Pete280

I am sorta looking for a cheap 2500 Suburban to occasionally tow the boat (9K lbs) and use as a Home Depot mess around truck. I will probably only drive it 5-10K miles per year since I have a car and the wife has a 2010 Yukon.

I have two that I am considering, a 1999 with a 454 , 190K miles, $4800 OBO or a 2003 with 6.0, 172K for $6800 OBO.

I like the idea of only spending 4K on the 99 but for only couple grand more I like the newer body style and a smaller motor.

I have not driven either of these, any thoughts? I want something reliable, am I dreaming at this price range and mileage?

MILD THUNDER

iTrader: (3)

Im not real familiar with the 6.0L engine. I have a 454 Vortec (1996-2000 year 454), and with a few mods, it pulls really great. Mines a dually with a 4.10, 4x4. Best I ever got non towing was 13.4mpg. Averages around 10-11mpg per tank. Towing, I got 8mpg to loto and back. Boat and trailer weigh 13,500lbs.

Pete280

How many miles on yours? I would like to tow the boat once a year or so on vacation maybe 6-7 hrs, just questioning whether it can be reliable enough. The owner races cars and has had it for 10 yrs so I know it has not been neglected, he towed a lot with it but it is very well maintained.

MILD THUNDER

iTrader: (3)

I bought mine with 86k miles two years ago. It has 97k on it now. The previous owner didnt do much maintainance other than oil changes I think. When i got it, i redid alot of stuff, as preventative, plus everything for the truck is cheap, parts wise. I learned alot about their strengths and weaknesses. Overall its a great engine. Much better than the pre 1996 454's.

82predictor

Look for one of the newer trucks ('01+) with the 8.1L. Fuel economy is within 1-2 mpg of the 6.0L but the power difference is huge. Or better yet get a crew cab pickup with the 8.1, then you also get the Allison trans.

PPlay33

iTrader: (2)

The 03 has a better front suspension and brakes, but will lack power. 8.1 is a great package over 6.0

t500hps

This is your best option, however they are rare.

If you recall 2 years ago my wife rolled her suburban........it was a 2003 2500 w/ the 6.0 motor and 3.73s. Had 110k on it and still ran perfect. Pulled our 31 formula just fine (on an over built trailer) but it couldn't handle the 38. The 8.1 has 95 ft/lbs more TQ but only gets about 1 mpg less. Previously we had a 98 with a 350.....not sure what power the 454 makes but the newer 6.0 was noticeably better than our previous 5.7. (We loved both of them though)

Donziben

I have an '06 2500 suburban with the 8.1 and love it. It's my second one, previous was an '02. Way stronger motor than the 6.0, and as people have said not much less MPG.

If I was choosing between your two options I would probably go with the 454, as long as the vehicles were in comparable shape.

hogie roll

Just picked up a 2000 with a 6.0 and 202k for 3600. It's a little rough as it appears to have been someone's work truck. Maybe I should have held out for a clean one! Oh well. I'll just keep my jaguar as this isn't quite nice enough to DD. I haven't gotten an mpg measure yet but some quick math shows it being sub 15mpg unloaded.

I looked for 8.1 Allison 4wd pickup but they were quite pricy. The SUVs depreciate worse than the pickups. The boat I'm looking for weighs 6500 so this should be ok with a rating of 9900.

hogie roll

I was surprised to see that it has rear leaf springs as the half ton has trailing arms and coil springs. The specs show it getting a 37gal tank which is 5 gallons or so more than the 1500 suburban I used to have. I'm assuming the leaf springs freed up some space.

I also assumed they had a full floater 10.5" rear end, but they come with the 9.5" semi floater.

The half ton was rated to tow 8100. I was nervous about towing with the half ton I used to have due to the 4l60Es bad rep. I had a couple go out in a gmt400 Tahoe I had before. But supposedly the weak link in that trans was upgraded on the gmt800s.