2500 8.1 Suburban or 7.3 Excursion has all the doors, 4x4, and capacity you are looking for. Equivalent 2500 and 250 Trucks would work too but may be hard to find in a crew cab in good shape in your price range. Don't know until you start narrowing down! Good Luck!

Bought a 7.3 Excursion about a year ago, it's an 02, high miles but love the truck, it's my second 7.3. Couldn't give me any other diesel.
Looked for the right one for a long time, plan on keeping it for a while.
Looked at the 2500 Sub's with the 8.1 but like the Ex better.

I will add to the 7.3 Fan boys here, but one thing to consider with the diesel's, is the increased weight in the sand. If it isn't pretty firm and/or you aren't running some big shoes, you'll sink. None of the big gassers are going to have any MPG advantage over the diesel's, actually the opposite. I think a short box, 4x4 7.3 is likely the best bet. Mild lift, w/ 35's and you should be good to go. It fits in the 12K range as well.

I have a 2001 Suburban 4 X 4 with 3.73 gears, 8.1 engine and 135,000 miles. Love the truck and have pulled 12,000# over 1000 miles with no trouble and 15,000# 10 miles to and from the ramp with no trouble. Put it in 4 wheel drive low and you could pull a house up the ramp. The 8.1 is a thirsty beast averaging 8 to 10 mpg not towing and 7 to 8 towing. Another problem is substandard steel in brake, fuel and trans cooler lines that have all been replaced at 100,000 miles and about 10 years service. I'm told all GM trucks from late 90's to mid 2000's have same problem but still a lot of bang for the buck as a tow vehicle used in short distances.

Thx for the info Sydwayz. I wasn't aware of the different track on the front. Seems kinda odd they leave the factory like that. I'll be dealing with a lot more rock (limestone) than sand. Not sure exactly what a 4L85E tranny is. I know the "E" means elec control but the "5" has me confused. I have a 4L80 in my current.truck and it's been completely trouble free for 230K miles. It is basically a Turbo 400 with OD. Pulled my old boat (abt 9000 lbs) all over the place with it.

I'm still torn between the Avalanche and a truck. Kinda leaning towards a pick-up at this point since I believe it will be a bit more rugged and I really like the Allisons, but if I find a real cream puff it could still go either way.

Definitely need a bed to occasionally haul my motorcycles, move large appliances and etc, so the burbs and excursions are out.

I do all my own maint but never really tore into a diesel. The inj issues on the early Duramaxs really concern me. $7-8k to replace the injs is ridiculous. I could build a stout big block gasser for that kind of money.

The 7.3's definitely have a good rep and considering my price range, that's most likely what I would wind-up with if I got a diesel. The weight of the diesels does concern me a bit due to the issue prev mentioned abt sinking into the soft stuff and also my 2-post lift might not be real happy with all that weight up front.

I have found a couple of 2500HD's with the 8.1L's but they both have lift kits. How much lift is too much for a tow vehicle? I have a 6" drop hitch on my C2500 and it works perfectly. Dropping 12" seems like it would be a bit too much.

Have you considered doing a solid axle swap into the front end of your current truck to make it 4x4? Somewhat popular swap on the 88-98 GM trucks, I did it myself on my 89. If you really like your current truck it's an option, would probably run you $3000-$3500 to do.

http://www.offroadunlimited.com/orus...?idCategory=18

I would not buy one with a lift kit for your purposes. Higher mileage vehicles are going to be "loose" already and the lift kit just makes it worse. If you end up with the lift, swap it back out for stock. You are going to want the smaller tires (no more than a 33" tall) tire to keep the final drive ratio and torque you are investing in a grunt of a truck for.

The axle is wider on the 2500 Avalanche and the 2500 Suburban because they use the same axle as the trucks which was wider/heavier to accommodate the diesel. The back axle is still stout, but narrower. If you look closely, the 2500 Avalanches (only, not the 1500s) have a little extra fender lip on the front.

Also, make sure you are looking at the 2002-2006 Avalanche 2500. 2007 and later is a totally different truck. 2002-2006 had the 8.1L. After that they only had 6.0L I think. Here is a picture of a 2006 with the extra fender lip, Look close and you can see the track difference.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]506218[/ATTACH]

This one was mine back in the day:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]506219[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]506220[/ATTACH]

I bought it new and sold it with 50K miles on it. My BIL and I have had 3 of them between us; two 2500s and one 1500.

If you are used to the utility of your truck, go buy a 2500HD. If you want something a little more domesticated, go with the AV.

I saw where someone mentioned that on a different site. I thought it was a joke.

I checked out the site and only saw conv kits for 1500 series trucks. My truck is a 2500 and the suspension is 3500 series from the factory.

Whoever is quoting you $7-8k to replace injectors on an LB7 is out of their loving mind.

Sounds like the magic 6.0L Powerstroke Ford number.
It's been said on here before: "If you have a 6.0L PSD, keep $8K in the bank because eventually you will need it."

Head gaskets, studs, injectors, labor are in that price range.