Useless Information

[iamdub]

3 days since last refuel and 14.5 mpg now. Babying it, not revving past 2,500 rpms mostly, running the speed limit. Staying away from idling situations and heavy traffic. Tires at 41 psi cold. BFG says to put them at 50 psi. Keep forgetting to do the chalk test, but keep forgetting where I put the chalk!

The sidewall says 50psi or does BFG specify 50psi for that tire on your particular vehicle?

 

[swathdiver]

I spoke with someone at BFG about my vehicle and those specific tires. On the 2500s the front pressure for an LT tire is recommended at 50 psi and the rears 60 psi.

I was trying to keep them as low as possible to give as nice a ride as possible without wearing them out prematurely. I ran them at 30 psi and it was smooth as butter but the load rating at that psi doesn't even support the truck empty, let alone each axle and the whole thing fully loaded. 41 psi was calculated to support the GVWR and the GRAWR but the lady at BFG insisted on sticking with 50 psi which is more than enough.

I still haven't done the chalk test, two weeks with the flu and the aftermath am dealing with still. It was a major milestone just to get to the store and buy a new Lucas grease gun, even with help from my bride. Was supposed to do all this stuff today but the kids are off to church for an event so maybe later or some other day again. Too weak to work on it by myself.

 

[iamdub]

I spoke with someone at BFG about my vehicle and those specific tires. On the 2500s the front pressure for an LT tire is recommended at 50 psi and the rears 60 psi.

I was trying to keep them as low as possible to give as nice a ride as possible without wearing them out prematurely. I ran them at 30 psi and it was smooth as butter but the load rating at that psi doesn't even support the truck empty, let alone each axle and the whole thing fully loaded. 41 psi was calculated to support the GVWR and the GRAWR but the lady at BFG insisted on sticking with 50 psi which is more than enough.

I still haven't done the chalk test, two weeks with the flu and the aftermath am dealing with still. It was a major milestone just to get to the store and buy a new Lucas grease gun, even with help from my bride. Was supposed to do all this stuff today but the kids are off to church for an event so maybe later or some other day again. Too weak to work on it by myself.

Props to you for understanding the tire manufacturer's psi rating on the sidewall versus your vehicle's pressure recommendations. So many people think that any pressure under the maximum PSI listed on the sidewall means that the tire isn't "full" and is being ran "low", regardless of what that tire is on.

I find that the chalk test isn't accurate enough for me, but I tend to geek out on details. The difference between under-inflated and over-inflated is too wide of a range to be seen due to the available resolution of chalk on concrete. You have to have fine-quality chalk (maybe a pool cue chalk?) and super smooth concrete. Even then there are other factors. I just compare the tread wear when I rotate the tires. I'd like to see your results if you ever get around to doing it.

Rest up and get well.

 

[gat0r]

^ good advice on the chalk.
ive tried other chalk & it didnt work out too well.

i prefer to use a playing card -
on warm tires, inflate w/ air until you can slip a playing card under tire to edge of 1st lug. then slowly deflate tire until card drags on removal (if you cant remove card, you deflated too much)

has worked well for me & when rotating tires, they all look good.

 

[swathdiver]

Thanks! I was in the tire business for few years and got good training, drag racing didn't hurt either, adding much to the knowledge base.

The tires have worn 2/32 since new and evenly across the whole tread on all four. So there's no sign of over-inflation or under-inflation even though I've been running them mostly in the 30s for the majority of the time. For the past month or so they've been at 41 psi cold. The weather has changed so they'll need checking again.

 

[swathdiver]

Finally had the opportunity to change the oil today. The monitor said 22% life left and it has been around 7k since we did it in June. Ran the long filter and we used a K&N with the 1" nut welded to the end to make removing it easier on the kids. I forget how much engines love clean oil, it sure drove different. I think I'll start changing it at 50% from now on. I know the later trucks do not let it run past 7500 miles. As always we're running Mobil One synthetic.

As that was getting done we broke out our new fancy Lucas grease gun with a tube of Red-N-Tacky or something like that and prepared to start at the front and work our way aft. Well, this ain't no NBS or NNBS 2500, we found two zerks, one for each tie rod end! What a let down! I was getting ready to pull the drive shafts too and grease the splines. 2 Zerks for the NNBS GMT900.

As for mileage, well after another couple of 1 hour idling sessions it's down to 13.0 mpg.

Cooler weather has arrived and it has stopped raining! We'll be eating marshmallows around the fire pit tomorrow night.

 

[iamdub]

I disregard the OLM and change mine every 5,000 as it's "close enough" to what the oil is probably good for and it coincides with my 5,000-mile tire rotation schedule. I could do both at 6,000 miles, but then I'd have to get fancy with the math and I like seeing even numbers on my windshield sticker- 175K, 180K, 185K... It's just one of those things that I have to surrender to my OCD. Anyway, IIRC, I think the OLM is usually right around 50% when I reset it after a service.

My (actually my GF's) average MPG is currently 16.2. Your idling sucks!

That sounds nice. I may break out my fire pit as well if we get a cool snap.

 

[PG01]

Cooler weather/Break out the fire pit... you guys kill me

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Cooler weather/Break out the fire pit... you guys kill me

Me too. More like "cooler weather / want to kill yourself every time you have to leave your house"

 

[swathdiver]

Been waiting all year to use the fire pit again! I love sitting by the fire, whether inside or out. It dropped into the high 60s and was chilly even for the yankees that've been living down here a while. The fire took a while to get going, it had been raining straight for what seemed like two weeks and all the firewood was wet as was the kindling. But with my youngest daughter's help and perseverance we built a nice warm fire with beautiful embers to stare at.

A few hours earlier my sixteen year old and I tackled the rear brakes finally. Pulled off the rear disc and saw that the parking brake shoe and inside of the drum in hat were soaked. Axle seal. Just changed the fluid 7,000 miles ago and all was good. Ordered up some new AC Delco seals and more grape scented rear diff fluid and will make the repair and get it all back together Monday hopefully. The parking brake cables look good, the shoes are wore out and were not adjusted right, not even touching. The discs were rotten and the wrong size too. The inside pads barely touched any of the disc. We've checked and checked and checked and checked again to make sure we bought the right parts.