Chuck FB

That sounds good, probably the most important item is not to destroy any information if there is any on the congnito bars before your able to jot that down and/or take photos of the tags.

No rush to measure them, mostly just need the precise tool if you don't happen to own one as a measuring tape doesn't cut it !. As to your stock bars, I can't say I have heard of a stock GM bar rating of 4600, just recheck the sticker on your truck as I suspect it will say 4800 ?. In fact the factory part number tags may still be on your bars before they get scraped off when removing the bars and on that theme, look for any tags on the congnito bars and write down those numbers. Like I said so far I haven't heard anything on the actual rating of the congnito bars, other than what you had come across ( and its easy to get rumours flowing on an item and fiction becomes fact sometimes ). And here I go now making a comment that I had seen a youtuber who had done a cognito swap some time ago "speculate" as he was looking at his congnito bars, he seemed to have a sense that they were possibly actual GM OEM bars but of a smaller size. He never confirmed that but it did get me wondering, who actually makes them and what if they did turn out to be an off the shelf lighter capacity GM bar. But like I said, I don't want to get some wild rumour going because some guy had some comment in his video about his cognito bars he installed.

I was reading through this thread a while back with interest due to the theme of not just the lift aspect but of seeking out a better ride if possible on an HD truck. You mentioned in this comment about your ride improving due to the tire size but for your truck use had not gone down the road of swapping to lighter springs because you still want it capable of doing "HD" things. I just joined up on this forum recently as the truck I had ordered is finally in my hands and contemplating any changes I may decide to make to it but have been reading through this forum and others for some time before deciding on the brand and model of truck I did get. So about the cognito torsion bars which to me still seem to be a rather fuzzy mystery as to what they are actually rated at, I was wondering what your stock torsion bars are rated at. Assuming you haven't swapped them from what came with your truck, what is the rating of your front axle on your pillar sticker as that is the easiest way of figuring out what your truck came with. I purposely did order mine with the standard 4800 rated front end as at this point don't have a plan of hanging a bunch of weight on the front of the truck. Also I got thinking about your tire size and the weights they are capable of carrying at lower pressures ( according to official tire inflation charts ) and wondered if you have weighed your truck axle by axle when weighted like you may typically drive it ( of course if you are piling weight into the box at times or towing a heavy hitch trailer, that changes that picture ). If you have never looked at the tire charts and lets just say you do often drive the truck fairly much unloaded, it might surprise you as to how much lower you can actually run your tires than what you currently are in a scenario like that. Hopefully I am not derailing this thread too much with my questions and comments, at least that's not my intent !

I noticed you have the Cognito torsion bars on order and have been curious as to what they really are rated at ( relative to the various GM rated bars depending on the factory build options and their physical diameter ). I have never called them to quiz them but had sent them a note months ago and that must have fallen by the wayside as I had no reply. If you wouldn't mind once you have them in your hands and have the time, if you have access to an accurate slide caliper or actual micrometer, to measure the diameter right down to the thousands of an inch and at the same time measure and record the diameter of your own stock bars. Your AT4, what is the rating of your front axle on the tag on the door pillar ?

I am curious as to what typical miles you put on an oil change interval as well as the brand ( and named type of oil and viscosity within the brand ) you are currently using. Put another way, if you have shortened the oil change distance and tried other brands of oil to see if they respond similarly with the oil use pattern ?. Also have you noticed if the oil use ramps up higher for a given distance in the second half of the miles accumulated within the oil change period. I know myself with various engines over the years in vehicles or equipment, the oil level would often maintain well for the first number of miles or hours in a sound engine and then it started to ramp up in usage and use a marked increase in oil in the later part of the time/distance the oil was in use. Basically like the oil and additive package was being used up and with that I speculated some oil sheering as well.

