What have you done to your K2 today?

16LT4 · December 19, 2021

Back in August, we bought a new Pacifica, so now that the Silverado is no longer the long-distance family truckster, I don't feel bad about some slight mods at the expense of fuel mileage.

So, on went 1" Motofab leveling blocks this past Tuesday. I'd noticed the occasional "tink" sound, so decided to replace the sway bar bushings and end links at the same time. The frame bushings were ovalled, and one of the end links turned out to be sheared when I removed it. I went with Moog frame bushings for the 24mm sway bar and Duralast gold end links. I'd also noticed the bottoms of the shocks were rotted, so I replaced the rears with Bilstein 4600s and the fronts with loaded Monroe coilovers (the fronts, having to support the truck weight, were becoming a safety issue, and I didn't feel like dealing with disassembling the coilovers). Once in there, I noticed my UCA bushings were completely smoked, so I ran up to AZ for duralast gold loaded upper control arms (bushings and ball joint) for both sides. I made sure to mark the UCA prior to removal so that the alignment could be good enough to get me to the dealer for an alignment (they give me 30% off on alignments). Despite the clean condition of the rest of the truck, I'm shocked at the condition of the bushings; my mid '80s GMC and Oldsmobile have better original upper bushings!

My appointment was yesterday (the immediately following Saturday from the suspension work, and I hadn't planned to drive the truck; Friday afternoon had other plans. My trusty 185k '08 BMW had a crank-no-start issue trying to leave work, so the wife had to make the daycare run and then pick me up. While waiting, I reserved a uhaul trailer; once home, I had my brother in law meet me at my house to follow me in my '84 S15 back to the Bimmer, picking up the trailer along the way. Why two trucks? I needed the S15 as a pusher to get the Bimmer up onto the trailer. Dragged it home, then brought the trailer back. I live 15 miles from work, and I get the trailer a couple miles from work, so there was a lot of back-and-forth. Once home, I quickly diagnosed a bad fuel pump on the Bimmer; no big deal. A flat tow would have been over $300, the trailer rental $60. With the ATF pill flipped, the highest temp recorded on the ATF was 140*, and that was at the beginning of the 15 mile trip with 6000+ lbs of trailer and car, which included several stop signs, lights, and upstate-NY hills.

With most of the suspension refreshed, the truck rides muuuchhhh better! The pogo stick effect over bumps is gone, and the rear judders less over broken pavement.

Edited December 20, 2021 by 16LT4

M1ck3y · December 20, 2021

13 hours ago, 16LT4 said:

Back in August, we bought a new Pacifica, so no that the Silverado is no longer the long-distance family truckster, I don't feel bad about some slight mods at the expense of fuel mileage.

So, on went 1" Motofab leveling blocks this past Tuesday. I'd noticed the occasional "tink" sound, so decided to replace the sway bar bushings and end links at the same time. The frame bushings were ovalled, and one of the end links turned out to be sheared when I removed it. I went with Moog frame bushings for the 24mm sway bar and Duralast gold end links. I'd also noticed the bottoms of the shocks were rotted, so I replaced the rears with Bilstein 4600s and the fronts with loaded Monroe coilovers (the fronts, having to support the truck weight, were becoming a safety issue, and I didn't feel like dealing with disassembling the coilvers). Once in there, I noticed my UCA bushings were completely smoked, so I ran up to AZ for duralast gold loaded upper control arms (bushings and ball joint) for both sides. I made sure to mark the UCA prior to removal so that the alignment could be good enough to get me to the dealer for an alignment (they give me 30% off on alignments). Despite the clean condition of the rest of the truck, I'm shocked at the condition of the bushings; my mid '80s GMC and Oldsmobile have better original upper bushings!

My appointment was yesterday (the immediately following Satruday from the suspension work, and I hadn't planned to drive the truck; Friday afternoon had other plans. My trusty 185k '08 BMW had a crank-no-start issue trying to leave work, so the wife had to make the daycare run and then pick me up. While waiting, I reserved a uhaul trailer; once home, I had my brother in law meet me at my house to follow me in my '84 S15 back to the Bimmer, picking up the trailer along the way. Why two trucks? I needed the S15 as a pusher to get the Bimmer up onto the trailer. Dragged it home, then brought the trailer back. I live 15 miles from work, and I get the trailer a couple miles from work, so there was a lot of back-and-forth. Once home, I quickly diagnosed a bad fuel pump on the Bimmer; no big deal. A flat tow would have been over $300, the trailer rental $60. With the ATF pill flipped, the highest temp recorded on the ATF was 140*, and that was at the beginning of the 15 mile trip with 6000+ lbs of trailer and car, which included several stop signs, lights, and upstate-NY hills.

