[trackbird]

I've been driving a Jeep Liberty for a couple years as my daily driver (and I've hated virtually every minute of it). Long story short, a 2105 Silverado crew cab followed me home this weekend (just in time for fireworks, my wife and I are both licensed "Exhibitors Assistants" (pyro techs) for professional shows). Within 12 hours of signing paperwork, we were hauling stuff around the site and driving through in 6" of soft muddy grass (oops). It's a truck, right?

I need a front license plate bracket. My truck came from out of state and what they gave me requires drilling holes in the bumper (I'd rather not due to rust concerns). Is there anything like the SLP bracket for the 4th gens that fits the new trucks?

I'm looking for a roll up (semi rigid/secure) tonneau cover.

Throttle response sucks, so I'm going to need a programmer to fix the throttle feel. I'm not worried about power (it makes enough for now), but the throttle could use some help. It opens really slow and then you start stabbing it to get it to move. I'm not a fan.

Has anybody fixed any of these issues? Tips, tricks or recommended parts?

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[trackbird]

I've been unhappy with the shocks on this truck since I bought it. I've been trying to convince myself they aren't that bad....but they really suck and they aren't getting any better. My wife gets car sick in vehicles that have "floppy" shocks with no rebound. She got sick in my Jeep, she got sick in the Camaro (until I got the Strano UMI coil overs) and she's been getting sick in the truck lately. So I decided to finally order some shocks and I waited long enough that the Bilstien 4600's are now available. I had Sam Strano send me a set and they came in a few days ago.

I wasn't sure what kind of a pain in the ass the installation would be, but it really wasn't too bad. I removed the three bolts from the top of the shock assembly and the two from the bottom, pushed the shocks off the lower control arm and lifted them out of the top. I saw lots of things saying to disconnect the upper ball joint but I'm not sure why. We looked at it and said "Gee, I think those will come out of the space in the upper arm"...and they did.

I grabbed my spring compressors (which barely fit the springs due to the coil diameter being so large) and wound the springs down. I have Craftsman compressors, and they are forged steel. The jack screws bowed considerably, but they didn't have any issues. I swapped things onto the new shocks and bolted it back together. The new upper nut for the front shocks is a "jet nut" (crimped locking nut) and it wouldn't go on with the impact. I had to use an adjustable wrench to hold the shock shaft and I wound the nut on with a ratcheting box end wrench. I sprayed the threads with WD40 before putting the nuts on and it seemed to help. That was probably the worst part of the install. Make sure you keep track of which stud (of the top three that attach it to the chassis) is closest to the wheel (I put a nut on that one so I could keep track). Swap the shocks and install. I used a floor jack with a 27mm deep well socket to push the shock up enough to get the lower mount on the LCA in the front and a pry bar to wiggle the bolt holes into place.

The rears took about 4 minutes per side with an impact gun and a 21mm socket and 21mm wrench. The top nut is captive and the bottom mount has a nut and bolt. Zap them off and swap the shocks. Easy.

I should have done this when I bought the truck. The floaty feeling is gone and it no longer bounces off the swaybar in corners. The stock shocks have virtually no rebound in them and the truck just wallows around corners. With 600 lbs or so in the bed, the back end just bounced down the freeway (with stock shocks). Towing the Camaro home (last year) was awful due to the lack of damping. The Bilstiens ride well, and it's a controlled ride (more like when you put Koni's on a Camaro). I really should have done this sooner. My 2007 got new shocks at 1,200 miles. I should have done the same this time.

If you have one of these trucks, order the Bilstien 4600 shocks. Just do it.