I will say I am confused by that statement as well but that got me wondering as per Lundimpacts potential oil consumption issue. More facts need to be known to really nail down if the engine is in fact using oil. There are various scenarios that could have hidden the issue until now or if the issue just happened recently to cause excess use of oil ( again if in fact its actually using oil ) Facts like were the prior oil changes since the vehicle was bought used, monitored for level right from the point the oil was changed and let sit for hours on a level surface ( preferably the same spot each time the oil was checked ) before checking and that the engine oil was at the full mark right after the oil change service was done. And then tracked along the way in periodic checks of the level. Was it for certain that the correct oil viscosity was put into the engine on this last oil change and again was it confirmed to be full at the start of this last fresh oil change. A thinner viscosity oil accidentally used could make that difference or perhaps even a different brand of oil. Also who is to say it was at the full mark at the beginning of this oil change if it was not checked to confirm a shops work if it was a shop that performed the service. Also going back to a prior oil change, its always possible it was over filled or driven differently at that time and it used less oil or had more oil in it to begin with and why it never triggered the low oil level warning. In typing this out and thinking about it, its no wonder I prefer to do my own oil changes on equipment as then I know for sure what oil went into it and at what level it was at that point, and then checking it regularly on the same or level spot to know all the way through to the point of needing to do the next oil change, as to how much oil the engine is consuming. But basically my comments go back to the basics of what diyer2 said, making it a standard practice to check the oil level regularly rather than depending on a shop or make assumptions the oil level "should" not drop. Of course GM came out with the cover their butt statement about how this engine in their mind is acceptable to use a quart of oil every 1000 miles/ per 100 gallons of fuel as I imagine has been said a few times in this thread or the forum. Also a shop is not even going to know the oil level is dropping unless the vehicle owner says something as shops just drop the oil if that is what its coming in for and they have no idea where the level was before they did the oil change because the shop is only concerned about getting the service done as fast as possible. Of course it would be different only if a vehicle was on warranty and its a dealership going through the motions of changing the oil and keeping track of how much its consuming.

I was wondering if you were referring to your 2021 model with the 6 speed or the original posters 2024 model with the 10 speed as I am only guessing there is going to be difference in the relationship of the exhaust and clearance to slip the trans pan out. I look at my truck with the 10 speed and its hard to visualize the pan coming out without some more clearance but only someone having attempted it hands on would one know for sure. I can certainly see why any Duramax aftermarket deeper style pan would never fit on 2024+ L8T truck setup and they always say "fits Duramax only" etc.

It took me a little while in looking online at the GM vs Chev order option list groupings to realize that the SLT was missing that item while the Chev happened to offer it. Like I said, I know why they lay it all out like that as it keeps pushing up the trim level that one may end up choosing to be allowed to get just that one particular option one happened to desire. I wasn't sure ( and never test drove one ) if the so called upscale interior of the AT4/Denali was going to be a benefit or have issues as I was hearing about the complaint with the gear shift being in the line of sight when in drive for the infotainment screen and at the time I ordered I had not heard that it was even possible to get the upfitter switches in that interior layout. I went round and round with what seemed to make sense and actually my goal had been to NOT get the painted bumpers for the same reasons you laid out as I know they are stupid expensive to replace if damaged and I had a shop put PPF on both bumpers which I didn't even want to ask how stupid expensive that was as I had other items done as well. There were some other items which lead me to the High Country which make no sense in economic terms but the LTZ/SLT/AT4/Denali all had light colored headliners but the HC came with a dark liner and I prefer that although it makes it darker yet in the cab. Also had I gone for a Denali, they did not make the first choice color I was after for 2025 as they quit making that color with that trim in 2024 as it turned out ( but could have gotten it in a SLT or AT4 ). I liked some of the lines of the GM better, some items a bit better on the Chev but certainly around here there is this tendency to "Got to have a Duramax Denali or your Nobody" mentality ... well since I am a nobody I chose a Chev gas engine truck !. Having said that the GMC dealer I would have been dealing with has had a bit better reputation over the Chev dealer, however for some unexplained reason to me the GM dealer flipped a switch and instead of having any sort of factory discount or just a listed MSRP on their dealership site, they were jacking the prices of the trucks up above MSRP and the higher the trim the higher the cost above MSRP. I don't expect I was the only one that was pissed off by seeing that and this was just later last year they did that, that in itself pushed me to the Chev dealer and typically the Chev MSRP tends to be slightly less than what is a similar GM spec truck I have figured. I wish my truck had been in the price range yours was, unfortunately due to the insanity the last few years in price increases it was not. What I will call the dealers MSRP ( that is another topic ) on my truck amounted to close to 109000.00 before the Canadian GST tax of 5% on top of that ( Alberta has no tax ) as I shake my head, for a gas engine truck. However with what fell into place with the amount the dealer took off and then in Feb General Motors had put a 4000.00 factory discount on, it amounted to around 12500.00 taken off the MSRP. Of course this month I see GM upped the factory discount to 5000.00 but I could not see into the future as I could have waited a couple of weeks and then made the final deal on my order. Isn't that something about thieves being able to steal vehicles and get them put into containers, the same thing is going on in Canada from what I hear with vehicles but I have never seen a list of what the most popular vehicles are to steal and ship off like that. Around here my truck doesn't look like anything special that stands out, not compared to the jacked up diesel trucks with big tires belching smoke at each intersection green light. Of course I could have chosen differently and paid even more and bought a Ford Super Duty, then I wouldn't have to worry about it getting stolen as I would be contemplating life had I lived through it, having either flown off the road into the trees out of control or over a cliff due to high speed steering wobble

