Dick Lichon

Just rebuilt mine at 109k. 2014 Silverado 1500, 5.3l, 4x4, CST 4.5" lift, 35x11.5x20 Ridge Grapplers, 3.42 gears. Same issues and duty cycle you are reporting. However, I bolted on a 1.9l supercharger at about 105k. That certainly didn't help this fragile tranny survive. All billet parts and upgrades, 1800 stall billet TC. Hopefully, I can get 150k out of this one with the SC. We'll see. $6.5k is tough to swallow at 100k on these trucks. Truck was pretty much stock up to 90k miles.

I used to design half shafts for GM many years ago. I remember designing a shaft that lived 180k miles on one of our prototype test runs. This was a severe duty cycle test. My boss told me to pull money out of it and make it live for 100k miles. Anyway, the above post is pretty spot on "in general" regarding products for the consumer market. The service side of the business is a large portion of revenue for auto makers. That is FACT.

My 2014 6l80e transmission issues started at 75k miles. Made it to 109k and had to limp it into my transmission guy. He did a full billet part rebuild with all the upgrades and billet TC. Working on my 500 mile break in now. Torque converter was toast, both 2nd and 3rd clutches were burnt pretty bad. One of the drums was ready to self destruct. Pretty sad these transmissions won't make it past 100k. This truck spent most of it's miles on the highway, little towing. TVS1900 supercharger added around 105k which finished the tranny off. Mine wouldn't hold 2nd or 3rd, lots of shuddering and RPM variation while in 6th cruising around 70mph.

I'm still having issues as well, they seem intermittent. I'm going to clean grounds next and possibly run another to the frame given the one behind the engine is tough to get at.

Yes, definitely an indication of a possible issue. The low voltage warning would come after a few minutes of power under accessory. I would get issues when listening to the radio for a few minutes with the engine off in accessory key position.

This is a mechanical fatigue failure of the battery post. Not an electrical failure. Lack of voltage and subsequent amperage draw is the symptom of this failure mode. Tough one to find for sure given the housing of the battery is holding things together even though it is cracked.

Put some torque on the cable at the battery post while someone tries to crank over the truck. If the post has failed you'll detect it when the starter can't roll over the engine. If there is a crack in the post internal to the battery you will exploit the issue putting torque on it opening the crack and creating an open condition. Your starter draws a lot of amps so it will be obvious if it is an issue. I'm going to add a loop of cable to lengthen it. The negative cable is highly unsupported as it runs down the firewall. At least in my case anyway, it is putting quite a bending moment on my negative post creating the failure mode. This is the third battery that has failed this way in my truck. If you key on to accessory does your voltage drop quickly below 12V and then throw a low battery voltage warning? If so, this could be the issue.

Having the same issue. Mine is related to a battery post failure (negative) internal to my battery. Battery is only 6 months old, and it happened again. I stress relieved the negative cable/post, however, not good enough apparently. Definitely vet the posts on the battery. Have someone try to start the vehicle while putting a bit of torque on the post in a couple different directions. This may expose the problem.

Also thinking about placing a wedge right at the post against the battery housing. This will achieve similar results to lowering the loading at the post.

Wondering if I have my catch can routed properly to the SC? It seems to be working well removing oil vapor and moisture. Your thoughts?

The good news is I got a brand new replacement from my auto parts store with another 3yr warranty and a new starter, cause I discounted the failure mode before assuming it was my starter going. I told myself there was no way it was my one year old battery. But, as stated, it was. I have 105k on the truck. Now I shouldn't have to worry about the starter for the remainder of the life of this truck, hopefully!!

There is a hole in the metal trough where that zip tie is located. I looped it through the hole to take some stress off the post from the factory ground wire.

It's mostly an inertial mass problem. The amount of unsupported cable is quite long before the cable is constrained. When your vehicle sees accelerations (aka vibrations through normal driving) it places small cyclic bending moments on the post. These bending moments are primarily what would cause the post to fail over time. Basically, high cycle, low load material fatigue failure. I've studied failure mechanics and it is surprising how small loads can be, but if the number of loading events is very high it will induce material failure (aka plastic deformation of the base material). Classic high cycle failure mechanics at play here. Not all will see this issue given there are many variables at play. Material of the post, it's strength, the actual average loading on the cable post, etc.

