7milesout

Guys - I've tolerated this hard shift from 1st to 2nd long enough. It's not difficult to replace the shift accumulator. I've done more difficult stuff. It's just messy. Here's where I could use some advice: Because the truck is a 2WD, it sits pretty low. Stock height, but pretty low. I'm going to have the trans pan RIGHT IN MY FACE. And then, I'm going to have drips, right in my eyes. I've got a couple boards I can roll the front tires up on. It'll probably give me 3 to 4 inches of additional height at the front tires. Do you think that would be enough that I could get up under the truck to do this? Is there a better way to get more space up under the truck? I know no one with a lift. I guess I could get some of those big red metal ramps, but once I'm done with them, I won't want them around any more. Looking for ideas to gain clearance up under the truck. Thanks.

I was considering to get a cheap car that's good on gas. Not sure which one. It would have to carry a lot, and it would have to have gobs and gobs of horsepower or else it would be terrible. Any recommendations?

Sounds like the OP did what he wanted to do, versus what he needed to do. Which is of course his prerogative. More power to him! As an owner of 2 pickups (my dad passed and now his truck is mine, and I just can't sell it, for sentimental reasons), I was curious if any of the big 3 made a 2023 truck the equivalent of his 2003. I wouldn't buy a new one, they're grossly overpriced IMO. But I just like to know what's out there. In my opinion, what's available now is just crap. Big margin hunting crap. My dad's 2003 is a 4.8L SCSB 2WD 4-speed auto. So, it's maybe the smallest full size truck that can be had with a V8. I wanted to know if the same existed now, and in particular with a manual transmission instead of an automatic. The answer is NOPE. As far as I could find, you can't get a manual transmission in any truck now, 1500, 2500 or 3500. There is no standard cab offered any longer. The smallest cab is whatever Ford calls their cab that has a little space behind. Something like a king cab. I can't remember this for sure, but I think it was even difficult to find a 2WD truck. Based on that, do you think I'll sell my dad's pink unicorn? Nupe. I may make sort of a sport truck out of it. Already started. I've got it running good now and the rear dropped with shackles, level with the front. It may be just a touch higher in the rear, but much more level. But I won't go overboard on the 'sport' truck changes. Anywho - I can't say I agree with the OP's move, but it is his prerogative. My dad was like that. He wouldn't NEED a new car or truck. He would want one, but felt like he had to come up with excuses like, the truck is making weird noises, I'm afraid it's about done, etc etc etc. I told him one time, you've raised a family well, you've been a diligent worker and God fearing. If you want a new truck / car, you've earned it, go get it.

You're right. I agree with you 99%. The only 1% exception was that this was / is a rare motorcycle. It felt like it had been crashed. And there were some other suspicious issues, so I just walked away. But yeah, you are right.

Guys, A few of you may have noticed a thread where I had been having evap large leak issues, then a fuel leak issue with my truck. I finally got all that resolved by replacing all the fuel lines. Anywho - I went to buy a motorcycle this past weekend. I went from south Atlanta metro to between Orlando & Tampa to buy the bike. Turns out it was a turd, so I told the dude to pound sand, and didn't buy it, and rolled back home. I wanted to just put my $0.02 in when it comes to mpg. The trailer is a simple 875 pound 5' x 10' single axle utility trailer. I fold the trailer ramp down forward, laying it on the bed of the trailer and strapping it down. It does have steel grating, but is a fairly big wind drag when the trailer is empty (why I lay it down out of the way). I ran 70 mph on the way down there and 70 mph on the way back. I know some of you guys like to cruise at 90 mph, so yeah ... I roll slow. The good thing is, the traffic was heavy (but moving), and since I was going slower than most (speed limit 70 mph, I was rock steady on GPS verified 70 mph), I never had to back off the cruise. I just stayed over out of the way the just let it cruise. I had no issues, I just relaxed and enjoyed the ride. The point being, I averaged 19.00 mpg over the whole trip. 954 miles / 50.208 gallons. So yeah, you can look at it as I wasted $167 in fuel (true). But I dodged a much bigger bullet not buying that turd. The truck ran great. Had no issues over that trip. I used A/C maybe 30% of the time (blows ice). It seems to be running really good ... for now. The truck is a 4.8L SCSB 2WD.