I still had not looked at the bottom of the doors yet to see what the weep holes looked like and this may sound odd but I was purposely leaving the vehicle shut for a few days to experiment to see how well the battery voltage stays up when the vehicle is not disturbed, newer vehicles are prone to drawing a battery down even when there is nothing "wrong" with the vehicle. It is truly shocking as to how much the voltage will drop simply by opening the door and closing it again, it gets the vehicle all "excited" as it thinks its going to be started and I would swear the starter must be cranking the engine over to observe how far the battery voltage will drop before it slowly recovers after the truck goes back to sleep. So back to the topic, I am happy to hear that the straw of a FF can will fit into the factory weep holes and that your method was successful in holding back what otherwise would have been issues with the truck you had a long term example of. I had read prior of comments from those that had used FF and complained about the smell if it was used in the doors a and claimed the Blaster product did not smell so I bought some of them as well, unfortunately they don't come with straws, nor do they fit in the spray nozzle so I tried swapping a FF nozzle and the can didn't work worth crap when I tried spraying out of it, so that was a failed experiment. Like Pryme mentioned with this model of truck, to try and spray in through the removable plugs within the box to spray the area on top of the inner fender well, but otherwise I had wondered what I would have to make up to be able to reach forward from the tail light area and how to connect it to the sprayer I had bought assuming it works as I hope it will. Steel brake line was one of the thoughts in my head with a nozzle or something I made up on the tip of it to support its own weight and reach forward enough. I just wish I could find these funky little quick couplers that this undercoat spray gun comes with to make more attachments with longer hoses etc. I used to have more ambition and somewhat OCD like habits but its all fading with age it would seem, however if you get bored you know there is a new Chev truck calling out in Canada that would love to be slathered in FF LOL. In fact here is the exact unit I bought at Napa in Canada and its not easy to see or give a size perspective of the coupler but the female portion sits separate in the photo as it screws onto the front of the sprayer gun. They are something unique I gather, half the outer body size of a typical 1/4 body M style air coupler and the male ends on the hoses has a ferrule type fitting that clamps down on the nylon type hoses they provide. Of course Napa has zero access to any parts. But anyway maybe posting this link, someone might know where such an odd type fitting is sourced. https://www.napacanada.com/en/p/DSSASSE

I do not doubt that at all, the time it would take to cover not only area but the many crevices and sides to all the assembled structure under a vehicle and then snaking a hose inside of the frame/rockers/box rib structure and so on. The amount of product that could get used is far greater than what I feel some realize if done properly. No doubt a good reason why its hard to find anyone around my area that does it as a good job would be so labour intensive hours wise and the amount of product that few would be willing to pay for the service. When I see some youtuber say they sprayed six cans and they think they've really done something and covered everything ... uh no. So have you attempted to get inside of the doors to do the bottoms of them, admittedly I still haven't looked closely enough at the doors to see what if any ways there are to sneak into them without doing more harm than good, I see the speaker at the front of the doors and think that sure wouldn't be a place to be spraying onto the outside of the speakers. Also in my mind I think of the engine hood in trying to get a bit of product along the outer perimeter to where the seams are, I look at some older vehicles and the front of the hood is rusted out for example. Bumpers is another one I've thought of, spraying the back side of them and in theory if it was possible to get product under the bumper pads on the rear bumper. Those types of areas are potential spots where I could see rust forming. What has your experience told you as to what keeps needing a re treatment every year vs some locations that once done that it can stay protected fairly long term, or have you been going over the same vehicle every year in the same big way doing everything each time ?. I believe that the move from a C channel frame to a boxed frame has been very detrimental to the frames ability to last if not protected like you have been doing. C channel frames are thicker and they don't trap everything inside of them and can imagine its nearly impossible to flush out a boxed frame once its packed up with a layer of sand and salt along its bottom interior. One thing that I have discovered as per the dealership level although I am talking the sales side, is that this long time salesman I went through assumed the HD trucks were of course aluminum on the engine hood and doors and had a hard time believing me when I told him that is not the case, an HD truck has a steel hood and doors. What is aluminum is the mult flex tailgate but I believe the regular tailgate on an HD is steel. Why that's important, goes back to rust issues as well as dent repair/body damage repair costs one vs the other. I can see where its easy to assume the HD trucks would be made out of the exact same body materials as the half ton.

