Another JR

The thinking is that starting out in a higher gear makes it easier to avoid applying excessive torque when pressing the gas pedal. In a modern 4wd truck with 4 low and a limited slip or locking rear end, I would use 4 low and try to crawl up the ramp. Sometimes if they are too slippery, you have to back up to let the boat have some bouyancy, and then accelerate briskly to get some momentum to help you pull the through the slippery parts.

The recall is for exactly this issue - those drain holes combined with the limited environmental capability of the tailgate electronics card inside the tailgate were a problem. The “safety issue” was the potential for the tailgate to spontaneously open, but all kinds of tailgate misbehavior can occur from water contamination of that control card. There is no real fix yet. The initial recall just disabled the tailgate. Later, when parts became available, they would replace bad parts with new parts of the same bad design. My dealer is going nuts because the few times I let them get their hands on my truck, my tailgate is off due to a slide-in camper installation. They really want to cut my tailgate wires, but I won’t give them the chance. I will let them get their dirty hands on it when a real fix (redesign) is available. My tailgate, which works just fine with sealant plugging the drain holes, will remain safe in a dry storage crate until then.

Grommets with the right cement should be perfectly fine.

Do you have the second key fob? If so, wrap the one you have been using in foil or take it to 100 feet or more away from the truck. Drive the truck with the other fob for a few days to see if it still happens. If it appears to be caused by the fob, maybe the button is stuck on (I think it’s the unlock button that lowers the windows if you hold it down). I have had that happen a couple of times on other cars due to the button getting pressed by something in my pocket. More often the panic alarm has been pressed. I try to carry only the fob in that pocket now.

My truck is probably one of the most babied and best maintained out of all the individual trucks discussed here. Premium fluids used, very short fluid change intervals, indoor storage, waxed regularly, low amount of towing with easy loads, minimal off-road use, and most driving done empty or with an 1800 lbs (40% of payload rating) popup Four Wheel Camper in the bed. It’s driven to full warmup every week during non-use periods. All maintenance was performed by a roughly 60 year old mechanical engineer specializing in aircraft propulsion systems that has all the correct tools. You will not find a single maintenance record on Carfax for my truck other than the first oil change done at 300 miles due to my discovery of a dented filter from the factory or shipping. I have full personal records with receipts for fluids and filters. Anyone would be lucky to buy my truck used. Someone refusing to look at my truck due to lack of Carfax records would be missing out on a great truck. I’m not selling, though. My son will get it whenever I am done with it.

4 low is really nice on steep boat ramps.

I have no direct experience, but everything I have seen indicates Silverado and Sierra bed geometry is identical.

Keep in mind that anytime the dealer gets access to your truck they likely install any updates for software throughout the truck. It probably has nothing to do with this, but it’s another variable that should be considered in troubleshooting.

Some service advisors are clue-free. Others seem to feel an obligation to deny knowledge of well known issues. Some are very good. I received a total runaround from my selling dealer regarding the TSB for the transmission cooler bypass valve set temperature change, but usually they are pretty good. I still can’t get an audio file to upload, and I am not going to set up a YouTube account for it. However, if your truck briefly sounds like a diesel for 1/4 to 1/2 second very shortly after it starts, that’s the oil pump priming issue. It occurs after extended shutdown because some oil drainback occurs creating an air gap in the pump intake path. It is normal, it occurs more in colder weather and with longer shutdown times.

Did you note the engine and transmission temperatures when this occurred? It could have been a high temperature protection mode. My other guess would be the 10 speed transmission valve body failure issues (hopefully not), but if temps were high while towing and it later returned to normal, it may have just been an overheat protection kicking in.

I took a 12 second video on my iphone but the file is too big to upload. I will have to figure out how to extract the audio or just do another start with an audio recording.

My plans changed today so I haven’t had a chance to record a start yet. This is one of the threads I recall, but you were involved so maybe you already reviewed this one:

Oil pump noise was discussed before. I will try to remember to record a remote start later this morning.