One last follow-up on this issue. It wasn't until this morning that I checked and the emissions system finally showed that everything was READY. Up until this morning, the "Evap System" remained in a NOT READY state. Which had me worried that maybe there was another leak hiding somewhere. When I was getting the Evap Large Leak DTC & Check Engine Light, it would show in the emissions system check the same thing, "Evap System" was always NOT READY. But it finally got READY. I guess it took a tank capacity cycle. Meaning, I've read that in order to qualify the Evap System as ready the tank has to be somewhere between 25% full and 75% full (something like that), so that there is air above the fuel. It must be a little more complex than that. Soon as I put the bed back on, I filled the tank (without thinking). I ran it down to about 15%, then filled it again. And now it has ran down about 5 or 6 gallons and is now finally READY. It had me worried. All is well. The truck is running good (has always ran good), no CEL, no fuel leaks, drop shackles installed, all is well. I will mention, it knocked out 16.9 mpg on that tank, which was better than I expected, even above average. Maybe it had been slowly leaking for a while before it finally completely let loose.

I like turtles!

Sorry if this has been covered. I searched but all I found clarification on were the newer trucks. I searched this for GMT800 and it still wasn't clear. On the newer trucks, there's a fuse that can be pulled from one location and installed in another location, and it changes either the power outlet, or the cigarette lighter outlet (or both, I'm not sure) from constant power to switched power (or vice-versa). Do we have the same in the GMT800's? I have 2003 GMC Sierra. My owner's manual did not clarify this. Thanks.

Will try. But I'm built like Shrek. I may not fit in there as well as you! Taking the bed off is actually quite easy ... depending on manpower.

Here's my solution to the attachment to that nipple. With that, the bed is ready to go back on, as soon as I can borrow the manpower. And I think I want to try to find a way to hold that corrugate-covered wire harness off the fuel lines.

A couple days later and I've had time to work on it. The weather from 5:30 pm onward has been great. I got the 3rd fuel line needed yesterday. When I got home I got all 3 installed. I had pulled the fuel relay and tried to crank it just to try to use all of the fuel in the lines. There was still a shot of fuel in the return line and I got an earful of it. Better than an eyeful. I got all 3 lines installed last night. I cranked the truck, on the second attemp it fired right up, checking around, there were zero leaks! I just have to figure out how to connect to the evap nipple. I was thinking I would hose clamp a short piece of fuel line onto the broken nipple, then run a fitting with a barb end on the other end of the fuel line, and hose clamp that as well. The other end of the plastic fitting would have the gm style shoulder for that quick connect to latch onto. This is just vapor, it's not running fuel, it should be ok. Any suggestions? 3 NEW FUEL LINES (I think the corrugation on the wire harness I'm holding back may have rubbed on the line that was leaking). NEW EVAP LINE NEEDING CONNECTION (this is the only thing left then the bed goes back on). One of these barbed fittings with the shoulder (the quick connects that ship with these will be trashed), attached to a hose attached to the broken nipple.

Richard - It does look like rodent damage. I have chipmunks and squirrels. I don't have mice (that I know of). I don't have any mice problems in the house either. I guess I'm going to chalk it up as the truck being in service for 21 years. And stuff just getting brittle. I don't think chipmunks tend to nibble on stuff like that. I see them around, I've never seen them hop out from under any of my vehicles. The only mechanic I ever use (really smart & capable guy), says that rear nipple is part of the tank. So I cannot replace it. Since it is only drawing off vapors, and not pressurized with fuel, I think I'll see if I can put a short piece of fuel line on it, and use a hose clamp there. And see if I can attach the new 3-way line to that short piece of fuel line. I'll figure something out.

How do I remove this? This is the emissions nipple. Meaning this is the nipple on the rear part of the tank from where the tank fumes are vacuumed.

This is the source of the Evap Large Leak. A whole section of this 3-way line is missing. I'm going to replace all the 3 lines, the bottom-out bumpers, and going to put 2 inch drop shackles on it while it's so easy to get to. This picture is oversize. I'll compress it later and add it in.