Good to know you've been doing it the most basic way as per parking outside. I had hoped I would have more room to lay under an HD truck but I discovered its a bit of a tight squeeze to my dismay in the transmission area ( impossible with the floor creeper ). I'll see when that time comes, I may lay down some steel plates and jack an end of the truck up to put on stands or drive the truck up onto some boards to gain a little clearance. I figured too that I would make use of a few cans of product, be that fluid film or the competing Blaster surface shield for finishing up missed spots and so forth. Which reminds me, I haven't touched them yet but I wonder if the Chev plastic fender edging is able to be pulled back slightly to get a spray can straw into that area to give it a blast by use of plastic body tools and not cause any damage in the process, it was an idea in my head but no idea if its doable. I should add that we have few paved highways in the area relative to the massive amount of gravel roads so certainly if one does much gravel driving, that causes a lot of road rash under a truck during the summer both dry or muddy roads. Unfortunately I am 50 miles away from the nearest town I go to typically for anything ( I farm ) and a lot of crap type winter road in between here and there that often stays a mess all winter with the lovely substances they spread so any washing I do when in town, its all plastered by the time I get home other than the odd time the roads are clear. Makes it tough to do the right thing for the vehicle with our weather conditions during the winter with often snow packed highways that only melt enough to make it worse, it is what it is as they say !.

That most definitely helps and your right about the various plugs along the length of the rocker panels although and I may be mistaken but in my mind I sort of doubt they would have to be done every year once a good layer was spattered around within them. As to the rear fenders, I knew the plugs were there in the box for additional tie downs but just never happened to think of it that of course they would allow a hose to be dangled in there and while there would be no way of knowing where it landed, it certainly shouldn't hurt to at least give a good effort through those holes. I probably still would pull the rear tail lights to spray around in the rear internal box corners. I expect when I try to open up the outer edge of the factory wheel well liners that the plastic clips will fly apart, will have to probably have some of them on hand to refit after. So what sort of surroundings are you doing the spraying in and are you putting it on a lift or jack stands and pulling the wheels and bagging the brake rotors. I am really leery of doing it in my garage as I don't want that mist plastered onto the walls as it would never come off. I have a large shed with a cement floor that I have thought of doing it on and again resigned to laying on my back crawling around under the truck and the idea of removing wheels in the beginning so the inner fenders can be done and as the years go by perhaps bag around the brakes with the wheels on if possible. I can tell you that where I live your frame would not look like it does if your truck was pounding up and down our winter roads, not only the salt and sand but they mix calcium chloride into some of their secret blends. A GM truck just a few years old will have no black frame at all but deep rust setting in by that point and a Ford is looking quite rough as well but better due to its painted frame but give them both a few more years and they are a sight to be seen under them, as well as any of the steel boded trucks. A friend that has a 2015 HD, in about 9 years time the rust popped through above the rear fenders and he talked to a body shop and they said there really isn't any proper fix, once that happens it just comes through a typical body repair fix ... so he threw on those wide flairs that cover the area to hide the mess as the truck has lots of mechanical life left as I think he had 80000 miles on it. So that is what I get to face unless I can protect it and prolong the ticking clock.

Just the topic I have been thinking of myself for quite a while before I even ordered my pickup and my plan still at this point ( its winter time so can't do it with what I have to work with, will have to be during the summer months ) is to attempt to coat what I can of the truck and not just the lipstick aspect ( which is highly beneficial as well ) but trying to get the product into the rocker panels, bottom inside of all the doors as they are steel after all, inside of the boxed frame and inside the rear fenders if its possible to access due to the fender liners or may have to be accessed by taking out the rear tail lights to get between the double wall of the box to the top side of the fender wells where they attach to the outer skin of the truck at the wheel wells. So my question to you is as I have heard this different times and that is the claim fluid film will strip the lovely wax coating off of the GM frame. Had you found that to be the case and if so did it work out ok anyway due to the fluid film protecting the frame instead ?. If you have a chance go through explaining how and where all on the truck it was done and with what type of spraying equipment, and who did the work on your truck and how often its been done. I had bought a spray unit with a couple of hose/nozzle attachments at Napa here in Alberta and some gallon cans of fluid film in preparation to do it, I can not source any shop in the area that does any sort of rust protection anymore and certainly don't want the tar crap sprayed on as all that does is cause rust under it in a big way ( dealers always loved to push that crap as an upsale on a new vehicle ). Its the yellowish type I bought, not the black product.

