scralatchtica824

Has anyone removed the thickest leaf on their 1500 tow package leaf pack? I want to lower the truck as I am CONSTANTLY loading my dirtbikes/mtb/gear into the bed. The most I have tow is an open trailer with MAYBE 1500lbs total. If it lowers it an inch that would be splendid and if the ride smooths out in the rear that's even better. I'm wondering if I will need short U bolts as well

His tune is really good on my 5.3/6 speed but he can't tune the 8 speeds.

I wonder how an oil with a higher viscosity would prevent lifter failure.

Where'd you purchase your Mityvac MV7400 from? Amazon? Did you need any any additional hosing to get it all the way down into the pan? I'm going to do a flush soon at 25k on my 2018 are you all using the standard GM fluid or something else? I've had the updated thermostat for about 2 months now. It usually settles at 142-144F for local and around town/short highway trips. It was 80 degree's and sunny a few weekends ago and I was doing 80-85mph on the interstate through some pretty good sized WV/OH hills with a dirtbike in the bed and the highest it hit was 167F. Normally, with the stock thermostat, it would get to then stay at 190F no matter what the outside ambient temperature was.

Was there any warning or did it just give out?

So my truck has the MAX trailer package with integrated brake controller to the left of the steering wheel. I could of sworn I saw it said 3.42 gears and 6 speed. I know for a fact it has the 6 speed but does it have 3.72 gears? Either way it drives GREAT on stock tires has tons of power I'll be going 265/75r18 soon which shouldn't hurt at all compared to trucks with 3.08 gearing going bigger on their tires.

I got my custom tune from Lew using the diablosport i3 intune. The out of the box tune that came with the i3 was definitely an improvement but the custom tune from the data logs I sent to him for $150 was well worth it. It's hard to calculate the fuel mileage difference but it was improved even further from the out of the box one. The truck feels lighter and accelerates through the gears effortlessly and that's on 87/89 tune.

So I sold my 3rd gen Tacoma to get into a full size and love it! I'm often hauling around my dirtbike or mountain bikes and created a really secure method to do so in the bed of the Tacoma. I wish I had taken a picture but I'll explain the best I can. The Tacoma bed has (6) 1/2" diameter T55 torx head bolts holding the bed to the frame. What I did was take one of the bolts out and add a 1/2" D-ring welded to a piece of 1/4" steel plate. I drilled a hole in the plate and put the bolt through it and into the frame. Red Loctite was applied to the bolt and the head of the torx was filled with 2-part high strength clear epoxy. I then use a cut-proof lock and badass chain to secure whatever I need to be locked. So in the Silverado bed it's got 4 much smaller metal hooks at each corner and I've been locking it through those hooks with the same lock and chain. That metal is significantly thinner on the hooks than I would like and could easily be cut with bolt cutters. Has anyone mounted something or modified the hooks to be of much thicker/higher quality steel to lock things to in the bed. Please don't tell me to get an enclosed trailer, or a pistol, an insurance policy, a guard dog or say things like don't leave things in your bed. I have all those things already and I will continue to leave things in my bed!

I have only the rear 5100's installed currently and am doing the 5100 front's this weekend. The difference with the rears is night and day the truck has less body roll and wallowing over bumps. It is definitely firmer but by no means a harsh ride at all. You can do just front, just rear or both. You'll get the most benefit from all 4 5100's though.

I installed the new GM lower temperature thermostat and I'm pretty happy with the temperatures. 40 mile drive today at 36 degrees ambient temperature. It heated up quickly to 114 then more slowly to 144 on a 75 mph highway drive. After getting off to a 45mph flat road it bounced between 140 and 144 degree's. That's MUCH lower than having it previously pinned at 190. We will see how it works out once temperatures get back to the mid 80's here in WV.

You can set a high idle with a handleheld tuner such as the intune3

Upload it to YouTube and post the link

Interesting….

