Another JR

Someone on here posted a a new switch part number a few weeks ago that was supposed to correct the issue.

As far as what you lose, tailgate removal itself only causes you to lose the tailgate camera, which can be replaced with a camper camera. If your truck camper covers the bumper, you would lose any park assist and rear cross traffic warnings, if equipped, because the camper obstructs the sensors. Similarly, even if your camper is bed length, wiring it to the truck via the trailer connector will also defeat park assist and cross traffic because the truck thinks a trailer is connected and is too smart for its own good. Wiring to the trailer connector is probably ok if your camper covers the bumper, but if you have a bed length camper and it has running lights, you can retain the truck safety features by splicing into the truck running light circuit instead. You will probably want a separate heavy set of wires for camper battery charging. I ran 6 awg positive and negative from the engine compartment to a dc to dc charger in the camper.

I assume it hasn’t changed from the 2021 which I have. Open the tailgate Get underneath and visually follow the wires that come out of the bottom of the tailgate to the big connector and the little connector. Cut the two or three plastic wire ties securing those wires to the body. Disconnect the big rectangular connector by swinging the gray lever on the connector. Disconnect the FAKRA connector for the camera. Free up the two bundles so they are ready to slide out when you take the tailgate off. Call your strongest friend. Then get a third person to manage the wires. Figure out what you are going to set the tailgate on after you finally wriggle it loose and your arms are weak and trembling. Have the third person get in the bed. Disconnect the tailgate support cables from the tail light area, making sure to have someone support the tailgate before disconnecting the last one. Tape them safely out of the way so they don’t scratch anything. Look at the right hinge to eyeball the correct angle to release the right hinge. Lift the tailgate to that angle and disengage the right hinge. Lift the tailgate to a nearly closed position to unload the internal torsion spring and then, remaining at that high angle, lift the right side of the tailgate up and down slightly while the second person at the left side holds tailgate ready to catch it when the left hinge disengages and watches the progress in working the hinge loose. Both of you push the tailgate to the right as you rock it. It takes a lot of force and working it up and down to get it to finally work free, but you want it to be under control when it finally pops free so you don’t ding anything. This will take several minutes, and you might want to review with your strong friend what expletives are and aren’t appropriate depending on who your third person is. When it finally comes free, slowly pull it away from the truck giving the third person time and room to work the wires free. Subsequent removals are much easier because the left hinge loosens up a little. Putting it back on is much easier too. You can buy a replacement camera to put on the back of your camper and get your backup camera view back.

Assuming the 2024 is the same as the 2020-2023 in these areas … The price difference between similarly equipped 2500 and 3500s should be a few hundred dollars. The 3500 rear leaf spring pack has a second stage spring on the bottom that engages sooner than the second stage spring on a 2500. Contrary to what you will see in some threads, the main spring packs are different. You see that on an unloaded truck as a big difference in the gaps above the bottom spring in the spring pack. Also, the 3500 has a third stage separate spring and bumpers above the axle. Most people call this the overload springs. The 2500 does not have this third stage nor the hardware and bumpers for them on the frame. Some have mentioned a trim option of the 2500 that has the 3500 spring configuration for 2024. Payload difference will be 600-800 lbs. The 3500 diesel has a larger rear differential gear set. I don’t think the 2500 diesel has it, but I could be wrong. The gmc web site should tell you that. 3500 forces you to get tow mirrors. Great when you need them, but block your view quite a bit when you don’t. 2500 it’s optional. The empty ride is noticeably more firm in the 3500 due to the spring difference but not horrible. Lowering tire pressure makes a big difference. When you test drive, the dealer has everything at max pressure, so keep that in mind. 18s ride better than 20s in my opinion. What did I miss?

My, those are unattractive!

GM doesn’t actually give us recommendations for how much to reduce pressure at lower weights than the GAWRs, and I suspect they don’t want to take on the liability of providing that advice. I don’t think GM necessarily “wants” the tire pressure to be higher in the rear when the rear axle weight is way below the front axle weight. I believe the OEM alert pressures for the TPMS are simply some fixed percentage below the maximum tire pressure recommended based on the axle weight rating and whatever handling factors went into setting the maximum pressures on the door jamb sticker. They only want to pay for a fixed alert level, and they want to give you a meaningful alert level for when you are maxed out (probably driven by DOT regulations). Their 80 psi recommendation at 7200 RGAWR and the associated 63 psi alert level (and 70 psi and 55 alert level for the 2500) don’t account for the fact that, when empty, the rear axle weight is only about 3350 lbs. Towing a medium or heavy trailer is a whole different set of concerns, and you want maximum lateral stiffness to avoid sway regardless of rear axle weight, so “good on ya” JT for running at the max rear pressure when towing.

Thanks for responding. Yes, there are definitely differences between 1/2 ton and 2020+ HD, but I was curious if there are any tailgate top geometry differences between the tailgates that are offered on the 2020+ HD trucks (multipro, power open/close, and plain). I don’t see any significant difference between my multipro and my neighbors power open/close on his Chevy 3500 of the same year, but I haven’t studied it closely. My guess is no difference that affects the cap installation.

There may be better sources, but I usually just get on gmpartsdirect.com, enter my truck configuration, and search by my best guess at the part name. It usually works. Then once I have a part number I do an internet search on that to see multiple sources and sometimes even hits on tutorials for replacement.

