Chevy Silverado - Continued XVIII

ryanbab

I dont know. Havent looked into it. I dont know if i am gonna change mine as of yet. Might wait till summer.

I am going to change the air filter and fuel filter in the near future. No one commented on my post about it however. Guess no one has purcahsed these items?

hunter48

02ado.5.3 EXT.4x4 Front drive axle noise, first time visit to dealer they said noise is normal. Second time went to see a different dealer they said the noise is normal. Well last SAT.we had our first real snow storm here in WI.and I had to drive in it,put on 150 miles in 4 wheel HI speeds 45-55 the (cycling pitch whine)was enough, the next day I called the first dealer back and told them I would not except there normal noise I told them that I wanted a new Unit installed or put in a new ring-pinon because they did not set up the hypoid gearing properly at the factory so they set up a appointment with a GM service REP.to trouble shoot the noise,he agreed with me that it was a ring-pinon problem and would replace the gears.They did say that the front drive axle noise would not cause a break down, I do agree with them but it is not right, the truck is (great) its to bad we have to fight to get something done right. I'm now satisfied.

ryanbab

way to go hunter. You gotta be persistant

How much snow did you get? Last weekend we got about 10 inches. I didnt drive around much in 4wd. 2wd was pretty fun.

On the highly populated roads i had it in 4 wheel high.

obyone

Should replace that with a K&N FIPK II. As far as the fuel filter, I had my friend who owns a shop order it...they get 25% discount. Didn't bother with a part number just told him to get me one for a '00 Silverado.

If you're just looking to replace the stock air filter and fuel filters...go to Napa or Checkers...they will be cheaper than the dealer. Just be sure on installing the fuel filter in the right direction and disconnect the battery before you begin.

obyone

add a five channel amp replace all the speakers and add a subwoofer. Crank up the old headunit....and don't be surprised if it sounds the same just louder......

seelig

is that available from K&N?

yeah crank up the amplified version of a Delco HU and cry me a river........

ryanbab

i have the instuctions (courtesy of matt thanks man) to replace the fuel filter.

You think i should add the FIPK? I dont know i was kinda not thinking about it

mgdvhman

it's OK...but I agree not the best....just the damn speakers are getting tired and can't always handle the kind of bass I want to crank thru them. Since the Allison tranny's don't seem to be too impressive, perhaps I will upgrade this truck's stereo and add a moonroof and keep it a while until the 'Burb?

I spent good money for a H.U./duel amps/speakers / and a 10 disc changer on the Olds years back...and it needs speakers again......go figure...what happens when ya don't go with a sub...which I won't in that car...

Not looking to tilt the seat all the way back and think I'm cool with the "boom boom" rap music....hell no.....I want to crank Heartbreaker and VooDoo Chile and not worry about the bass killing the speakers..

so yeah....maybe I'll end up saying go with a H.U...But when parked I also want it to look stock

Let the Ideas begin......but easy on the pocket book eh?....a single decent sub is fine...

- Tim

imaginos

Go see the photos in my post #5525. This is how you can stack amps up close together and keep them totally cool. I think running A/C ducts over there would be mickey-moused. Also, that single sub box is amazing. And... I've got the factory HU going into the amps using the high level inputs. This is actually pretty good. It sounds about as good as my Mustang's stereo does running an Alpine 6-disc changer through about the same set-up as this. I agree with mgdvhman in that when parked, having the HU look stock - and - not being able to see any amps or boxes is what you want to do. I think stealth is better than all the alarms in the world. No-one even cares if alarms go off anymore. You could be there unbolting the stuff with the alarm going off and people would just think you were trying to get your stupid alarm turned off.

Don't get me wrong, I know that an upgrade to the HU would improve the sound slightly, but if you know how to set up, tune, and give more than enough power to your system, you can do wonders. I've tuned the gains and crossovers on this system using a digital scope and sound test disk to avoid clipping while getting levels to the maximum and it goes louder, cleanly, than what I can stand.

So, good luck on your upgrades. By the way, if you put decent speakers in the front doors, you need to baffle them from the top to keep them dry. GM did a really shi**y job with this. When I removed the factory speakers, they had water stains all over the cones. The front window rail terminates just above the speakers, and when you wash your truck, the water runs down this and drips right onto your speaker. It is beautifully designed - just like the lowered front end. I actually have damaged my mid-driver in the door by not doing the water protection good enough, I may have to get a replacement. Bummer....

rayt2

I try to get there and it takes me back to 5109 go figure.......so much for Edmunds shortcut to a previous message. This sounds like a good fix to GM's weak system.

Ryan......
Why do you need a new air filter already, has the change indicator told you so or is this just one of those things you want to spend money on?????? Just curious that's all. Now the gas filter is a good idea.

