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I'm working on an issue in another thread, but I came across something else that I thought might deserve a dedicated thread. I've been poking around in the rear heater lately, and then I went away for a bit. I guess I didn't connect the third brakelight connector. Anyone know where this is ? I've been looking, can't seem to find it. I'm sure I did something to knock it free or disconnected.

Hi 2005 z71 Tahoe. Original problem was brake peddle went to floor while girlfriend drove it. She limped it home with barely any brakes and peddle to floor. Was out of brake fluid. Found sign of leak by master cylinder. Replaced master and brake booster. Then when I went to bleed brakes, discovered bleeder valves had been eaten up and were seized, so I replaced calipers, rotor and pads on front. Rear were fine. Bleed brakes. Peddle still goes to floor and you literally have to pull up peddle to get it to return. When doing bleeding, on a trickle was coming out. For some reason seems like it's not pressuring up. No abs codes, does say service brake system. I find no sign of leaks anywhere else on truck. Any ideas would be appreciated.

My 2007 Chevy Suburban 128,000 miles, developed a bad vibration in the steering wheel which made me believe I had a brake problem on the front right wheel. I pulled off the highway and the front right wheel was very hot and smelled of very hot brakes. I had new brake pads and rotors installed 12 months ago(12k miles). I am thinking I have a caliper hanging up. I think I need to do a complete front brake job (calipers,pads, and rotors). In addition I think I should have the wheel bearings repacked or replaced since there was excessive heat on that wheel. Any thoughts on my assessment of this problem?