I thought the same thing I until my brother convinced me to get an iPhone 8 "plus" which has a slightly bigger screen over the standard 8. Since then I won't ever get a regular size smart phone again. The extra screen real-estate REALLY makes it easier to navigate websites, applications and documents on a phone size screen. The only downside is it's a little bigger in my pocket but overall the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks.

Dropped her off to get re-aligned tomorrow morning just to be on the safe side. Is it me or is this forum absolutely infested with advertisements. I'm on a custom built high performance PC and the site loads sooo slow. It's also unuseable on my iPhone/Chrome browser and Tapatalk won't even let me log in for some reason.

What are you thoughts on my alignment sheet with the significantly out of spec thrust angle?

After alignment the truck doesn't necessarily pull but the wheel is off to the left to keep the truck straight. That makes sense with a -0.53 thrust angle. I'm wondering if I can loosen the rear axle and center pin, use a block of wood and smack it straight-er.

I picked the truck up post alignment. Only 1/2 mile ride home to the house it already feels like it glides better. I’ll drive a bunch more and get more accurate data.

Grumpy Bear, I've seen you post in almost all of the threads I've read on here. (I'm jealous I wish I had that much time! haha) Your knowledge always seems to be based on your own personal experience and is demonstratable with hard data you have gathered and calculated. Thank you for the input on everything in the thread and I'm sure other threads that myself and others create!

Oh I totally understand your point of view, and I'm seeing the same sunset as you are. My main concern is the "drag" as the truck feels heavy. Prior it would glide effortless in fact it would gain speed on the highway with any downhill grade. Now it feels like a caliper is dragging. I'm fairly confident it's the mis-alignment causing most of the slow and heavy feeling. I wouldn't of purchased a v8 that weighs 5,500lb's if I wanted great mpg LOL

Truck dropped off for alignment. I'll report back. Haven't made any other changes... yet... I wasn't doing this mod's to necessarily increase mileage... obviously. But the huge hit was surprising. I'll make changes 1 at time from here on out to expose the culprit! Apparently even small lifts cause major issues with alignment specs mainly toe in until they are rectified with an alignment rack and some wrenches. Time will tell!

2018 1500 5.3 CCSB with max trailering 3.42 gears all stock except for DOD disabler in obd2 port. I drove 1,400 miles over the holidays through the mountains into NYC area with loads of traffic. Got 19.7 over the entire trip according to the dash calculator. It averages 22-24 on trips to and from work and around town/backroads. Pretty good for a full size/v8 with towing gears in my opinion. Today that all went out the window. I did the sure-cool trans cooler mod install, a 1" front spacer level and tuned it with a diablosport i3 mpg booster and permanently disabled DOD. My mileage has dropped to 18-19 on the same routes I take that I used to get 22-24. What could of caused this? 1. Could a 1" lift really cause that much aerodynamic drag? 2. Is it the 1" lift causing a mis-alignment and the tires dragging on the pavement a touch more? I haven't had an alignment done yet that comes early next week. 3. The trans temp only got to 104 with the sure-cool because temps have been really cold today/tonight. Is this causing it? 4. Maybe the mpg booster tune isn't as good as it says it is. The truck drives and feels significantly better with the tune installed though. 5. Maybe it' a combo of each mod causing a little fuel mileage decrease each and it adds up? 6. Do these tunes "settle in" once it figures out all the trims? 7. I don't know if it's just me thinking about it more but it does feel like the truck doesn't glide as much when I'm off throttle and not on the brakes.

I didn't go from the rancho but I did upgrade to the 5100 rears from the stock black GM shocks and it made a HUGE difference. The truck is firm but not harsh whatsoever, handles bumps, "g-outs" and turns much better. I've only driven it with the rear unloaded I can only assume it will be a little softer with some weight in the bed.

Roger - thanks guys

I purchased the diablosport i3 tuner from him. He didn't include the cable and I had to pay an additional $40 for a license. He assured me I didn't Buyer's beware...