Gangly

180 is low, especially for towing with the 8 spd. The transmission normally runs at 185 all day long with no load. That transmission temperature is a good thing to see.

Down here in Houston, I have 15 year old vehicles with no rust, and I never put an ounce of prevention on them because they will never see the beach or mud. I might see a component with a light dusting of surface rust, but nothing that doesn't wipe off with a rag. We simply don't have that issue down here unless you live within a few miles of the coast. However, I am pretty careful with the Z71 and I do touch up coatings here and there because I take it off road and I don't want any rust sneaking up on me. With anything, prevention is the best medicine though.

I never sand down the surface because I don't want to go through any coatings/protectants on the metal surface. If rust is present, I wipe the area clean of the coating, apply a rust remover/dissolver, let it sit then rinse it off, dry it, apply a layer of protective paint, then spray the Daubert coating. If there is no rust or just very minor surface rust, I wipe the surface rust off to get it as clean as possible, and spray the Daubert NOx directly onto the surface and move on.

That's not bubbling, those are droplets where excess coating material has collected without dripping off. If you see that, you know you have sufficient coating there, its a good thing to see. The marks on your frame are from lift pads on a vehicle lift. Your vehicle got put on a lift and that's where the lift forks contacted the frame, completely normal to see surface rust here. if you are nervous, purchase a few cans of Daubert Nox, it's expensive but it's what the manufacturer uses as a coating at the factory. I have used it multiple times as touchup and it works VERY well.

Looks like part of the tracking system. I would chunk it.

Try the classifieds, where this post belongs, but you knew that already and didn’t care.

The bed tents are nice, but burdensome if you wanted to drive your truck around while camping. The air mattress for the rear seat would seem to be the most logical solution, but man it can get HOT inside the truck during summer months.

I would agree.

Looking at the install sheets I downloaded from Fab Fours before I did the install, it looks like I purchased the winch mount off of the Fab Fours Matrix kit. Again, I didn't purchase the bumper, just the winch plate. The winch plate will need additional holes cut for mounting the OEM tow hooks, and portions of the plate cut for proper fitment, but its very easy to do and requires very little overall cutting in areas that are not structurally important.

I’m working out of town and the info you are looking for is at my office. I’ll get it posted as soon as I get back.

I have the Eibach Pro Truck lift and it’s been excellent. However, none of our suspensions will work on your 2018, you should post in that section for a better response.

I would put the suspension components(front springs and four shocks) you want on there first and see if that takes care of your issue. Replacing shocks and front springs on my truck created a world of difference in hauling a boat and tractor around, particularly in body roll and bounce.

I had a decent leak coming from the transfer case adapter so I decided to tear it apart this past Saturday and replace seals and gaskets where needed. I'm no Steven Spielberg, but here is a youtube video of it if you ever have to pull the transfer case and want a little insight on how to pull it. For those who responded to my other post regarding transfer case input seal replacement using screws, thanks for the heads up, they worked like a charm.

Yes, the TB and AT4 with 18" wheels actually have ~32" Duratracs. GM's off road package has smaller tires than the non off road package, ironic huh?

I never recalibrated for the difference. My speedometer was off by 3 mph at 70 mph, I just corrected my driving accordingly.

I just took my 18's off and put my 20's back on because the duratracs got too loud. I'll be putting 34"-35" tires on the 18's shortly, but I'll wait until summertime to do so. The Silverado's can run all of the sizes mentioned above without rubbing and without a lift. The wheel well on GMC's is smaller so y'all run into more problems with tire fitment, but you should still be fine with anything around 34" diameter.

Thanks for the update!

E rated tires are not comfortable unless you air down, or have a significant load. The Nitto Terra Grappler G2 is an SL rated tire in 295/70/18, but you are correct regarding most tires in this size range being E rated.

I already posted about the hidden winch system I did for my truck, but I finally had a chance to do a quick video of it. The truck is on a lift because I just pulled the transfer case, another video forthcoming, but here is the video of what I did and how I did it. Yes, I know I sound like a redneck and I know the truck is dirty, lol.

The stock size on the 18's is a hair over 32", so yes, you would need to have a wider tire in the 65 series, or go to a 70 or even 75 series with stock width. 275/65/18 will put you right about 32.1" diameter 285/65/18 will put you right about 32.6" diameter 275/70/18 will put you right about 33.2" diameter

The wheels in my profile pic are GMC factory 18" wheels that came off a GMC AT4. I used my bowtie caps from my fatory 20" wheels instead of the GMC caps, that might be where some confusion comes from. Google "Silver AT4" and you will probably find a bunch AT4's with those wheels. The factory wheel offerings are close enough in weight that the gas mileage wont be affected as long as the overall tire diameter is close to the same and you stick with C rated tires. Stepping up to E rated tires will increase your rotational mass and you will see a small drop, a little less than 1mpg usually.

The adaptive ride shocks are basically accounting for axle movement(shock compression) and taller sidewalls will absorb more irregularities, minimizing axle movement. Basically, you have more sidewall so your ride would be smoother/softer, regardless of your adaptive ride shocks.

I went from the factory 20's down to 18's and definitely preferred the ride of the 18" wheel and tire combo. The additional sidewall helped smooth things out, especially on dirt roads and improperly maintained city streets.

You need to have a subscription to other sites to access them. I use AllData for any mechanical information I need, and as a bonus they provide all the TSB's and recalls. If you are just interested in recalls, the NTSB website can be used to pull them up for free.

A basic, 3/8 drive multi-piece tool set. The only things you will really ever have to do on the side of the road are: change a tire, battery, alternator, or belt. Most anything else will need to be done at a dealership or in a driveway. When I am on a road trip, I take a complete set of 3/8" and 1/2" drive socket sets with corresponding impact tools, and specific wrenches that I know are required for front end work (CV replacement). I have everything packaged to where it takes up very little room in the bed of the truck and doesn't inhibit my ability to pack a lot of items. The only automotive specific hand tools that I keep in the truck year-round is a 3/8 drive tool set and a 1/2" drive cheater bar with a crank bolt socket for changing out the serpentine belt that my truck likes to chew up on occasion.