Grumpy Bears 2015 Silverado 2WD

Grumpy Bear · June 8, 2017

Factory rear shocks on this RCSB are 25” eye to eye free length. Compressed length is 16”. That’s 9” of travel.

How much can I drop the tail and keep the factory dampeners? Ideal I’m told is a split on the travel that favors compression by 60% and 40% rebound. That the case 60% of 9 inches is 5.4 inches. Added to the compressed length we get 21.4 inches. The distance eye to eye when the truck is sitting on her wheels loaded going down the road.

So I crawl under Ol girl with tape in hand and find this length to be 22”. I have a full tank of fuel. A Line-X premium spray in bed liner. A thick rubber bed mat and a Lund soft bed cover all sitting on the rear axle. And my 200# isn’t in the cab yet.

Now the shocks are laid down at 20 degrees meaning this isn’t a straight measurement. We have to solve the right triangle which works out to be 23.5 inches vertical for the 25” free length. At 22 inches on her wheels that works out to 20.7 inches. See what happened there. Ride height change is less than the shock length change. Solving for the 21.4” shock length we get 20.1. So the ride height could come down 6/10 of an inch and have the shocks at the ideal height…unloaded.

So that’s ideal. What is workable. Shock guys say your shocks can have a long and functional life at a 50/50 split. So we can figure the shock length then at half the 9 inch travel added to the fully compressed length for 20.5 inches. Working that out we get 19.3 inches. Subtract that from the original we get 1.4”. So…we can remove the 1.25” spacer and be somewhere between perfect and acceptable. Just for fun I’ll work that backward and it comes to 20.7 inches of shock length. 52% compression, 48% rebound.

One last thing to check and that is bump stop. Measured distance is 3.75. Removing the spacer moves the axle closer to the spring but the spring is still the same distance from the stop. Non-issue.

Since I could not get anyone to just tell me what the leaf spring rates are on this truck I measured them and used the calculator at Suspension Maxx.

1 leaf 2.5 wide X 64 long X .408 thick 56 pounds per linear inch

1 leaf 2.5 wide X 54 long X .450 thick 126 pounds per linear inch

1 leaf 2.5 wide X 38 long X .506 thick 520.5 pounds per linear inch

The first two are clamped together and the third is the helper whose tips sit about an inch off the primary pack. So the initial rate is about 180 pounds per inch. That doesn’t seem excessive given the 42% back half weight bias on a 4500 truck.

Know what this needs? Some better shocks with some compression adjustment. Shock extenders if the blocks are to be removed.

Why extenders instead of just a shorter shock? Glad you asked. Spend some time in the catalogs and you’re going to find that what the shock guys preach about shock length isn’t what they practice in sales. Just say’n. No matter what you pay for a street shock the body rod and piston are functionally common to all. ALL the magic happens in the valving.

Sleepy Puppy

Edited June 8, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

Grumpy Bear · June 9, 2017

Ordered a 180 F thermostat from Jegs tonight to be installed at the next oil change. These Ecotec-3 motors, IMHO, run too hot as is in evidence by the ridiculous oil temperatures they run. Mine is running 215-225+. No load either. 202-215F on the water. It's only in the mid 80's here. These sorts of water temperatures would have had you pulling over to investigate 40 years ago. GM didn’t buy my truck and they hope it croaks about one second past warranty. They worry about numbers. But not any numbers I worry about.

This is one of a few moves I will be doing in order to bring things to reasonable conditions. Oil and trans temperatures are affected by water temperature. Trans via the in radiator trans cooler. So until I see what effect this move has I can’t size coolers if they are needed at all.

kstruckcountry · June 9, 2017

I'm surprised to hear of coolant temps that high. I have to tow relatively heavy, with a temp in the 90s to see 215 in the 2006. I'd be surprised if the newer pickups don't have better fans and radiators.

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Grumpy Bear · June 9, 2017

I'm surprised to hear of coolant temps that high. I have to tow relatively heavy, with a temp in the 90s to see 215 in the 2006. I'd be surprised if the newer pickups don't have better fans and radiators.

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It has plenty of radiator Dan. The thermostat set point is just silly high and is lazy to open the first time in the day. 215F is the highest opening temperature I've seen. 211F is more the norm. Modulated temperature runs 202-207F. When that thermostat first opens it will drop to 198 F and then rebound.

I'm convinced in fact that I have enough fan and radiator to run below 200 on a 100 degree day IF the thermostat will stay open. In fact I'm betting it would run in the 160 range. I've seen a fellow drill holes in the factory thermostat's rim to bring it down that cold.