Now that you mention that I do recall some chatter about a block heater issue but might have passed it off as being a 6.6 Duramax issue as I am only guessing its a larger wattage block heater on it or at least it was said that it used to be fairly high in wattage. I don't even know what the exact wattage is for the gas block heater ( that may have been discussed on this forum ) but I suspect its probably pretty pathetic and so I have read I don't think they will come on until around 0 degrees f. On an older truck I have I installed a second block heater on the other bank of the V8 engine and so its a total of 1200 watts and that certainly does amazing things, that and an electric battery warmer blanket as when it gets down to near -40 or even colder, hell has officially frozen over at that point. Speaking of expecting a block heater to come on a new vehicle, my brother had bought a new Jeep Rubicon summer before last and the local dealer sourced it out of Kelowna BC, turns out it has no block heater as my brother was looking for the cord and couldn't find it LOL.

Another JR, I was looking at your window sticker today ( GM gives access to the window sticker of some vehicles ) and I see you also chose some items that I suspect rarely come on a dealer ordered truck sitting in their lot, yes the 220 amp alternator and second battery as you had mentioned, but also the high idle, upfitter switches, trailer tpms sensors, items that ironically I ordered as well. Then as I was looking at my own window sticker it struck me as to one particular item you did not order which dealers around here always order on their stock vehicles and that is the block heater !. Just goes to show the conditions you don't have to deal with during the winter and wish I didn't either. I was looking at both the GMC and Chev offerings before I ordered and realized that the SLT does not have the camera rear view mirror/HUD option like the sort of similar LTZ has available and that was something I wanted after seeing it in a friends refresh 1/2 ton. In the end I caved and bought the High Country but otherwise would have had to go AT4 or Denali with the GMC to get that option ( the games the vehicle companies do to suck one up the levels of trim as that is where they make the money ).

I don't know if this tire inflation chart has been posted on this site but its an invaluable guide to refer to along with an accurate scale to weigh individual axles to know what minimum pressure is required to carry said load. Being this is the HD section of the forum, the LT metric tire chart starting on page 23 and the Imperial measured Flotation LT series on page 31 would be the most commonly used tires for the heavy pickups. application_of_load_inflation_tables_20200723.pdf

I forgot to mention where I weighed my truck after purchasing it and had the added items put on the truck, it was at one of the two DOT scales in the area, these particular ones are not manned so no issues with some government employee getting any smart idea's of claiming there is something wrong with the vehicle. Accuracy wise any scale is only as good as the mechanics/electronics of the scale and they would have an outfit go around every so often with the scale truck to reset them or change out load cells as required. I don't know if the refresh interior added any weight but the main items I can think of that would be different between our trucks is the second alternator, tire/wheel size, and the weightiest item is that fifth wheel prep assembly. Interesting though that even with your extra wheel base, my unit still weighs an extra 241 pounds at the factory which makes mine a rather portly truck for only being a standard box and no sun roof. The listed payload ( and keep in mind my truck has the 11550 gvw ) is 3863 pounds. I had no way of knowing until I saw the sticker at the dealership but I suspected I would be somewhat below that 4000 point given the extras thrown at it when I chose what I wanted on it at the time of ordering ... more crap, more weight. As an edit since I just thought of this, the transmissions are different and the specs I have found say the 6L90 is around 245 lb with converter and oil where as the 10L1000 is around 360 pounds. Yes, that right there is adding weight to the 2024+ refresh gas trucks. Very interesting comparison though and shows where my unit wouldn't take that much of passengers and something in the front of the box to get me up to my max rating for my torsion bars, where as your unit even with downgrading to the stock bars for a long wheel base gas truck, you have capacity from between 4420 to 5200 lb I still have no idea if I would want to get a camper in the future and certainly debated about the box length because of that possibility but also for other general use this is already a plenty long unit to fit into parking lots. But I rigged it up factory wise with the what ifs in mind, the extra battery/alternator and the bed prep just in case I ever wanted to pull a small fifth wheel or for that matter if I ended up selling the truck that it had the option in it ( of course its not a diesel and everyone and their dog around here wants a diesel it seems )

