Chevy Truck Maintenance: Why Your Truck Needs Different Maintenance Than Your Car
Chevy truck lovers are more likely to run over potholes, sail over speed bumps, and plow through deep puddles. Let’s face it. You treat your truck differently than your car, and that’s how it should be.
Trucks don’t live pampered lives! You expect that big boy to perform, and he does. From the big-sized tires to the transmission, your truck has to work harder to compensate for all that extra weight it hauls around. That’s why Chevy truck maintenance is so important.
Your Truck’s Brakes
Even though you sit higher off the ground, your brakes don’t. Action such as driving through deep water, especially when the brakes are already hot, will cool the calipers rapidly. Water destroys brake fluid causing corrosion in the brake system. And that’s expensive!
What can you do to protect your investment and extend the life of your truck? Every other year, remove the calipers and apply a film of high temperature grease to the moving areas.
Or, you can have Joe Bowman Auto Plaza do it when you bring your truck in for its annual brake inspection. And you know those parking brakes? The cables can become corroded as they absorb water.
Worse, if you never use the parking brake, you’ll never know the progression of damage. That is, until you do try to use it and it won’t release. The easy solution is to use your brake to keep the cables moving.
Automatic Transmission
Automatic transmissions are expensive to repair, but they are the cheapest repair to prevent! First, buy an aftermarket auxiliary automatic transmission fluid and install it.
Second, learn how to change your truck’s transmission fluid and change it regularly! These two tips will help prevent you from having to cough up $3,000 for a new transmission.
4 x 4 Transfer Cases and Front Axles? Do This
Front axles are easy to neglect because they work so well…until they don’t. By then, it’s too late to save the axle from certain destruction.
To avoid this kind of financial pain, buy three quarts of axle fluid and replace your truck’s fluid every three years. Easy peasy.
For your transfer case, find out what type of fluid it requires and replace it as often as the factory recommends. Just beware. Today, there are a lot of different types of fluids. Make sure you get the right one for your truck or you could cause damage.
Again, you can bring in your truck to our service department and we can easily take care of this for you.
Engine Oil
Engine oil is so unappreciated and yet, its work is vital! It seals and lubricates, cleans and cools—all with just six quarts. If that doesn’t have you cheering, remember that your truck’s engine oil has to withstand temperatures of 2500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Invest in good engine oil because a little extra protection never hurt anyone.
Tires and Alignment
Wheel alignments are important for all vehicles. For trucks? Big tires will wear out PDQ if the alignment is off. Nobody wants to buy new tires before they have to!
So, every two years, get a truck alignment. If your truck is heavily used, consider an alignment more often. And definitely more often if you have big tires and wheels.
Wheel Bearings
Oversized tires and wheels place more strain on the front wheel bearings. Read up on how you can check the front wheel bearings. Then make it a yearly habit to do so during your annual brake check.
Okay, truck lovers, let us know if these Chevy truck maintenance tips help you to extend the life of your truck. Got questions or need truck maintenance? We’d be delighted to accommodate you! Learn more about us on our website.