Not much on my truck is stock anymore. LOL

I was running a dual battery setup until I installed my supercharger. Took the battery out to install the low temp coolant tank and pump which mounts in the 2nd battery tray. This battery was my spare given the other battery had the failed post. I had a similar side post failure on one of my batteries many years ago. It took forever to root cause the issue. The added cabling doesn't stress the post. It is the main ground in this example. It could be that the factory cable is on the short side to start with. I'm a Mechanical Engineer that worked in auto for many years, I cuss those engineers all the time, ha. Just wanted to point out a potential failure mode for all of you and one that I've seen twice now. I'm going to further support the cable a few more inches before it heads through the amp meter.

Also the battery can be removed without taking the coolant tank out. Remove the fender brace and the lower support that mounts to the battery tray. Then rotate the front of the battery toward the driver side and lift it out. Pretty straight forward. The first time I swapped batteries I removed the tank. Then tried it this way the 2nd time without much issue. However, YMMV.

There is a design issue on these vehicles with the amount of stress the negative battery cable places on the post. I got 4 years out of the original and replaced with a AGM just over 1 year ago. Again same negative battery post failure. The bending moment on the post induced by the negative cable fatigue cracks the post inside the battery. The plastic housing holds everything together and you will pull your hair out when temps and moisture cause the air gap in the cracked post to create resistance build up losing voltage and amp draw. Both times mine exhibited starting issues given the amount of amps you need to turn the motor over. Easy way to tell if your post has failed internally is to put a 10mm socket and wrench on the nut of the negative cable and tighten the nut only placing a small amount of torque on the post while someone is trying to start the engine. The post will generally fail on the right side and propagate toward the driver side given the bending moment of the unsupported cable length. There is a hole in the trough above the cable that I used to use a zip tie to support the cable and reduce the stress on the post. You guys may want to do that first chance you get. Hope this helps those experiencing electrical issues that tend to come and go until it finally cracks far enough to put you dead in the water. Regards!

Update, truck rides great with the CST lift. One setting up on the front Bilsteins. 35x11.5xr20 Nitto Ridge Grapplers on Fuel Tactics +1 offset.

Are you running stock tire diameter? Assuming you've got 3.42 gears as well? I'm getting ready to install my SLP TVS1900 in the next couple weeks. I'm running 35x11.5xr20 Nitto Ridge Grapplers and dyno'd the truck a couple weeks ago for a baseline. I have 3.42 gears, 87 pump gas, CAI, stock tune, the truck turned 273hp @ 5200 and 313 lbft @ 4200. Glad to hear you got your issues worked out. Roush owns SLP now and when I called I got no help with tunes as you've experienced. I'll be going back for a custom tune once I get everything bolted up. Sorry this was meant for Wilshire37. I see yours is a 2018 6.2l.

Steering is fixed. No interference found. We loosened up the steering shaft u-joint, turned the wheel a few times back and forth and it freed up. Retorqued and good to go.

I'm running back to my buddies in the morning so we can diagnose and fix. I'll report back then, thanks!

I just had a 4.5 CST lift installed in my 2014 Silverado. One of my mechanic buddies tackled the job given he's off work from the COVID-19 shutdown. I've got Bilstein 5100s set to max height on the front and plan on dropping them back down near stock height as they were serving to level the front before the lift. I could go up to a 4 inch block in the rear, but don't really want to spend further dollars on new blocks and U-bolts. I can live with dropping the front about an inch to regain level. So far I'm having steering issues as it won't re-center from either turn direction. Also, the way the brake lines were attached the upper A-arms the bracket is contacting the stock tires at full lock. Questions: Do you have to install longer brake lines or is it just a routing problem with the bracket location? Anyone experience any steering effort or return to zero issues after install? If so, what should we focus on? Steering had no issues before the install. The truck handles awesome and so far very happy with the lift to this point. Just need to address these last couple issues. Then new 295/60R20 Ridge Grapplers on some Fuel Tactics. The 275/55R20s can't live here long, LOL. Thanks for the help.