Ray T.

ryanbab

the air filter is going on 2 yrs. I know our area is pretty dirty (pollution wise)

Indicator is alright but kinda close to needing change.

Its one of those preventative maintenance things

tomh12

I'm with you on the Allison in the HD. I would rather have the 1500HD with the 4L80 if they would couple it with the 8.1L. Nothing wrong with the Allison if you are going to be jerking around a heavy trailer frequently, but otherwise I like what I have better. I do want a crew cab with 4WS though.
Tom

seelig

would improve sound quality "slightly"........LMAO

ryanbab

I decided to put the tail light guards back on today since westin finally sent me the little rubber 3m things to hold em to the lights



Sorry bout the mud i ran into a little construction on the way home

seelig

suprised to see your truck so close to the gold villan.......

ryanbab

haha the gold one is a "garage queen"

My mom says i baby my truck but it was raining out today so she had me drive her to work HMMMMM

Both vehicles are fixed now (where they fixed mine you can see in the pic is covered in mud)

4x4man

LMAO!!
Boy just don't learn do he??!!!

Bob

quadrunner500

....are pre-amplifiers. Usually, what separates the good ones is a better signal to noise ratio, i.e., less hiss and noise in the background. There are no power demands on it...the output is a mere 1 volt peak to peak. A dynamic range of 50-60 decibels would be excellent. The stock HU may not be that good.

Compression is a sound degradation that happens to power amps when reproducing the peaks demand more current than the power amp can supply, and the signal gets clipped. You can up the average volume of the unclipped content, but the peaks are still clipped and the sound gets compressed. Speakers that are unfaithful will compress the sound also.

I don't play my music loud when driving, and prefer to work up angst listening to right-wing AM talk radio. So I don't know how well the stock HU works with a quality power amp and speakers. But if not so good, it's likely due to a poor signal to noise ratio, or poor dynamic range.

Signal to noise, poor dynamic range was not considered a problem usually in the noisy automotive environment. But when you pump up the volume far beyond background levels, then it is.

obyone

Check out the mickey moused setup....tell me what you think...while you're there you can check out the other pics.

http://www.sounddomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=191175&page=11

Timmy-

With what's available out there in terms of headunits one could probably make it look like someone already stole yours.

Ryan-

If you're not going to get the FIPK II, you could get a K&N drop in...that way you can busy yourself cleaning and oiling it rather than replacing it. By what their advertisement states, it should outlast your truck.

obyone

"prefer to work up angst listening to right-wing AM talk radio"

ROTFLMFAO!!!

quadrunner500

....waking the dead requires righteous indignation and a strong dose of viagra.

By the way, the best reason for keeping the stock head unit imo is because it has an actual knob for adjusting the volume, pushbuttons (not chicklets) I can target while bouncing on rough roads, a big display readout.

Now if they would put those controls on the steering wheel like TrailBlazer or Ram, and make THAT compatible with an aftermarket HU, that would be ideal for me.

Somebody, JVC?? makes an in dash DVD player with a LCD screen that slides out. I like that. Would like it even better if it was compatible with the aforementioned steering wheel controls, and a GARMIN Street Pilot.

obyone

take a look here and see if there's anything that catches your eye:

http://www.jpcustoms.com/

One thing that I bought that isn't offered by GM is the tailgate lock. Course some of the other stuff might be what you're looking for?

imaginos

Rayt2 - yea, the message # search deal is screwed, you have to plug in like 5850 or so and that will get you close to 5525.

Obyone -

OK, I saw the pics, and I agree this is NOT mickey moused. That is pretty serious stuff - and quite sweet. I would also imagine that the question previously raised about if you're cooling the amps with the AC 'then what do you do in the winter?' are already answered with this system. Those subs are JL 10-W7 and are amazing speakers. Mine is a single 12-W3, so these will be tighter and handle WAY more power than mine. I'm sure it sounds amazing.

I guess there are three modes of operation:

1) Full stocker tunes (or lack thereof)
2) Upgraded - meaning amps, subs, HU (especially on this board) I still put about $2K into the amps, and speaker upgrades, and about a week into that amp rack ordeal.
3) Full blown - as in the pics related to by Obyone. This is unreal, and I would bet is closing in on $5K to $8K depending on if the guy paid to have the custom enclosures made. Only disadvantage I see here is those speakers jut out into the rear floor much farther, and look somewhat unprotected. Not a problem if you have people that aren't 'car-idiots' riding in your vehicle (you know, the kind that kick their feet off on your nicely painted and non-scratched door sills). Also, this would be very difficult to put back to stock when you sell the thing, and it is DEFINITELY not stealthy, but still really cool.

