Need New Tow Vehicle
 

My 2500 Avalanche has 93K on it and it is probabaly a good time to trade it in. What do you guys think about a 2500 Silverado Crew Cab with either a 6.0L Gas or the Duramax?

Anyone have one - whats the good/bad? Towing about 9500#currenlty unless i upgrade my boat in a couple years!!

Looking for input please.

Id buy a ford f250 or 350 for a real towing machine, but if you want a chevy id go for the dmax with allison automatic.

I know that our 2500HD gasser pulls our 13000# sportfisherman with no problems whatsoever. 10mpg with no load, 10mpg pulling the boat at 65mph down the highway.

My HD2500 Duramax doesnt even know when its towing something, tons of power, and a good ride. MPG less than I have heard. about 16 max empty on the highway 12 mph towing. but I ordered it with the 4.10's in it. which I didnt need with all the TQ

I have a 05 2500 crew duramax love it !!!! unreal power, and we tow a big heavy race car trailer as well as the boat...does awsome, milage not great but not bad either...about 12 towing the race rig....Rob

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...r/100_0240.jpg

Whatever truck you choose, just make sure it has a diesel motor under the hood !!!!! You will thank me later !!!

Im with the Dmax crowd...but this is very true.

I have been looking at the same vehicle.. I have been told the 2500HD is the way to go.. heavier axles and brakes, etc. The 2005 has the 5 speed Allison, while the 2006 has a 6 speed. Not sure if the 6 speed is a plus or minus. Seems if you could find one with higher axle ratio and the 6 speeds, it may help mileage?? Those in the know, tell me you have to chip it to get better mileage. Friend has a newer one and had to replace the exhaust system and chip it to get back up to where he was with his older one.. I have heard over 20mpg in some cases.. But I am not sure how it is driven or what gears, trans, etc???
Would love to hear from others on this subject.

I drive an 09 Suburban for work with a tow package and 6.0 motor.. I doesnt start to pull unless you have your foot in it and it is winding above 3500rpm.. At 4000 it will come on the cam and pull like mad.. feels like a drag motor to me.. I was headed that way, then drove an 8.1 and it had reasonable power, but 10-12mpg.. I have only driven one diesel and that was my friends older crew cab 2500HD.. I could not believe how easy it pulled his 36' trailer empty.. I gently stepped down on the loud pedal and I thought I put it to the floor.. Very impressive for fuel oil!! The mileage alone is a good reason.. the pulling power is unmatchable by gas..

Dick

I looked at a 2500 Gas fully loaded today . . . $ 46K. Thats nuts for a pick up!

I will look into the diesels too.

Here are my opinions on the big 3 trucks:

Ford-- Solid truck. Made for working and hauling. Rides good but stiff. Plenty of power and good trans.

Chevy/GMC--- Solid truck. Good for work, but better for cruising and smooth ride. Not as stable as the Ford fully loaded.

Dodge--- If you want lots of power and fuel mileage, hands down winner. But trannies won't go the distance.

Elite Marine what year is your truck and are you planning on trading it in or trying to sell it yourself and if I can ask what would your asking price be? I posted on the other form you started. We are thinking of finding a 3/4 or 1 ton truck come spring time to tow our boat. We are in no hurry to find anything since our suburban will tow our boat and we really don't tow that much but we have talked about going to other places and if we do I think a bigger truck or suburban would be nice. We would like to get something that's white if we can.

Good luck in finding something.

The 6spd and a higher rear end will give you better MPG. Thats how mine is set up and its a 4x4 dually. I average 15 around town driving normal with the occasional jump off the light and 17ish on the highway running 75mph. Towing a 42ft fountain I got about 13 running 65-70. From what i have heard, the older Dmax's are better on fuel, but less power. I have a straight pipe exhaust and no chip. I have heard claims also of 2 or so better MPG with a programmer, but I dont have one so I do not know for sure.

