dcairns

Hard to believe these trucks are hitting 20 years old. I took delivery back in March 13th 2003, coming up soon.

You would have better luck on a general Silverado forum. This one is specific to the Silverado SS. Your 99 pre-dates the Silverado SS by a few years, so the information here may not be very useful.

Sounds like a fun project. Keep us posted !

Ok, kind of a click bait title, but this is a fun looking concept someone came up with. If you are impatient, skip to 4:02 in the video for the good part. I don't think that crate motor would meet emissions standards. But supercharge one of the existing 6.2L engines with a stout transmission and you would have something (things they should have done on the 03 SS). I don't know how practical it is having it that low, but is sure looks cool. Although I am not a fan of step sides, still it looks good

I have not heard of porting the Radix. Sounds interesting. Got a link to that?

I had mine stolen a while back. You will have to get a plain (primer) one and paint it yourself. Here is the GM part number: 2003-2007 Silverado SS spare tire lock access cover: 12335771 Claims to be a GM part here: http://oemcats.com/oem-parts/12335771.html What looks like a repro is sold here: https://www.gmpartsgiant.com/parts/gm-cover-rr-12335771.html And you can try FleaBay and see what you can find Like this one that looks like a repro too: https://www.ebay.com/itm/164699917325?hash=item2658e14c0d:g:90gAAOSwUIhgJnzL&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoOplecySlVCZUEL8E28w3R9alvTo96h00a%2BMPKHLajsb5i3%2BDsHqWBXEAyyUtj13uhJzsd%2B%2BETYgBzLCFQ1mPuBcOGkNU7ZvEFUuwFPDY9fuIF1uSiEMaXXXS15%2FgGJNfc9EP1GdMkRyoHPcD5kIEDGRRBmICgBGMQUeENigdjrm9RzQMJTBE%2B0%2Fv%2Ft66WGm0NEZ9bgCulvK%2B6fUpgsDW%2Fo%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4LI3ZjpYA

Hi Zippy, still rocking my Magnacharger Radix after 160K miles. On my third transmission, though.

GM called it a locking rear differential.

The drive train for the SS was taken from the Cadillac Escalade. I don't know what tweaks were done, but it would be a good place to start for junkyard parts.

I agree with someotherguy. The transmission won't last. I am the original owner of my 03 with stock engine with the Radix supercharger. I am on my third rebuild on 150k miles. First time the bands wore out, second time a sun gear exploded, third time I managed to snap the input shaft. Next time I am going to bite the bullet and do the 4L80E swap, assuming we are still allowed to buy gas for our cars. The second failure occurred when I was far from home and I had to hope the local transmission shop was good. I guess they were as it is kinda hard to predict a input shaft snapping.

Hard to believe how much rust you had to remediate. I did not have that much rust on my 64 Impala restoration I did 10 years ago. That road salt must be a real killer.

I had forgotten about those Christmas Ornaments... Now I want one too. <runs off to ebay and places bid on one> I have a couple of the Hot Wheels type cars they made.

The front can be raised and lowered to some degree with the torsion bars. I seem to recall there are aftermarket 'keys' that can help with this. The attached photos may help, although I think they are not showing the key areas you are interested in. Please note the rear suspension photos show an aftermarket rear sway bar and leveling air bags which are not stock.

How do you know it is burning oil and or coolant, not leaking it? Are you seeing smoke/steam out the tailpipe?

Nice wheels!

Did your hack saw hit any wires for the transmission?

Can you share a link to that site? With 150k miles on my truck, I am on my third rebuild of my 4l65. Last time it was the input shaft that gave way. The idea of a 4l80 is sounding better all the time.

You will get more meaningful answers from a general Chevy/GM truck forum, as this one is specific to the SS. But, that sounds like a pretty light trailer. My travel trailer is about 4,500lbs. It is the tongue weight of your trailer that adds to the weight of your truck.

Still doing good I guess the truck is getting to the age (150k) where odds and ends need repair. Had to replace the steering gearbox recently. On my third transmission rebuild now 😕 Broke the input shaft somehow. I have been getting it repainted on the installment program. One accident at a time. just got rear ended a few months ago. Minor bumper damage to me, trashed the front end of the mini van that did not stop in time. But that got me the bumper, tailgate and right rear quarter repainted. But it is getting expensive to keep, between the gas prices here in California to the $400+ registration each year.

As I recall, you also need to have the mirror selector switch set to the middle position.

At the rate I get rear ended ( Four times in 18 years)... that would get expensive ;D How does that work? Does the bumper pivot down with the tailgate?

Yes, those super heavy duty clutches are really noisy. Went through that trying to cool my 64 Impala. You may as well bolt the fan to the pulley.

I had mine go bad around 10 years ago. I had just had the AC compressor replaced at the dealer. And the fan clutch apparently failed and took out the AC compressor by not working correctly. Somehow the engine stayed cool enough not to seem to be a problem. But the dealer fixed the compressor under warranty and for some extra, replaced the clutch. I assume it is as close to the original GM part as possible. So far it is still working good. You might look at what the local Chevy dealer sells over the counter. Sometimes it pays to pay for the GM part, sometimes you just pay too much for things

Did it need a rebuild? Also, I am curious how many miles it lasted. Personally, I am on my third rebuild at 150k miles. Last one was a bit of a fluke. I somehow broke the input shaft.

Do you feel the shaking in the steering wheel or is it the engine shaking?