It's all what you want I suppose. Also, Seelig, before you LYAOff, I'd invite you to hear this system and then you can tell me how much better it can sound with an aftermarket HU. I admitted it would be improved, and I don't think the stock one is anything to be proud of at all, but once the rest of the stuff was in, it's sure easy to decide to add an aftermarket HU if I wasn't fully pleased. I've done quite a few systems (one in my Mustang, Cherokee, and boat - all have Alpine HU's and amps, the works). And from that data, I don't think I'd get enough added quality to justify the $$ and loss of stealth by trading out the factory HU. Sorry if you don't agree, I'm just saying it is possible to get quite good sound out of it if you can set it up correctly.

Quadrunner500 - This compression you speak of (or clipping) is not an issue for me as I've set this whole system up using a digital scope and test disk. I was able to adjust all levels (HU volume, and amp gains such that inputs were not clipping, nor were amp outputs) without a test disk, this is harder to do as hearing the threshold of distortion (clipping) in music is difficult - becomes easier as the percent of distortion amplitude increases.

All fun stuff !!!

mgdvhman

Ok...so it would be wise to replace it.....but if I do that....then I'll end up going overboard and spend too much....so let the Delco be a limiter so to speak.....

Sub and any amps would have to be under the folded seat when up..and I would have to have full floor space in the rear when needed...

Hell...maybe even just a powered sub and new speakers may be fine?

Used to be all up to speed with that stuff and always right on top of the Crutchfield type catalogs back in the old days.........'course I used to kick in Algebra and Trig too......now I couldn't tell ya squat...LOL

Not looking to go all out to the hills here

I'll figure it out.

as for running A/C ducts.....I think they were re-ferring to the under seat ducts that are already there on the Silverado......not running special ones...

- Tim

imaginos

Just remembered: I TOTALLY agree on the volume KNOB: All those other HU's I spoke of use up and down rocker switches for volume. The term 'crank' the volume referrs to cranking the actual knob, not pushing an up arrow like 20 times. Actually, I've seen the knobs coming back on some Alpine stuff, and seems like some Rockford stuff is getting it again, not sure though. So you may be in luck to find an aftermarket HU with an actual knob!!

mgdvhman

I agree....hate them rocker switches....

- Tim

quadrunner500

Whoa...yeah!!!

The radio controls are great...but did you see the lighted vanity mirror for the driver side? What a concept!!!!!!!!!

HeHe!!!!!!

mgdvhman

I agree....hate them rocker switches....

- Tim

ryanbab

you only need to post once

Also did you guys see the homelink system? Not a bad idea pricey though

seelig

to heart guys. if anyone is guilty of hangin on to the stock HU, i certainly was. walked into the stereo place fully convinced that the Delco was never to be replaced........finally found an amp with crossover and equalization controls to help dial it in. the sound quality wasn't bad(but it was by no means great either), but with the sub was where the problem was. although i agree with Quad on all issues (including the volume and tuning knob), i feel i made the best choice (with Deans help) in selecting the HU i now have. as for adjusting volume or making selection from my 10 disc changer, i thoroughly enjoy the use of my remote. never have to reach or take eyes off the road. as far as sound quality goes, there is no comparison. even HU's that now sell for around 200 bucks come with remotes and preouts that beat Delco's sound quality all to you no what. as far as preouts are concerned, well, you know what you have to do with the Delco to use RCA's. my current HU has 3 preouts (4.5 volt) that seperate front, rear and sub. nice feature about the sub preout is that i can raise or lower the subs output without so much as a couple of taps on the remote.
one thing that i do like about the way GM mounted the HU is that it slides in on a rack type mount. the aftermarket kits duplicate this and it makes taking the HU out a sanp. hopefully if a thief wants it, he'll do far less damage to the dash. maybe

ryanbab

Seelig what HU do you have if i may ask

seelig

Kenwood KDC-X915 eXcelon.......great review on it at Carsound.com. it is a preamp only, and peaked at full volume was still distortion free.

hey, you and the rest should check out the pic DJ (aka Billy Bard) posted towards the bottom of the page on Tim's site. it's pretty cool.

imaginos

You're right about the need for separate bass control. I in fact have that as the sub amp has a remote bass boost control. It boosts the gain on around the 45-60 Hz range. It is mounted in my dash in the plate by the passeneger air-bag disable unit.

Without this feature, there would really be no way for the Delco HU to effectively tune the sub by itself and I would be very dejected (even more than I am by telling everyone I still have my factory HU !!!). This really gives the flexibility you need to even consider keeping the factory HU.....