02 dmax, programmer, turbo back exhaust, 3.73 gears, and 33" tires. 20 plus MPG driving 70 or under highway. Towing Va. to Ct. 450 miles averaged 12.2 MPG highway and city. The 33" tires helps mileage when not towing but def. hurts torque while towing around town.

2005 GMC Dmax, HD. I tow a Formula 357. Can't go wrong with the Allison/Dmax combo. Good mileage and plenty of power. I'll buy another one if I ever wear this one out...

boatntrkr, Tcudda, Cold Sweat,
thanks for that input..
The one friend with the newer Crew Cab Duramax (year?) Could not match his old truck for milage. It has the particulater filter, I think.. He found a company that sold him a package, pipes and programer. That brought him back to where his older truck was, or close to it. I will have to talk to him about it.
But I like the idea of the 6 speed and higer gear. My little 28' Check will not a truck like that back..
Keep the numbers coming.. learning a lot here!!
Thanks to everyone!
Merry Christmas everyone!!
Dick

Oil burner is the way to go over gasser for pulling for sure. I have the 6.0 with 410s and love it but I am only towing a 28 foot boat. I keep my truck in my garage and dont want to deal with the diesel smell otherwise I would probably go with the dmax. Carefull with the aftermarket upgrades on any of the vehicles now whether gas or diesel if you are under warranty. GM is requesting computer snap shot downloaded to them when any major component is replaced or any abnormal repairs. They can see the history of programs that were installed in the computer even if you switch it back to factory before you bring it in. It is not just the dealer being petty, but GM requesting the info before you can get an OK to do the repairs.

I can tell you this if you end up with a 6.0 ford diesel, do NOT chip it...pistons very weak fail regularly and even if you remove what you did the ford computer leaves a hidden code letting them know what had been done before and bounces the warranty claim....so saying that have to be very carefull on buying a used one if you don't know the history real well. the new 6.4 I'm told by my ford guys when you buy new you have to sign a paper stating you will not modify the engine, tuner, exhaust, etc.... I run a edge programer on my duramax, was on the truch when I bought it, I keep it on the lowest 2 settings.....turn it up, power level unreal !!!!! afraid of breaking something and milage suffers....Rob

Yea, the 07 (i believe) and newer chevy trucks have a DPF...you can find a hand full of companies that will sell you a DPF delete kit that comes with everything your friends did. It will most likely void any type of warranty you have though. Its not cheap, but you will pay it off in no time with fuel savings.

Fixx
 

Chevy or dodge! look at what you see on the highway always pulling trailers cross country! 90% of them are dodge's because of their great pulling power and the fuel economy,they will average 15 mpg puling and 20 mpg not.. i put a banks kit and exhaust on a friends a few months ago then i used his truck to pull my 10,000ldb formula and could not believe the power! i could spin the tires with all that tongue weight:lolhit:.........

do this show up at a dealer with your boat and ask them if you could hitch up the boat and take the truck for a test drive with the boat hitched up! do it to chevy ,ford and dodge and then you can decide on what will work best for you..

As others have said, I highly recommend a 2500 HD Duramax/Allison. I have a 2005 crew cab with the Duramax and Allison. 3.73 gears and stock tires. Under 70 mph 20 mpg. Towing my 292 (which is about 9500# loaded with trailer) I see around 15 mpg. Depends on the terrain. Less if running faster than 70 mpg.

This thing tows great and the ride is relatively smooth for an HD truck and not too noisy. We love it.

I am another vote for the duramax have an 05 club cab, 3.73 rear end pull a 311 no problem under 70 still 13 mpg 19-20 without it behind running 75 love the allison braking too Randy

I dont care about mpg. I will drive the truck almost daily in winter, have another car for summer, but most milage will be in the truck year round.

Are there maintenance issues or higher costs with a diesel?

Going from my 8.1 to a 6.0 seems stupid. Hence the thought of diesel.

