Gangly

My father just purchased a 2023 with the 2.7. He has always owned V8's because of their torque, and is a diehard GM guy with a Corvette Z06 in the garage. He absolutely HATES the sound of his 2.7, but he loves the performance of the truck with the 2.7. With a 4 banger that good, he says there is no need for him to get the V8. That being said, the sound is definitely anti-cathartic, but it's a darn good engine that gets the job done.

What's really interesting is that the Rancho aftermarket shocks are really good, 100 times better than the crap put on the Z71 package.

Thanks for the writeup, this could work for 8 and 10 speed transmissions as well. Well Done!!!

To keep it very simple, though not quite right, AUTO is like AWD with different amounts of power going to the front and rear of the vehicle at varying percentages. 4 Hi locks in the transfer case and 50% goes to the front while 50% goes to the rear, regardless of the situation. In rain, light snow, ice, etc., AUTO is your best friend. In mud, sand, sloppy stuff, 4Hi is your best friend. In conditions where you're maneuvering your vehicle over terrain that is so rough you have to go slow and be technical about it, 4Lo is your best friend. Though I find myself using 4Lo often enough to justify having it, most people will NEVER have a need for it. One example I can give is backing a dump trailer up and on top of a concrete slab. I backed in the trailer to where the tires were up against the slab and tried to roll the trailer tire up and onto the slab. In 4Hi, the drivetrain would load up once i got against the slab and the tires would just spin in place once the torque converter locked up. I couldn't get the trailer axles over the curb because the truck tires would just spin in place once the transmission started putting power to the ground. I put the transfer case into 4Lo and the truck slow rolled the trailer up and onto the slab with near zero tire spin. That was the first time I experienced anything like that and it provided me with an "Ah-ha" moment. If there is ever an option for a 4lo, I will always take it. I may only use it 3-4 times a year, but its a lifesaver when you need it.

Tire weight is near irrelevant in terms of engineering parameters for a UCA or LCA design. The UCA's don't care (poor personification, I'm aware) if your tire is 50 lbs, or 15,000 lbs, its sole purpose is to keep the wheel hub vertically aligned during compression and extension operations, and the tire's weight has VERY little influence on its vertical orientation. However, the UCA has VERY defined critical operating parameters when it comes to suspension geometry, and that's why the ball joints fail when you get around that 3-3.5 inch lift area. The ball joints exceed their angle constraints and snap. With heavy tires and wheels, its your bearings and hubs that you worry about, not your control arms.

The Bilsteins and Eibachs are your best best. I installed Eibachs around 20k miles and couldn't be any happier with the results. I have an extra/spare set of Eibach front shocks that I keep in the garage to replace the current Eibachs when they wear out, but I have approximately 80K miles on this set and they still feel like new.

Same here. The carpeted mats will go back in the truck when the truck gets sold, or given to one of the kids.

Any Dexos 1 Gen 3 is fine. Use the factory oil filter as a minimum, but don't hesitate to upgrade. I installed a Fumoto drain valve on my 5.3 to keep from having to worry about leaks and stripping threads on the drain bolt, but I don't think there is one available for the 2.7 yet. Don't get slack with your maintenance. These engines require vigilance with their maintenance, but will reward you if you do your part.

They appear to be Nitto Recon Grapplers. I have never seen a GMC Sierra able to fit 35's without significant trimming, so I am very curious how you got 36" to fit. What's the tire size on the sidewall? Very clean looking truck!

I haven't found a shop that has gear swap kits available for our models yet. If you find one, please post for everybody to have.

I would strongly disagree. I knew nothing about the current subject matter and I have now been educated. Good, bad, or otherwise, I now know more than I did before reading it and I am of greater value for it. As mentioned above in someone else's post, I am unsure whether the original topic was intended for discussion or confirmation. If posted for confirmation, then that would lead me to believe the post was made with an expectation bias, often resulting in confirmation bias, which most often results in a complete dismantling of any attempt to validate results using the scientific method. Hopefully the intent of the post was a true inquiry and the resulting tangents being discussed have benefited people. I know I have gained knowledge from them and therefore appreciate the posted discussions.

It shouldn't take more than an hour per side, but if its not warranty work be prepared to be charged significantly more. A dealership's hourly rate can be between $100 to $175 per hour, so for 2 hours of labor anywhere between $200 and $350 for labor. I would guess more than that since its not warranty work and dealerships usually tack on additional time when its not warranty work.

Change it if you can, but I wouldn't lose any sweat over it not being changed yet. I think the recommended interval is around 45K miles, but that's for SEVERE use.

Go according to the maintenance schedule the manufacturer puts in the owners manual. The dealership will try to worry you into additional maintenance, or increased maintenance intervals where possible, but the manufacturer knows the minimum requirements for there engineered designs. Don't trust a dealership service writer who gets rewarded for upselling services, especially when its contrary to the manufacturers recommendations. The dealership tried to sell me on 50k mile transmission fluid flushes because "Texas is hotter than the rest of the country" and is rougher on transmissions than what the factory recommended service intervals can account for. I brought up the owners manual and the recommended service interval and the service writer dismissed it again under the same premise. When I mentioned my transmission temperatures stay between 175-190 year round, regardless of ambient temperatures, I was told it didn't matter because "Texas weather is harsher on transmissions" regardless of what my transmission temperatures read out as. At that point he became a snake oil salesman in my mind, and any discussion efforts for elaboration were moot. What a joke, lol.