I am curious what your two trucks weights are on the front axle when typically loaded with the people in the cab normally driven with as well as whatever sits in the back seat ( and under it ) as well as whatever is carted around in the box. Like you said Jon, with your truck being a long wheel base its slightly heavier over all vs the short box but its that wheel base that transfers more of the rear weight onto the front axle due to the rear axle effectively slid further back. I am guessing ( based on youtubers that show the weight stickers on trucks with my same wheel base and gas but with different trim levels and options ) that my truck is a little heavier than some due to the particular options. My factory curb weight is listed as 7687 pounds and although its a high country which means "so called" leather seats, I do not have the added weight of a sunroof. It has the factory base running boards so not the electric ones, the spray in bed liner and the trailer prep package which I imagine has a bit of heft to that metal assembly. But what my truck has which puts extra weight specifically on the front is the second battery and the two alternator setup. I believe my trucks weight rolling out the factory vs a low trim level truck without the fifth wheel prep etc is around 500 pounds lighter. Then items I have added since I bought it have pushed the weight up such as a full set of kick back mud flaps, the GM rubber interior mats front and back ( the stock factory mats are a total joke as I found out ), added the full size under seat rear storage box and have it filled with items, and have a bakflip cover on the box as well as a GM rubber box floor mat and those certainly have some weight to them. The weight starts creeping up and that doesn't include tools and extra fuel I will be adding into the box in the near future. I weighed the truck the other day with the items added so far and with a full tank of fuel and just myself in it, I was 4475 lb on the front and 3615 on the rear. Will I end up meeting or exceeding the 4800 lb at times with items forward in the box or with passengers, its very possible and yet I can't say I am too worried about it simply because its really a 6000 pound rated front axle component wise truck other than the torsion bar rating. And that also brings me back to what the heck is the size/rating of that cognito set of bars, I had heard some unconfirmed measurements of it being somewhat smaller in diameter then these 4800 rated bars but whatever it is, some guys are putting them under trucks that have the diesel engine and remarking how much better their truck rides over whatever bars their truck came with.

Jon I hope you don't mind me butting in as I can post some GM information on their ratings. I would have thought as well logically they would go in equal steps but for whatever reason the optional spring ratings don't follow that pattern on all the trucks and I am going to attempt to attach a pdf that I came across somewhere online and thought it had been this forum but might have been another, I assume its something GM themselves publish but I don't know where to access it on a GM website. This pdf shows the 3500 single wheel in all its wheel bases as well as the 3500 dual wheel on the lower of the two charts. Note how the dually diesel CC has the max rated bars as standard so there is no going up in rating. But like my truck configuration being a short box crew cab 3500 gas, 4800 being the base and then 5200 for the camper only bars, then jumping up to the maximum 6000 for the plow package. Makes no sense in my mind as how can a gas engine front end require the same 6000 rated bars as a diesel for the plow as there is quite a difference as far as I know in the actual physical front end weight between the gas and diesel. Granted I have not driven my truck much yet on various crap frost heave roads but its easy to tell that its no mushy compliant half ton, it would be interesting to test drive my same truck with the plow bars ( or maybe not ! ). I also have the ratings for the various 2500 configurations but that just adds to the confusion unless someone wants me to post them in another comment. 2024_Chevy_Silverado_3500_HD_VYU.pdf

I hear what your saying and while that makes sense ( depending on how the seating is used in the truck ) mine was way way off of some slight compensation, had it been slight I would not have concerned myself with it but this was more than I could personally turn a blind eye to ( at least I don't think I have OCD ! ). With our crowned roads it would just exaggerate it even more. Also and not that this is important but due to how the box is shaped internally at the left front corner as it takes up room because of the fuel filler on the outside of the truck, the right hand front box corner lends itself better to items that will fit that I want to carry with me on a general basis that will add up in some weight so in the end the left/right balance with just a driver should be fairly neutral. I forgot to mention that when I did the measuring and adjusting, the fuel tank was completely full. The good part about the GM with the torsion bar system is that it can be adjusted to fine tune height and any lean or correct for some suspension sag over time, the same can't be said of a solid front axle system. The truck I mentioned from years back, it had a horrible lean from new to the drivers side instead and my brother had bought an exact model and year truck as well and his sat perfectly level. What made it a real head scratcher was that the rear of the truck leaned even more than the front and I thought there must be something not matched with the rear spring packs so I went through the work of swapping them side to side ... made zero difference. Then I focused on the front and after experimenting in levelling the front, it brought that back end around to level as well. I would have sworn that was physically impossible but yet it all worked out once I set it level. I could just feel and visually see it in my older truck as I drove down the road and sitting on a flat cement shed floor looking at it from the outside it looked pathetic, like something had failed in the suspension.

