2018GMC

Your upper control arm is pretty much on the rubber stop so you have almost no down travel for wheel / suspension to move downward. The new UCA’s should help with that. Your spacer is to blame. Here is my upper control arm cant rotate image for some reason...

I’ve seen some pics of the stock Bose door speakers and they look very cheap. Like the bottom of the barrel autozone offering is better. Has anyone faded to the rear? I did this (testing for any blown speakers) and the rear speakers have much lower volume and nonexistent bass compared to the front. I understand oem stereo ain’t going to blow you away but it seems like all we get with the $500 Bose system is 2 emblems on the front doors and under sized / powered speakers [emoji344] sub and amp. Adding an aftermarket sub helped a lot but it seems like all Bose does is limit and cut frequencies so you don’t distort or blow the cheap stock speakers. Rant over (for now)

Sounds sweet! Hope negotiations go well at the stealership ;-)

Truck looks sweet! Your ball joint angles look a little stressed. You may have premature ballpoint failure with those angles. I’m sure others will chime in with their thoughts. CVs are “ok” but a diff drop would help make the angles better. Here’s mine with bilstein on 3rd notch from bottom or 1 notch below top. I got 1.85” lift with just the 5100s. Maybe max tow package has stiffer front springs?

Pics of truck and current CV angle? Did you get truck aligned after 5100 and spacer install? If yes and you are within alignment specs, no need for upper control arms. If you are out of alignment specs or tire rubbing on upper control arm at full lock then you could get aftermarket aarm. Diff drop won’t do anything for ride quality but will help with CV angles. Bilstein rides stiff. Whats your tire pressure? What load range are tires?

Damn that’s a good chunk of change. Should sound amazing. Let us know how the install and how it sounds afterwards

I’m happy with the sound but disappointed with to paying near retail for a product with issues and sub par support. It makes the stock Bose so much better with bass you can feel. The stock Bose leaves a lot to be desired. What amp did you go with and did you find a deal on the dual sub enclosure? I got my singe for 15% off on one of Rakuten codes. An authorized seller was remarkably selling JL on their site. I don’t need more bass but I’d really like to hear a dual stealthbox setup. I bet your rear will sound great! I’d recommend feeing for air leaks but maybe I just got one that was built on a Friday or Monday lol Thanks for your service

Not cheap. JL Audio stealthbox under front console $600-$700 JL Audio xd300 1v2 $300 LC2i sub signal to line output converter $100 Amp wire kit $40 - $120 You could go cheaper with amp or a all in one subwoofer like kicker or infinity bass link that sits under rear seat. I toy with idea of adding the rear seat stealthbox as well but that’s a lot to chew. JL Audio stealthbox under rear dual subs $1200 (I only did the front stealth box, it’s cheap compared to the $1200 rear)

Where the woofer is screwed into the Fiberglass enclosure. I used some electrical tape, a few layers between the slight low spot and woofer. Screwed it back down and it’s now actually a sealed box like it should have been. of course you could use silicon as well but I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep it so I just used electrical tape. That was 2 years ago. It’s been good so far. I guess I could pull center console again and check, but it sounds good. Don’t get me wrong there are some rattles when bass hits but now it’s only stuff in the console or the occasional truck rattle, not the subwoofer leaking air.

Comparison of stock Bose sub vs 10” JL Stealthbox

I’d recommend running your stealthbox before putting center console back. It sounded just like a rattle and after going crazy trying to find it, I finally ran the stealthbox with center console removed. Could feel air being pushed out of enclosure. I used the recommended JL 300x1v2 and a lc2i with signal off the Bose subwoofer connection. I had disconnected my active noise cancellation since I have 6.2. But I recently hooked it back up and can’t tell a difference. Supposedly some people noticed overuse of aftermarket sub when ANC kicks in.

Looks good [emoji106] [emoji482]

I added the JL stealthbox under center console. It’s expensive but they cram a 10” subwoofer under center console instead of the stock Bose 6” that hardly does anything. The Bose amp now just runs the 6 dash and door speakers and it’s loud enough for me with finally some bass that doesn’t disappear after 1/4 volume. Now my rear view vibrates and so do the front buckets if I have it turned up all the way. They also make a rear dual sub enclosure but that costs even more. The stealhbox I received had an air leak. I contacted JL and after a lot of back and forth they said we have great Quality Control and our boxes don’t do that. Then they told me to open a case with customer support. They couldn’t refer me. The sealed up the air leak with some electrical tape sandwiched between where the woofer meets the fiberglass enclosure. So in the end JL audio support sucks.

Looks good! [emoji106][emoji482]

Ah the gas ️ guzzling Big Dooley of the 70’s.

One more thing... Post some Pics!

The pedal commander and superchip won’t do anything to “save” your transmission. 2017 and 6.2 means you have the 8l90. Besides some clunky shifting now and then it’s a stout transmission. Monitor your transmission temperature as long as it’s below 240 and running in the range of 180 - 220 that’s the temp GM designed it to operate in. I’d recommend a AFE sprint booster instead of pedal Commander. All it will do is increase the throttle sensitivity. Pedal commander made in turkey [emoji1250]. AFE sprint booster made in USA [emoji631]. A tuner just increases timing, adds more fuel and may increase pedal sensitivity. Does your truck have the large camper mirrors? If so it’s max tow package and has 3:42 gear ratio. If f not then 3:23 gear ratio. 12 mpg sounds about right for turning big 35” tires on stock gear ratios. Welcome to the forum [emoji846]

Yes, When my truck sees the dealer, i remove my AFE sprint booster and CAI. Takes 20 mins and dealer can’t use excuse aftermarket caused issue in the future. My local dealer is mediocre at best so not taking any chances. Need to take my 2018 in for crooked front bumper and random service stabillitrack that goes away on starts.

I put mobil 1 full synthetic 5-20 in my 2018 6.2l. Coldest it gets here is -10 and can reach 115 if I travel 2 hrs. No issues.

I also removed stock muffler and flapper. Replaced with magnaflow 14909 stainless (12909 aluminumized) I added the AFE bag to my dry filter and it keeps a lot of bugs and large debris out of my filter pleats. I got mine used as well form a member. I didn’t want to pay the nearly $400 asking price on amazon / AFE.

Good to know. When you say gains across the board that’s great! I suspect maybe 3-5hp and 5-8 tq at lower RPM 1500 - 4000 where the truck lives 95% of the time. In other words you won’t be able to tell.

Does it say at what rpm or give a chart of gains? At least it’s something besides more engine sound / noise and cleaner under hood.

Don’t worry about it. If some comes off you can touch up the wax coating with fluid film or the official GM coating. Someone will chime in with a link. FWIW I have 23 year old k1500 that has seen plenty of winters. All of the wax coating is gone and only light surface rust on frame. No heavy scaling. Eventually the wax coating all comes off but it supposedly leaves the frame on a treated state and it isn’t like bare metal. I’d rather have a painted frame as well. If you live in the salt belt then maybe you need aftermarket treatments? I believe most just trade in eventually and don’t worry about it.

Rear axle - Nope. Have to remove cover on 1500's. Front axle - yes. Fun fact: Front axle diff and shafts are always turning even in 2wd, front driveshaft is disconnected from power in 2wd. Been that way since 1988. 2500 / 3500 HD trucks with the larger axle have drain plug in addition to cover removal.