midwestdenaliguy

My research way back when mine needed to be replaced resulted in me not trusting cheap no name 'active' struts that were 'compatible' with the magneride system. Quality is a mixed bag and it's something I didn't want to roll the dice on. I also didn't want to spend the OEM price to get another mag suspension system I wasn't all that impressed with. So I bought a bypass kit (OBD port plug and/or sensor plugs) that allows you to install passive shocks/struts. This gives you crap ton more options depending on what you want to do. I wanted a 1.5-2" lift and now I've gone through a few sets of various brands that gave me that. The best riding set hands down is the Eibach Pro Truck Stage 2 kit. It's 'plug and play' in that the coilover struts come pre-installed. Everything is bolt out, bolt in. There are 2 versions, one without reservoirs (Stage 2) and one with them (Stage 2R). I got the Stage 2R and it's overkill as I don't off-road enough to need better heat control on the shocks. When these wear out I'll go with Stage 2 and save a few bucks. Since the OEM mg ride shocks/struts were about $1600 to replace I saved around $400 doing the bypass and getting a passing kit. The Eibach rides incredibly well, not too soft or firm.

I know this is old, but by chance did you find a kit for the rear stainless hose lines? I can only find front stainless lines for the Sierra.

I don't think you're being unreasonable for 2 reasons: 1. Their communication is not great. You've had to chase them down after they missed the deadline they set for themselves. Nothing drives me more nuts. I totally understand shops getting frustrated with customers who call frequently demanding updates so I try to be patient. But if you tell me you'll call around a certain time and I have to track you down later that's when I'm not happy. Just be upfront with me if you're swamped and give me a more realistic timeline. Or call when you say you will and let me know you haven't been able to get to it yet. I can live with that because you're at least communicating. 2. Guessing it's a part and replacing it to see if that's the problem is not a diagnosis. They didn't test the actuator and that's absolutely part of the diagnosis process. Now it's a different story if they tested the actuator and found it to be faulty, got approval from you to replace it, then noticed something else with the differential when they test drove it after replacing it. Then it becomes, "we replaced the bad actuator and now think there's another issue. we need to get into your diff to find out more...". I'd stay away from that dealership. Sadly I've lived in 7 states across the country and have only had good luck with 2 dealerships. Hopefully you can find a decent one near you or a competent independent shop. I'm fortunate the best dealership I've worked with is where I live now. They don't throw parts at stuff and pray it solves it...and they communicate well.

It’s been a month so maybe you took care of this, but in my case the truck was still shifting fine. I only knew about it due to the codes coming up, then the needle started bouncing not long after. Since there were no hard shifts I wasn’t worried about getting it in for repairs immediately. Scheduled an appt and still drove it until then. So in my case I’d say it wasn’t urgent enough to stop driving it until it was repaired since the shifting was fine, but to each their own.

UPDATE - TL;DR The HaloLifts kit was the problem. I can no longer recommend HaloLifts. Their design completely changed from the first set I had. They source their parts from Elka now and the ride is WAY softer than the original design. The front of the truck bounces up and down like an old school Cadillac. Also, the new design started squeaking and clunking not too long after install. It was time for me to update ball joints, sway bar bushings, end links, tie rods etc. so I assumed the noise/clunk was coming from one of those. Nope, everything got replaced and it was still there. Had a dealership look at my power steering rack and they couldn't find any issues. I lived with the squeaking/clunking for a while, hoping I could pinpoint what it was after it became more obvious. Then it dawned on me maybe the newer HaloLift kit was the problem. I rocked and bounced the truck and sure enough the squeaking was coming from the front coilovers. After looking closely at them I could see what looked like grease coming out of the bushing on the top hat. Thought this may be the source of my clunk as well. So I took advantage of a black friday deal and bought the Eibach Pro Truck Stage 2R kit. Installed it this weekend and holy cow what an improvement. No more squeaking or clunking. The ride performance is perfect as well, not too soft or harsh. It takes bumps well and doesn't have all the roll/bounce that the HaloLifts did. I think part of the design issue on the HaloLifts front coils is the universal top hat they use. It has multiple holes to set the studs for different setups and uses a bushing at the top that allows the shock/coil to pivot all around vs staying in place like other designs. When I removed the coilovers the top hat was loose and sloppy. The bushing must have failed early. Looks like they should have used a top hat designed specifically for the Sierra/Silverado vs trying to save money on a universal top hat for various makes/models. If interested, here's a link to the new setup I have from Eibach. Way better performance at the same price point. https://eibach.com/product/E86-23-032-02-22?epsid=2282

