A step back, in a good way

[oldodge41]

I bought a new truck. 2025 Silverado, 2500HD. Much to my surprise it has grease fittings on the front steering and suspension. Nine in total, I didn't expect to see them on the factory parts. Pleasantly surprised. Us old guys find satisfaction in the strangest things.

 

Edited Saturday at 02:19 PM by oldodge41

[JBNeal]

I heard that radio and HVAC knobs are making a comeback by popular demand...the Laramie has a drop-in oil filter element which I kinda chuckled at when I 1st saw it, but I appreciate after years of doing oil changes...of course there's a trick to not making a mess, but it's way easier to swap out than the spin-on filter on the QuadCab; that one marks its territory every time 👈

[LazyK]

Radio???

Is that still a thing.

[Sniper]

Hmm, got a call from our fleet manager couple weeks ago.  Time to replace the 22 Silverado 1500 4x4 I currently have, over 101,000 miles in less than 2 years.  Yes, I know 2022 was three years ago but it took 1.5 years to get the POS because of "covid".  It was ordered in Oct 2021, got it May of 23.  Getting a Silverado 2500 long bed as the replacement.  Not sure if it'll be a 25 or a 26 though  All I can say is that the dash on the 1500 has a lot of blue painters tape on the shiny bits because the sun will shine off it into my eyes.  The electronics, primarily the display, gets freaky on occasion.  Sometimes I have to shut it off and wait 20 minutes or so for all the computers to shutdown before it works right again.  About a month ago I had to take it to Chevrolet because it had a reduced performance check engine light on, seems the manifold to the turbo split, turbo 4 not an option on the 2500.  Just replaced all the tires last week, two of them were original.  Still running the original brakes.  Every morning, when I first drive it the trans free spins for a bit then catches, been doing that for a long time.  Only does it after sitting overnight and it's not like the old Torqueflight morning sickness.  It'll run and drive for about 30 seconds, freewheel, then catch and go, then be fine the rest of the day.  What else... oh yeah, the average mpg isn't really all that better than the 2019 Silverado 2500 LB 4x4 I had, 6.0 V8.  Both averaged about 17 mpg with how and where I drive.

[Ivan_B]

I've bought some replacement parts with the grease fittings on them, about 10 years ago. Definitely would not expect it on a new car, though. I believe that, at least some, commercial trucks still use them (because these types of parts are more durable/stronger). So maybe the Silverado wants to be perceived as a real truck? Or else, they just use some of the same parts with the big ones  

Is there anything about these said in the owner's manual? Like get a grease gun and lubricate them every time it rains? 🥲

[Ulu]

My 2012 Tacoma has Zerks on the steering joints and ball joints.

 

It’s pretty easy to service. No jack required to grease it or change oil. It’s just tall.

 

The spin-on filter is on top, between the battery and air filter. It has it’s own little drain rail and tube. You can stick a 16oz plastic bottle under the tube to catch the drips.

 

But there never is more than a drip, because the filter is inverted, and it has an anti-drainback valve in the filter.

 

All modern filters do, but they don’t work as well if the filter lies sideways.

 

That allows some oil to hang in the horizontal passages, which won’t happen if the filter is inverted.

[Dan Hiebert]

I've a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 (I still can't bring myself to just call them just "Ram" trucks).  No grease fittings at all that I can find on it.  Kind of strange not doing the grease zerk hide and seek thing once a year.  I wonder if your Silverado has them because it is a HD 3/4 ton truck, rather than 1/2 ton?  

[Eneto-55]

28 minutes ago, Dan Hiebert said:

I've a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 (I still can't bring myself to just call them just "Ram" trucks).  No grease fittings at all that I can find on it.  Kind of strange not doing the grease zerk hide and seek thing once a year.  I wonder if your Silverado has them because it is a HD 3/4 ton truck, rather than 1/2 ton?  

I'm curious if your 2019 is the new model (5th gen), or the 4th gen 'Classic'.  (We have a 2019 1500 2-wheel drive 4th gen.)

[Dan Hiebert]

12 hours ago, Eneto-55 said:

I'm curious if your 2019 is the new model (5th gen), or the 4th gen 'Classic'.  (We have a 2019 1500 2-wheel drive 4th gen.)

It's the new (5th gen) model.  I was "meh" when the 4th gen came out, then when the 5th gen came out the styling really caught my eye, and it was getting time to get a new truck.  I am slightly curious if grease fittings have found their way back onto them.  We had a 2001 4x4 Dodge pickup that only had two or maybe four grease fittings.  I had noticed the number of fittings grew over the years on that model.  Just one of those "things that make you go hmm".     

[Eneto-55]

11 hours ago, Dan Hiebert said:

It's the new (5th gen) model.  I was "meh" when the 4th gen came out, then when the 5th gen came out the styling really caught my eye, and it was getting time to get a new truck.  I am slightly curious if grease fittings have found their way back onto them.  We had a 2001 4x4 Dodge pickup that only had two or maybe four grease fittings.  I had noticed the number of fittings grew over the years on that model.  Just one of those "things that make you go hmm".     

Glad that you like yours. We also have a 2019 non-MoPar "family car", and the electronic business is just over the top for me (don't like it). Oh, it's been a good vehicle, and the MPG results are the best of any vehicle we've had in the past.

 

Price also led us to the Ram Classic (bought it used, w/ 105,000 + miles on the clock), as well as the cab design. My wife didn't want a single cab, and the shorter doors in the rear allows for a fairly decent length bed w/o making the whole thing super long.  (I also don't like the design that has no pillar between the front & rear doors.  I'm not crazy about automatic transmissions, either, but while my wife CAN drive standard, she sort of insisted.)