I know I'm not the only one who has issues with the factory brake feel on these trucks as there is a 4+ page thread that's covered this issue before. http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/168632-brakes-insufficient/ To recite the above, I think the overall braking performance on these trucks is fine. The truck produces great stopping distances and several users tow constantly with the truck without issues. I think my gripe is the overall poor pedal feel and initial "bite" feedback the brakes give back. I have to really get on the brakes to get it to stop. I had a similar, but opposite, complaint when the truck was still on the factory tune with poor throttle performance but thats been rectified now that I have a Black Bear tune on it. I don't want to turn this into a debate vs Ford or Dodge. But for comparison sakes the only two other trucks that I've driven on a constantly basis was 2012 F150 and a 2004.5 Dodge Ram 2500, both had tremendously better brake feel than my 2014 CCSB GMC. However, on my 2500 I replaced the oem brake pads after a couple of months due to wear with some "top of the line" Wagner brake pads from the local parts store. Those brake pads felt very similarly like my truck does now. After some research I discovered that the OEM pads for the Dodge were far better than what I had put on there. So after a few months I spent $200+ on a front and rear set and the brake feel and bite were above and beyond better than what I had. Which leads me to believe that part of the problem is GM uses ceramic factory brake pads. If you want to know more about ceramic brake pads vs semi-metallic pads this is a good read. http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/the-best-brake-pads-ceramic-or-metallic.aspx Basically its a trade off, ceramic pads last longer, are quieter, produce adequate stopping distance don't "bite" as hard as semi-metallic pads. So I created this thread for a couple of reasons. 1) For other users to give feedback on their oem/aftermarket brake pads 2) To list are current available aftermarket brake pads. Hawk Performance I'm personally a big fan of Hawk Pads. I religiously used their HP Plus pads a couple of years ago when I autocrossed. I daily drove a set of HPS pads and switched to HP Plus pads on track time. Both were great pads. All of the Hawk pads are made from a non ceramic Ferro-Carbon compound. Here is what Hawk offers for our trucks; HPS - High Performance Street Compound Front P/N: HB561F.710 Rear P/N: HB568F.666 http://www.hawkperformance.com/performance-street/pads/high-performance-street Key Features - Increased stopping power
 - High friction/torque hot or cold - Gentle on rotors
 - Extended pad life
 - Low dust
 - Virtually noise-free
 - Ideal for import and domestic automobiles LTS - Light Truck and SUV Brake Pads: Front P/N: HB561Y.710 Rear P/N: HB568Y.666 http://www.hawkperformance.com/performance-street/pads/light-truck-suv Key Features - Designed for large brake systems found on full-size trucks - Engineered using technology from Fleet & Military applications - Ferro-Carbon friction material delivers more braking power and fade resistance than OE pads - Low dust - Excellent pad and rotor life - Virtually noise-free - Ideal for import and domestic full-size trucks, vans and SUV’s (1/2 ton) with moderate towing and hauling duty SD - Super Duty Severe Duty Truck Front P/N: HB568P.666 Rear P/N: HB561P.710 http://www.hawkperformance.com/performance-street/pads/superduty Key Features - Engineered from technology used in heavy- duty on/off- highway and Military applications - Extremely high coefficient of friction and fade resistance - Recommended for professional fleets (greater than 1 ton) and light trucks towing excessive payloads EBC Brake Pads I've never used EBC brake pads my self. But they are a world wide company and I know many people who have had positive experiences with them. My main gripe with them is they don't list brake pads by application. You have to look through one of their vendor sites to see which pads are available for your vehicle which just made putting this list more time consuming. To make things harder some of their brake pad lines have "sub" lines such as their Green Stuff pads. They have the Green Stuff 2000 pads which are for cars. 6000 line which are for trucks and 7000 line which are for trucks and 4x4 trucks. But when looking up pads online few sites really tell you which ones you are getting. Very confusing. And unlike Hawk, EBC uses different brake pad materials depending on their line, they use ceramic to their own armid-fiber compound. Anyways here is what they offer for our trucks from lest to most aggressive; Ultimax Brake Pads http://ebcbrakes.com/product/ultimax-brake-pads/ http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/61A3069A0A0.aspx These are ceramic pads basically an OE replacement pad. Green "6000" Stuff Pads http://ebcbrakes.com/product/greenstuff-brake-pads/ http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/61A3070A0A0.aspx These are advertised to be a light improvement over OE pads but still a lower friction coefficient than the Yellow pads. Green "7000" Stuff Pads http://ebcbrakes.com/product/greenstuff-brake-pads/ http://www.carid.com/2012-gmc-sierra-brakes/ebc-greenstuff-7000-brake-pads-4255539.html#product-details-tab In my opinion this is an odd pad. Its basically a longer lasting, low dust "Green 6000" pad. Red Stuff Pads http://ebcbrakes.com/product/redstuff-brake-pads/ http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/61A3071A0A0.aspx These are a kevlar and ceramic compound. I think these are aimed at heavy luxury cars since the main selling points are quiet, and low dust. Truck Yellow Stuff Pads http://ebcbrakes.com/product/yellowstuff-high-friction-truck-sport-brake-pads/ http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/61A3072A0A0.aspx If I was to choose any of the EBC brake pads these would be the ones I went with. They are non-ceramic aramid- fiber compound. They seem to be a much more aggressive pad than the oe or other EBC offerings. There are mother companies that offer aftermarket brake pads such as Raybestos, Stop-Tech, Posi-tech, Wagner but I chose the two above since they are the most reputable and well known. And as far as brake rotors go stay away from fancy black, premium coating, slotted, drilled rotors. They will not affect braking distances or performance. http://automotivethinker.com/brakes-2/rotors-blank-vs-cross-drilled-vs-slotted-and-warping/

