malibu43

Ordered this switch off ebay. However, I was not able to find a way to get the old switch out without potentially breaking the little clip-in bracket that holds it in place. I couldn't lift it out due to the rest of the shifter assembly being practically right on top of it. How did you remove the old switch?

Nice. What kind of conditions? Towing? Highway speeds or slow climbs?

Just wanted to give an update on transmission temps while towing after doing the pill flip. It was up around 100 for the last week and I probably did about 700mi of towing. Flat, freeway towing temps are between 165-185 (in general). So it does run a bit cooler overall. Pulling West on hwy 58 through Tehachapi, temps got up around 194. Towing southbound over the grapevine on I5 I got just over 200. On the climb up into the campground (same windy, slow 2 lane highway we climbed last year) temps still sat around 220 for about 15 minutes, and then the last 5 minutes got as high as 245. The last 5 minutes was still a slight climb at really slow speeds (10mph maybe) due to the road being very rough with lots of potholes and ruts. So I think as long as you are keep a lot of cool air moving over the transmission cooler, the pill flip does keep the temps a little lower. But once the airflow dies down, my temps still skyrocket while towing. I'm going to reach out to someone at PPE to find out if an upgraded transmission cooler would even help in that scenario. I would guess that the effectiveness of a larger air-cooled transmission cooler drops off quite a bit as the air-flow decreases...

Did the "Pill Flip" this last weekend. Took less than an hour, and that included started and then stopping for 15 minutes when I realized the transmission was still too hot and needed to cool down. Highest temp I've see so far is 140, mostly in the 120-130 range. No towing yet. I'll report back later in the month after we take our trailer out. It will be local towing at sea level, so not a real test though.

Thanks. They seem to only have products for diesels. They have one for the 3.0 Duramax. I wonder if ot will fit a 5.3l 1500.

I figured that, but it won't be free if it's not part of the TSB. I'll have to decide between free pill flip or paying for the 70C thermostat. I guess just swapping the thermostat is a tiny bit less work...

I can't really find much info and am not sure how to know if what I'm looking at is an upgrade over what's already in the truck. Hopefully the pill-flip will be enough to keep the overall temp low so that when it does spike for short time, it's not spiking as high...

I see. I wasn't sure what MYC and MYD meant, but I see now those refer to 6 speed transmissions only. Bummer. I'll still plan on doing the pill-flip at some point.

Hey guys. I was researching the pill flip, and started reading through another thread on these forums on the topic. I eventually came across this post: I pulled up that TSB and it appears it applies to my 2021 5.3l 1500. If that's correct, per GM the lower temp TBV should be installed on my truck, right? I was all set on doing the pill-flip, but if I can take it into the dealer and they install the lower temp thermostat for free, I'll probably start with that.

Thanks. I looked into the Pill Flip. Doesn't look too difficult. If I did decide to go for a larger cooler, is there one you'd recommend? Are those typically pretty simple installs?

Thanks. I'm not super familiar with transmission cooling on these trucks. I have the 8 speed. I'm sure it would keep the tranny cooler for normal driving/towing, but I wonder if the pill flip would help in my two scenarios since I'm so far above the bypass open temp anyway. Also, was that the correct technical bulletin number? That one's for radio issues. Interestingly enough, I did have some radio issues early on (bought in August 21) and I think they already did the software update when I took it in for that...

I wanted to know if anyone can recommend a good aftermarket transmission cooler for my 2021 z71 RST, 5.3l gas. Specific part numbers or links would be appreciated. We tow a 6400lb (max gross weight) travel trailer. Over the past year we took it out over 20 times (some long trips, some pretty short). Under normal towing conditions (including over the Grapevine on I-5 in July and August), the transmission temp stays right around 192F with some spikes into the 210's or maybe 220's. However, a couple of times it went up around 250F. Once was on the final leg of a long drive once we got up into the Sierras in July, last 20 miles or so of the climb was windy, 1 lane road, around 4K-5K feet altitude. The second time was in November and it was colder. But the campground was on a hill and we had to make a couple loops through the campground on very narrow, windy roads, and then topped it off with having to back up, up-hill, to get into our site. Temp topped out at 255F. So hopefully there are some aftermarket coolers out there that work well in these sort of low-speed, low airflow situations where I've seen issues. Does adding a transmission cooler affect warranty? Thanks!

Just got the truck back. I like it! Can definitely feel the difference in the way it rides.

So a couple weeks ago, 4WP told me the 5100's had been pushed out to mid-May. But then they called Monday to say they arrived! Dropping the truck off Thursday to get everything installed.

Looks good. You said those are 265/65/20? I'm gonna keep my stock 275/60/20's until they wear out, but then will definitely fit the biggest LT tires I can on there.

Awesome. Do you have any pics?

Finally heard back from 4WP. The 6112s should be in in early March, but the 5100s in the rear are looking like mid-April! So looks like I've got over two months of waiting. Oh well. Hopefully it will be worth it when the time comes.