Grumpy Bear · June 12, 2017

I installed the Jet Performance 180 F Thermostat today and glad I did. It is 92-97 F today along the routes I drove to test the finished job. Bought this truck late last August so it hadn’t seen temperatures this high until this week. Still yesterday was 92 F and we logged some miles. 341 of them to be exact. What we measured:

Air temp 92 F. Inlet temp 95F. Trans temp 187 F. Water temp once up to heat and lined out 204 F and oil temp 223 F. This is with the load applied for a 50 mph drive. Mileage 27.3 mpg. That’s the reference.

Today. Air temp 95 F. Inlet temp 100 F. Trans temp 190 F. Water temp once up to heat and lined out 184 F and oil temp 206 F. Same 50 mph load with a bit more wind today. Pretty impressive. Let’s just call it 18-20 F out of both water and oil temperatures.

I noted after a few hours that the water temp cycled as it should with hill and dale between 182 and 188 F but struggling to recover. No one could plan this. We just happened to be sitting at the radiators capacity with the coolant mix we had in the system. I had lost about 2 quarts of coolant during the install and left it such as the tank was still plenty full.

I stop at O’ Riley’s and picked up a container of Red Line Water Wetter and grabbed a gallon of distilled water from the truck. A slightly weaker antifreeze concentration and the wetter. Bingo, now cycling between 179 F and 186 F meaning the thermostat actually closes sometimes and yet is quick to respond to loads. I’m pleased as punch. The oil temperature will now recover and is running a bit cooler at 204F.

I head over to Illinois Rt 73 and run it between US 20 and Illinois 72. This is a nonstop rolling 5% grade set of hills that goes on and on and by chance is into our 25 to 30 mph headwind blower from the South southwest. The water temperature roams between 181 and 186 F and the oil temp peaks at 206 F with a floor at 203 F. Still 50 MPH.

Next I head to Interstate 39 getting on at Illinois 72 and chasing it down to Illinois 38. Not quite 20 miles and I do this at 70 MPH. The speed limit.

Water temperature climbs to 186 F and holds rock steady. The oil temperature climbs to 213 F and under hood temps break 100 F as air temp is now 97 F and we have a fairly steady 30 mph dead south head wind. Transmission finds home at 190 F and I have the air conditioner on and the cabin cool. Puppy is feet in the air and dead to the world fast asleep.

Will it recover? Yep, back on Illinois 38 rolling along 55 mph then up a state secondary at 50 mph and we are down to 182 in less than a minute and the oil temp recedes to 206 F for the ride home via the filling station. 451 miles for this tank. Instant meter showing an average for the 20 miles at 70 mph of 19.9 mpg but the tank, a three day burn down, calculated to a respectable 28 mpg.

It’s a thousand miles to the next oil change yet and the OLM says about 44%. I change at 5K intervals. I’ll be monitoring this along with mileage for further evaluation of its effect.

Makes me wonder what the oil temperature would have been on a day like this with the 207F thermostat in play running 70 + mph.

What can GM be thinking. I know there are faster limits and more hostile environments than what I have recorded here and it makes me wonder.

I’m not a big fan of ‘THEY SAY” this or that about coolant and oil and trans fluid temperatures. My 40 years engineering stationary power and five years in QC and five more in Research says otherwise and I find this acceptable but borderline. It will be fine locally where I don’t mind the slower pace but I might want to take the truck to Colorado next time across Nebraska on a 100 degree day at 75 mph. Wife has designs on a small pull behind self-contained camping rig. She’s getting the itch to travel. Any part of that is straw on a camel’s back. Death Valley at 115 F plus. LOL.

Last minute notes. Oil pressure climbed about half the loss incurred with the switch to 5W20. Neither and earthmover. Lost about 5 hot psig at 1500 rpm and gained, like I said, about half that back. The water temperature gauge only moved about half the width of the needle. Pretty much maintaining its 210 F reading no matter what thermostat was installed. There's cause for pause. Should be about two marks lower.

The photo was taken after about 2 continuous hours’ drive (50mph) at a stop sign so I could get a focused photo.

Grumpy Bear · June 14, 2017

55 mph documentation after an hour and fully up to temp. 95 F day. I'm about 5 gallons into this tank of fuel. Mixed driving.

BTW and FYI on a 95 F day. 70 mph pace on 207 F thermostat = 245-250F oil temperature. Any questions about the requirement for a Dexos 2 certified oil? How close to the cliff would you like to stand? Oh...are we are not towing anything yet?

