Broken things suck... No doubt about it it. Especially when the break and subsequent failure is because of manufacturer defect. For our hard earned dollars we all want a truck that will never break, run flawlessly for 300,000 miles and get us anywhere we want to go without ever getting stuck. This is, of course, unrealistic.
Back in the dark ages, before LS engines, (as I'm sure many of you remember) we would tear into our small and big blocks with power hungry grins adding cams and lifters, aluminum intakes, headers, and giant carburetors. 4" lifts and 33" tires were HUGE! And if someone splurged for a roller cam....that was some amazing technology

... My '75 K10 got 6MPG down hill with a tail wind.
I'm still amazed that right out of the box my Trail Boss has 355 HP and gets 18MPG. My warranty has expired and I've got AFM, so 8 AFM lifters... 8 chances for an AFM lifter to fail... But if that happens I've already decided I'm not gonna cry about it! I'll use it as an opportunity dive in and make some modifications. The AFM delete kit; cam and lifters, push rods, head gaskets, VLOM plugs, and ECM retune can be done for less than $1,000 in parts. The labor is what's expensive. So I'll invite over my son, and some friends, and over a weekend with pizza and a couple of cold beers do what we used to do... Build something how the factory should have done it in the first place and make a whole lot of good memories in the process.
I love this truck. It's part of our family. I refuse to throw it out or speak poorly of it because of something that
might happen. To each his own, but I'm all about being happy and making some good memories and keeping the heartbeat of America pumping.(insert bow tie here)
See y'all on the trail!
CJ