Rocket Man's 2008 Bagged CC Silverado Build AKA "THE MACHINE"

[Rocket Man]

yea something like that or

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

Jeezus, which one? That opens a page with all different locking types. I didn’t know there’s that many. I don’t see a crushed top, are those like the ones in my pic? Flex-top on this site? Which would you get?

 

[randeez]

the one you got is good

 

[iamdub]

Jeezus, which one? That opens a page with all different locking types. I didn’t know there’s that many. I don’t see a crushed top, are those like the ones in my pic? Flex-top on this site? Which would you get?

I think he was referring to the distorted thread. It's common in automotive use, particularly suspension components.

Them Flexlocs are like a snazzier, maybe even better version. They all do the same- grip the threads with a lot more friction than the nylon does.

 

[iamdub]

Well f**k. I did my usual grocery shopping this morning and as I was backing into my driveway the truck suddenly stopped going in reverse. I’m in the middle of the road and wondering if I just lost reverse so I put it in drive and pull forward and try again. Nope wouldn’t back up. I pulled forward again, out of the middle of the road and kinda on the side so people can get by. I tried reverse again and nope. Then I try to pull forward more and nope. Wouldn’t budge so I figure I’m out of the way so let’s look under it. As soon as I go to the passenger side I see the problem. The tie rod must have broke I’m thinking because that wheel is supposed to be pointed straight ahead.

I don't think it's even supposed to be able to turn that far. That's almost drift car steering angle!

 

[iamdub]

Well that was an easy fix. It was just a bolt that broke. That side had a 5/8 x 5 1/2” and the other side was a 6” with different markings so I’m not sure if the one that broke wasn’t a grade 8. I’m thinking it was one they had laying around or a Chinese knockoff. I bought grade 8’s and did both sides. I’ll probably look into getting some stronger ones. I’m not a metallurgist so I’m not sure what can be gleaned from the break, if any.

Also while I’m fixing this I notice a socket is missing from my new shallow set. Guess which one is missing?

Good thing you don't beat on this truck. That looks like a lot of leverage against that bolt. You really lucked up with it breaking near your house! They're spaced far away to reduce or eliminate bump steer. I would've used round stock about the diameter of that boss on the knuckle with a 5/8" hole through the center. It'd be just like that tube spacer, but would spread the load out over all the available area on the face of the boss.

 

[Rocket Man]

Good thing you don't beat on this truck. That looks like a lot of leverage against that bolt. You really lucked up with it breaking near your house! They're spaced far away to reduce or eliminate bump steer. I would've used round stock about the diameter of that boss on the knuckle with a 5/8" hole through the center. It'd be just like that tube spacer, but would spread the load out over all the available area on the face of the boss.

I was thinking about having something like that made. Whatever I end up with, it’s gonna be a lot better than what was on there. I tried to get them to swap out the nylocks for some of the flexlocks but they don’t even list a grade on the ones Allen’s Fasteners sells and they didn’t answer my email so the nylocks are on the way. I ordered some grade 8 flexlocks from McMaster and will probably have some bigger spacers made.

 

[Rocket Man]

I don't think it's even supposed to be able to turn that far. That's almost drift car steering angle!

You wanna know something super eerie? A couple weeks before that happened to my truck, there was a Honda car in the EXACT SAME SPOT on the road with a broken tie rod. It sat there until a tow truck came to get it, and I saw snd heard the woman sign the title over to whoever came to tow it away. I had called the city and reported an abandoned vehicle. Was this some kind of bizarre automotive payback voodoo sh*t? I swear it kinda freaked me out when I saw my truck looking just like that Honda, and I had felt bad for that woman. The dude probably lied to her and told her it was totaled. Here’s a pic as proof. You can see my truck in the background.

 

[Rocket Man]

I had the spacers made yesterday and painted them. Then today I installed one and discovered the 2” diameter was too much at the heim joint end when the steering was turned full lock so today I went back and had him take the bottom to 1 1/8”. Dude didn't even charge me for his time today. They work now. The bolts are better, got about 180 ft lbs on them. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

[Rocket Man]

Now it looks like I need new heim joints, the driver side is going. I’ll just plan on a steering renovation in the spring I think.

The old spacers were so small compared to the new ones, hopefully I won’t have any more problems.

 

[iamdub]

Now it looks like I need new heim joints, the driver side is going. I’ll just plan on a steering renovation in the spring I think.

The old spacers were so small compared to the new ones, hopefully I won’t have any more problems.

Original setup looked sketch!

 

[George B]

Is the hole in the knuckle still tapered?

 

[Rocket Man]

Original setup looked sketch!

