What have you done to your K2 today?

CajunFries · July 15

On 7/12/2024 at 11:30 AM, jonny8126 said:

im not sure if i already posted this question but i have a 2018 silverado and i wanted to put a line lock on it, it says it can handle 3000 psi but i daily the truck and drive it across the state a lot, is it safe for that? i dont wanna cause an accident or have brake failure

I never got around to adding a line lock but if you’re going to add it, add them closest to the calipers as you can and don’t cheap out on the solenoid and relays. GL

TNTSierra · July 24

Just got done adding Corsa Catback Exhaust to my 2018 Denali. Sounds amazing!

jpinoy · July 25

Took it for a camping trip, packed to the brim. Two kayaks(14' and 10') top and middle rack packed and bed packed.. cab packed as well with kids..

4/hr drive through some mountains(210 miles one way), kayaks stayed strapped through some good speed .

Might do a camper shell next time and put the rhino rack on top to hold the kayaks. I like the Elevate racks with the TS rails, works well with my BakFlip MX4. The rhino middle rack is great as well, keyed and easy to come on/off.

Edited July 25 by jpinoy

CajunFries · July 25

Did some yard work last weekend. Borrowed my friend’s trailer just to make it easier on unloading. Havnt had a trailer hooked up to this truck in years!!!!! Also first time towing something with a trailer brake! It’s prettttty nice!

Homewrecker007 · August 15

Finished intake cover and made progress on the radio relocation piece.

Homewrecker007 · August 17

Finished painting the radio piece. It's ready for install.

PAPER · August 17

8 hours ago, Homewrecker007 said:

Finished painting the radio piece. It's ready for install.

ok
I must have missed something , Why are you relocating your Radio ?

Did you make a topic I can go look at ?

EDIT : Ok went back a few pages , I see your installing an Ipad

You should make your own topic to share with all of us , I know I would

like to see the results as I have been debating on putting an Ipad in also .

Edited August 17 by PAPER

Homewrecker007 · August 17

22 minutes ago, PAPER said:

ok
I must have missed something , Why are you relocating your Radio ?

Did you make a topic I can go look at ?

No I didn't make a topic on it. It's a project that is slower then a cat with rigor mortis. I'm working on installing a ipad in place of the radio in the dash because I'm not a fan of the tesla style radios. I also don't like the idea of having to remove the ipad to change settings on the radio screen. My plan is to have the radio in the center console, and I will use it to display the music information and use the full screen of the ipad for navigation. Thus far I have completed the radio relocation pieces for both my 14 and 18 Sierra's and will start working on the Ipad dash pieces soon.

hhere it is in the truck.

This is the one I did for the 14.

Edited August 17 by Homewrecker007

UofAZCats · August 24

Not something I did today but something I installed this week and finished tweaking yesterday.

Finally pulled the trigger on getting a new radio. My 2015 does not have Android Auto/Apple Carplay and I had always wanted to add that. The cost of upgrading to a new stock radio with the required programming costs associated with it kep me from going that route. After seeing the Ram T-Rex screen I have wanted the bigger screen, which for our trucks requires going with an android based radio. Alpine had an 11 inch screen but like the new stock it was damn expensive.

This last Prime Day in July I picked up this 13" radio for $550. I decided agains the 14" or larger screens because of their price (~$1,000) and because they replace the stock A/C controls with non-stock looking buttons on the side instead of bottom. This screen fills the space between the 2 A/C vents and keeps the stock A/C unit and seat heater controls. This unit has 12 cores with 8 GB /128 GB and the screen resolution is fantastic. I have a Bose system so a I had to buy and install fiber optic box (~$200). The installation went pretty well because I watched several videos from other installs of android radios similar to mine before even buying the radio. The instructions that with the radio are actually for a different but similar model. Having watched many videos helped translation issues or gaps.

The biggest difference between these Android units and the stock is the User Interface. The Android can do a lot more than the stock radio but the user interface on the stock is much smoother initially. The interfaces that came with the radio (this version had 6-7 different options for the interface style) were ok but I finally settled on using Vivid Launcher which I got from the Google Playstore.

Getting the settings right has taken awhile. The customer service has been pretty dang good. Given the number of settings and lack of documentation for those settings the customer service needed to be good otherwise I would have sent this thing back in a heartbeat. I have enjoyed the trial and error and search through the settings doing problem solving. They did have to send me updates due to an issue with getting the Android Auto working wirelessly but the got it to me within 12 hours of notifying them of the issue. The time change between FLA and China was the primary delay.

Overall it is better than what I had with the stock radio.

