Curt
Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can't see.
Well, it's been a while since I've last updated this but I got a few plans in the works...
To start, the trans cooler upgrade held up great. The temps hold at 140*F cruising on the highway and never climbs past 180*F under normal conditions. While towing a 4200 lb trailer up a steep uphill for an extended period of time the trans never gets hotter than 195*F. As for the trans it didn't hold up so well. It was badly damaged from the disconnected trans cooler incident (resulting in 290*F trans temps while towing) and had to be rebuilt. I lost OD and the truck slipped in every gear except occasionally in 2nd. I sent it off to my trans guy and told him I'm tired of putting transmissions in this truck. I told him I wanted an overkill 4L65E in my truck. We sat down and came up with a plan to build a ~450HP rated 4L65E. Truck is great now. After the new trans, I've been enjoying the hell out of it. Put new tires on the 'burb and been taking it everywhere.
From a roadtrip to UT in the winter...
... to offroading in some rural areas of CA (that is the Consumnes River in the background, near Somerset in this pic)...
(cameras typically don't capture the steepness of terrain, but a photo taken from a vid on my phone captures the hills we were climbing pretty well)
I would take this truck anywhere.
For anyone wondering, these Maxxis RAZR MT tires are phenomenal. Albeit they are LOUD on the highway compared to the KO2s, the RAZR MT's did great in whiteout snow conditions, ice, mud, dirt, gravel and rain. With constant beating on these tires they have yet to chunk or experience any odd wear. In my experience, KO2's were subpar in all those conditions, except mud and dirt. It excelled in those categories but failed to live up to other expectations.
Now comes the future plans for the truck portion of this post... In that last pic I'd be lying if I said I didn't get stuck. There was an unexpected downpour and the dirt turned to mud. Mud + STEEEEP hillclimbs with embedded tree roots in the trail = stuck. We spent hours digging to freedom with no cell service, or anyone really knowing where we were. We got out before the sun fully set and the truck took a massive beating, but didn't even f*cking care. Temps sat perfectly at 180*F for the trans and never passed 200*F on the coolant. I was so proud of the truck. As we worked with the truck to get her ass and ours outta dodge she sat there idling beautifully after bouncing off the rev limiter, inching up the hill, digging, rinse and repeat. Wasn't the smartest of moves not letting people know where we were, but lesson learned for sure. That being said, I purchased 2 things that I plan to install this summer.
- Rough Country Hidden Winch Mounting Plate
-Warn Winch Zeon 10S
These two things will mitigate my chances of being stuck. Of course now, I have other equipment like winch anchors for recovery but I won't go into details on those.
On top of upgrades, there is some maintenance that needs doing:
- The front end bushings are getting really bad. I intend to hopefully find a shop that will rebuild the front end as I hear that is a nightmare for the DIY. Although if I find sources that say otherwise, I might end up tackling it.
- I'm battling a stalling issue when the AC is on. It only occurs when I'm stopped at a light and it doesn't matter whether the truck is cold or at operating temp. No DTC's or pending codes. Truck will stall at a red light but fire back up immediately and act like there was no issue. Has a slight 1/4 second buck sometimes when cruising on the freeway when AC is on. Kind of feels like a misfire, but as stated, no DTCs. What makes it worse is that it is intermittent. Got me scratching my head on that one. IAC valve was replaced for an OE ACDelco part back in 2019? So I'm going to start with cleaning the throttle body and hopefully that solves it. Otherwise I'll make a post shortly.
- Rear diff is leaky. Going to service it and get rid of the paper fel-pro gasket. Should've RTV'd it to begin with. Got some Permatex 81182, that should take care of it.
I'd love to be more active on the forum but it seems like as the days go on there's less and less time in it. I did see that @df2x4 and @kennythewelder got promoted to forum mods so congratulations on that. I appreciate you guys keeping this forum clean, like a well-oiled machine haha.
Speaking of no time, I just completed a move out of the Bay Area, and my baby gets a parking spot off the street. I guess I have to change my location on this forum now haha. Until next time...