With most of the suspension refreshed, the truck rides muuuchhhh better! The pogo stick effect over bumps is gone, and the rear judders less over broken pavement.

Salt in the air cause the corrosion?

JimCost2014 · December 20, 2021

34 minutes ago, M1ck3y said:

Salt in the air cause the corrosion?

Yes, it will. Have 2 vacation rentals on the Washington coast (Long Beach Peninsula), it is amazing what anything metal looks like in less than 5 years. You don't notice it, air just smells so much cleaner than it does in the Seattle area, but when you start looking at light fixtures, faucet bibs, and so on, it dawns on you real fast. I have to change the screws on our license plates once a year (it just bugs me, nothing wrong with them) because they rust so fast.

Edited December 20, 2021 by JimCost2014

doubeleive · December 20, 2021

got a package, hopefully i can get them on before another week of stormy weather hits again

16LT4 · December 20, 2021

10 hours ago, M1ck3y said:

Salt in the air cause the corrosion?

Certainly will, but my other vehicles live in the same environment as the truck and don't exhibit the same corrosion. The truck's frame and underside are virtually spotless (still full coverage of the factory undercoating, and most fasteners are not corroded), which is why the condition of only the UCA bushings being so horrible was surprising; only those bushings show such intensive corrosion. The truck seldom gets driven in the snow/salt and lives most of its life away from the coast, unlike the other vehicles.

M1ck3y · December 20, 2021

6 minutes ago, 16LT4 said:

Certainly will, but my other vehicles live in the same environment as the truck and don't exhibit the same corrosion. The truck's frame and underside are virtually spotless (still full coverage of the factory undercoating, and most fasteners are not corroded), which is why the condition of only the UCA bushings being so horrible was surprising; only those bushings show such intensive corrosion. The truck seldom gets driven in the snow/salt and lives most of its life away from the coast, unlike the other vehicles.

Thanks guys, I wasn't questioning it. I just wanted to confirm that's what caused it.

I thought I had it bad living in the salt belt

boettcher40 · December 20, 2021

8 hours ago, doubeleive said:

got a package, hopefully i can get them on before another week of stormy weather hits again

Looking forward to seeing the output! Don't forget to aim them

slide187 · December 20, 2021

I know a few of us are watching the topic of dash backlights being out (particularly in the hvac controls block) in this thread. to update you guys, i have ordered a bunch of LEDs that get here tomorrow and i'll try replacing the ones that are out (or all of them if there is a color mismatch with the new leds and the oem.)

in the meantime i did some google searching and found a profile on here (and i hope he doesn't mind me linking his build thread here,) but bc-chris has a how-to on pulling apart most of the panels in the cabin that have the tiny LEDs in them when he changed the color of his by putting a gel over them. but the disassembly descriptions he gives are awesome! (so thanks Chris!) the one for the hvac controls is about halfway down page 4 in the below link.

Edited December 20, 2021 by slide187

doubeleive · December 20, 2021

5 hours ago, boettcher40 said:

Looking forward to seeing the output! Don't forget to aim them

Ya I tend to aim mine a "smidge" high but not much really depends on the light output pattern I don't purposely try to blind people

doubeleive · December 21, 2021

got the ss3 installed, I am limited with file space on here so you can see the results here

https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/black-betty-2018-z71-silverado-build.114885/page-55

Edited December 21, 2021 by doubeleive

doubeleive · December 25, 2021

Merry Christmas!

MikeBMW · December 25, 2021

Bought myself a Christmas present. Morimoto XB LED tail lights,
More pics to come at night time... probably tomorrow as I'm having dinner on Christmas with a retired IBM CEO - I'm so going to geek out!

Edited December 25, 2021 by MikeBMW

JimCost2014 · December 25, 2021

1 minute ago, MikeBMW said:

Bought myself a Christmas present. Morimoto XB LED tail lights,
More pics to come at night time... probably tomorrow as I'm having dinner with a retired IBM CEO - I'm so going to geek out!

Merry Christmas!!!

Very nice, those look Great!!! You have good taste in picking out gifts for yourself

MikeBMW · December 25, 2021

2 minutes ago, JimCost2014 said:

Merry Christmas!!!

Very nice, those look Great!!! You have good taste in picking out gifts for yourself

Thanks, Jim! Merry Christmas to you and all of our great contributors!
This site has brought me a wealth of knowledge and cost me thousands as I find new ideas from awesome people sharing their incredible mods!

JimCost2014 · December 25, 2021

Not really a "mod", but a huge improvement.

Started getting the TC shudder, after 44000 miles. Took it in for the TSB, that flushes, and then replaces the transmission fluid with the new Mobil 1 Blue Label. It is going through the relearn now but feels like a new truck!