Got to love GM’s paper thin sheet metal

[67ChevyRedneck]

I'm just gonna toss this out there... but it seems as if the previous owner thought they were driving the General Lee. It all looks like stuff that would be caused by jumping the truck over crap?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

I'm just gonna toss this out there... but it seems as if the previous owner thought they were driving the General Lee. It all looks like stuff that would be caused by jumping the truck over crap?

Nah, I don’t see any evidence of that at all. The cracks are consistent with extended use running a vehicle on washboard roads. Remember the durability testing I mentioned a few posts above? The resonance a corrugated (washboard) will cause fatigue failures where many things will crack and break. My company, like the rest of them, test vehicles for these type of cycles and surely GM saw this. Chances are they chose not to address it because their data may have shown the condition would not appear until the vehicle was past a realistic life expectancy. In GM’s case, it appears they expect a truck to only last 100,000 miles of severe duty which probably explains why they are losing fleet and commercial market share like mad. I couldn't resist saying that.

Did you ever see the Myth Busters episode where they proved going faster on a washboard road may make the bumps “feel” smoother but in reality the resonance gets worse the faster you go. The higher the resonance the faster the “buzz” that is induced into the vehicle. Things will break.

I am not an automotive engineer but I work closely with a few hundred of them….And I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last week.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Then sell the POS?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Then sell the POS?

No way! It is like a rolling science project.

[Jonboy]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Jon asked for a few pictures of the fender cracks so I figured I would share them all with you as well. There were some major cracks on the driver’s side inner fender where the battery tray bolts to it but it is hard to get a photo with the battery in there. I already welded that spot up anyhow.

I had also forgotten both hood bump stop threaded inserts were broke so I had to weld nuts to the radiator support to give the bump stops something to thread into.

Anybody seen these issues on your trucks yet?

Larry, the picture of the right fender looks like the radiator support is back at the front of it, the way ihe inner and outer parts of the fender are seperated. We usually see that in a frontal impact. the rad. support goes back, and buckles the fender right behind the front mount bolt. It will make that front mount tab look crooked like that, too. Maybe that is why the fender cracked at the rear brace, too? The rear body mount is crazy, though. I haven't seen that yet.

John, your popping may be coming from the front crossmember also (if it has a torsion bar front). The center section is held in with 4 bolts, and they have a tendency to work loose. It doesn't take much to cause a pop.

[UltraBlue71]

Originally Posted by Pyrotechnic

I'm wondering about it's past life. You know how employees treat company trucks. Run em as hard as you can without breaking them and pissing off the boss. Wouldn't be surprised if that truck saw some amateur baja desert racing at some point.

I agree when I read the first post I said to myself someone has been playing Dukes of Hazzard in this truck.....