Perhaps when I forget about how much I spent on the rest of this, I'll opt for an upgrade, however, I told myself that if I ever did this, the HU would also have to be MP3 compatible. Some of those use a computer hard drive and you can download a few hundred disks worth of MP3 format songs to it. This is the ultimate cd 'changer'..... Just put your entire CD collection (and some of everyone else's) in there and drive to Argentina...

seelig

my "LMAO" statement was meant in a fun way. Driving to Argentina? LMAO.......j/k

i think MP3 will be in the wifes truck when i sell mine this year. gonna yank all the current equipment out and reinstall in hers (soon to be mine). only regrets are that i can't remove all the dynamatt that i installed in my truck........$$$down the drain....:o(

obyone

then I wouldn't have to go to Costco and buy those 100 pack of CD's. Seelig, anytime you need help spending money....let me know....hehe!

Quad-

Was the steering wheel controls with the additional adapter for aftermarket HU what you were looking for? Isn't the web amazing? Just when you thought they didn't exist. The instructions for installing the remote steering controls require removal of the steering air bag. Course it says that following the directions closely, it will be a safe and inexpensive install. What do those air bags run...about $2500? The guy who runs the site is really good about answering any questions with excellent follow up with tracking numbers when shipping.

Those vanity mirrors actually extend covering the full window unlike the one's in the rado when releasing and moving to the side.

Tim

If you need to keep the back floor area under the seat clear, JL Audio offers a sub setup that will replace your center console leaving the back floor open. Course you do lose some storage with the center console. Only downside is that they can only fit one 10" sub in the console area.

seelig

you know of course the wife calls the system the "Hawaiian stereo".........LOL

mgdvhman

my console either....I recall Rwag? having one under the folded seat assembly?....like I said..not looking for killer here.....just a step better than what I have...hell....maybe even just new speakers would be fine?

I understand the difference in quality, trust me....but this set up don't need $2500 or more...

- Tim

..and I'll post as many times as I want Babs!

seelig

and go to wal-mart and get one of them 250 dollar ghetto blasters.........hey, they even come with CD carosels and remote.......
good luck on that one now!

ryanbab

Kmart has AC DELCO PF59 filters for $2.89

I was there tonight and seen 4 bought em all. Plus i got a nice 10% discount from my gf (her store isnt closing thank god).

Autozone wants $3.99 a filter and pep boys $7.99

CRAZY!!!

I now have 8 in stock.

erikheiker

Anybody installed them yet? I sure could have used them today while driving from Seward to Anchorage with the sun right in that spot not covered by the stock visor. I don't need the lights, but gf tried to use them other day and was wondering why such an expensive truck didn't have 'em.

obyone

has them at regular price of $2.49. Must be a popular seller as they had two cases up on the shelf not leaving much room for any other AC Delco filter.

The visor is held in place with 4 screws. Remove the screws and the visor drops down. Using same screws install new visor.

seelig

you say you bought all of them, so what's the point in us running to Kmart?

mgdvhman

BWHAHAHHAHHAAA

yeah....thanks Pal....

I remember going to K-mart?.or someplace on the Islands and a lot of stuff was cheaper in Hawaii.....go figure....

Now Hawaiin pineapples were cheaper here than on Hawaii....go figure.....they must have such a huge demand off the Island they figure the Island people are going to pay for them if they want them...

oops.....that wasn't about trucks.....

uhh....I noticed all this while I was driving in my Mustang Convertable rental....thinking about my new Silverado....

- Tim

seelig

cause the vendors know they'll make up the money by selling them to the typical tourists for an arm and a leg who just have to buy em there........while, they are cruising around in their Silverado's with aftermarket stereos.
good luck on this one now!......(tourist)..:o)

everhart

Both of my Chevys use the same PF-59 filters so when I went into Wal-Mart they didn't have them I ask the Auto manager to order them for me & the store so they did. After they came in I bought 2 and went back 1 month later they didn't have any ?? so I was looking around the auto area & there they were on the close-out shelf for $1.00 each, needless to say I bought all 18 of them. Now if I could only get them to order a few New Trucks that way.

ryanbab

i got lucky and one day found em for 50 cents each. Bought all of them and they have never got any back in. Walmart is no longer selling ac delco filters

quadrunner500

The steering wheel radio controls look great. Not perfect unless your thumbs are long enough to reach the buttons while holding onto the rim.

I could do like Seelig and mount the remote on top of the horn. Of course, it'd be embossed on his forehead by the airbag deployment.

I think Sprint PCS has commercial for this..."it's written all over your face." LOL!

quadrunner500

Someone planning a truck bash in Argentina???
I'm driving...

ryanbab

i dont like the audio controls in the steering wheel. My mom has em on her blazer and no one has used them in over 2 yrs

quadrunner500

That's cause everytime someone takes it out, somebody gets taken out!