Not so much of an issue at 182 F water temp, right?

Edited June 14, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

CadillacLuke24 · June 14, 2017

Glad to see someone else using Quaker State UD. I've always had great luck with QS, but it's nice to see others who have had similar fortune.

I like how people rag on the Wrangler SR-As that came factory on Clyde. They grip great, even in ice and snow, and are wearing very well. Then again I don't drive right and don't know what I'm talking about.

Edited June 14, 2017 by CadillacLuke24

Grumpy Bear · June 14, 2017

It’s a good Oil Cadillac Luke and thanks for your support. I will be trying the other two in this truck though. Different base stocks have different thermal capacities. I’d like to see about another 10 to 15 degree reduction. If I can accomplish that without a cooler…KOOL!

1.) 33% lower tire wear rate. That’s how much the alignment was worth.

As far along as this set of tire was before the alignment my calculations over the last 6,500 miles say it still will extend tire life @ 11,000 miles.

2.) Okay on to today’s test session was 60 mph and 90 F air temp. So what do we have. (Lower speeds done and not earlier reported in this thread).

30 mph = 199 F

35 mph = 199 F

40 mph = 199 F

45 mph = 201 F

50 mph = 203 F

55 mph = 206 F

62 mph = 208 F

70 mph = 213 F

And graph it. I didn’t check above 70 mph because I don’t drive that fast EVER. (Track time excepted)

If you go back over the previous records you will note a shift in the mpg numbers that favor this lower temperature even though the data base sample volume is still quite low. I’m fairly certain this will hold. That may seem odd at first blush but consider, fuel tables are temperature corrected and the CPU is thinking about now that this truck isn’t warming up to full temperature. Not enough to toss a code but enough to richen the mixture a few percent. This often results in a fuel efficiency increase. Dad use to tell me that lean motors are neither powerful nor economical. Yea it runs against the grain of what “they say”. I prefer data over conjecture. Hey, but that’s just me.

Edited June 14, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

Grumpy Bear · June 15, 2017

Meguiar’s NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 Liquid isn’t really a wax. It’s a polymeric sealer. Question is, is it any better than the Meguiar’s Ultimate Paste Wax or the Turtle Paste Wax I used last year which washed off or rained off with surprising ease. Both looked nice to begin with then Poof!

Washed, clayed and a mineral spirits rub on the tar spots. Rewash. Follow with Meguiar’s Ultimate Polish to remove the swirls from this winter’s quick wash rub downs. Now the NXT is applied and removed. Follow with a clear water spritz and wipe down with a hint of detail wax. This is allot of work and so is getting done a panel at a time over several days instead of one back breaker.

I don’t use power equipment for this job. I want to run my hands over every square inch of the truck looking for nicks, chips and bruising. I did find a few and repaired them as I found them. Another time consumer. Toss in some dog watching and the occasional neighbor that drops by to add their two cents worth on the job and a day passes pretty quickly if but inefficiently.

This took five days on the wife’s Honda. Total detail not just paint. Used Nu-Finish on that one and was very impressed with a product that is held in low esteem by the majority. It was easier to use than the NXT and didn't require it be in the shade either. I just don’t know much about it so I stick with what I know for the better cars and trucks until it proves itself.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

Grumpy Bear · June 18, 2017

I wish I could say I remember with certainty what the remaining oil life percentage was at 5,000 miles the last few changes but I can't. Thermostat change happened a thousand miles ago or so into this 5,000 mile oil change interval. I assume the impact from lower oil temperatures would be something less than fully applied. So…we get to observe a point of interest.

Does the OLM simply count ignition on time or miles or does it actually factor some key run parameters and adjust to new conditions?

This number would have the oil change interval at 7,500 miles which is about what my other GM’s seem to be keyed to. That's odd so I’m curious.

A 20 F degree reduction in oil temperature absolutely will have a major impact on oil life it is indeed calculated. That isn't a guess nor an opinion. Tis a fact. Let’s see.

Edited June 19, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

Grumpy Bear · June 19, 2017

Finally had a cooler day. Under 80 F anyway. This allowed running 55 mph while maintaining an oil temperature 200 F or below. Also allowed me to complete a few more panels of paint detailing in between thunderstorms. Ever notice how thin the roof section is on these new trucks? YIKES!!! The alloy hood is stiffer than this panel. Doors, front fenders and tailgate left to go for the first coat.

