"Inaccurate Towing Capacity" letter from Chevy

[brokesilverado]

Looks like to me if gm wanted to make this right they would offer to re-gear 3.08 truck owners to 3.42 or 3.73 owners choice at no charge for them not getting their numbers right.

[Brian S.]

Looks like to me if gm wanted to make this right they would offer to re-gear 3.08 truck owners to 3.42 or 3.73 owners choice at no charge for them not getting their numbers right.

This makes sense. That's a big difference in tow capacity.

[diannabill]

Looks like to me if gm wanted to make this right they would offer to re-gear 3.08 truck owners to 3.42 or 3.73 owners choice at no charge for them not getting their numbers right.

Seems reasonable, at least for those with documented tow capacity reductions. Some 3.08 owners already knew the correct capacity when they bought their truck.

[Doug_Scott]

Looks like to me if gm wanted to make this right they would offer to re-gear 3.08 truck owners to 3.42 or 3.73 owners choice at no charge for them not getting their numbers right.

 

When I swapped 3.23 for 4.10 in 2010, dealer was unable to correct the speedometer so it would read correctly. They called GM, and were told that GM would not create a new file for the ECM to correct speedo readings, and the dealer is only able to change the tire size in the ECM. GM told the dealer that the reason they will not update the ECM for the gear change is that when GM puts 4.10 gears at the factory, they make other changes to other parts to make it all compatible. Dealer fought with them for weeks before finally just giving up.

 

The reason this is relative here is that if anyone is going to swap gear sets, double check with dealer that they can now reprogram speedo settings.

[Doug_Scott]

Its obviously a admission of guilt on GM side, as I've been working with the dealership and GM Executive review board who note the problem and are working with me to get me into another truck with compensation for the misrepresentation of the vehicle upon purchase. They have given me a few vehicle options today after spending hours at the dealership going over specs and ideas on what to do, now they're submitting to GM exec for approval. Really sucks though, because obviously they have to "appraise" my current truck for its used value, which i never intended on having to trade my brand new truck in within 8 months of purchase and was a punch in the stomach when they gave me its appraised value. So now we look at its value, and the difference between the value and the new truck and send to GM to see what they'll do about the difference.

 

I feel like GM is sneaky about this, sure they sent the letters out to people who were affected, but who actually read the paper, looked at the chart and compared it to what the book says? The manager keeps telling me "Well half the people don't even care and the other half probably don't even realize it had a big effect on their make and model, so theres only a handful of people that are upset about this" well really, who WOULDNT get upset about basically buying a false advertised product? regardless of whether you currently tow, or plan to tow, or want to sell the truck and no one wants it because it can't tow as much as it should.

 

I think you will find that a large proportion of truck owners do not tow anything. And they also likely have no idea what their tow capacity even is. There are more reasons for owning a truck that just towing. I think your dealer has a good grasp of the current truck customers, and what they buy trucks for.

 

GM does need to do something for the people that are effected by the 29% drop in capacity. And there should not be any penalty for the customer to absorb. Since they already know that a large percentage of truck owners will not bother to do anything about this, they could then work harder for the ones it does effect. Allocate a sum of money taking into account all that are impacted, and then since a large number will not do anything, take that extra money and use it to fix this issue properly, with no penalty to customers.

[Brian S.]

 

I think you will find that a large proportion of truck owners do not tow anything. And they also likely have no idea what their tow capacity even is. There are more reasons for owning a truck that just towing. I think your dealer has a good grasp of the current truck customers, and what they buy trucks for.

 

GM does need to do something for the people that are effected by the 29% drop in capacity. And there should not be any penalty for the customer to absorb. Since they already know that a large percentage of truck owners will not bother to do anything about this, they could then work harder for the ones it does effect. Allocate a sum of money taking into account all that are impacted, and then since a large number will not do anything, take that extra money and use it to fix this issue properly, with no penalty to customers.

I agree with this.

 

I drive a truck because I haul a canoe, kayak, ice fishing shack, or my son's Honda 100 most weeks of the year.

 

My biggest boat is a 17'8" deep V with a 150 on the back, dry weight is 2000lbs plus trailer.

 

The 4.3l with 3.42 gears I bought does all this fine, and I bet a 5.3 with 3.08 gears would as well. I think my needs are pretty typical of most people who don't live on farms or work in some sort of construction. When I look around at what people are towing it's usually boats like mine or smaller, 2-4 snowmobiles, a couple wave runners, a couple of ATVs.

 

All this stuff can easily be towed a truck with 6600lbs tow capacity, it all weighs 3000lbs and under. Even most glass bass boats are under 4000lbs as far as I know.

 

If you're towing a big camper or boat, you should be thinking about heavier duty towing gear than 3.08 gears. (and maybe even looking at 3/4 ton trucks)

[diannabill]

If you're towing a big camper or boat, you should be thinking about heavier duty towing gear than 3.08 gears. (and maybe even looking at 3/4 ton trucks)

I agree. At most, I plan on towing a small fishing boat with my truck. If I was even approaching 6600 pounds (especially for any duration), I would personally go with a diesel.

