Another JR

Some people bought trucks with the plow package because it was on a truck that was available, not because they plan to plow. If you are one of those people and have thought about changing the front torsion springs to make the front suspension less stiff, I made a post several months ago describing my diy project changing out the springs. It took me two hours and the springs were $600 out the door. It was not difficult. Jacking and supporting the front of the truck was more work than changing the springs. I’m happy I made the change. It’s definitely a noticeable difference.

That sounds like the clunky 2-1 downshift these transmissions sometimes do under exactly those conditions. 10-15 mph coasting in 2nd, then you give it a little gas and it shifts to 1st somewhat hard. The transmission programming seems to learn and it improves in the first few thousand miles. Mine was very repeatable coasting slightly uphill to a particular stoplight near my house. It doesn’t do it anymore. Sometimes the shift is noticeable, but I haven’t had one of those clunky shifts since about 4 or 5k miles. I’m at just about 8k now.

Yes, all gas are 3.73 and all diesel are 3.42. What we were discussing was whether all diesels have the larger ring gear diameter. Jettech1 is correct I believe that all diesels have the larger gear set. I just remembered that the difference between 2500 and 3500 gear set size (not ratio) I had seen in a video was for the pre-2020 gas models.

I wouldn’t let ride decide your diesel vs gas decision. Capability needs, purchase and maintenance cost, and reliability track record would be the drivers for me. If you look at the chart for which torsion springs and front axle weight ratings apply to the various configurations, you can see they bump up the spring and the rating by 400 lbs for the diesel in a given body configuration. So the front of the diesel will be heavier, but the stiffness of the front suspension as loaded would be similar.

My understanding is the diesel 3500 has the larger rear differential, but not the diesel 2500. I am not positive this is correct though.

Just as a data point: The RGAWR on my 2021 3500 hd cclb srw gas truck is 7,250 lbs. The tires (stock Michelins on 18s) are rated at 3,640 lbs single at 80 psi, so the simple tire limited axle limit would be 7,280 lbs. My payload rating is 4,054 lbs, which I think is about 1,000 lbs more than a typical 2500hd. My understanding from what MTU has posted is that, in addition to differences in the rear overload springs, the basic rear spring pack on the 3500 has one additional spring relative to the 2500.

I know you directed this at RnA, but I’ll chime in. I have 203 ah of LiFePO4 battery, a Victron 30 amp dc to dc converter, a Victron 30 amp mppt solar charger and 400 watts of panels, and a Victron battery monitor. I would have bought Battleborn batteries if I could have made two of them fit in my battery compartment, but it was not a good space or shape for that. They use cylindrical cells and have an excellent case and BMS. I ended up buying a 203 ah battery from BigBattery.com. They use prismatic cells like most of the other manufacturers. They had a good teardown review from Will Prowse on youtube, and the form factor and feature were perfect for my physical installation. Two years in it is working well.

Agreed. A base alternator on these trucks that is operating properly has sufficient excess capacity to deliver at least 30 amps of trailer battery charging when the engine is at or above about 1200 rpms. I have the gas engine with the optional 220 amp alternator, and it will deliver 35 amps to my dc to dc charger for my camper lithium batteries at idle immediately after engine start. That’s with 6 awg positive and negative wires end to to end. I imagine my alternator could deliver 60 amps or more for charging, but my dc to dc converter is a 30 amp output and draws max 35 amps from the truck. The truck has 10 awg wire for its charging circuit via the 7 pin connector. That wire can carry at least 30 amps without excessive wire heating, but the voltage drop will be high. I’m guessing to get 20 amps charging rate into your lithium batteries you have a dc to dc converter charger to deal with the voltage drop? If so, does it cycle on and off due to the voltage drop or remain stable?

When I first responded to this in November I didn’t catch that the OP said that the truck voltage gage was at 12 volts at times while the truck is running. I don’t think that’s normal. Also, if the truck electrical system really is at that low a voltage, the charge control relay in the trailer likely is open circuit because that is an “engine not running” voltage level. i would put a voltmeter on the battery when the truck is running and the truck gage says only 12 volts. If your meter confirms that, then the dealer should look at it. There may be an issue with the truck.

I’ve said this before on this forum, but I was looking for maximum proven reliability on the road for overland off-highway travel and for road trips around the country carrying a 2k lbs slide in camper. My pulling needs are always going to be less than about 8 k lbs and will be fairly local low altitude boat trailer pulling. The 6L90E was exactly what I wanted and so far has delivered trouble-free performance. Bonus is it works great with this engine on this truck. The 10 speed may be slightly better in performance, but I didn’t want to be part of a reliability experiment for a newer transmission installation.