This morning I wiped down the wife's Honda with clear soft water and a shot of detail wax in the bucket and a micro fiber towel. Done again in Nu-Finish, and was amazed how easy this was to do compared to the other sealers and waxes used to date. Bird and environmental fallout came off slick as you please leaving no ghost marks at all. My ex-Navy supervisor use to have us mop the control room floor until the rinse water came back as clear and it was when ya put it in the bucket. It took one change of water to come up clear. Remarkable. Jim would have been proud.

I can see why some don't care for this treatment. It lacks a certain something in shine that people just love but that could be 'fixed' with a top coat of a good show wax I think. Consumer Reports, which I subscribe to, rates Nu-Finish quite highly as part of the testing they did on retail non-professional products. In fact the paste version ranked highest of all products tested. Best marks for durability. Durability is the major knock on commercial products by testers and detailers alike. I have six on the lot plus that many bikes and this feature is indeed important to me. There are likely better professional products. I just don't know what they would be.

Grumpy Bear · June 21, 2017

Dead Dog! Crewed the shift lever and the radio knobs. Gez pup!! Replacements being ordered. Just talked himself into a muzzle when unattended. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Good for nuth'n biscuit eater. I love my pup.

On another note. 'Wet Look', that's the word I was hunting for in the last post. That certain something...the wet look. Nu-Finish lacks the 'wet look'. There, I said it. Whew. My some timers kicking in.

Grumpy Bear · June 22, 2017

The Sugar Bear and I were married in this little church in Rockton Illinois 15 years ago on the 22nd of June. Now if I just get my truck to last that long and look this good doing it.

Grumpy Bear · June 22, 2017

Oil change and General Service 30,252 miles. OLM 32%. Tread depth .256 inches. 5K Tire rotation. Mobil 1 5W20 and matching Mobil 1 extended change filter. Replace cabin filter. (First change and didn’t really need to be).

Then we tacked on a bit over one hundred miles to gather the data to plot todays chart. Quaker State 5W20 Ultimate Durability Full Synthetic vs Mobil 1 5W20 Full Synthetic. Today’s temperature, 86F. It was a bit warmer when we did the earlier test on the Quaker State.

Subjective notes:

Oil temperature recovery seemed to be quicker and deeper. Motor seems quicker to warm up which seems counter intuitive on the face of it all. Was a 6 degree air temperature difference between test days having an impact? I don’t think so. There is no air to oil cooler in play yet and the water temperature was modulated; but it’s just a thought.

Objective notes:

Mobil 1 ran on average 3 degrees cooler with a 5 degree maximum delta T at 55 mph. Terminal temperatures at 70 mph were for all practical purposes identical. Even though the ambient air temperature was lower the load was higher for today’s test due to a stiff head wind. On the return trip we went in to full economy mode (45 mph) to record 34 mpg trip average over 50 miles and setting a new trip record for 50 mile plus rural trips by almost 3 mpg. Fluke? Maybe. Tailwind? Not much of a factor at 45 mph but maybe. The Mobil 1 oil change cost me about $2 extra at Wallmart. The filter was triple the cost of the Pure-O-lator.

Conclusions:

I’m going to refrain from making any. My gut likes what I see but will reserve judgement until this test cycle is complete. 5K more miles. I do plan on testing the Red Line at the next change.

Parting thoughts:

Fluids with higher thermal capacity are quicker to reject heat and quicker to build heat. Thus the counter intuitive note in Subjective notes: It really is a win-win. This suggests that the Mobil 1 does have a higher thermal capacity. Ergo Quaker State and Mobil 1 are not from the same base stocks. I know Mobil 1 is a POA. Quaker State is unwilling to say. Hum…..

Never the less it is still a major favorite of mine even if it turned out to be a Group III Hydrocracker product.

CadillacLuke24 · June 23, 2017

Happy Anniversary GrumpyBear

For what it's worth, the Oil Life Monitor uses an algorithm that factors in your driving habits, surrounding climate, and engine parameters such as operating temperature, and what kind of miles (city vs. highway) the engine sees. I believe the OLM debuted in the 1990s (my 96 DeVille has it), and is a universal feature on today's vehicles. I've heard on new vehicles that the OLM even monitors turbidity, factoring in the "dirt content" of the oil, if you will.

As the OLM is fully adjustable, I'd say what you are seeing is a reflection of very consistent driving habits across the boeard (Nicely done!)

The highest on my Silverado would indicate 8k miles if I recall correctly, on QS Full Syn 0W-20. Usually I seem to fall in the 7000 to 7500 mile range, though I change my oil around 5000 regardless.

I'll post my last one here once I get Clyde back from the shop.