My truck is broken....

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
Did you replace them with aftermarket, heavier duty, greasable joints, or just replace with the same factory, non-serviceable junk?

The factory ones come with zerk fittings but they need to be used with a grease gun. Pistol type grease gun is the easiest to get to the center fittings.

I had new tires installed yesterday on my 08 GMC CC,drw. 46k on it. I asked them to be sure to check the frt end for wear. The old oem Generals showed no unusual wear. Everything was good.

I do my own basic service so I know it gets greased. I will admit to service by the OLM which is usually 8500 to 9500 miles. Also I never changed a front end part on my 2000, 2500 Chevy. It was greased closer to 5k intervals. It was also over gvwr by 1200# with the camper on. It was under axle though.

Mark

Did you replace them with aftermarket, heavier duty, greasable joints, or just replace with the same factory, non-serviceable junk?

There are 9 lube points on the 2011 and later trucks and 11 on the earlier ones and the recommendation is to lube them every 3,000 miles. They are not "lifetime" lubricated like the 1/2 ton pickups and SUV's which also wear out.

When oil changes were done every 3,000 miles the chassis lube was done at the same time. Now with the use of synthetic oil the service intervals are much longer and the front end parts suffer from the neglect.

I'm with a private school and we have nine Chevy 3500 cutaway mini buses spanning 2001 to 2011 and I spend more money on front end parts than anything else. They eat ball joints, tie rod ends and pitman arms. Which quickly kill the tires. None have more than 60K and all have had seen the shop more than once. Just a case of an under engineered system. Dodge, GM, Ford all have their respective weak points as well. For the most part very reliable. What do they say??? No free lunch!

I have those same Cooper tires on my truck and LOVE them!

garryk6 wrote:
What requires you to get WA DOT to inspect your truck?

The reason I ask, is that I am moving back to WA state in a few years, and don't want to be surprised by some new requirement....

No DOT inspection / sticker required for WA State. I need it because of something new I'm trying out with the truck.

deltabravo wrote:
Truck is fixed. I'm headed back to the dealer in a little bit to pick it up. Extended warranty covered the repair.

After I get the truck, then I'm headed to another shop to get the DOT inspection completed.

What requires you to get WA DOT to inspect your truck?

The reason I ask, is that I am moving back to WA state in a few years, and don't want to be surprised by some new requirement....

THANKS!

Garry

We have a 2003 2500HD duramax. Our truck had the same issue at 43.000 miles. a 1500$ repair bill ouch. GM did a good will repair and picked up all the costs but the the new tires and 150 labor. I have 129,000 on the truck now and have not had any problems but an injector go out! a whole other story. But Ten years and still going I love the truck.

Truck is fixed. I'm headed back to the dealer in a little bit to pick it up. Extended warranty covered the repair.

After I get the truck, then I'm headed to another shop to get the DOT inspection completed.