Anyone else running 3.73 rear axle out there?

flyingfool · November 20, 2020

i have the same set up in 2WD , works great in the mountains. just go easy on the rear end they can blow up easily if the LSD locker engages hard. i feather the throttle gently and hold the revs when slipping unlil you hear a loud CLUNK , thats the diff. once its locked up i use steady gentle power. this should work . if you got the transfer case, 4 lo is your friend for digging out of a hole.

if you need more smoke turn off TC, you cal hold TC down for about 8-10 seconds and this will shut off stability control for agressive snow driving

Edited November 20, 2020 by flyingfool

Salsa De Piña · November 20, 2020

12 hours ago, rav3 said:

Any way to actually start off in 2nd gear?

Yes. Come to a complete stop and put it in M2.

Salsa De Piña · November 20, 2020

13 hours ago, JimCost2014 said:

If you come to a complete stop the transmission will still start off in 1st gear (M1), it just won't shift past M2 till you shift up manually or put it into D.

I've got good news and I've got bad news:

The good news is you're going to learn something today.

The bad news is that you owe me a coke.

When you put the transmission in M2 at a complete stop, the truck is in "Low Traction Mode" (it's in the owners' manual - go figure!) The truck will start out in 2nd gear. You can prove this to yourself by accelerating to about 8 MPH then pressing the button to shift to M1. Guess what happens? A downshift. So either our trucks have a gear 0 or it started out in 2nd gear. You can also compare RPM vs. speed as you accelerate and figure out pretty quickly what gear you're in.

GM products have done this for years. My '07 Canyon did it, my wife's '14 Verano does it, my work's '18 Equinox does it (I think the Equinox will even let you start out in 3rd gear if you want to go wild. And by "wild," I mean incredibly slow because the 1.5 turbo has the get-up-and-go of a potato.)

These are the things you pick up when you live in Winterpeg.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Donstar · November 20, 2020

12 hours ago, rav3 said:

Even my drive is on a 10-15 deg incline to get out to the street. That's why I buy 4x4's. Let's just hope for no snow this year.

My '00 Silverado was a new 2wd when I lived in a very hilly neighborhood. On wet days, I had to detour on my way to work because my truck couldn't make it up the steep hills out of my subdivision. I have lived in some pretty remote areas many miles from paved roads but no driving technique would get me up the main hill of this urban road. I had to leave earlier for work on wet days because the scenic route took considerably longer! I decided to try new tires on my new truck and the got my extra morning coffee back! I replaced new tires on my '09 and '15. I had no problem selling my "take offs".

rav3 · November 20, 2020

1 hour ago, Salsa De Piña said:

I've got good news and I've got bad news:

The good news is you're going to learn something today.

The bad news is that you owe me a coke.

When you put the transmission in M2 at a complete stop, the truck is in "Low Traction Mode" (it's in the owners' manual - go figure!) The truck will start out in 2nd gear. You can prove this to yourself by accelerating to about 8 MPH then pressing the button to shift to M1. Guess what happens? A downshift. So either our trucks have a gear 0 or it started out in 2nd gear. You can also compare RPM vs. speed as you accelerate and figure out pretty quickly what gear you're in.

GM products have done this for years. My '07 Canyon did it, my wife's '14 Verano does it, my work's '18 Equinox does it (I think the Equinox will even let you start out in 3rd gear if you want to go wild. And by "wild," I mean incredibly slow because the 1.5 turbo has the get-up-and-go of a potato.)

These are the things you pick up when you live in Winterpeg.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Thanks Salsa....That' what I wanted to hear. I'll check it out & see if my '17 works like you said. I read in the owners manual about the "Low Traction Mode" page# 282...

Low Traction Mode
If equipped, Low Traction Mode
assists in vehicle acceleration when
road conditions are slippery, such
as with ice or snow. While the
vehicle is at a stop, select L2 using
Range Selection Mode. This will
limit torque to the wheels and help
to prevent the tires from spinning.

