What is GM thinking

[Cape Codder]

I had a customer come in with a 2016 GMC 3500 that backed into a post while plowing. I got a new take off bumper from a body co. and told the owner about an hr. work to replace the bumper. I get everything unbolted no problem as it is brand new no rust not even dirty underneath. But the bumper will not come off as the top of the brackets hit the rear sill of the bed. I had to remove the bed bolts in the rear and loosen the forward bolts and jack up the bed to swap out bumpers. They obviously have the whole truck assembled before they drop the bed on now. I will hopefully be retired before these trucks get old and rusty .

[crazy longhorn]

Originally Posted by Cape Codder

I had a customer come in with a 2016 GMC 3500 that backed into a post while plowing. I got a new take off bumper from a body co. and told the owner about an hr. work to replace the bumper. I get everything unbolted no problem as it is brand new no rust not even dirty underneath. But the bumper will not come off as the top of the brackets hit the rear sill of the bed. I had to remove the bed bolts in the rear and loosen the forward bolts and jack up the bed to swap out bumpers. They obviously have the whole truck assembled before they drop the bed on now. I will hopefully be retired before these trucks get old and rusty .

GM dropped that ball a long time ago! I tore down an 06 silverado, & saved the box for my personal use. Sold the rear bumper, & as you said...they all came out, but you could not slide it out of the frame! for my isse , a sharpie, a drill & a sawzall fixed the problem As a note "never get in a hillbilly's way, when he has a sawzall". Longhorn

[Cape Codder]

I have replaced several or the 08 style without any trouble this is the new one piece rear that is completely different. They don't sit on the trailer hitch anymore either so you need two people to install.

[truckster]

Automotive engineers and designers generally don't give much thought to servicing the vehicles; all they have to worry about is ease of assembly.

Case in point: When the 89 trucks came out with the new encapsulated windshields (plastic trim molded to the glass) GM held a seminar for glass shop owners to tell us how great this new product was. Someone in the audience asked, "So how do we replace it?" The factory rep's reply was priceless: "We don't know. We're waiting for you to figure that out and tell us."

[grumpyolddog]

I hear ya not fun and the left bracket is fixed the right one is slotted for width. The bracket needs to ajusted before the step pad is installed....so install the bumper on the truck ajust and tighten bracket bolts,remove the bumper and install pad and corner steps and bolt down the box.

[Boog]

Like I have long said the automakers take a 2 cent fuse and build a vehicle around it as tightly as they can with little to no concern for the mechanics or consumers down the line. It seems so anyway.
Just think about those ford truck guys with diesels and head removals. The engine sits so far under the cowl the procedure to r&r a head is to raise the cab off the frame. I wouldn't have one.

[abig84]

Originally Posted by truckster

Automotive engineers and designers generally don't give much thought to servicing the vehicles; all they have to worry about is ease of assembly.

i say the same thing everyday at work. almost everything you do now a days is stuff in front of stuff in front of stuff. its why ill never own anything newer then a OBD1 vehicle, they are so easy and simple to work on. my 1990 chevy silverado has a access panel for the heater core, i almost cried tears of happiness when i seen that.

the only thing you need a special tool for on the entire vehicle is the power steering pump pulley puller (say that 3 times fast) but theres so much room its really not that big of a deal to do it

i

[61_FL_Apache]

I work with a bunch of aerospace engineers and the same thing applies there too. They can fit tubes and brackets on the outside of a jet engine, but I don't think the mechanic was ever considered. And... they have multiple meeting on how well everything fit.. Go figure.

[B. W.]

I fight this everyday with all makes & models. I am getting older & am so tired of working on the newer rigs ( there are some good points but it seems they are far out numbered by the bad) If you buy new & roll out every few years I guess you'll do OK... and that's what they want & if I were them I'd do the same.
I've decided to go older rather than newer. I'm looking for a mid '70's burb & my wife just rolls her eyes & starts muttering to herself because she thinks all the old trucks are ugly!