So I placed my order with 4WP this week. Going with 6112's up front (set to a 2" lift) and 5100's in the back. I didn't like the price/options they had for rear blocks, so I bought the 2" rear leveling block from Motofab and they'll install it for me when they do the shocks. ~$1880 for shocks and installation. While I'm excited to see how the truck looks with the all-around 2" lift, I'm also excited to see how the ride improves. We took the trailer out last weekend and things felt pretty bouncy.

Thanks guys. Ended up taking it to the dealer on Monday. They couldn't reproduce anything, so they just reflashed the system with the latest software. It's been ok so far. They did say that sometimes the radio will do something like that if it tries to push a software update etc... But it looks like the software they loaded was the same version from last April. So not sure why it would have been trying to update...

My 2021 Silverado 1500 that I bought in August just started doing this. The first time the entire radio shut off and went black for about 15-30 seconds while driving and came back on. Then today, screen went black but the radio stayed on, but could not be controlled. Parked the truck and shut it off, opened doors and got out, and the radio still stayed on. After about 5 minutes it shut off and then was fine when started back up. Does anyone know what the current version of the software is? My truck says it's up to date, the version number is v135119-LS.

Sorry for the very late response! Do you have an link to the exact kit you installed? I went to 4 Wheel Parts yesterday to get recommendations and pricing. The guy there recommended going with the 6112s in the front instead of just the 5100s, with the reasoning being the 5100s will compress the stock coil more to get the lift and hurt the ride quality up front. It's $800 for the pair of 6112s vs $185 each for the 5100s, so it's an additional $400 ($1800 installed vs about $1400). You guys think the extra $$ is worth it for the 6112s?

Thanks for that. I had seen people mentioning that package but had never actually looked it up. The warranty is a good point to bring up and one that I hadn't thought of. When I started leveling my last truck, it was well out of warranty and I did all the work myself. I certainly would not want to do something to affect the warranty on a brand new truck. The downside is that that package is quite a bit more expensive than the Blistein + Rear Blocks option that I had priced out ($750 vs $1200), and the GM package still needs dealership installation added on top of that... Oh - GVWR on the trailer is only 6440lbs, so towing capacity is fine. What I'm finding is more of an issue is the payload capacity of my 1/2 ton truck. I only have about 1700 lbs to work with, and tongue weight of the trailer is probably between 700 and 900 lbs. So that doesn't leave a lot of room for gas, family, and any extra gear that's not in the trailer. I need to get more towing in with the trailer and make sure I have all my weights dialed in before I do any mods to the truck...

Hey everyone. I posted this in the 2019 leveling thread, but did not get a response. So I'm reposting in a dedicated thread. I just traded in my 2015 1500 4x4 for a 2021 Z71 RST. We also recently purchased a 25ft travel trailer that I'll be pulling every month or so with this truck. My old truck had 2" level, and at some point I'd like my new one to sit a little higher as well. However, since I will be towing with it I want to maintain the factory rake (which is just under 2"). Even with the WD, the back end drops a little more than the front. I was thinking of making the upgrade functional instead of just cosmetic and doing Blistien 5100's up front and setting them for a 1.5-2.0" level, rather than just adding spacers. I was going to go with the 5100's (and shock extenders) for the rear as well to help with towing and adding a 2" block as well to lift the same amount as the front. Any issues with this approach, or is there another option I should be considering? Is there a better option for the rear than the Blistien 5100's plus a block? TLDR - What I basically want is to give my truck a "Trail Boss" lift, but I'm looking for something that's functional vs just throwing spacers in the front and back.

Hey everyone. I just traded in my 2015 1500 4x4 for a 2021 Z71 RST. We also recently purchased a 25ft travel trailer that I'll be pulling every month or so with this truck. My old truck had 2" level, and at some point I'd like my new one to sit a little higher as well. However, since I will be towing with it I want to maintain the factory rake (which is just under 2"). Even with the WD, the back end drops a little more than the front. I was thinking of making the upgrade functional instead of just cosmetic and doing Blistien 5100's up front and setting them for a 1.5-2.0" level, rather than just adding spacers. I was going to go with the 5100's for the rear as well to help with towing and adding a block as well to lift the same amount as the front. Any issues with this approach, or is there another option I should be considering? Is there a better option for the rear than the Blistien 5100's plus a block?

We just bought a 25' travel trailer, as well as a new 2021 5.3 1500 Silverado Z71 that I will use for towing as well as daily driving. GVWR of the trailer is 6400lbs. I have a WDH (RV dealer set it up and so still needs some dialing in) that I will always use for towing. I also have a set of EZ 990 helper springs from my 2015 Silverado laying in the garage. I know the helper spring is not an alternative to the WDH, but I was thinking of using them in conjunction to take some of the squish/bounce out of the back the truck when towing, and also to reduce the sag by just a little. It's Ok to put on the helper springs as long as I go through the WDH setup again, right? I was researching online last night, and while a lot of people say you shouldn't need helper springs with a properly set up WDH, I also saw that the Max Tow package from GM includes stiffer rear springs, so there must be some advantage there... Thanks!