This is the source of the geyser. The fuel feed line.

I pulled the bed off.

A follow up to this thread, for future use. Maybe this will help others. Even after all the above, I was still getting "Evap Large Leak." Whatever that code is, I think it is posted previously. Anywho, the code would come and go and it did pass the emissions check in October 2022. I don't know how. In any event, I knew I was going to have to tear into it and find the leak. Fast forward to this Sunday 4/16. I had worked my arse off pressure washing Saturday and Sunday, then I had to go to a friend's house. I decided to drive the Sierra because my legs were aching and I didn't want to have to push a clutch. During the drive there I noticed a bit of a film on the rear window. While I had the pressure washer out on the driveway, I pressure washed the bed of this truck and my Ram's. So I knew the rear window should be clean. Upon cranking to come home, I got out and looked under the truck and it was spewing like a geyser and making a huge puddle on my friend's driveway. I jumped back in to move it off his driveway and decided to head home. It was spewing so much it was atomizing and blowing vertically up between the bed and cab. That's when I knew what was on the rear window. Gas. At first it looked like smoke coming up between the cab and bed, but then I realized it's just gas vaporizing and airflow is blowing it up. I just got it home as safely as I could and it's been parked. Tuesday night I tilted the bed for the 3rd time. Turned it to ON and it blew like a geyser. It's the fuel feed line. Last night I was looking it all over again, not knowing a lot about what I'm looking at. It turns out I believe a huge section of the 3-way emissions line (the rear most over the tank) is just plain missing. That accounts for the "Evap Large Leak." Tonight I got a couple buddies coming over and between those 2 guys and my son, we're going to set the bed off. It's just too hard to get in there to the hoses to pull them off, and route new ones with the bed in place. I'm just going to go ahead and replace all 3 lines. Feed line (busted), emissions line (busted), and the return line. The return line is OK. But sure as the world, it will crack and bust a month after putting the bed back on. That line is only ~$47, so while I have the bed off, I'm going to replace it as well. I'll get some pictures, and try to remember to come back in here and post the results. Is there anything else I should do while the bed is off? 7milesout

I just used the GMC for good ole truck duty this weekend. 280 miles (140 miles each way) on the superslab. 3 big boys in the (standard) cab. Pulling a U-haul car transport around the Chattanooga area, loaded with a G35 coupe part of that time. Maybe 30 miles worth. Plus I pulled a utility trailer to the recycling center, through some very sticky mud (one truck almost got stock), but the 2WD Sierra just walked right on through. 397 miles worth of good ole truck stuff over the course of this weekend. 18.9 mpg. It was $3.199 when I left Friday, and $3.359 when I juiced it up today. Pretty good ole truck. I would imagine it was doing maybe 21 mpg or so on the superslab.

Agreed.

$3.179 a gallon, Atlanta Metro south. I did a bit of an experiment. My ATV towed on my utility trailer, with the gate folded flat forward, so the only drag was the ATV. Only 1,500 lbs towed. 65 mph cruise (out of a responsible abundance of caution) to an off-road riding area. It's 125 miles away but worth it. The truck averaged 17.5 mpg there and back (~250 miles). I thought that was decent if not better than decent. Towed like a dream. No complaints.

And greed. Don't forget the greed.

I think that IS his official title. Thanks for the news flash.

Zeezil - You had me until the unleveling kit. I suppose that's what the 1.75" deal is. I'm just kidding. I don't think the unleveling kit would effect you too much. But the tires and resulting gearing will. I don't have nearly the same truck (with either my GMC or my Dodge), but I just got through pulling probably 6,000 pounds with the GMC. It seemed to handle it ok. But, I didn't go a long distance, nor did I get on the interstate. And my GMC has 3.73's, and a 4.8L. I'm still teetering barely to the side of the fence that I think you'll be ok. Because you are within specs, and you seem to have a keen grasp on the whole situation. Including, going slow. The only excitement you're going to get from that tow is the excitement you don't want. Ha!

Wow. Does it really take that much? I ask, I have no experience with that kind of heating. If it were that much, at $4 a gallon, I'd have to marry an Eskimo woman.