aseibel

haha, you are thinking about this deeper than I intended. I only mean that if I keep it clean and maintain the engine so I'm not burning oil... You can say you would coat/spray/clean the frame, whatever you wish. Bottom line is, the body panels start to peel and separate, electronics get moisture damage, mechanical parts wear out. Obviously you can replace parts all day, as KARNUT stated, one can obtain a whole new frame. But I'm not a mechanic and I'm not paying to re-build a car when its value is less than $1000. Some day that repair costs you more than the vehicle is worth. Do you keep buying parts? for how long? All I'm asking is, how long do you EXPECT a truck built in 2020 to last for the typical responsible owner? Try to hit the mid-point of the bell curve.

Grumpy, I'm curious as to your opinion on this question: Knowing how the world has changed into a throwaway society, and automakers continually decrease the thickness of steel and paint- how long would you expect a brand new truck to last (on average) before its repair costs outweigh its usefulness? Assuming it is properly maintained, of course, by an owner who wants to make it last? Time passes fast in the salty north, so miles or years could be used to gauge.

"Forever" is very subjective. A collector car that is driven 5,000 miles per year on sunny days is different than a daily driven truck in a northern (salty) climate. Since you already have 95,000 miles in 5 years, I am guessing your forever truck is going to rust out or become undriveable by around the 300,000 mile/15 year mark. These bodies aren't built to last any longer. To reach that milestone (which I pretty much plan on doing) I want to keep it mostly stock and regular maintenance. Thats it. I don't think any bolt-on parts are going to improve the life expectancy beyond that.

Everything you said is true. I said nothing about trusting bean counters, only that there are people with more data than I have who have determined it's not worth it for them to install a catch can. Unfortunately in this "throw away" society, no auto maker cares about making their engine last 4-5 times longer than the warranty period since the majority of customers sell the vehicle or wreck it well before then. All they care about is "being cheap" to save a few bucks to throw in the pension fund. Like any other mod, if you want one on your truck, have at it.

Are you looking at the hole to stick the crank in, to lower the spare tire?

think about it this way: If catch cans worked so well and prevented all catastrophic failure of engines still under the powertrain warranty- wouldn't GM put the $200 part on the truck to begin with? Since they (GM's bean counters) don't believe catch cans are needed to get the truck through the warranty period, then I'm fine without it. Maybe adding one will increase your engine's life span from 200k to 300k. I doubt my frame will last that long anyway so it doesn't make me lose any sleep.

When I first saw the prototype for this new gate, my first thought wasn't, "wow, what a useful innovation". Instead it was, "great, another crevice to collect dirt, debris, water and rust." I'm not surprised in the least.

Is that a known fact? That's the first time I've heard it. I guess I'm lucky to live in a place where I have to shovel snow off my driveway 4 months out of the year! I'd love to hear why hot, humid weather causes metal machines to shudder. Mine sure seems clunkier when I first fire it up on cold mornings.

https://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/196044-what-is-the-biggestwidest-tire-without-lift-on-16-1500-z71/?do=findComment&comment=1918071

This is the best answer on the thread. It comes down to how much you value your money vs. any perceived benefits of an extra 0.9 liters of displacement. That fact that the OP even posed the question in the first place gives me a good indication of which way he's leaning.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having bad luck. Have they replaced your driveshaft? If 20% of the vehicles rolled off the line like that, I'm pretty sure the public would have spoken and stopped buying the trucks. Why do they continue to sell some 100,000 trucks a month (between chevy and GMC?) I have not met anyone in real life who complained about a shudder yet. I've only read about it online. So based on my real life experience the number is 0%. I'm sure the true number is somewhere between 1% and 20%.

The 5.3 is more than adequate for any driving you need to do on public roads. The 6.2 is purely for fun/showing off/bragging rights. If you want to pay for the bigger engine, just do it. You don't need permission from strangers online to spend your money. But you definitely don't need a 6.2. There's a lot of things I don't need that I pay for too, but I don't regret having a 5.3 for 1 second.

Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S are what I run. Also have the mountain snowflake symbol. They perform as well as KO2's but for less $$. They also have great tread life. highly recommend.

Here ya go. Its a long thread. Go to page 11, or the posts on Jan 7, 2019 to see my finished product. I bought the clear cyclone LED lights from KC. Others went with a ridgid surface mount light, but i don't like how deep those are and the wires go straight out the back. But they do work as well.

Yup. I also changed all 4 white bulbs to LEDs on mine thinking the cargo light would help. It does nothing. I ended up mounting some KC cyclone lights inside the rear bumper step cavity and tied the wiring into the cargo switch, so now I can have bright back-up lights that come on only in P or R when I flip the switch. I have some info/pics in another thread if anybody is interested.

My beater is still on the same battery I had installed when I bought it used in 2009. I had them replace it because the original was weak. But 10 years of Wisconsin winters later, it still starts fine. And that car is not driven daily, more like 3x a week. My wife got 8 years out of her old car battery, too. I've only had to replace a couple batteries in 20 years of driving. Seems like they care able to last a long time as long as it doesn't start out defective.

Extreme heat seems to be harder on the batteries than cold is. I don't know if that's a fact, but i do remember several other people complaining on here how early their batter went to junk and they lived in the desert southwest. I'm in Wisconsin and my truck is 4 years old with original battery. Never a hard start and we hit -20s last winter.

Yeah, make sure your headlights are aimed below horizontal. I don't think 2" will make much difference to anything else you mentioned.

Check the fuse, the outlet may be fine but you just tried to pull too many amps. Those are weak outlets.

wow. I guess you have to really think about leaving valuables in the bed with one of those toppers.

How many of those AWD vehicles are Subaru's? https://www.iseecars.com/most-subarus-by-state-2016-study

YAY, I won the recall lottery. I get to go visit the dealer for ANOTHER software fix.

No problem. I agree with you. Just be careful posting facts on the internet. The die hard 6.2 crowd will crucify you. Some people don't understand the difference between "recommended" and "required".

I'm just saying, why pay more for a truck with a 6.2, only to put regular gas in it? Did you really need the 6.2 then? If you want to take advantage of every horse under the hood, you pay for premium fuel. If you don't need those few extra horses, then a 5.3 would suit you just fine.

I don't know why anyone would choose to pay extra for a 6.2 and then put 87 in it. There are plenty of 5.3's available for the cost conscious consumer. But if you do have a 6.2 and are more concerned with cost of fuel/mile, you are not coming out ahead by paying for 93 octane. Any small gains do not offset the extra cost. Just like anyone with a 5.3 who buys premium fuel won't notice any benefits either. Put in the gas you want, its your truck.