88GMCtruck's 98 Silverado Towpig Build: "Black Fox"

[great white]

In my experience, there's usually one of two "failure modes" for aftermarket mirrors vibrating.

One is the mounting, the other is the mirror mechanism itself.

When my dodge towing mirrors went on i was very pleased with the mounting: i could grab the arm and rock the truck up and dow. They were that solid. I even think I could hang off them, but better not to tempt fate....

However, once on the road they "buzzed" so badly they blurred the image. PO'd was my mood, to put it lightly.

When i got home I started poking around and discovered the goass was buzzing around on the mirror adjust mechanism itself. Not enough to tell any other way than to put road vibration on them.

A quick look at an oem set of dodge mirrors revealed a small spring tab attached to the back of the glass that contacted the mirror housing inside on a flat spot. Serves the same purpose as me reaching out an touching the glass with a finger: image goes clear (don't ask which finger i used!)

I took the glass out of mine, hit glued a similar spring tab on the glass, attached a teflon strip in the mirror housing and now the image is rock stable.

Aftermarket mirrors generally tend to take a few short cuts when building them. That's why oem mirrors usually cost multiple hundreds more....

 

[88GMCtruck]

These mirrors have 3 spring clips just as factory, I have tried bending them out (tighter) and it didn't do anything.

I do know part of the problem I believe is the glass is much thinner than oem mirrors.

Sent from my TBI 454 powered android device.

 

[88GMCtruck]

A little update.

The other day after it rained the passenger carpet was a bit wet. Yesterday morning, I found this....

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Damn. I hate chasing water leaks. It's like the trailer all over again. Play the "where did you actually come from" game. Poked around and determined the HVAC box was suspect. Pulled the blower...

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Yup. Water. After looking around with a light and my phone (to see around corners ) i determined that it must be coming from the cowl intake area. So, playing with a bucket of water now...

After my creative investigating, the cowl came off. Turns out one of the screws directly above the HVAC intake was tightened too tight and caused it to be ALMOST stripped, compounded on the fact that the two screws on that side of the cowl were missing any sort of gasket. Seems like a stupid oversight on GMs part to put two screws directly above the intake for the HVAC that need sealed. Gave them both some RTV and called it a day.

After that little fiasco.... I went about installing the Rear Kodiaks. Now she's looking like a real truck.

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Also had a set of bosch injectors rebuilt for the 454 show up. No more hard warm starts in my near future.

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Another thing I've been tracking down is a bit of driveline vibration. It was there when I bought the truck, initially I thought it was the carrier bearing. While the trans was out I did all 3 rear u-joints and the carrier. The driveline pieces are keyed so you can't put them out of phase. I did pull the slip yolk u-joint and flip the rear shaft 180 deg from the front shaft, it seemed to help but the vibration is still there. I also noticed I have 1 wheel that isn't very true at all. Since these are Toyo tires I'm thinking I'll have les-schwab re-balance them all, maybe swap the seemingly bent wheel for the spare. Also considering getting the driveshafts re-balanced. Who knows maybe one lost a weight?

 

[bluex]

If that doesn't fix your water leak you may have to pull that panel off over the HVAC inlet an silicone around the inlet an that panel after getting all the seam sealer off it an the truck. That's what I did along with siliconing every screw in the cowl.

I pulled the hood to so I could make sure I got it all sealed up good. That inlet has a seam right in line with the cowl metal that's filled with a foam type tape. I pulled all that out an siliconed all around the inside of that joint an the outside parts I could reach. That seems to have stopped mine. I was just leaving it on recirc until I finally decided to tear into it....

 

[88GMCtruck]

I looked at the inspection plate, it seems solid. And the lower part of the cowl (below the intake) didn't drip any water it, only when it was hitting up above.

 

[great white]

Hi dave.

Mine was leaking down through the inlet also. Noticed it as a drip on the carpet like yours (although mine wasn't a flood like your heater fan box).

I pulled the cowl trim off and discovered leaves, pine needles and assorted debris piled up against the air opening that was allowing water to wick up and drip down.

Worth a look if your water problem returns....

 

[benz88]

If you pull the plastic cowl off you can reach down? I need to clean mine out as mine stinks like dust and when I turn it on sometimes haha

 

[great white]

If you pull the plastic cowl off you can reach down? I need to clean mine out as mine stinks like dust and when I turn it on sometimes haha

yup.

But: if you have decent sized forearms be prepared to shed some skin and blood......

 

[88GMCtruck]

Hi dave.

Mine was leaking down through the inlet also. Noticed it as a drip on the carpet like yours (although mine wasn't a flood like your heater fan box).

I pulled the cowl trim off and discovered leaves, pine needles and assorted debris piled up against the air opening that was allowing water to wick up and drip down.

Worth a look if your water problem returns....

Drains and associated areas were clean and debris free.

If you pull the plastic cowl off you can reach down? I need to clean mine out as mine stinks like dust and when I turn it on sometimes haha

yup.

But: if you have decent sized forearms be prepared to shed some skin and blood......

Yeah, it's not the easiest access.


Sent from my TBI 454 powered android device.

 

[88GMCtruck]

Played with a bit of plastidip to see how blacked out would look. Thinking I like it. Although it still needs a GMC grille.

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