be lower.

62,000 miles and nothing but a pinion seal. I am proactive however. As my only truck I have nothing to compare it with but I can't see letting her go until it pukes or rots off her wheels. Who knows, maybe I'll make the 300K club.

Meriam Webster, Oxford, Wikipedia, take your pick of English dictionaries and look up Bully. Wiki makes it simple breaking it down to its three elemental required units under the subheading of DEFINITION: (1) hostile intent (2) imbalance of power (3) repetition over a period of time. Etymology: "harasser of the weak". WHAT A BULLY IS: When the kids in school found out that a fight at school gets you a beating at home they came two to five at a time, two or three times a week...for ten years. I love summer vacations. Sometimes guys and girls two grades behind took their shots in packs. There wasn’t a beating taken that was worse than the ones at home. Temperament of a starving female Grizzly with twin cubs welding a three foot length of rubberized canvas covered steel woven flat machinery belting. Sort of like a razor strap with a braid of steel in it. A real rib breaking, flesh flailing device meant to teach you not to strike anyone…ever…for any reason…an so it was... WHAT A BULLY IS NOT: A person who says, “I DISAGREE”; explains that disagreement pointing out error or proving it invalid in its entirety and supplying the correct answer or perhaps just additional information to a half correct thought. And yet that is what some that have never met a real bully believe one to be. A person that says “I DISAGREE”. Really????? Put your big boy pants on. Learn to use a dictionary. It doesn’t hurt as bad to be wrong as a couple of broken ribs. I have to close now as it has come to my attention that today’s audiences will not tolerate anything longer than 285 characters. That’s one paradigm, and the another would be…….

This is fascinating! Likely best thread on the site. Individuals placing real value in their time, money and trucks.

Testing limits on a Saturday drive in Wisconsin. We had some errands to run in Rockford (Illinois) today and a fresh tank of gas leaving the house 20 miles earlier. I took the opportunity to test this transmission cooling strategy driving the width of Rockford down East River Drive which is under construction and one busy road. Rockford’s street Engineer must be of the opinion that if he stops you often enough and long enough maybe you will either stay, tax revenue, or stop and buy something. Worst light timing in the lower 48 and the roads are trash. Table set I’ll get to it. Nearly an hour of 84 F stop and go city traffic with the air on and two things jumped right out and bit me. The transmission never rose about 175 F and at the end of the hour Pepper was still above 23 mpg for the cross town jaunt. Water temperature was running about 5 F over thermostat set, thus fully open, but the fans never came on. I never lowered their set points after the thermostat swap. Fact is, I’ve never seen or heard the fans in this truck activate except to test the switch in the shop. As the trans cooler is in the cold side tank and the fans never turned on in stopped traffic for up to five minutes means the radiator cooling was net zero. Radiant cooling only on the pump. Told you this was one big efficient radiator. Once on the open road, US 20 it cooled right down to 150 F. In the hill country of western Wisconsin it leveled out at 160 F. Routes 39, 78, 151, 80 and US 20 at the western edge of Wisconsin marked the turning point for the day. Until then it was hills and a west wind of 20/25 mph. US 20 east home saw the mileage run over 30 mpg the entire return leaving the 323 mile round trip using 11.5 gallons and netting 28.1 mpg for the day and bringing a running 2000 mile distance to 28.5 mpg. This brings the 24 point running average above the lifetime average erasing the entire winters drag on the life time average. Running posted limits except on US 151. 55 mph on that stretch of posted 65 mph four lane. I make note as well that about 20 minutes into the return run the wind which had be in our face all day dropped to under five mph. I had been counting on a tail wind to bring it home but looks like I didn’t need it. I love this truck.

Since 2001 all cars sold in the USA are E15 friendly.

http://www.cosmolinedirect.com/cosmoline-black-rust-veto-344/ This is my go to.

Transmission Thermostat Update Had a three day span of 84/89 F weather with lots of wind, 20/25 mph, gust to 35 mph and low humidity. Direction certainly makes a difference not just in load but in cooling. About 10 F warmer going with the wind that against. 164 F with the wind and 156 against it. 50 mph for most of these exercise as I am always mindful of the part wind plays with mileage. Trip length 100 miles. Distance to peak heat 25 miles. Motor ran 190/192 F and the radiator still has it's blind installed. 27 mpg. Temp did rise to 174 F at one point when stopped idling for about 5 minutes. This is well below the fan trigger temperatures. None of these temperatures is alarming but I can see where towing and faster speeds could make it a problem depending on your personal threshold temperature trigger you feel becomes an issue. The six cylinder certainly has a generous radiator that has been crippled by some fairly high thermostat regulation temperatures. Shift quality and timing is about as good as one could hope for. I will continue to monitor this over the summer season. So far this is a winner. Warms her up in the winter. Cools her down in the summer. There are two parts of the GM logic that baffles me a bit and that is the use of a thermostat with zero leakage. Most after market units bleed about 10% of the fluid through the cooler at all times. It's hard to trip a thermostat that isn't seeing traffic until the transmission body/thermostat body reaches the trigger point. The other is the highly restrictive nature of the valve itself. Even fully open is passes a fraction of the fluid to the cooler. That boys and girls is a head scratcher. Both of these issues are solvable with a Dremel tool and some thought. Last 5 tanks totaled 1726 miles / 60.27 gallons = 28.64 mpg. Pretty much 55 mph now.

