SquireSCA

Tried searching but there are literally hundreds of pages to scour through... I did the lower air damn removal, that was easy. What still bugs me is the second air dam, the black plastic with the chrome "mustache" insert. I my Colorado I removed the entire air dam(2016) and it massively improved the approach angle and cleaned the whole front up. I can do that on this one, but then I will have the front looking a bit "unfinished", as you will see some mounting brackets and bolts hanging up, plus the rescue hooks just protruding out by themselves. I have seen many pics of the blue 'Rado that the owner built his own skid plate to fill in that space. Does anyone know if there is a company that makes something like that, or some other insert? I just installed the GM Accessories front metal skid plate kit, so I don't mind if you see that, but it would be great to clean up the front end some more. We were on the trail yesterday and I went into some deep ruts to help pull my friend's Tundra out... he was up on a hump with most of his wheels teeter-tottering in the air and didn't have a diff lock... As I was backup up in 4 Low, by mustache caught on the mud between the ruts and pulled it half off... When I got home I hosed all the mud and rocks out of the inside of it so that it would re-seat properly, and I just mixed up some gorilla glue 5 minute epoxy to glue it to the black plastic underneath, as some of the plastic tabs had ripped off the "chrome" part. Looks as good as new now, but would love to get rid of that stuff and get some additional clearance there as well as more approach angle... But it's a new $50k truck, so I don't want it to look like a monkey took a hacksaw to it, you know? haha Looking for something basic, clean, and cost effective that does the job and doesn't look too "redneck engineered", if you get my drift. :-)

Yeah, I guess I will just need to drive over to one of the local shops, there are a few good ones here, and let them inspect my truck and see what we can come up with. I don't need a monster truck, but I wouldn't mind a little more lift and a little nicer ride on and off road.

I have a 2" level kit(spacers" installed up front, and a set of 2" blocks in the back, and 33's with stock wheels. Can I add a new set of shocks, on top of my current spacer kits, to get an extra inch or two, while also getting a better ride on and off road, than the stock Ranchero's? Or with regards to the front struts, is it longer shock OR spacer kits, but not both together?

Yeah, something where I have the rocker slider there for protection, but the steps I can pop on and off with an impact wrench and socket in 45 seconds each step, when I go onto the trails, that would be ideal. A lot easier than getting under the truck by myself and trying to hold and line up the large side step system and ratchet in 8 bolts per side...

So I have a 2018 Z71, dealer had the local offroad place install the 2" front leveling kit, plus a 2" lift in back to keep the factory rake, I removed the lower front air damn and then upgraded the tires to a set of 285/65r18 RidgeGrapplers. Truck sits several inches taller than stock and looks balanced. I just removed the plastic skid plate and installed the GM Accessories metal set, and plan to do a little off roading this weekend. Nothing gnarly, but might be some tricky parts for a lightly modded truck. One of the things that I did was remove the GM side steps. While they are handy getting in and out, they also took away 5 or 6 inches of clearance on the sides and could get hung up on stuff. What I would love is either a rocker slide that doesn't take away by ground clearance and I can use it as a step, or, a set of steps that have two positions. Leave them down for normal use, and when you hit the trail, push a mechanical button and fold them up higher and click them into place. I don't want to spend a bunch of money on some electric setup that raises and lowers them all the time. 95% of the time they will be down and that's fine, but would love to fold them out of the way when I go offroad, rather than spend half an hour unbolting them and they having to put them back on when I get home. Ideas?

2" lift front and back to maintain the stock rake, removed the lower air dam and 285 width RidgeGrapplers.

I went with the K&N air filter myself. But I cleaned it prior to use. It comes dripping with oil out of the box and over-oiling is what causes it to mess with the air sensor... I don't think that the filters are inherently bad for the sensors, it's that most people tend to put too much oil on them... Clean it, and LIGHTLY oil it. Like it should just have a light pink tinge to it. If its red, the same color as the oil, then you used too much.

https://www.gmwholesaledirect.com/oem-parts/gm-under-body-shield-v8-engine-only-23176881 This fits my 2018 Z71 and I will be ordering one up shortly. Like everyone else, I too feel that the plastic stock plates are worthless. There are wires and vital things down there and the plastic won't hold up to jack...

Yeah, I didn't ask for it, but there was some sort of big lawsuit several years back and State Farm was one of the primary companies names in the suit. The GA courts ruled against them and now it is required by law that when they cover your accident, that the accident is defined as the total cost of making you whole. It's not just what it took to fix the issue, but also any diminished value as a result of the accident.

Yeah, the way that state farm explained it to me, just the fact that my car now shows up in a Carfax report, will lower the sell or trade value. In GA, they are required by law to pay out not just for the repair, but also the diminished value of the vehicle. The rep said that at the dealer that I went to, last year some guy had a major accident with is brand new loaded top of the line Tahoe. It needed new bodywork, the frame was bent, etc... They didn't total it out, but chose to fix it. Took 6 months, but they did finally get his truck back to him looking and riding brand new. The owner then got a check for $28k for the diminished value..

I already got the diminished value check from my insurance company.

Good news! Got a call last night from the guy's insurance company(Liberty Mutual). They said that they have been trying to get in touch with the driver and he and his mom will not return their calls or respond. So they went and got the police report, and it was very clear from the report and the cop's notes that their client was at fault. They gave me a reference number to give to my insurance(State Farm) and told them to send them an invoice and that they would reimburse State Farm for the repair and my deductible. They said at that point, once State Farm is reimbursed, my "accident" will be coded as not my fault and it won't impact my insurance premiums... So good news there. I had hoped that the guy would do the right thing, but as I guessed, his mom probably took over the process and tried ignoring it and hoped it would go away, which forced his insurance to do their own homework and the police report saved the day for me. Great success!

I negotiated to get the crappy OEM tires off and a larger set of Nitto RidgeGrapplers installed when I picked up my '18 Silverado Z71.

My Colorado throttle response was like that, always running too high a gear, jerky shifting when you did mash the peddle... Didn't drive like a 305hp truck should... My solution was always running in trailer mode. It basically took the motor out of it's "eco" mode and made it much nicer to drive. On the Silverado I straight piped it from the CAT's on back, single exit with a nice Chevy chromed tip. Cost me $200 parts and labor at a local muffler shop, sounds awesome. Added the Range box and plugged it into the diagnostic port under the steering column, no more AFM. And when the truck goes to the dealer for warranty work, I simply unplug the Range box and no worries about my warranty. I don't care about fuel economy. If I wanted that I would have a Prius. I bought a big 4x4 v8 truck and did so knowing the mileage would suck and I am fine with that. In total, I spent about $400 on the K&N air filter, straight pipe and tip and Range box. Drives really nice.

You never know. About 7 years ago I had a guy in an F250 make a right turn into a parking lot, from the left lane without using his turn signals or even looking. I was on an FZ1 at the time, went into a full on stoppie, and he still hit me. I ended up going under the back of his truck and his tail pipe went up inside my jacket and he ended up dragging me halfway across the bank parking lot. People had to run out and tell him he had hit and was dragging someone, he claimed he had no idea. I was wearing my gear so I pretty much shrugged it off, but he did about $1800 damage to the bike. Luckily by the time he hit me, I got the bike from 30mph to about 3mph, so it kinda just fell over and slid maybe 5 feet. I had no medical bills, but State Farm did go after him to get my deductible back. They also bought me a new helmet and Alpinestars jacket.