Click Click Boom!!!!!

Brother had one after 16,000 km they pulled the engine on warranty . Replacement wiped out the top end in 30,000 km after they fixed it . He sold the truck but got nailed on depreciation hard.

 

One of my relatives must've got lucky with theirs. All original powertrain with over 400k on it when they sold it. Last I heard the next owner hit 500k on all original powertrain.

 

The certain orange mine had many miles on 5.3s. The grey passenger awd vans all had 800 000km on em before retirement. Most with just a transmission and t case replacement in that time.
The red/maroon managers suburbans all had 7-900 000 when I left, and they were still running.
Firehall had a managers suburban. Low miles but they never never shut it off. I put a fuel pump in it every year and half, 10 000 hrs. I had to have the heads done at 27000 hours. You could see light thru the intake valve seats. When i left it had 47 000 hours on it.
Gm had a 5yr 160km warranty. Only about 8760 hours in a year.

 

That LS platform is definitely a proven design. I kinda wish I held on to my old 4.8L. I could have had some fun with that truck. Swap those stupid tall 3.42 gears to 4.10, heads, cam, bore/stroke. See if I could do 400 RWHP without boost lol.

To my knowledge, the 4.8L and 5.3L shared the same block, just more stroke to make it a 5.3L?

 

Correct. All the blocks were the same. 4.8 and 5.3 shared bore, stroke was longer on 5.3. 6.0 was larger bore.
There was the odd camshaft failure, but proper maintenance they are hands down the most durable on the market.

 

Well, the international dump truck returns to the shop. Welded engine mount broke. Engine flops down in the frame rail and lands on the bottom part of the rail.

Clutch no longer works as the linkage is being pulled, keeping it released.

Both mounts have been welded at a professional shop as it’s heat treated.

First was the driver side, welded that one, got a few loads done, then passenger side breaks.

Welded passenger side. Got 2 more loads, the driver side breaks again.

That’s it. I’m making my own mounts.




So far, this time I road tested the truck.

I was not able to before because the truck was needed ASAP.

Drove a hour. No issues, backed up a steep hill, worked the clutch and bump the throttle while the truck was loaded up with 21 metric tons of sand.

No feel of play from the transmission, all good.

Drove for the first time today hauling for a customer. Nothing broke. Finally.

 

The plates I used are thicker. I think 5/8 thick.

The original mounts was around 1/2” thick or thinner.

I was worried about going too thick and having clearance issues. But these fit perfectly. Holes were perfect. No modifications required. Just bolt in both the first time.

 

A bit of the green monster in the fuse panel. Got it fairly clean, a couple unused ones in the spare locations were way past saving.

 

Also a def icicle.