However, it never told me if my truck was "equipped" with it. So, I hope it's EQUIPPED!

Thanks for your response & help

aseibel · November 20, 2020

17 hours ago, rav3 said:

yep, still got the oem goodyears and the tread is half worn. I didn't want to spend $800 on a new set just yet.

I ditched the factory goodyear tires before 30,000 miles. I was able to sell them, I think I got $200 for just the rubber.

You will be so happy when you get new tires.

If you must go through winter with the crappy goodyears, I would suggest some sandbags for added weight over the rear axle as others have mentioned. That will make a noticeable difference.

if you are actually driving in poor road conditions, use Auto 4 or 4HI, that's what those are for. I wouldn't mess around with shifting during driving.

It's Tim · November 20, 2020

18 hours ago, aseibel said:

Mine has 3.42 axles, so not quite as high as yours, but I am able to easily spin tires if I want to. I'm also easily able to drive in 2HI with snow on the road and keep it from breaking loose if I want to do that.

+1.

The incompetent drivers also think activation of the ABS system is "normal" on slick surfaces too, they don't realize they screwed up.

JimCost2014 · November 20, 2020

5 hours ago, Salsa De Piña said:

I've got good news and I've got bad news:

The good news is you're going to learn something today.

The bad news is that you owe me a coke.

When you put the transmission in M2 at a complete stop, the truck is in "Low Traction Mode" (it's in the owners' manual - go figure!) The truck will start out in 2nd gear. You can prove this to yourself by accelerating to about 8 MPH then pressing the button to shift to M1. Guess what happens? A downshift. So either our trucks have a gear 0 or it started out in 2nd gear. You can also compare RPM vs. speed as you accelerate and figure out pretty quickly what gear you're in.

GM products have done this for years. My '07 Canyon did it, my wife's '14 Verano does it, my work's '18 Equinox does it (I think the Equinox will even let you start out in 3rd gear if you want to go wild. And by "wild," I mean incredibly slow because the 1.5 turbo has the get-up-and-go of a potato.)

These are the things you pick up when you live in Winterpeg.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Thanks for the info, I learned something new today.

Do you know the RPO code, tried this with my truck this morning and could feel the upshift from 1 to 2.

rav3 · November 20, 2020

7 hours ago, Salsa De Piña said:

I've got good news and I've got bad news:

The good news is you're going to learn something today.

The bad news is that you owe me a coke.

When you put the transmission in M2 at a complete stop, the truck is in "Low Traction Mode" (it's in the owners' manual - go figure!) The truck will start out in 2nd gear. You can prove this to yourself by accelerating to about 8 MPH then pressing the button to shift to M1. Guess what happens? A downshift. So either our trucks have a gear 0 or it started out in 2nd gear. You can also compare RPM vs. speed as you accelerate and figure out pretty quickly what gear you're in.

GM products have done this for years. My '07 Canyon did it, my wife's '14 Verano does it, my work's '18 Equinox does it (I think the Equinox will even let you start out in 3rd gear if you want to go wild. And by "wild," I mean incredibly slow because the 1.5 turbo has the get-up-and-go of a potato.)

These are the things you pick up when you live in Winterpeg.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Salsa...Yep, it worked on my '17 6 speed. Put in M2 (on my inclined drive) took my foot off the brake & the 'Hill Hold' activated; it started on 2nd gear & I tried the down shift to 1st that you mentioned & I could feel it shift down. GREAT TIP! Now, just maybe, I can get it to go in the snow with out much wheel spin. with these worn Goodyears... We'll see. Thanks again for educating me. I guess your never too old to learn something new.

