Trading to a 6.0 Chevy or GMC?

[MR.CJ-7]

Can anyone give me a little input on this?

I currently have a '99 F350 supercab powerstroke. It pulls good and is paid for, but I'm really wanting the better ride quality the GMC's and Chevy's give. I tow a 30' TT which weighs 7500# on the axles and 800ish# on the tounge. Ususally I put my two ATV's on a truck rack in the bed too.

Over the past weekend I went on a trip with a friend who has an '05 crewcab 6.0 GMC. He has nearly the same trailer. He was able to pull just as fast as my chipped diesel or sometimes faster (I had to keep the EGT's in check) and when we fueled up, he acutally used 4 gallons less in fuel (I didn't have the ATV's this trip).

That made me think why keep the stroker? Sure if I plan on putting 500K miles on it the diesel is the better way to go, but since I bought it new in '99 I only have 80K on it now. Also I need a crewcab since a baby is on the way and the supercab, I think, is just too small.

I hooked his truck to my trailer and went for a test run. It pulled just as good as my stroker(on mostly flat ground), but the ride quality was super! The stroker rides like a one ton truck vs. the GMC that rides like a car.

It may not be a fair apples to apples comparison because I'm running a level kit and 315's vs his stock with 245's, so a tire down size would bring the power back and keep the EGT's in check, as well as some mileage, but the Crewcab and ride quality I can't change.

Long story short; I'm thinking of trading for an '04ish crewcab GMC or chevy 2500HD 6.0 I have to go to the used market because I can't afford to go buy an '07 Dmax/allison (which I would LOVE to do :bow.

Will this be a mistake?

Anybody want to buy a stroker? Depending upon what the salesman says tonight I might be taking offers.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[MR.CJ-7]

Well, for good, bad, or indifferent, I traded for a GMC 8.1/allison gas truck. Goodbye to the stroker!

 

[lewis]

This is a sad story and it depresses me. I used that same powerstroke to tow 25,000 lbs worth of crawlers to moab this past year, I doubt either of those gas truck could hold up to that and got 10 mpg doing it. I have has friends that had that 8.1 and got really bad mpg. At least your butt won't go to sleep and your back won't hurt though I guess.

 

[rjmax]

Well, for good, bad, or indifferent, I traded for a GMC 8.1/allison gas truck. Goodbye to the stroker!

Where are the pics???

 

[MR.CJ-7]

Pics are coming.

I felt the stroker needed to go, toward the end of last winter I was getting smoke at startup I feared a few glowplugs were going out, recently the turbo was making funky (aka not normal) noises under load, the clutch was starting to slip under load, powersteering pump was starting to howl slightly and the tires were bald. Of course the turbo and clutch appeared normal without load, so maybe they were fine, maybe it was about to become a money pit, I don't know.

Basically I just got tired of dealing with a diesel, it seemed I was always dinking with it and I reallllllly wanted a crew cab with an auto trans. Who knows maybe it'll be the worst thing I ever did and I'll be looking into a duramax next year?

 

[bigdave196]

I feel you made a good choice, if your not happy with your vehicle then you will allways be wondering and debating the change in your mind. To be honest, why use the diesel if you dont need to use it.

My father had a '01 2500 Dodge 4X4 X-Cab Long Bed with the Cummings. Needless to say towing a 34' boat trailer with a 23' ski boat, 2 Waverunners, 10 full 5 gallon gas cans, and a dirt bike to Powell with the diesel we got 12-13 mpg and the truck is just chipped. The ride is rough, but hey its a diesel right. The truck pulls good and we were satisfied. When we got to Lake Powell we took the trailer off the '01 and put it on his brand new '07 Dodge 2500 Hemi Crew Cab 4X4. The Hemi pulled the ski boat trailer rather well and the ride was so much more comfortable, but the houseboat trailer that we hooked up to the Cummins would have made the Hemi cry if we would have tried to move it with the '07. Even tho the drive was from Page to the launch ramps at Stateline.

To prove a curious point we left the ski boat/jetski trailer on the '07 and the mpg back to St. George was about 2 mpg lower then the '01 diesel. But like I said the '07 would not have ever been able to get the houseboat out of the water much less up the ramp to the highway.