Unfortunately that is how GM leaves those parts, all unpainted and same here with my truck that came from the factory as a special order so not like it had sat around after the build or was being used as a demo vehicle on our salty winter roads. An interesting item this brings up though is that are all four of your upper/lower A arms painted, mine are but I noticed in the show room at the dealer that at least one side of the upper A arm of a HD trail boss was not painted and was all rusty just like your axle tube and that surprised me, somehow it must have gotten missed in the painting process unless there was another story to that particular truck.

Last year as I was looking for information on the GM HD trucks, this was one of various threads and the topic of suspension that I was trying to sort out what made the most sense to buy if I had a choice ( and I did since I ended up ordering one vs something off the lot ). I don't know what future endeavours my truck may have but I really didn't feel the need to make a GM truck ride like the front end of a Ford super duty or at least how I know they rode just a few years back with the gas engine "like a dump truck". So based on feedback from here and other comments I felt it made the most sense in my situation to order the truck with the standard torsion bars. The only downside I can see is GM then puts a sticker on the truck claiming it doesn't give it any weight rating at all for hauling a camper. Andrew, if you happened to see my question I was wondering if you have a micrometer or accurate vernier caliper that you could measure the diameter of the 6000 lb rated bars as well as your new 4800 rated ones. Mine are the 4800 lb rated units according to the pillar sticker and I come up with a diameter of about 1.523 thousands with a micrometer. One bar is 1 thou different than the other, manufacturing tolerances. One thing that I still have never had a definitive answer over and that is what diameter the Cognito comfort ride torsion bars are as they only mention fitting on a whole list of trucks from 2020 up to 2025, they never say a word about what engine the truck has as per compatibility since that makes a significant difference, nor what the spring rating is. I even sent them a note quite some time ago and I heard crickets. Some have even even had the feeling from the markings on their bars that they may be a GM bar but I can't confirm that either. They only state that their bars feature a reduced rate over the OEM bars but which OEM bars !, I think there are 5 different ratings that GM has on these bars depending on wheel base and engine choice and plow package etc, from 4400,4800,5200,5600,6000 Going back to my new truck as well as a prior GM branded truck from years ago also with the torsion system, GM does a crappy job of levelling the trucks from side to side on the front end, some trucks come off the line fine while others are quite out of wack, my old one as well as this new one was certainly far from adjusted evenly height wise from side to side and the adjust bolt differences helped back that up. While I had no intent of "levelling" the truck front to back as all that does is make a harsh ride with the keys cranked right up and give the suspension and steering a short life on the front anyway, I wanted the truck to at least sit level from side to side ... its a new truck after all. When it sat on a level floor I could also see the difference in the space or lack of on the jounce bumpers from the higher side to the lower side. I measured the rear from side to side and it was being twisted over as well from the gross difference in the front factory adjustment. The guide I used to do the actual adjustment was the fender opening to center of hub distance, it can't be too far out doing it that way. It took a total of 4 1/2 turns "in" on the right side and a 1/2 a turn "out" on the left side to get to level across and I ran the truck some on the road after the adjustment just to work the suspension and then measure again and its bang on, so is the rear now from side to side. After the truck gets a few miles on it I will probably take it into an independent alignment shop in case they have to make slight adjustments to the caster or camber and before I did any adjusting I see the steering wheel is off ever so little to the left, I swear GM lines up the steering wheel to the cockyed steering cowling they designed. It steers exactly how it did before I touched the torsion key adjusters so I can't have thrown it off too much. I should also add that the high side had been 24 3/4" and I had read where its said a good high end goal OEM wise would be 25" and so that is what I chose but could have evened it up to the 24 3/4 instead and would have meant less turning up of the right side. I expect them to sag down a bit as the truck gets used so should be quite fine.

I totally agree with how your keeping constant tabs on the level, its no different than running any type of construction or farm equipment, highway tractors etc, its part of a daily maintenance routine in those circles. I certainly hope my L8T will turn out to be a good one but I want to know sooner than later if there are any issues like using excessive oil. There was a reason years ago why service stations were full service, they ( if one would let them ) check the oil level and while not accurate as per having sat long enough, it was in theory someone at least checking it and adding if required. Its a good practice to get into and scan over the other fluids as well and add windshield washer fluid etc. Grumpy Bear, yes I recall seeing that video from the oil geek and every engine design would have its point where the wind would affect it and in fact there is nothing to say that some engines could have such an issue due to design even with their intended oil level at high revs. There is some Russian youtube channel or a country in that area of the world and he's always doing some wacky test, he moulded a clear oil pan and bolted that to the engine, then started adding more and more oil in steps to see what would happen with aerating but also just how wild it would get by adding so much oil that the crank was partly submerged.