[Cape Codder]

Last time mt wife went car shopping she brought me to check out a 2010 Mustang convert. Looked clean it was 3 years old with 30,000 miles. I opened the hood and with the 4.0 V6 you could actually see every thing that may ever need service I was surprised at how much room there is. Started ,alt, water pump all right in sight. I can even see all the spark plugs. She has had it almost 4 years and the only thing I have had to repair is a heater blend door motor. $23.00 from the dealer and took me about an hr. So they do still make some sensible cars. In the future I am sure to find something about it to change my opinion though.

[68C15]

Originally Posted by Cape Codder

Last time mt wife went car shopping she brought me to check out a 2010 Mustang convert. Looked clean it was 3 years old with 30,000 miles. I opened the hood and with the 4.0 V6 you could actually see every thing that may ever need service I was surprised at how much room there is. Started ,alt, water pump all right in sight. I can even see all the spark plugs. She has had it almost 4 years and the only thing I have had to repair is a heater blend door motor. $23.00 from the dealer and took me about an hr. So they do still make some sensible cars. In the future I am sure to find something about it to change my opinion though.

I did a clutch on one of those. Fastest clutch job in my career. Less than 2 hours from the time I drove it in until I drove it out

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Boog

Like I have long said the automakers take a 2 cent fuse and build a vehicle around it as tightly as they can with little to no concern for the mechanics or consumers down the line. It seems so anyway.
Just think about those ford truck guys with diesels and head removals. The engine sits so far under the cowl the procedure to r&r a head is to raise the cab off the frame. I wouldn't have one.

My buddy is a tech @ a local Ford place. He & another 'older' tech did an engine swap 'race'. These were on fleet vehicles that had incorrect parts on the motors so there was a recall to repair/replace.

The old tech did his swap the conventional way (hood off/motor up & out). My buddy did it the smart way for those trucks (pulled the body off the frame). He can have the body separated & in the air within 45mins. Then he's not trying to reach hardware he can't see or snake his arms around stuff while slumped over the fenders/core support.

He had his truck swapped, reassembled, & test driven before the old school guy had his swap done. So while I agree, engineers don't think all things through, they are making vehicles much more modular w/repair in mind (well.... as long as you have a lift & all the new tech specific tools).

[Boog]

Well they are designing them so the diyers can no longer work on them. Ya gotta take em back to the dealers.

[In The Ten Ring]

Originally Posted by Boog

Well they are designing them so the diyers can no longer work on them. Ya gotta take em back to the dealers.

I believe that to be a fact.

[Cape Codder]

Well it certainly has gotten to the point that to be an independent repair shop you need to specialize in one or two makes or you spent too much time trying to figure out the tricks to getting things apart without breaking expensive plastic crap and having to epoxy it back together.

[68c10airstream]

What i learned from engine swaps at the dealer level up to 1999 was i had to reprogram my viewpoint to question myself! The question was " how do they assemble it at the factory". Modular is definitely what is going on now, with lifting the body, etc, or dropping out the engine and trans out the bottom!!

[Cape Codder]

I am on the body work side of this and so much trim is snap together that if you cannot get behind it to release a clip you have about a 50 % chance of it coming off without breaking. Spraying soapy water on first helps . Today I had to remove the wheel opening trim from a Lexus to get the bumper off and the tabs that needed to be released were not accessable. Everything is engineered to snap together not to take apart.

[special-K]

I love working on older stuff and hate working on newer stuff. I've pondered why and it's mostly access, either about impossible or you have to disassemble half the car to do a 20 minute job.

I say back in the day engineers were given their objectives and went to work till they had something:

Engineer #1 - "Ok, all done, but how does the mechanic get his hand in there to replace that?".
Engineer #2 - "Oh yeah, back to the drawing board."

Now it's like this:

Engineer #1 - "Ok, all done, let them try to get their hand up in there".
Engineer #2 - "Yeah, right. HAHAHA!"

[abig84]

Originally Posted by 68C15

I did a clutch on one of those. Fastest clutch job in my career. Less than 2 hours from the time I drove it in until I drove it out

i always found chevy vans to be very easy to pull transmissions on. we used to do a lot of fleet vehicles at my other job and you could have one out in just about a hour everything was very easy to get too