I was in Utah this week attempting a bow hunt in the Wasatch mountains with friends. On the evening of the first hunt, making my way across a ridge to a friends camp, the upper control arm on the driver's side separated, the CV axle got trashed, and the wheel was dang near at a 45 degree angle to the ground. I was able to get it towed off the mountain and into town about 3:00 am, and spent the remainder of the night in an O'Reilly's parking lot. Luckily, there was a Chevrolet dealership not to far away so I was able to get to the dealership and pick up a new CV and UCA. It would have been a few days before they could have gotten to the truck and I brought tools with me on hunt since it was a two day drive to get there, so I did the repairs myself in the O'Reilly's parking lot.
What's interesting is that the UCA ball joint didn't break, it just popped out of the bottom of the UCA. There was VERY LITTLE evidence of grease on the ball joint or in the socket, and you could see where the ball joint had warbled out part of the socket over time. I guess that's what happens over 186K miles of use :)
Big Kudos to O'Reilly's for letting me work on the truck in their parking lot. However, they made a $150+ off of me from the purchase of various tools, so I guess it was in their best interest anyways :)
Getting towed off the mountain.
UCA Ball Joint Socket
Trashed CV
Suspension disconnected and UCA and CV Removed
New UCA and CV installed with the suspension buttoned up.
My family still laughs at me when they see me drive up in the minivan. Same with less than a V-8 truck. It helps that I have choices. I don’t think I could only have a minivan as the one and only vehicle as much as I like it. And I wouldn’t pass up a good buy on an older V-8 reg cab GM truck. Could you live Raven as the only ride?
Oil and filter threads are always a good time. Especially when the BITOG discussion forums are cited as a definitive, technical source.
Countless single-data-point examples of why something is the best ever, or will destroy your engine... "they changed the shade of blue on the filter can, use at your own risk!"... "I've heard they changed the design to only have 64 pleats, total junk!"... "They're hidin' the NOACK data from us! I wouldn't use that stuff in a cement kiln!".... "There was a guy who cut open Filter X (with a sawzall) and the anti-drainback valve was orange! It used to be black! Chinese junk!"
Good stuff.
I finally bit the bullet and installed a set of Bilstein 5100's on my 2024 Silverado 2500HD. My truck had about 75,000 miles and I've always felt the factory shocks were less than forgiving. So Bilstein 5100's are the most common go-to replacements. I personally have installed them on many trucks....2002 Silverado 1500, 2014 Silverado 1500, 2017 Chevy Colorado, 2019 GMC Canyon, 2022 Silverado 1500...now my 2024 Silverado 2500. I will eventually put them on my 2021 GMC Yukon as well. Great all around shocks.
Below is my video tutorial installing them on my 2500. As a bonus, for recently hitting 20,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel, I teamed up with Nick Scovel Jr at Scovel Motorsports to create a giveaway. Details are in the video description. Like, Subscribe and Share
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