Again that you for this information!!

Thank you for posting this.

Is that plug and play? Sounds interesting.

Sorry typo (No) I don't know what is different about these lights. My ignorance is astounding.

Ni before photo in your thread?

How to spend $1.45 a mile! $30,000 you agree to pay for your truck before TTL. Using the numbers for Illinois and my truck that truck just inflated to: $32,371 and you are paying cash. To earn this number clear, using my tax bracket you must earn: $46,000 but the pain won’t end there. Assuming 5 year ownership and the National average driving distance of 13,750 miles based on the NHTSA numbers and an estimated fuel cost of $2.75 per gallon and using the same principle that you pay taxes on money you earn the earnings required to fuel that truck for the estimated 68,750 miles is…..$15,800 of which $6,052 will be in some form of tax. State, Federal or Income bringing your total to: $61,800 but the pain won’t end there. You will change oil 13.75 times at a cost of $40 per in materials and assuming you change it yourself you spend another $855. $253 of which is in state sales and all income taxes bringing your total to: $62,655 but the pain won’t end there. You will spend another $575 on plates of which $170 will be income taxes on the money you spent on those plates which are pure tax. Your total is now: $63,230 but the pain won’t end there. According to Edmunds the five year cost of Insurance, maintenance and repairs will total $12,423 additional cost and you will pay $5,223 on the income to pay those bills bringing your cost to: $80,876 but the pain won’t end there. For five years Edmunds estimates the truck will devalue by $18,828 (trade price of top 3% of class) which is in essence pure tax bringing you total to: $99,704 The value of your truck after five year and 68K miles is: $11,172 You’ve paid $46,958 is taxes. $16,000 more than the strike price of the truck! Taxes equal 47% of the 5 year total! You’ve paid over 3X the strike price but your truck is only worth: 11% of what you have spent on it. 1) When you spend a dollar you don’t just pay state, county, city and Federal taxes on what you bought but you also pay Federal, State, Social Security and Medicare taxes on the money you are paying that debt with. The debt payment is AFTER income taxes. 2) Depreciation is not the same thing a trade value and cannot be used in calculation of ‘cost of ownership’. I used best case Edmund’s values in this example which you will nearly never achieve. 3) The example used will be in proportion to the strike price with an adjustment for state registration fees and percentage based devaluation. As these are fairly fixed cost doubling the purchase price doubles the Income required. i.e. a $60K truck will lighten your wallet $180K/$200K in five years…give or take. 4) Miles per gallon cost is more than (Gallon * Price) / Miles unless you stole that money you paid all four income taxes on some amount to get the purchase price. I drive like Grandpa Jones because: 1.) When I do I use 35/40% less fuel than average. 2.) Tires last 140% past the warranty limit 3.) Brakes last 200/300% of national averages 4.) These three pay most of the taxes. I buy low mile used because…well…it cost money to spend money. Every dollar I don’t spend saves me three. Do the math but do it correctly. Really does it make sense to you to spend $3 for a $1 item that has the future value of a dime? That’s one paradigm, and the another would be…….

Booked the paint booth for May 8. Getting that lift gate painted. $600 says the estimate. Work is half the size of doors I've had done in this shop for $400 but the badging is stupid expensive. I wouldn't replace them but the wife's truck so the wife's wishes. Root cause is some imperfection in the factory metal prep during the original painting.

60,000 Mile Service 6 quarts Redline 5W20 and WIX filter. Zero consumption for this 5K interval. OLM showed 40% remaining. Check of all other fluids both level and condition. All good Belts. lights ditto. Add two 10 oz. cans of Techron (done each 5K) to this full up. Have a look see behind the throttle body. Dry as a bone. No more build up on the valves than a carbureted motor. Tires. These Bridgestone Duller tires are a 60,000 warranty tire and at this mileage I measure .224" +/- .001 for all four. Based on a .100" replacement target this set is heading for 85,000 miles of life. They were rotated and balanced as is my custom. Rotation each 5K balance each 10K and check of pressures every outing. 140% of warranty Brakes, slides etc. check and heading for over 100K+ service life. Trans cooler modification have been in effect for 3K miles. Eight fill ups. Ambient temperatures for this period have ranged 55 F to 75 F and the trans temperatures warm quickly to their terminal temperatures 130 / 140 F. As high as 155 in town traffic. I rating this one a winner but still under review. For these eight fills the fuel efficiency has been off the hook. 2700 miles / 96.97 gallons = 27.8 mpg. 337 miles per fill and an average 12.1 gallons per fill. Label says 26 gallon tank but the only time I got 26 gallons in it was a pump shut off that didn't trip and ran it on the ground. Normal fill is more like 25 gallons. I try not to run below 1/2 tank thus I have a self imposed less than 12.5 gallon fill target. While the wheels were off made some front strut measurements in lieu of pending spring change. More on that as it develops.

Enjoy. I did. http://www.engineprofessional.com/articles/EPQ415_12-20.pdf