[brokesilverado]

 

When I swapped 3.23 for 4.10 in 2010, dealer was unable to correct the speedometer so it would read correctly. They called GM, and were told that GM would not create a new file for the ECM to correct speedo readings, and the dealer is only able to change the tire size in the ECM. GM told the dealer that the reason they will not update the ECM for the gear change is that when GM puts 4.10 gears at the factory, they make other changes to other parts to make it all compatible. Dealer fought with them for weeks before finally just giving up.

 

The reason this is relative here is that if anyone is going to swap gear sets, double check with dealer that they can now reprogram speedo settings.

I'm not sure but if your truck was a 1500 it was not a factory option for 4.10 gears & the reason they couldn't reprogram for those gears. Never knew they offered 3.23 gears in the trucks either.

[Doug_Scott]

I'm not sure but if your truck was a 1500 it was not a factory option for 4.10 gears & the reason they couldn't reprogram for those gears. Never knew they offered 3.23 gears in the trucks either.

 

3.23 gears were the standard gear set for 2wd 1500 with the 4.8. GM would not even provide a new ECM file for 3.73 gears. GM will not provide any corrected ECM files for a gear change. The dealer was surprised by this as well, and complained about this change in policy with no notice being given. Had they done this on a 4wd vehicle for a customer, then called in to get the ECM corrected they would be out a lot of labour money. The swap on mine was not done by the dealer. Would have been an interesting situation had I let the dealer do the change.

 

It was not all that uncommon for a dealer to locate a dealer trade truck that had the wrong gears for their customer, and would swap gears to get the sale. My dealer had done some 3.08 to 3.23 swaps prior to 2010, but, they could not recall if they had to get GM to create the ECM file or not. Don't know why GM decided to lock down the ECM, there are a few GM Accessories that have to be installed by the dealer due to the ECM being locked. Remote start is one that requires new firmware from GM at a cost of $85 in 2010.

 

If you get a custom tune, the speedo can be corrected. I went with the Black Bear tune in 2010 and the speedo is accurate again. I also got the replacement ECM and TCM boxes to prevent dealer from wiping out the custom tune. This was before the programmer or whatever it is called from Black Bear was available.

[brokesilverado]

 

3.23 gears were the standard gear set for 2wd 1500 with the 4.8. GM would not even provide a new ECM file for 3.73 gears. GM will not provide any corrected ECM files for a gear change. The dealer was surprised by this as well, and complained about this change in policy with no notice being given. Had they done this on a 4wd vehicle for a customer, then called in to get the ECM corrected they would be out a lot of labour money. The swap on mine was not done by the dealer. Would have been an interesting situation had I let the dealer do the change.

 

It was not all that uncommon for a dealer to locate a dealer trade truck that had the wrong gears for their customer, and would swap gears to get the sale. My dealer had done some 3.08 to 3.23 swaps prior to 2010, but, they could not recall if they had to get GM to create the ECM file or not. Don't know why GM decided to lock down the ECM, there are a few GM Accessories that have to be installed by the dealer due to the ECM being locked. Remote start is one that requires new firmware from GM at a cost of $85 in 2010.

 

If you get a custom tune, the speedo can be corrected. I went with the Black Bear tune in 2010 and the speedo is accurate again. I also got the replacement ECM and TCM boxes to prevent dealer from wiping out the custom tune. This was before the programmer or whatever it is called from Black Bear was available.

My last truck was a 98 z71 which I lifted 8 inches & installed 4.56 gears myself. Used a hypertech programmer to change the settings for the gears.Never got very involved with the trucks from then till now. Sold it to get my 14.

[Doug_Scott]

Its obviously a admission of guilt on GM side, as I've been working with the dealership and GM Executive review board who note the problem and are working with me to get me into another truck with compensation for the misrepresentation of the vehicle upon purchase.

 

The contract or agreement you sign over this will specifically say "not an admission of guilt or wrongdoing". I am surprised they are even offering anything. The brochure clearly states specifications are subject to change at any time, as does the website.

 

Just curious, what area are you in, or what dealer is handling this?

[primpickins]

after meeting after meeting, finally got my final numbers. Looks like (so far) I will be in a new, better truck for significantly less than the one we originally bought.

Anyone else on here have the same problem and come to a solution with the dealership?

[roadblock]

I'm still trying to deal with GM on mine, a lady from GM Canada called me and left a message, but her phone goes straight to voivemail everytime I try it, and she hasn't called back yet.

[dagwood2001]

after meeting after meeting, finally got my final numbers. Looks like (so far) I will be in a new, better truck for significantly less than the one we originally bought.

Anyone else on here have the same problem and come to a solution with the dealership?

 

wait-are you saying you are getting a brand new truck out of this?

[roadblock]

update - lady called me back and looks like they are going to try and put me in a new truck too. She says they can't just replace the axle gears, say they're engineers say there is too much work involved re-programming everything.