Need to buy soon, but man are they expensive!!

I have been told that injectors used to be an issue on the Duramax at one time.. Not sure if that is still a problem, but it is expensive. Also heard from my friend at Chevy dealer, they will warranty the injectors up to 200kmi. But all hear say, I have not been in that situation, so I dont know for sure.
I have heard of some with 300k on the odometer so it seems they will out live a gas truck..

I would like to hear comparisons between the 05 and 06 Duramax with 5 and 6 speed trans.. Power, milage, etc.

The 01-04.5 duramax was the LB7 engine. These engines had injector issues. GM has a special policy on injectors to 200k or 7 years. They got the best mileage. 04.5-05 was LLY, went to a Variable turbo and new injector setup with no problems. These engines are a small increase in power over the LB7, and had no real issues except some overheating towing near max. Lost a little mileage to the LB7. 06-07 is LBZ, this is a great motor with a big power increase and the 6 speed allison. The 6 speed is the same final drive ratio as the 5 speed just closer together and a better 1st and 2nd gear set up. The LBZ is a great motor, but mileage is not as good as the LB7 or the LLY. Next is the LMM with all the emissions stuff, also very powerful and quiet, just poor mileage with emmisions equipment. I have a 04 with a LB7, can get 21 mpg if I keep it under 70, faster then that it falls off quickly. If I had my way I would find a nice low mileage 06-07 with the LBZ, if you drive one you will know why. Most poeple do not need lower then 3.73 gears in a diesel, it kills you highway mileage goint to 4.10.

Maint is not bad on the dmax. You have to change fuel filters every 15k for sure. Winter months in cold climates, I have had people gel up the filters in 1k miles. You have to make sure you get your fuel from a higher volume gas station that does not try to skimp by on summer blends of fuel in the winter. The other common problem with the allison is the trans cooler lines leak at the front cooler. Not that big of deal unless they blow off completely.

tx911,
Great comparison.. thank you. That is a lot of good straight forward info.
I have been heading toward an 06 because of the trans, didnt realize there was a better engine there.
Are the 3.73 and 4.10 the only ratios available in the Dmax?

I think most all you will see is the 3.73(which I have) and the 4.10's....we pull a lot of weight with our race rig and the 3.73 works great...would not want the 4.10....we never had the overheating that i heard about on the 05's....the TSB fix was a air intake change at the turbo. Now my truck already had a aftermarket box filter when I got it, but my son stays on what's the hot set up on these things....he had me order a air inlet for a kodiak, less restrictive, had to mod to work with my air intake system but works great...can feel a small increase in power and they say helps milage as well....have not driven enough to test yet.....oh by the I don't see 90% trucks being dodges out there....well maybe sitting on there lots...

My 2005 has the LLY engine. The only problem I have run into was this summer the service engine light came on and I noticed it was down on power. Scanned it and found it was a bad boost pressure sensor. Dealer installed a new one at no charge. It was under warranty since it is part of the emission system.

Other than that, no problems at all. As for maintenance, not much more than a gas vehicle. I change the fuel filter/water separator every 15K. The Duramax holds 10 quarts of oil. I also try to get my gas at stations with a fair amount of diesel traffic and always add Diesel Kleen to the fuel. Use the white bottle during the winter months (prevents gelling). Seems to work fine for me. Always starts with the first crank and runs very smooth with great power.

http://www.powerservice.com/dk/

As someone mentioned, the grade braking feature in the Allison is nice. When in tow mode and slowing down (on the brakes) the transmission automatically down shifts. That diesel engine really helps slow things down.

I am going to test drive a new '09 today. If they meet my numbers I will buy it. Alot of $$$, but Merry Xmas to me!

I NEED TO SELL PARTS!!!!!!! ANYONE NEED A DEAL??:eek:

oh by the I don't see 90% trucks being dodges out there....well maybe sitting on there lots...