So is there actually a difference in the tailgate that causes you to need a different door on some caps? Thanks

Forgot to answer your first question. Yes they are an assembly you buy as one part. The lines I’m familiar with have a metal section at each end and a flex hose in the middle. They eventually leak at the swaged connection between the hose and the hard line. I’m on my fourth set of oil cooler lines on my 93 K2500. The OEM parts last longer than cheaper aftermarket ones.

The geometry of the tops of the multipro and the power lift tailgate versions appear to me to be the same. I have the multipro and my neighbor has the power lift. I can’t see why there would need to be a difference in the bed cap for the two tailgates.

Several people here have reported this issue on these trucks. It’s not a new issue for GM. It certainly would be covered if you are in the initial 3 year 36k phase of the warranty. I don’t know if they would cover it under the subsequent powertrain warranty. Have your dealer check to see if there is a TSB on it - there might be an additional warranty for it.

You could look behind the bumper and make sure the camera wire is connected. It’s a separate small wire with a FAKRA connector.

I second what Mike wrote. The maximum a 30 amp (output) dc to dc charger like the Victron Orion 12/12-30 will draw from the truck is about 35 amps. Your 170 amp alternator has quite a bit of excess capacity and should handle that with no problem as long as that is the only power connection to your trailer other than running lights. If I was going to pull 50 or 60 amps I’d be thinking of installing the 220 amp alternator but it’s not needed for 35 amps. I have a Victron dc to dc charger for my lithium camper battery and really like the ability to customize the charging parameters and control charging from an app on your phone.

Sometimes the tire place can just push the bead off at the sensor and swap them without having to do a full dismount remount and balance. You might ask your local tire shop the price to swap the sensors. It might be less than you expect.

Forgot to quote you so you’d get a notification.

I have a 2021 3500 SLT. This camera costs about $100 from an on line gm parts dealer. It connects with a FAKRA connector. No need for reprogramming after replacement. It’s the same as when you remove and replace the tailgate, which contains a camera. The system just recognizes the camera is there and works. It should be relatively easy to replace. I suspect it just clips into a holder behind the grill but I’ve not taken out my front camera. I bought a camera of the same part number as the tailgate camera to put on the back of my slide in truck camper. The part number for your front camera should be 84676845, same as for the tailgate and side mirror cameras.

Yeah at highway speeds even when empty I’d stay at 50 or above. You have 20s so my experience with stock 18s doesn’t read across directly, but I run my fronts at around 52-54 and I have even wear. I run the rears just over the tpms alert level because I don’t have a tool to change the alert level. With my pop up slide in camper fully loaded for travel at anout 1800 lbs my rear axle weight is at 4900. I would run the rear at 55 to 57 if not for the alert.

My 2021 3500 has a max recommended rear tire pressure of 80 psi and the rear tpms alert comes on at 62 psi (although it didn’t alert when they recently dipped below that a little in recent sub-20F temperatures). The 2500 from that year had a maximum recommended rear tire pressure of 70 psi and a lower alert pressure. I don’t know what it is, but I’d guess it’s about 53 psi. If you have the lighter weight gas engine and 450 lbs in/on the bed, with full fuel and a 200 lbs driver, your front axle weight is about 4500 lbs and your rear axle weight is about 3600. This is based on weighing my truck and adjusting for the bed length difference and transmission difference.

I can’t tell from your message whether you have a gas or diesel engine. On the gas engine at least, if you don’t have the snow plow package, there are rotating horizontal shutters in front of most of the radiator, kind of like a louvered blind. They are there to slightly improve the aerodynamics and gas mileage at very low temperatures where all that radiator area isn’t needed. I don’t know if the diesel has the same shutters. https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/gm-front-bumper-shutter-replaced-87830732-84735801?c=bD0xJm49U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHMmYT1nbWMmbz1zaWVycmEtMzUwMC1oZCZ5PTIwMjEmdD1zbHQmZT02LTZsLXY4LWdhcw%3D%3D

Yes the gas truck with the 6L90 has an auxiliary transmission cooler (air/oil heat exchanger) in front of the radiator near the bottom. https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/gm-automatic-transmission-auxiliary-oil-cooler-23395755?c=bD0xJm49U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHMmYT1nbWMmbz1zaWVycmEtMzUwMC1oZCZ5PTIwMjEmdD1zbHQmZT02LTZsLXY4LWdhcw%3D%3D

Are your radiator shutters stuck closed? They could have a bunch of ice preventing opening. They would be closed at 20F at starting but would open once the truck warms up.

You just loosen the positive post connection and the fuse block lifts off, subject to the restriction of all the wires. Almost all of them connect on the engine side of the battery so as long as you disconnect that one outboard connector you should be able to lift and push aside the fuse block enough to get the battery out (after removing the battery hold-down). It might help to have a second person help you manage the wires and block while you lift the battery - even more so when you go to put the new battery in. When changing a battery and not wanting to lose all the memory and presets, I connect another battery to the vehicle via some small wires and alligator clips. That way the vehicle doesn’t even know the battery was changed.

Here’s a picture of the top of my starting battery on my 2021 3500. I have an aux battery, 220 amp alternator, and an added wire to my camper on the 80 amp fuse, so yours might look a little different. I haven’t had mine out but I have disconnected the fuse block from the battery. I suspect that, to be able to pull the disconnected fuse block out of the way enough to lift the battery out, you may need to disconnect the small connector on the left side of the picture.

3 minus 1.5 equals 1.5.