Now that you say that, I should have clarified from where I was calling the full mark and how far down the levels were from full, on the front and rear diffs and the transfer case. So from the considered "full" level as per the bottom of the threads of the fill ports is where I was referencing from. I know I have seen some specs in the past as to the lower acceptable range on the diffs as well as the full mark claiming to be at the threads on the diffs. Oddly I can not find any full level spec in the owners manual that has the limited amount of maintenance information, nor do they even say what the oil volumes of the diffs are or even what type of oil, "see your dealer" seems to be the theme there. However it does happen to state in the manual that if the transfer case level is found to be below the fill plug threads that the course of action is to fill it to the threads but they don't give a lower acceptable value which may mean they don't really have a lower level limit on it, just make sure its full. In topping up the diffs, the factory oil is 75W90 rear and they call for 75W85 front but of course 75W90 has been run for years in the front diffs, its all about getting that last little bit of fuel mileage. Anyway I wasn't too worried about the front since it wasn't going to take much volume and used from my five gallon pail of 75W90 I use in highway tractors and so on with the pump on it, same for the rear. Its the rear diff out of everything that concerned me as being well below any spec I have come across and yet it seems to be a theme and have seen mechanic youtubers that have bought an HD truck and they found the same thing with the oil being down 1 inch when they measured it. It would be nice to have access to a shop manual, not that I would understand all the jargon but there would be a lot of invaluable information in it. By the way the automatic trans, I had it up to temp and then pulled the check plug on the bottom and only the dribble from its stand pipe came out so there was no way of knowing where the level really is, is it there or is it down some. So let the truck cool off as the exhaust is right there by the fill plug port, I went ahead and pumped in a quart of ULV and then repeated the warming up of the trans and once again checked it and decided to catch the oil assuming it would flow out with a spotlessly clean measuring container and literally one quart ( ok so I am working with liters up here but whatever ! ) ran out and capped it at that volume I had put in as I think the trans temp was slightly higher than the first test. In any event it will be right there where it should be but what a pain, too full and excess runs out until its flow slows down but too little oil and a person is clueless unless putting more in and I certainly wasn't going to do it how I was equipped with the exhaust right there that I am squeezing in between with my bare hand to get my little sucker/filler hose into the port. But at least that satisfied me that I would not be driving around with low levels including the trans, a good starting point anyway vs wishing I had done it looking back from the future.

I should have quoted your post when I posted my comment the other day explaining how what you showed in your video worked ( even though the system cut your audio ) . It worked like a charm following your procedure and I don't have a subscription with my truck or any apps or phone connected to it so I can only assume that what if anything would show up in the GM system should be showing my settings I inputted, and very well could be changing them over time as the use of the truck dictates for needing to bump up the tire pressures from the near empty weight requirement at the moment ( near empty for a one ton that is ). When I bought the Autel TS508WF the other day from Napa, the young guy who went to the back and got the unit I had ordered over the phone, he said oh yes I've used one of these lots at the tire shop he had just prior been working at and they used this same wifi version to do all this constant updating and transferring of information within the shop, all completely useless tech to me but was the cheapest version to buy at Napa as its probably more common now than the other versions. He also said be sure and update it before I even try using it, resister it and update it right off the bat as the vehicle info will be guaranteed to be out of date on it otherwise. I also had rounded up a used set of factory 20" wheels for the truck at the time of ordering the truck and was proactive in having a set of Nokian LT3 studded mounted on them, the problem is that I was not aware of the special GM sensors at that time and I had said specifically what these tires were going onto and it went over the heads of two different staff at the tire shop as they figured they knew for sure it would take a sensor they typically use. True, it probably will work but they won't self orientate themselves like these new GM sensors and have recently talked to the tire shop and they will pull their sensors and put in the ones I just bought from GM ... had I realized this a few months ago I could have saved myself and them the hassle but it is what it is. I also realized since I have not been messing with tpms systems before, that once a tire drops below the pressure the system decides is time to set the alarm ( if it is 25% below the placard set pressure or whatever the vehicle computers system was programmed to do ), inflating some isn't good enough as its as if it wants to have the tire pressure put up closer to the actual set placard pressure, then once the alarm goes off as per the green pressure reading from orange, lower the tire pressure back down to the pressure one intended to run the tire at. Its all new technology to me personally using it, have driven other vehicles that have it but haven't personally owned one with all this new ( and frustrating ! ) technology.