Newer user to this forum, though I have been on others in the past... I am getting different opinions from different family and friends- many seem to contradict each other. So I thought I would ask this community for thoughts. The wife and I have recently purchased, used from friends, a new camper. The camper is a 30 foot Coachman Catalina (1997). The book weight of this trailer says 5,100lbs and includes trailer brakes. I am planning to haul with my 2012 GMC Sierra 1500. Specs on the truck include; 4x4, crew cab, max trailer package (5.3 KDL HD Cooling Package, trailer brake harness, 3.42 ratio). I have installed the Tekonsha P3 brake controller and am planning to use a weight distributing hitch with sway control. I am currently leaning toward the Camco Recurve R6 hitch to meet both these needs (receiver hitch is rated to 1,100lbs with WD hitch). The truck manual max trailer weight states 9,500lbs with a GCWR of 15,000lbs (truck GVWR 7,000lbs). I do understand the balancing required between truck and trailer for GCWR; if truck fully loaded is 5,500lbs and tongue weight is 1,000 pounds the max trailer becomes 8,500 pounds not the book stated 9,500. So, with this info I have some friends stating that this will fall well within the limits of the truck. And others stating that I need at minimum a 3/4 ton truck to haul this camper. Based on the info I have been able to collect I feel like I should be just fine with this trailer and truck combination... Yes it will be heavy, but not reaching the max weights- or even coming close (I am estimating 7,000lbs trailer fully loaded). And with trailer brakes and a quality proportional brake control I feel confident in stopping power. *I guess my analogy/thought is this; if I am mowing a 1/4 acre lawn, sure a riding mower would be great, but a push mower will get the job done just fine and without any difficulty. Am I right in thinking that while a 3/4 ton truck would be easier, my 1/2 ton will get the job done just fine?

2007 Silverado. Great truck, but the last 3 years I have been plagued with my truck sounding like an jalopy. Cold makes it worse. Turning...no, hitting big bumps...no, going over speed bumps...no. Just when applying brake making the front end go down...very bad creaking. If I go backwards and hit the brakes hard or soft...literally no noise...only applying brakes while moving forward. Very strange. Since creaks echo throughout the frame, it is very difficult to detect where the actual creak is coming from. Entire sway bar has been rebuilt with grease bushings, new Rancho shocks in the front and rear, even replaced the control arms (which was not a fun task). All of which made no difference (but I did have some control arm bushing play...so not a total waste). It's literally starting to drive me crazy. Someone recommended changing the leaf spring shackles...then someone else recommended looking into the steering rack bushings...then someone else stated it may be body mounts. I am truly tired of trying things that will not address the problem. It definitely sounds like a rubber creak...not metal. I figured someone here would have definitely had the issue like I'm having now. Thanks in advance! David

I purchased a 2009 GMC Sierra 1500 with 155,000 miles on it. I have some questions I'm hoping you can answer. Shifting from neutral to drive when the engine is cold results in a jerk forward. I also noticed that when I shift into neutral, the RPM's jump up to around 1500. It doesn't do this when the engine is warm. Any thoughts as to what this could be? I just changed the transmission fluid and also had a mechanic look at the U-joints, he said those are fine. The shop that did the transmission fluid change, just did the standard pan drop, drain fluid, put a new filter in, etc. Will this be enough or should I have a shop do a complete change? I do plan to tow a 6500# camper with the truck if it matters. I had the brake fluid and power steering fluid changed at the same time as the transmission fluid. Should I have the coolant, differentials (front and rear) and transfer case changed as well? What else should I have done to it for service? Can I take it to my regular mechanic or should I take it to a GMC dealer?

Hi all, Pseduo newbie here. Not new to mechanics or even GM trucks, just new to the GMT900 platform. Hoping you guys could help me out. I've searched google and this forum looking for answers, but have not been able to find anything similar to what I'm experiencing. Please forgive me if I missed an obvious thread. I'm not entirely sure what I need to be searching for. Was hoping you guys could steer me. We bought a low miles (71K) 2009 Silverado from a dealer recently, and it started having transmission issues within 1,000 miles. It came with a dealer-provided lifetime power-train warranty, but so far, the experience with the dealer defines the very essence of poor experience. They basically drive it a couple miles, not even far enough to get it warmed up, and then spit out the trusty old "could not replicate". So, I'm looking for a direction to point them, or maybe even a TSB? 2009 Silverado 1500 CCSB Z71, LC9/6L80E. Factory tow package. What is happening is this: When the transmission has warmed up, and you're going generally over 50mph, but sometimes slower, when coming to a stop the truck will surge and try to pull for a brief moment. And sometimes it will do this 2-3 times in rapid succession. It isn't really that the engine is surging, it feels more like the torque converter is locking/ unlocking rapidly. But, it will pull, even with you off the gas, and holding the brake. And if you watch the tachometer, it seems to synchronize with the downshifts the transmission makes as you're slowing. In a few cases, it has taken up all the drivetrain slack pretty suddenly and led to some fairly audible clunking/jerking. I should note, this transmission also has the very hard 2-3 shift, but, again, the dealer "can no replicate", at least not on their dime. Now, I saw some reference on a Pontiac forum, under the 6l80E in the G8, reference a software update released for 2009 trucks, but could not find anything about it anywhere else. I asked the dealer to check for software updates, but was told there was none. Has anyone had a similar experience with the TC locking/unlocking? Thanks in advance.