I don’t have detailed measurement data, but this past March we were hiking and camping in Death Valley and the Las Vegas area when this Spring’s heat wave hit with 105 plus temperatures and our 2021 L8T system kept our crew cab as cool as we wanted it (68F setting) with no trouble. Fan flows on auto once stabilized were fairly low. It seems like the OP’s system should be performing better.

Are you going to take long trips in it? If so, try out the seats in the various trims. For me the lower trim level seats were not comfortable.

I have had the same suspicion that some of these single use bolt installations are not actually torque to yield. In this case, the size involved and the initial torque, plus the additional rotation angle, don’t seem to be enough to be causing yield. However I have not done the actual calculations. One reason to use torque plus angle when not intending TTY is to reduce variation in the clamping force due to thread or head friction.

I have yet to see a set of GM wheels on a current generation HD truck (2020+) that I actually like. Least ugly is the best one can hope for in my opinion with the current GM wheels. The steel wheels actually look better than most of the alloys to me. Since they are the equivalent of work boots, I don’t let it bother me to the point where I consider spending money on wheels for the sake of looks. Luckily the 18” ones that came with my 2021 don’t scream ugly at me - they just whisper “can’t you at least notice how ugly I am once in a while.”

Is your truck not available for you to look? If not, can look at mine later this morning and post back. I suspect they are easily accessible.

Newdude posted while I was typing. If they didn’t have very good torque control with their impact driver or if they did the final quarter turn after applying 89 ft lbs, I agree with him they should be replaced.

Based on the service manual picture you posted, the four vertical bolts are single use and the torque specifications appear to be intended to be “torque to yield,” which permanently elongates the bolt. If they were torqued per that specification they should not be reused. However, if they used a properly limited impact device and only torqued them to the initial torque value of 89 ft lbs and did not do the final 70 to 80 degrees of additional rotation, they never yielded the bolts and they could be “reused” and torqued properly. The biggest issue in deciding whether to reuse them likely will be uncertainty over the torque applied by the impact driver.

Why the extreme lift?

The dealer I bought my truck from is actually pretty good. The problem is the labor force issues due to the dealer industry practices. They are struggling to keep experienced mechanics due to the pay structure, and the fluid change staff is minimum wage and uncertified. I still work with them when I need to, but I have had issues due to incompetence or lack of care as I described above. The unauthorized software update issue I suspect is driven by GM policy, but it is still an issue. It is my goddamn truck once i take delivery. You don’t modify it without my permission.

I view every visit to the dealer’s service department has a significant risk that they will do something wrong, use the wrong fluid, or change software without permission. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, and usually everything is fine (other than you never know what fluids they used), but I definitely try to minimize my exposure by doing everything I can on my own. I make them put on the work order that software is not to be updated without documented permission from me. Definitely inspect their work after fluid changes for loose plugs and filters, and incorrect levels. I have had all of these things happen over the years. I even had a dealer leave a connector disconnected after a minor fuel vent system filter recall on my Chevy Volt that bricked the car on the freeway when the lithium battery was depleted and the gas motor should have taken over. In another case, a friend coming over for dinner arrived at my house and I pointed out the trail (not drops) of oil behind his truck and noted oil still pouring out under the truck. He had just had his oil changed at the dealer and drove 20 miles to my house. We followed the trail back and found his oil drain plug a half block back along the road. If it had fallen out a mile sooner he would have gotten the red light and may have ruined his engine.

It is always a good idea to exercise it at least every few months to make sure the actuators don’t get stuck. It is also a good idea to actually drive it for at least a few hundred feet when you do that so seals experience motion and oil movement. Off pavement or snow/ice is best for this, but driving wet pavement in a straight line for a short distance will work if you don’t have other options. I have forgotten and gone as long as six months between exercising it on my 2021 and it has always shifted promptly. I usually just use my straight 300 foot gravel driveway.