UPDATE - TL;DR I can no longer recommend HaloLifts. Their design completely changed from the first set you see in my original post. They source their parts from Elka now and the ride is WAY softer than the original design. The front of the truck bounces up and down like an old school Cadillac. Also, the new design started squeaking and clunking not too long after install. It was time for me to update ball joints, sway bar bushings, end links, tie rods etc. so I assumed the noise/clunk was coming from one of those. Nope, everything got replaced and it was still there. Had a dealership look at my power steering rack and they couldn't find any issues. I lived with the squeaking/clunking for a while, hoping I could pinpoint what it was after it became more obvious. Then it dawned on me maybe the newer HaloLift kit was the problem. I rocked and bounced the truck and sure enough the squeaking was coming from the front coilovers. After looking closely at them I could see what looked like grease coming out of the bushing on the top hat. Thought this may be the source of my clunk as well. So I took advantage of a black friday deal and bought the Eibach Pro Truck Stage 2R kit. Installed it this weekend and holy cow what an improvement. No more squeaking or clunking. The ride performance is perfect as well, not too soft or harsh. It takes bumps well and doesn't have all the roll/bounce that the HaloLifts did. I think part of the design issue on the HaloLifts front coils is the universal top hat they use. It has multiple holes to set the studs for different setups and uses a bushing at the top that allows the shock/coil to pivot all around vs staying in place like other designs. When I removed the coilovers the top hat was loose and sloppy. The bushing must have failed early. Looks like they should have used a top hat designed specifically for the Sierra/Silverado vs trying to save money on a universal top hat for various makes/models. If interested, here's a link to the new setup I have from Eibach. Way better performance at the same price point. https://eibach.com/product/E86-23-032-02-22?epsid=2282

UPDATE - TL;DR I can no longer recommend HaloLifts. Their design completely changed from the first set you see in my original post. They source their parts from Elka now and the ride is WAY softer than the original design. The front of the truck bounces up and down like an old school Cadillac. Also, the new design started squeaking and clunking not too long after install. It was time for me to update ball joints, sway bar bushings, end links, tie rods etc. so I assumed the noise/clunk was coming from one of those. Nope, everything got replaced and it was still there. Had a dealership look at my power steering rack and they couldn't find any issues. I lived with the squeaking/clunking for a while, hoping I could pinpoint what it was after it became more obvious. Then it dawned on me maybe the newer HaloLift kit was the problem. I rocked and bounced the truck and sure enough the squeaking was coming from the front coilovers. After looking closely at them I could see what looked like grease coming out of the bushing on the top hat. Thought this may be the source of my clunk as well. So I took advantage of a black friday deal and bought the Eibach Pro Truck Stage 2R kit. Installed it this weekend and holy cow what an improvement. No more squeaking or clunking. The ride performance is perfect as well, not too soft or harsh. It takes bumps well and doesn't have all the roll/bounce that the HaloLifts did. I think part of the design issue on the HaloLifts front coils is the universal top hat they use. It has multiple holes to set the studs for different setups and uses a bushing at the top that allows the shock/coil to pivot all around vs staying in place like other designs. When I removed the coilovers the top hat was loose and sloppy. The bushing must have failed early. Looks like they should have used a top hat designed specifically for the Sierra/Silverado vs trying to save money on a universal top hat for various makes/models. If interested, here's a link to the new setup I have from Eibach. Way better performance at the same price point. https://eibach.com/product/E86-23-032-02-22?epsid=2282

Forgot to mention I'll take a look at those sleeves as well. At that price won't hurt to try them.