M1ck3y · November 21, 2020

When the G80 works the way you want it to, its awesome! When it doesn't, its a piece of crap. I've been stuck in a back alley on ice because the front wheels had a bit of snow in front of them. Depending on how much slippage its detecting per side it will alternate power from left to right instead of just locking up both wheels ( it can lock both). L2 was no different with light throttle. After Getting sick of my wheels dancing with each other I gave it a good punch. Nannies kicked in, so I turned off traction control. Same thing happened again so I turned off stability control, and again I went nowhere. Its embarrassing really... I think gm figured because they have auto 4x4 they would save a few bucks and use a decades old locker (again).

Leave it in auto and forget about it. You'll have a harder time stopping on ice then you will starting.

I also nearly blew up my G80 on my 2010 silverado . I wasn't aware my drive wheel was on ice and the other wheel was on dry pavement. BOOM, didn't work right after that. If you leave it in auto that wont happen. The front wheel is getting torque and pulling before the G80 picks up any kind of wheel slip.

Kind of off topic but I was curious about starting in L2 when launching to limit wheel spin. My truck seems to start out in second gear with very light throttle input, But I've also experienced it starting out in first and shifting into second. I have nothing to back this up but I'm thinking it depends on throttle input whether or not the computer will let you actually start in second gear. What I consider normal throttle input it would start out in first.

flyingfool · November 21, 2020

I have been playing with M2/L2 these past few days, never knew i had this feature.. i wish there was a way to use it in Drive, all the time. sometimes 1st gear is just too much gearing for stop and go traffic. I'm almost ready to look for a 3.42 rear diff from a wrecked truck. it works better for city driving IMO

Edited November 21, 2020 by flyingfool

rav3 · November 21, 2020

37 minutes ago, flyingfool said:

I have been playing with M2/L2 these past few days, never knew i had this feature.. i wish there was a way to use it in Drive, all the time. sometimes 1st gear is just too much gearing for stop and go traffic. I'm almost ready to look for a 3.42 rear diff from a wrecked truck. it works better for city driving IMO

I know what you mean, that's why I started the thread. If I back off of my concrete onto the grass, as soon as I touch the gas pedal, as soft as I can, it breaks loose & spins, tearing the grass out. I can only imagine (isn't that a song!) what will happen in new snow or ice. The 3.73 is great for towing quick pull off on dry pavement, but even on wet pavement I can spin the tires. The L2 trick should help, I'm hoping.

zibzer · November 22, 2020

3 hours ago, rav3 said:

I know what you mean, that's why I started the thread. If I back off of my concrete onto the grass, as soon as I touch the gas pedal, as soft as I can, it breaks loose & spins, tearing the grass out. I can only imagine (isn't that a song!) what will happen in new snow or ice. The 3.73 is great for towing quick pull off on dry pavement, but even on wet pavement I can spin the tires. The L2 trick should help, I'm hoping.

Interesting concern, and i have an NHT 3.73 silverado that I just bought though have not driven in heavy snow.

I have had a 3.73 4.3l sierra with 2wd that I had zero issues with in the snow. I really doubt my new configuration will create any issues in snow as compared to a more standard rear end ratio but Im interested to see how it actually performs once the winter weather hits.

I should add, I do suspect the concerns you have would go away with a dedicated set of winter tires.

flyingfool · November 22, 2020

i think the cheapest option is to get a set of 35" tires , and use those on the rear axle, and just reprogram the gear ratio in the computer . this is the closest quick fix to get to a higher geared rear end

truckguy82 · November 23, 2020

Lol at this thread

I have the same trans as OP, I have 3.42 instead of 3.73, I have the 6.2, I also have a blackbear tune.

So off idle, I probably have atleast 100ft lbs of tq more than him. Then you take into account my throttle is actually tuned for much higher sensitivity than stock. I’d bet with my tune and higher throttle sensitivity, 40-50% throttle input on my truck has similar torque output to WOT on his.

I have no issues whatsoever modulating the throttle.

Rofl at 3.73’s causing this traction problem.

It’s his tires

Edited November 23, 2020 by truckguy82