Im the midwest,, i live close to indiana where most of the cargo trailers are built..i see that most of the people moving the new trailers are dodge trucks,i see a few chevy's pulling them to but mostly dodge's..

just my o2!

because they are a cheap disposable truck....same reason 99.9% of fleet semi trucks are freightliners...cheap to buy and cheaply made..

Let us know what you decide to buy! I would think right now the dealers would give some pretty hansom rebates and things to move trucks.

Something I forgot to mention...

When I was comparing Chevy, Ford and Dodge back in 2005 I also looked at turning radius. These crew cabs have a long wheel base and I didn't want to feel like I was driving a friggin' bus. Back in 2005 the Chevy had the tightest turning radius by a pretty significant amount if I recall. Not sure how they compare now. Makes a difference working in tight spaces.

as far as I know the 3.73 and 4.10 are only options. I think the 4.10 is a special order generally, but really think twice about going for it, most do not need it. If you drive a 06 or a 07 classic with hte LBZ you will be impressed. As far as fuel additives are concerned, I think it is a good idea. Any diesel truck made before 07 was designed to run on Low Sulfer Deisel(LSD), when they went to Ultra low sulfer diesel(ULSD), the process to remove the sulfer destroyed the lubricity of the diesel. Next time you go to get diesel look at the groung around the pump, when i was a Kid the ground was a big oil slick at the diesel pump, well it is not like that any longer. So I feel the need to add that back, the best product out there is opti-lube XDP. A group of guys on Diesel Place (a forum like this one) all pitched in to test lubricity products, and this one beat them all hands down. Your truck will run quieter too. I like the new body style, and the LMM seems to be a god motor, but I know that mileage is way down due to the active regeneration for the Particulate Filter and because of the EGR.

tx911,
Good point on the ULSD. Regarding the additive testing, do you know if they tested Diesel Kleen or do you have a link? Thanks.:drink:

open the pdf on this page

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=178848

Fixx
 

Owning a auto repair shop,, i repair more fords then chevys compared to dodge's.. By all means I'm a chevy guy but the last few years on the chevy i have replaces several dash cluster's,FWD encoder motors, on the rear end the backing plates rust out which cause the emergency brake shoes to rattle, you can count on replacing the rear rotors at every brake job,driver side window switch goes out then you have to reprogram the bcm to tell it theirs a new switch installed..i have one customer on several occasions had a service FWD appear in the dash display..Im not knocking chevy but here's some of the problems i had to deal with..As for dodge their built pretty tough, the only issues with the dodges is the front axle and drive shaft ujoint's will need to be replaced between 60,000-70,000 miles but that's it!

just my o2~ :)

well from all the guys I have talked to and on the diesel truck forums, the cummins engine is great, but unless you get their manual trans, GFL....there auto's have been and still are pretty much junk...and if you do any power adders it's a quick death. all those dodges you see pulling trailers, bet if you look they are mostly manuals...sorry want no part of a manual at this point...

I have a late model DMAX (06 LBZ) that is my tow vehicle/daily driver, and I love that truck. It replaced a 1500 Avalanche and even though I liked my Avalanche-I LOVE MY DMAX. Go drive one.......

Mr Fixxall

Are you refering to chevy trucks in general, or to diesel trucks? I know the 1/2 ton gas motors have a dash issue covered under a special policy from GM, I think until 70k or 100k, but I have not heard this on the diesel trucks. Laso on the rear ends, I dont know about the 1/2 tons, but the rear end in the Chavy 3/4 ton up is the same AAM axle that dodge uses too and is generally thought to be the best axle going, even better then the dana 60/70 axle.

Well Elite,
are you driving a new truck?? Merry Christmas to you, I hope!!
I am loving this thread, learning more than I did in high school!! I will have to wait till I get some money together, but I have a good idea what I want. The Dmax seems like the one that wants me!! I think an 06 will be close to the budget, by the time I get some saved, maybe the price will come down.. :)

Dick