UofAZCats · August 24

I have been a little slow to get to the standard 90K miles maintenance items but yesterday I got started. I changed out the engine air filter and the cabin air filter. I am amazed how bad the cabin air filter looks after removing it. i have seen others post pictures of theirs and figured they must leave their trucks outside or something else similar. My truck is garage kept and when I drive it to work I park inside a parking garage. The engine air filter doesn't look anywhere near that bad.

Added high mileage Sea Foam to the oil and gas.

Also ordered PowerStop Z36 brake rotors and pads, spark plugs and wires for install here in the near future.

Turtl3Up · August 26

On 8/24/2024 at 2:00 PM, UofAZCats said:

Finally pulled the trigger on getting a new radio.

@UofAZCats this looks incredible! You described exactly what I'm looking for out of an upgrade and I haven't done it yet for the same reasons. Could you provide some links for the specific products you got? Would also love more detailed write up if you're up for it. Great work!

UofAZCats · August 29

On 8/26/2024 at 11:18 AM, Turtl3Up said:

@UofAZCats this looks incredible! You described exactly what I'm looking for out of an upgrade and I haven't done it yet for the same reasons. Could you provide some links for the specific products you got? Would also love more detailed write up if you're up for it. Great work!

The link to the radio on Amazon is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D69YCTC1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title. They most have sold quite a few because Amazon says the radio is not currently available. If you get this system you and you have Bose you will need to get a fiber optic adapter box. The same company that makes the radio sells them but if they are out there are other sellers on Amazon. When I bought the radio the seller was out the fiber boxes and I ordered this one from another seller: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP1K6H57?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title.

If you are going this route I would obviously look at the comments from previous purchasers with an empahsis on their customer service responsiveness. Of course I say that and the only review so far for the radio says customer service was not a positive experience for them. That review was not up when I purchased my radio and the reviewer did give a 5 star review. I have not yet posted my review, which would basically mimic most of what I said above.

Before installing I highly recommend checking multiple You Tube videos on the many models of Android radios for our Silverados. The included directions are questionable at best. The good thing is that most of these radios have similar wiring and harnesses. Stinger had good videos for their radios.

If you have a specific question or you end up getting one and have a question about it send me a message. I have thought about opening a thread about these radios in the "Audio, Electronics, OnStar, MyLink, Intellilink & SiriusXM" forum but just haven't gotten around to it. When I was going through some trial and error I did look there for help there wasn't much.

UofAZCats · September 2

Been on a little tear with doing things to my Rally. Unlike the radio, which I did as an upgrade, this past couple of days I jumped on some standard maintenance items that are needed now that my truck is at 97K miles. My front brakes were squealing so it was time to do a brake job. That worked out great because I needed to change out my spark plugs as well and everything I read/watched on that topic recommended taking the wheels off. I installed PowerStop Z36 brake rotors and pads and new ACDelco Iridium spark plugs.

I started with the rear brakes and had a devil of a time with getting the rear rotors off. None of the videos talked about how to get the rears off with the emergency brake engaged, though they all recommended it as part of jacking the truck up. I quickly realized that they were not stuck because of corrosion (given I am in Florida and my truck has never been in snow or on the beach I did not expect much corrosion) but because they were hung up on the emergency brake. What took awhile was how to figure out how to get them off.

While using the caliper screws on the rotor, two pins and two little metal pieces fell off the back of the brakes. I didn't know it at the time but those hold the emergency brake in place. Even with those off and the emergency brake pedal released, the rotors would not come off because while the pedal was released the emergency brake still did not disengage. I finally got the emergency brake to release by starting my truck and putting it into drive. The rotors flew off and fortunately nothing was damaged but in retrospect I was extremely lucky that no one else was in the area with me. I definitely do not recommend this method.

Fortunately the the pin assemblies that hold the emergency brake in place wree not damaged and I was able to get them back on with only a small amount of rehab to the end piece that the pin connects with to hold the spring in place. Getting the spring compressed was tough and I had to use a wire to twisted to compress the spring enough to get the pin through the metal end piece. After I had the one with the wire in place, before I cut the wire to allow the spring to return to normal size, I was able to fit the other assembly into place without the wire because there was enough play. After the second was on I cut the wire and pulled it out.

Everything else on the rear was pretty straightforward. The front brakes and the spark plugs went pretty dang smooth but still took about 5-6 hours. I took my time and did OCD things like clean the area behind the wheel well cover. The break in went smooth but sure smelled bad. Not too bad for the first time did my first brake job/spark plug replacement.

Sorry for yet another long post. Pictures of my old spark plugs. Not too bad for 97K.