My signature is outdated, but your point still stands. I ran those wildpeaks for about 70k miles then they started cupping. Can't complain about those miles. Put new michelin defender ltx ms 275/70r18 on and those are the fronts that prematurely wore on the inside (passenger worse than driver side). Only about 20k miles on those. Had an alignment done when the michelins were put on due to the cupping of the wildpeaks. Michelins are 51 pounds a tire at that size. So despite all new suspension parts, an alignment, and me double checking everything was torqued properly, the tires ended up with bad toe wear. It's gotta be the PS at this point right? I'm putting Cooper Road and Trail AT tires on that are 42 pounds each (michelins are vibrating like crazy), so hopefully the lower weight tires won't wear out a new OEM PS. Truck won't be driven until I can get the new PS installed.

Figured after I couldn’t find anything out there. Spoke to a couple off road shops and they weren’t sure either. OEM it is.

2016 GMC Sierra 1500 with a mild lift, 2" in the front and 1" in the rear. 193k miles, truck has had a lift kit it's entire life. Have always run 33" tires and don't plan to go any bigger. TL;DR - is there a beefed up aftermarket power steering rack/pinion so I'm not replacing an OEM one again due to my lift? Guess I should consider myself lucky given how long the truck has been lifted, but over the last year I've been experiencing power steering rack and pinion issues. Started hearing a clunk on bumps and figured it was time to do new ball joints and go over the entire suspension. Nearly everything got replaced as it was all showing it's age...ball joints, shocks/struts, inner/outer tie rods, sway bar bushings/end links, new cognito UCAs to help with the lift angle, and cv axles. Noticed when I did the inner tie rods that on each side of the rack there was a loose plastic bushing inside. Replaced those and thought all was good now. Immediately got an alignment after replacing all those parts myself. They got everything in spec and I thought my clunk would be taken care of...nope still there. Figured at this point it was the power steering rack/pinion so I took it to a dealership since they would have to program it anyway if it got replaced. They said they couldn't reproduce the clunking and thought the steering felt fine. If it got worse bring it back and they'll look at it again. I've been driving it for a year now and while it hasn't gotten worse, it still feels off. Steering feels harder to do at times and I noticed premature wear on the inner part of my front tires...the passenger side was worse than the driver side. I took it back in for an alignment and they confirmed the toe was off. I do not off-road the truck and I split drive time between it and my Jeep. Not sure how the toe could be off, worse on one side, when all it's seen is pavement driving. Safe to assume all signs are pointing to new PS? I think that's the case, but open to other thoughts. Assuming I need a new PS rack/pinion, safe to assume replacing it with OEM will only lead to this being an issue again unless I get the angle identical to the stock angle? Are there beefed up PS options? I can't find any. Thanks.

Replaced the starter and it fired right up. Easy job to do in your garage. Thanks again all.

Thanks everyone, all great input. Since my truck is 8 years old with 193k miles I'm fine just replacing the original starter at this point - it lived a long life. A new one is only $150 from my local dealership.

Appreciate the reply. So you think it fried from all the start attempts with the dead battery (thinking it was charged)? I'm getting a single click when I turn the key, would that still happen with a bad starter? Also, they can go that quick? Work one minute then dead the next with no sign?

I couldn't find this anywhere in the forum, pardon if I missed it. I drive a 2016 Sierra Denali 1500 and I left my key in the ignition overnight. It was NOT in 'on' or 'acc', just left inserted into the ignition. I shut the truck off in the garage after getting home and got distracted by my kids, forgetting the key was still in. Next morning all it did was click when I turned the key, all lights still worked. Figured leaving it in all night killed the battery so I tried a jump (no go) then charged it with a battery charger. Even with a fully charged battery it still didn't start. Figured since the battery is 5 years old now I may have killed it off, so I bought a new battery and installed it...only to still have no start. I'm not getting any codes, so this one has left me scratching my head. Is there a security feature I'm not aware of? Could the starter have gone from trying to start it up so many times? Keep in mind I have not had any starting or battery issues. This only happened after leaving the key inserted in the ignition overnight. I also haven't installed any new lights, electronics, etc.