Hi, i have a 2012 gmc sierra, with drum brakes and i want to covert them to disks, so I am wondering which models and years of GM vehicles, that have disk brakes that will be compatible with my truck. If anyone can help me that would be great. Thanks so much.

I have a 01 Silverado 2500HD long bed and it seems for the past while a bad smell has progressively gotten worse, it is the strongest in the rear driver wheel well. The burning smell I've been told is from my park brake which I use quite often, is this commen for them to get stuck and still drive? It stinks the most after I drive it for a bit. I've also been told it could be the rear diff but I just changed the fluid, they are also disc brakes in the back.

So I've been pretty un-happy with the factory brake feel for a while now. I don't like the initial bite and I think they require allot of heat to really get good feed-back from them. So I decided to upgrade to Hawk HPS Front and Rear pads along with the Hawk HUS8657 Quiet Slot Front Rotors. I've used Hawk pads previously in my Auto X car and have nothing but good things to say about them, hopefully these will also be the case. Normally I would of left the O.E rotors but Hawk advertises improved initial bite and Amazon is selling these at pretty much 50% off. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004D2UKPG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 I'll be installing these in a few days and I'll give a good comparison of the new setup.

Hey guys, I was curious if you guys knew if the 2015 Silverado 1500 LT Z71 4WD 5.3L V8 Midnight Edition has an adjustable brake pedal? This is the truck I own and I find the brake pedal to be very close to the driver. I need to completely lift my foot off the gas and heel off the mat to get over to the brake pedal. Not only is it slow but it's very uncomfortable as my leg and foot are bent at sharp angles. Second question, do your guys' daytime running lights just seem like the headlights? My daytime running lights are the same bulbs as my headlights. Let me know, Thanks.

I Have for sale a Tekonsha Prodigy P2 trailer brake controller. Was installed in my 2009 Sierra, removed after an accident thanks to some idiot pulling a 36ft travel trailer in a blizzard (yes I know I shouldnt have been driving either ). Anyways its in perfect working order, comes with the manual, mini cd, two mounting options, and harness. Anyone who knows trailer brake controllers knows this is one of the best on the market. Retails for $105+tax regularly. $75 FIRM, SHIPPED!

I have a 09 Silverado which i'm looking to change the ugly drum brakes in the back to disc and I am at a loss as to what models cross over. No salvage yard help or anything. So I just need a nudge in the right direction to find the parts and a little info on what all needs to be done

I have a 2003 GMC Sierre and I have a Brake light problem. During the day my brake lights work fine but when I have the head lights on my brake lights don't work. The bulb under the red lens don't work but the light under the yellow lens comes on. I changed the Electric board near the trailer hitch like my neighbor said, 40 bucks later still have problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Peter

I have a like new Tekonsha Prodigy P2 Trailer Brake Controller for sale. This model is rated one of the best TBC's on the market! Tons of features for every type of vehicle, trailer, and driver. Includes all mounting hardware, harness from 2009 Sierra 1500 (unsure of fitment in other models). http://www.tekonsha.com/content/products.aspx?lvl=3&parentid=0&catID=1435&part=90885 Asking $95 shipped! Text 2one8-4one6-2four9one for pics and more info.

I have a 2007 1500 classic i relocatd the 7 pin trailer light plug into my bumber due to going offroad occasionally. ever since the relocation my trailer lights have stopped working. i have tested the wires with a voltmeter and nothing comes up. all of the fuses are fine. should i cut the wires at the ground point and test them from there?