Agreed. Like a lot of things on this truck, part of the work on the steering is top notch execution wise but it lacked in quality. The thing drives amazingly good no matter what height it’s set at with a good 10-12” of adjustability minimum but that was a weak link. Looks like they cut those spacers out of whatever they had laying around resulting in a dangerous situation. I could imagine that allowed the bolts to flex with the way it was. Now I feel they won’t.

Is the hole in the knuckle still tapered?

No. It’s designed for a regular bolt.

 

[Rocket Man]

The switch for the demon eyes / RGB controller that I installed when I first put them in was in such a bad location that I never used them. It was inside the pocket mounted through the bottom and I had to stick one finger in there and feel around lol. I had bought a different OEM switch that has a park sensor switch I was hoping to use but that’s a momentary switch so that’s still on hold until I figure out how to make it work. So today I made a small filler panel for the cubby and installed the switch in it. It’s way easier to use and looks ok.

 

[kbuskill]

The switch for the demon eyes / RGB controller that I installed when I first put them in was in such a bad location that I never used them. It was inside the pocket mounted through the bottom and I had to stick one finger in there and feel around lol. I had bought a different OEM switch that has a park sensor switch I was hoping to use but that’s a momentary switch so that’s still on hold until I figure out how to make it work. So today I made a small filler panel for the cubby and installed the switch in it. It’s way easier to use and looks ok. View attachment 355690View attachment 355691View attachment 355692View attachment 355693View attachment 355694

DEI 611T latching relay is what you need.

Kbuskill's 2008 Burb LTZ "MOD" Thread

Just wanted to create a little suspense and start a new post as that one was getting a bit lengthy. She fired right up and almost pegged the oil pressure gauge... lol 70-75psi cold idle and 60-65psi at idle after up to operating temperature. Now my new "problem" was that the ECM "thinks" the...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

 

[Rocket Man]

DEI 611T latching relay is what you need.

Kbuskill's 2008 Burb LTZ "MOD" Thread

Just wanted to create a little suspense and start a new post as that one was getting a bit lengthy. She fired right up and almost pegged the oil pressure gauge... lol 70-75psi cold idle and 60-65psi at idle after up to operating temperature. Now my new "problem" was that the ECM "thinks" the...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

Aha! I was thinking I needed a latching relay but hadn’t figured anything out. That is exactly what I need, with directions. Thanks, I just ordered one. Now I’ll have to figure out where to locate it and how to add pins to my plug in my truck. It fits the socket in the new switch but doesn’t have the extra wires in it. Might have to visit a junk yard.

 

[Rocket Man]

@kbuskill Ken do you have any idea how it turns on the indicator light? I’m looking at the schematic for the park assist switch which is what I want to use since I don’t have a need for the other switches and the 2-switch assembly is what I bought. The owners manual says the indicator light will illuminate when the PA is turned off. I want it to be on when the demon eyes are on but the schematic only shows 2 wires, one is ground and the other is what goes to the BCM as a momentary signal. That’s the wire I would use to trigger the relay. I checked and the harness has wires for all the pins in the 2-switch module so hopefully the BCM will turn that light on. Here’s the schematic for PA.

 

[Rocket Man]

Well I figured out the indicator light. Since my truck didn’t come with park assist that light won’t be triggered by the bcm. I plugged the switch in and that indicator doesn’t come on. So I found a wiring plug for the switches in my GM wiring collection (it came from the dash harness I had) and set about figuring out the circuit. The black wire is the ground for the switch. The grey wire is the trigger for park assist that I’ll use to trigger the relay with. The brown wire is the lighting circuit ground. The yellow wire is the dash lights positive that turns on the back lighting and the purple w/white stripe is the led indicator on the park assist switch. I will just use the positive wire that the relay turns on to light this up along with the demon eyes.

 

[George B]

Well I figured out the indicator light. Since my truck didn’t come with park assist that light won’t be triggered by the bcm. I plugged the switch in and that indicator doesn’t come on. So I found a wiring plug for the switches in my GM wiring collection (it came from the dash harness I had) and set about figuring out the circuit. The black wire is the ground for the switch. The grey wire is the trigger for park assist that I’ll use to trigger the relay with. The brown wire is the lighting circuit ground. The yellow wire is the dash lights positive that turns on the back lighting and the purple w/white stripe is the led indicator on the park assist switch. I will just use the positive wire that the relay turns on to light this up along with the demon eyes.

What you going to do about the lighted image. Find a little demon cutout?

 

[Rocket Man]

I got the relay today and did a test wire job. It works. Seems like a lot of wiring but in reality it’s all needed. It turns on the led I had for a test and lights up the indicator led in the switch with one push, hit it again and they turn off. From a momentary - to a constant +. It has a timer function too if you want to go that route.

 

[Rocket Man]

I got the relay installed. The wiring isn’t too bad after I cleaned it up a little. The box fits inside the dash pretty easy, I just slid it in there. Pretty clean way to do this.