The components from the TB are unchanged since the first one in 2019 . The ZR2 kit is considerably more expensive and considerably more capable, probably beyond the capabilities of anybody in this forum. The ZR2 is an incredible platform with, quite literally, class leading suspension. The TB suspension is basically a Z71 with upgraded 2" longer shocks but the shocks aren't particularly great/durable when compared to Eibach and Bilstein, but definitely better than stock Z71 shocks. Both Eibach and Bilstein shocks will handle significantly better than the factory Z71 or TB shocks, and the truck will feel infinitely more "planted" with better dampening, less body roll and less bounce. A few people have mounted 35" nittos on factory wheels with no issue, but I cant remember if it was the Trail Grappler, Ridge Grappler, or Recon Grappler. Others have had some success with the BFG KO's as well. Good luck to you.

I understand, I am the same way with other aspects of vehicle ownership

I agree Grumpy. Had I not had the information presented to me on the instrument cluster I would have changed it much sooner, typically between 25k-50K. I wish I would have taken a photograph of the removed filter since it appeared to be in remarkably good shape for being 3 years old. Possibly bisecting it for analysis could have provided some insight into the wear characteristics. Seeing how 95 percent of my miles are highway miles through Texas, I can kinda understand why the filter looked as good as it did, but I followed the maintenance reminder regardless. If a majority of the trucks usage was off road, or if I lived in a "dirt road" area, I imagine the filter element would have required changing MUCH sooner. Its interesting how the type of mileage is much more important than the number of miles regarding some components. For example, with 96k miles I still have over 50% on my front brake pads and over 70% on my rear, while other individuals on here complain of burning up pads in 20k miles.

GM's engineers found it acceptable, that would be one excuse.

My air filter indicator finally got down to 15% so I swapped air filters. Surprisingly, the filter looked to be in really good shape and I cant help but wonder if the paper-like accordion section of the filter element lasted considerably longer than typical because of the fibrous mesh screen attached. This is the first time I have seen the fibrous mesh screen attached to a filter before, is this something relatively new or have vehicle manufacturers been using this for a while?

To keep this short since there are a gajillion posts on this already: 1. The kit is decent, but there are cheaper and better alternatives. 2. No suspension leveling kit will void your vehicles warranty 3. You can fit 35" tires on your truck with little to no rubbing as long as you stick with factory wheels. Once you go to an aftermarket wheel with varying offsets, you will run into issues.

I believe 22 and up has a different programming architecture that is basically locked tight from the factory now. I am not sure anybody has cracked it yet.

Wheel Bearings: No affect Transfer Case: No affect If I was really worried about this then I would ask for extended warranty on the CV axles and front differential since you can see the o-ring wasn't seated properly which would theoretically allow debris/dirt to enter the front differential. To be honest though, I doubt there will be any adverse affects to your vehicle from this as long as you get it sorted quickly.

Wow! That's pretty bad to have shimmy that early on, but at least your able to admit you are a hard braker. Hopefully its just the rear rotors that need to be turned, let us know how it goes.

Whether TB, or Non-TB CV's, it does not affect the seating depth. Those CV's aren't installed all the way in and the correction needs to be made for the bad install. The cracked plastic housing above the shock mount occurrs when they get sloppy moving the component out of the way to remove the shock bolts, more specifically when they try to re-center it and push it back down after the install to get it to sit on the shock mount. Whoever did the install had no idea what they were doing, and considering the price you have to pay a dealership for an install of something so simple, I would firmly suggest they fix it, then take it to another dealership and have them verify the work. Soap Box Tangent: A dealership will be the first entity to try and convince you that you should only trust a "factory certified technician" with your vehicle because "only they know how to work on your vehicle properly", but then you get work like you see above. Its obvious that this technician was too incompetent or lazy to verify: 1) Something as simple as rear block orientation and placement when there are actual photos showing how to do it, or 2) Verifying the CV seated depth was correct when he could plainly see the seated depth before he removed the original CV's Knowing the technician was too lazy or incompetent to verify those two VERY simple parts of the install, do you have faith that he took the time to verify proper torque specs (and additional rotational degrees) and torqued all of your bolts to spec? If he was too lazy or incompetent to do the first two, I would not have faith in his word that he did the third. I wouldn't trust ANY alleged work performed by that technician, and that's what scares me the most about having any dealership do work on my vehicles. Don't get me wrong, there are MANY excellent factory technicians/mechanics, of which some are on this forum and provide phenomenal help and insight, but there are others who aren't capable of carrying a used oil filter to the trash can without getting confused. I highly value these forum member's insight and wouldn't hesitate to let a few of them work on my vehicle, but I don't trust dealerships as a whole when they are willing to let somebody who obviously had no business doing this type of work, perform such a shoddy procedure on a vehicle system that is instrumental in maintaining the safety of it's operator and passengers. Good technicians are worth their weight in gold, but apparently this dealership measures weight in slag.