Can't help you with the bolt size, just want to wish you luck. Man I do not miss living in Michigan for this reason. Spent more time fighting seized parts and bolts than I'd like to admit. Haven't used a torch once since moving to Missouri.

Right, I could see the 3rd photo you had moved the truck. But in the first two before/after pics it looks like you get a slightly larger field of view. Even if it's not much, I'll take the more detailed picture. Ordering one soon...

Nice pics and write-up @mikeyk101! Can definitely see more detail in the garage door and siding in the day time before and after pics. Looks like the image is larger too, can see more of the space behind you. Dark looks good, but unless the entire camera and head unit is swapped for full HD and a better night time lens, I think this will be the easiest factory replacement that can be done. I'll be ordering mine in the near future, appreciate you posting your results!

Yeah it's crazy locally how a lot of these shops say they're 1-3 months out and are giving insane quotes or telling you the repair has to be way overdone. I'll just keep an eye on the oil level and top off as needed until I find someone who's not trying to rip me off. Appreciate all the input.

Thanks gentlemen, I share the same thoughts. Even when I pressed him on why the seals didn't leak in the previous 80k miles of synthetic he said it may have finally worn enough to allow it through. Well duh, hence why the seal needs to get replaced. Needed a sanity check here and you guys gave it, thanks. Interesting enough 3 shops have now said they won't do just a seal replacement. They rebuild the entire diff so people don't come back. They have enough business to turn people away apparently. I'd change the seal myself but with a 2 month old, 2.5 year old, working full time during the week, and a wife that works nights and every other weekend...there just isn't time to get these projects done myself.

Cool, thanks for the suggestion. Did you top off the diff with oil first then add an ounce of the sealant?

Noticed my front passenger side axle is leaking oil. 2016 Sierra with 170k miles. I don’t have any grinding noises and the leaking oil is clear (changed it 20k miles ago). Figured it's probably time to replace the seal. So I called a couple differential/transmission shops near me to quote replacing the seal and one said to first swap the synthetic oil I put in the differentials with conventional and see if that stops the leak. He claims synthetic oil is too thin for axle seals with higher mileage and it seeps through them, plus is doesn't stick to the internals the way it should. Is there any validity to that? What doesn't make sense to me is that I've ran full synthetic in the front/rear diffs and transfer case for over 80k miles now (with one change in there) without any leaking until now. Should I switch to dino oil or go to another shop that will replace the seal?

Can you please circle back with your thoughts? I'm on the fence too with replacing my factory camera. The day time image isn't too bad, but night time is pretty much unusable so I'm most curious what you think of using it in the dark. Thanks!

Ordered upper and lower intermediate steering shafts since it felt a little loose. Figured it's worth a shot since I have 170k miles and these joints are known to wear out and cause clunking noises. Went with the Dorman upper since it's beefier than the GM shaft and has great reviews. I'll circle back with results after I install them. Fingers crossed.

I have this lift kit from Halolifts, they source them from Elka. Went from Magneride to it and it was MUCH better on the gravel road to my in-laws house. The first set lasted me 80k miles. The fronts are adjustable, but max out at 3" so it would be at the low end for what you want. For $1500 it struck a nice balance between affordable, yet high quality. Below are pics of my truck's stance after installing the kit. Keep in mind I set the fronts at 2.5". Another .5" and it would be very close to level. I am not a fan of the factory rake, but want a slight rake because I haul my ATV in the bed (hate a sagging rear end when hauling/towing). Also, I just installed the Cognito UCAs and they are amazing. You'll have to cut the bump stop out and do a little trimming of one side so the UCAs don't hit the coilover frame. https://halolifts.com/shop/drivetrain/2wd/halolifts-boss-aluma-ultimate-kit-gm-chevy-2007-2022/