To start, the trans cooler upgrade held up great. The temps hold at 140*F cruising on the highway and never climbs past 180*F under normal conditions. While towing a 4200 lb trailer up a steep uphill for an extended period of time the trans never gets hotter than 195*F. As for the trans it didn't hold up so well. It was badly damaged from the disconnected trans cooler incident (resulting in 290*F trans temps while towing) and had to be rebuilt. I lost OD and the truck slipped in every gear except occasionally in 2nd. I sent it off to my trans guy and told him I'm tired of putting transmissions in this truck. I told him I wanted an overkill 4L65E in my truck. We sat down and came up with a plan to build a ~450HP rated 4L65E. Truck is great now. After the new trans, I've been enjoying the hell out of it. Put new tires on the 'burb and been taking it everywhere.
From a roadtrip to UT in the winter...
You must be registered for see images attach
... to offroading in some rural areas of CA (that is the Consumnes River in the background, near Somerset in this pic)...
You must be registered for see images attach
(cameras typically don't capture the steepness of terrain, but a photo taken from a vid on my phone captures the hills we were climbing pretty well)
You must be registered for see images attach
I would take this truck anywhere.
For anyone wondering, these Maxxis RAZR MT tires are phenomenal. Albeit they are LOUD on the highway compared to the KO2s, the RAZR MT's did great in whiteout snow conditions, ice, mud, dirt, gravel and rain. With constant beating on these tires they have yet to chunk or experience any odd wear. In my experience, KO2's were subpar in all those conditions, except mud and dirt. It excelled in those categories but failed to live up to other expectations.
Now comes the future plans for the truck portion of this post... In that last pic I'd be lying if I said I didn't get stuck. There was an unexpected downpour and the dirt turned to mud. Mud + STEEEEP hillclimbs with embedded tree roots in the trail = stuck. We spent hours digging to freedom with no cell service, or anyone really knowing where we were. We got out before the sun fully set and the truck took a massive beating, but didn't even f*cking care. Temps sat perfectly at 180*F for the trans and never passed 200*F on the coolant. I was so proud of the truck. As we worked with the truck to get her ass and ours outta dodge she sat there idling beautifully after bouncing off the rev limiter, inching up the hill, digging, rinse and repeat. Wasn't the smartest of moves not letting people know where we were, but lesson learned for sure. That being said, I purchased 2 things that I plan to install this summer.
- Rough Country Hidden Winch Mounting Plate
You must be registered for see images attach
-Warn Winch Zeon 10S
You must be registered for see images attach
These two things will mitigate my chances of being stuck. Of course now, I have other equipment like winch anchors for recovery but I won't go into details on those.
On top of upgrades, there is some maintenance that needs doing:
- The front end bushings are getting really bad. I intend to hopefully find a shop that will rebuild the front end as I hear that is a nightmare for the DIY. Although if I find sources that say otherwise, I might end up tackling it.
- I'm battling a stalling issue when the AC is on. It only occurs when I'm stopped at a light and it doesn't matter whether the truck is cold or at operating temp. No DTC's or pending codes. Truck will stall at a red light but fire back up immediately and act like there was no issue. Has a slight 1/4 second buck sometimes when cruising on the freeway when AC is on. Kind of feels like a misfire, but as stated, no DTCs. What makes it worse is that it is intermittent. Got me scratching my head on that one. IAC valve was replaced for an OE ACDelco part back in 2019? So I'm going to start with cleaning the throttle body and hopefully that solves it. Otherwise I'll make a post shortly.
- Rear diff is leaky. Going to service it and get rid of the paper fel-pro gasket. Should've RTV'd it to begin with. Got some Permatex 81182, that should take care of it.
I'd love to be more active on the forum but it seems like as the days go on there's less and less time in it. I did see that @df2x4 and @kennythewelder got promoted to forum mods so congratulations on that. I appreciate you guys keeping this forum clean, like a well-oiled machine haha.
Speaking of no time, I just completed a move out of the Bay Area, and my baby gets a parking spot off the street. I guess I have to change my location on this forum now haha. Until next time...
You must be registered for see images attach
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