It may be that a pressure-filling system of some kind they use at the factory clears a bubble that aggravates the drainback characteristic once you do a drain and gravity fill. There’s not much we can do as diy maintainers other than pre-filling the filter when you replace it. Slight differences in viscosity aren’t likely to eliminate the issue. I don’t think this needs to be your primary selection criterion for the oil you use.

I haven’t tried it because my truck isn’t handy right now, but try turning off the unlock feedback lighting for the remote in vehicle settings and see if that also turns off the tailgate feedback light lighting. It’s on page 133 of my 2021 owners manual.

I suspect all these trucks have similar oil pump noise on start up. Some people are aware of it, and others aren’t. If you start it in a garage or other enclosure you definitely hear it more. I doubt oil type would make much difference. The system obviously allows an amount of drainback over time that leads to the reprime noise. I doubt you can significantly affect the drainback characteristics with a difference in oil type within the oil specification of the engine.

I didn’t compare all the trims, but there was a significant difference between the SLE buckets with convertible center console vs SLT leather buckets with console vs Denali. I mentioned this not because of a ride cushioning difference but rather because seats are important to comfort and I felt big differences in the different configurations. The SLE base seats were terrible for me - I could tell in 5 minutes I didn’t like them.

I ordered my 3500 hd cclb srw gas truck with the camper spring package, which bumped me up to a 5600 lb front axle rating from the basic 5200 for that configuration. My thinking was to provision for a possible future hard side truck camper installation. My current pop up camper weighs only 1800 lbs and only puts 100 lbs on the front axle. After using the pop up for a while I now know I won’t buy a heavier camper. I did not like the front suspension being stiffer than the rear. It made the nose pitch up when going over dips at highway speed and just felt wrong. I replaced the torsion bars with the base 5200 lb bars and the ride is noticeably better and the front and rear response are well matched.

My 3500 SRW with 18 inch wheels shows a warning on the rears at 62 psi. The 2500 should be lower - in the 52 range. I have run my front tires at 53 with no warning, but don’t know the warning pressure for the front.

Are you talking about failures of the version of 6L90E on these actual trucks, which has some torque converter design improvements intended to address past failures, or are you talking about the general history of the 6L90E? Thanks

There is no difference I’m aware if that is directly related to the trim level. The biggest feel difference I noted during test drives was 18 inch wheels versus 20. Less sidewall means stiffer ride. I chose 18s. After taking delivery lowering the tire pressure appropriately for the actual axle weights made a big difference. 3500 vs 2500 and camper or plow springs all are very noticeable differences. Finally, many say the Rancho shocks included in the “off road” packages can be noticeably different from the base shocks, and not necessarily for the better. I do not have enough time with base shocks to offer an opinion. My SLT has the x31 package Ranchos. There are very noticeable differences in the seats in the various packages. Make sure you take a long test drive to try what you think you want to buy.

It’s winter. When you changed it was the engine warm? When you recently checked it was the engine very cold? That could account for about a half quart volume change in 8 quarts.

Again, try Discount Tire if they are in your area. I suspect they will reset the value for you for free or for just a few bucks.

Yeah, it’s more than I want to spend when Discount Tire is willing to do TPMS relearns fast and free in the air check line. I just wanted the OP to see the info from the other thread.

I do not have the tool myself, but MNsledhauler in the thread I attached specifically said he was able to reset the warning levels on his truck with the Autel TS508.

A poster in this thread I started recommended the Autel TS508K and described it as being able to reset the warning pressures of a tpms. It costs ten times the price if a simple relearn tool. If you just want to do a one time change to the warnings, I’d recommend going to discount tire at a slow time and ask them to do it. The tool they used to reset my positions after a rotation was a large Autel tool, not a little relearn tool. I suspect it has that capability. They likely will do it for free, especially if you are a past customer.

That sounds like the typical power steering system noise. Some are louder than others. I heard this to varying levels when I test drove new trucks. My 2021 3500 SLT (uplevel steering - I forget what they call it) makes it, but is fairly quiet compared to most that I test drove. There are several threads about this noise.

I want to clarify this report so people aren’t misled about the root cause. The first event my neighbor experienced was determined to be caused by the transmission, but it also overloaded and damaged the transfer case. The second event was caused by the previous repair of the transfer case leaving contamination behind that later caused the transfer case control to select 4 low on its own while driving on the highway. I don’t remember what component he said caused this.