Snakes709

I replaced the axles with the oem ones from a sierra slt

Hey all, awhile back I removed the lift kit off my at4 and lowered it originally 2” and then later another 2” using bilstein 5100 on all 4 corners, belltech lowering shackles in the rear and belltech drop spindles in the front. All was fine for quite awhile until after i did a time attack event at the track I then started hearing light clunking noises on the right front and now im hearing alot more on the left front when going over bumps. I also noticed my right front sits about 1/2 to almost an 1” lower then the left front. I searched high and low for issues, took the wheels off, jacked up the suspension so it would be at normal height and i cant see anything visually or hear anything when i try and shake things. I am guessing one or both of the bilstein struts are blown. Wanna get your guys thoughts on the matter before i take it in and get it diagnosed. I wanna replace things myself but before i throw money at parts, i wanna know what parts i need. Either way i was thinking about going to belltech adjustable coilovers.

so your theory is its better to wear out more components evenly and faster instead of wearing the rear out first and the front out later. Ok, have fun with that.

yea thats what i meant.

The more a part gets used, the more it wears down. 4auto uses clutches to activate 4wd when it detects slip. 4wd is meant to be used on low traction situations. Have you ever tried to turn sharply with 4hi or 4low on dry surfaces? It can damage the drivetrain. The clutches help minimize that so it can be used when its dry. But my question is, why would you? If the driving conditions are ideal, why would you need anything other then 2wd?

I live in Edmonton so i have the same driving conditions. Will it hurt the truck? No, its what its made for. But if the driving conditions are good, ie dry pavement, why would you keep in 4auto? It just puts more wear on the parts and uses more fuel as now there is more driveline drag. If the road is dry or very little snow, 2wd is what i run in. Only time i use 4auto is if im on ice or hard packed snow. Had it onto as there was alot of black ice on the road and the median/ramps filled with cars. Only saw it kick in once when i made a turn and gave a little to much gas. I only use 4hi if its really bad out or im in deep snow.

I know a local guy (alberta, canada) has done it as my buddy tuned his truck. No idea how its running though.

I think it was much weight either. I think it was more the drag the trailer was creating. I was actually shocked how it mainly wanted to be in 9th gear most of the time. What i also found is if it was accelerating either to get up to speed or to hold speed up a incline, it would go to 9th or 8th, once it gets there it would just stay in that gear when using cruise control. I would have to drop 1mph, let it upshift and then increase by 1mph.

I had it in tow mode on fhe way there but not on the way back. Fuel mileage was the exact same but i found with it in tow mode it would drop more gears to accelerate/hold speed and drop more gears for engine braking going down hill. Total weight was 2900lbs, so not that heavy. if i do this trip again, ill probably rent a trailer from another company. There is a local one that has a single axle, nosed shaped and fiber glass so its only 900lbs. Vs. The 1800lb square shaped tandem axle uhaul trailer.

done and done. Rotated the tires the day after i got home and got an alignment done. Had to to back for a second alignment because once everything was within spec, the tires were rubbing. So i asked them to adjust the caster to 4.3L and 4.8R which is out of spec but no rubbing and wont effect tire wear. Ill pick up 2 new tires in the spring. Another month or two until my winter tires go on.

Recently loaded mine and the wifes bikes in a uhaul trailer and drove from Edmonton, AB to Halifax and back, dropping into the northern US. A total of 10,539kms and not a single issue other then my own stupidity of not getting my alignment done. I lowered my AT4 2” awhile back, got it aligned and then recently lowered it another 2” and knew i needed an alignment but last minute went on this trip. Which killed my 2 front tires. Other then that the truck did great. The uhaul trailer was causing more drag then i expected so the 10 speed was dropping to 9th or 8th gear alot when we were going 70-75mph. Used our truck bed tent and air mattress each night at truck stops. it was nice to visit the family and ride our bikes around Nova Scotia. If i can afford it, ill be doing the trip again this summer.

I have seen no proof of that at all. I see just as many lifter failures on trucks where owners disable dfm as owners that dont. Even the service advisor that i dealt with that was extremely knowledgeable on this topic said he has had just as may owners come in that disable it. You cant “tune” out a hardware issue.

Smh. Using range, pulsar or putting it in l9 doesnt stop the issue. It will disable the truck from using dfm but the shitty parts are still being used in the motor. Only true way of deleting it is a new camshaft, new lifters and physically swap out all the parts that are used and get a legit custom tune.

I posted awhile back that I was following. Never saw anyone lower their at4 so i went ahead and did it. 4” drop all around. Bilstein 5100’s meant for the slt/elevation, oem axles for the slt/elevation, beltech 2” drop shackles for the rear, beltech 2” drop spindles for the front and custom made ubolts for the rear from a shop.

that was one od the reasons i lowered the truck. My bike would bottom out on my ramps when i loaded/unload it.