Just my $.02

 

[Flyerone]

Just beware, all the new emissions stuff is out on the new diesels. If you can find a 07 Classic they will give you a great deal and they dont have the new emissions crap. I just traded my Powerstroke in on a 3500 Crewcab Duramax, It's awesome.

 

[MR.CJ-7]

By request here are the pics

All in all I'm happy with it, but let me just say my first thought when towing was "it's definetly not a diesel!"

I'll probably trade it for a dmax in a few years, but for now it accomplished what I wanted; better ride, bigger cab, and fit my budget.

 

[Kiel]

Your turbo noise probably was turbo surge, which is common for the powerstrokes, a 425 fix with an ats housing. Other then that sounds like maintanence items. I have an 01 ps, and I'm very pleased with it, even though it only gets 13-14 in the city. It's got an intake, exhaust, no chip, 6 inches of lift and 37's with 4.56 gears and I couldn't get it past 1100 egt up spanish fork canyon going 70. I do need the ats housing though but after putting gears in my truck the powerband is right where it should be and it has minimized. Good luck on your new car I mean truck I probably would have gotten the 6.0

 

[MR.CJ-7]

Pretty sure it was surge. I had the early 99 which people said shouldn't surge with the small turbo and different turbo wheel, but it sounded just like surge. I thought about the ATS or doing the 99.5 conversion and putting a different turbo all together on it, but it was still only a supercab truck and I couldn't change that.

I have been fighting with EGTs forever it seems. Even bone stock I could hit 1400 (pre-turbo) up parley's. With my chip if I didn't watch the pyro close I could hit 1600. The dealer never took much stock in it since EGTs wasn't an item monitored from the factory. I checked it under pressure for boost leaks, had the up-pipes done, put a aftermarket intake, put in a bigger intercooler, gutted the EBPV, put a big exhaust on, but still no better.

It probably was just maintenance, but it seemed I was always maintaining the stroker. Do I miss the diesel power? You bet! Had the stroker been a decent ride and a crew cab I would have kept it and kept throwing money at it. For now I'll drive this and save my pennies for a dmax in a few years.

 

[Kiel]

Pretty sure it was surge. I had the early 99 which people said shouldn't surge with the small turbo and different turbo wheel, but it sounded just like surge. I thought about the ATS or doing the 99.5 conversion and putting a different turbo all together on it, but it was still only a supercab truck and I couldn't change that.

I have been fighting with EGTs forever it seems. Even bone stock I could hit 1400 (pre-turbo) up parley's. With my chip if I didn't watch the pyro close I could hit 1600. The dealer never took much stock in it since EGTs wasn't an item monitored from the factory. I checked it under pressure for boost leaks, had the up-pipes done, put a aftermarket intake, put in a bigger intercooler, gutted the EBPV, put a big exhaust on, but still no better.

It probably was just maintenance, but it seemed I was always maintaining the stroker. Do I miss the diesel power? You bet! Had the stroker been a decent ride and a crew cab I would have kept it and kept throwing money at it. For now I'll drive this and save my pennies for a dmax in a few years.

Those new d max sure can make the power for cheap

 

[rjmax]

My nieghbor has the new chipped Dmax quad cab 3500 and he hauled two Polaris Sportsmans on the back and pulled a trailer with 4 more and let me tell you he had no problems with power. He could romp on it and it was like the truck was empty. Lots -O- power!

 

[1\4elliptic toy]

Not sure if you seen my post above about my new D-max/allison, I got an 07 classic everything but leather (which I despise becuse you stick to it) out the door for 34 including tax and licence so I could not pass it up. That 8.1 will treat you right, it is just like my old work truck that I beat up on towing mini excavators/skidder's etc and it always did just fine...congrats, thats a nice looking truck.

 

[MR.CJ-7]

Not sure if you seen my post above about my new D-max/allison, I got an 07 classic everything but leather (which I despise becuse you stick to it) out the door for 34 including tax and licence so I could not pass it up ...

:bow:

I would love that ride, I'll even live with the sticky leather seats! 34 out the door is a good price, just more than I can swing right now

I'll be taking it out to Colorado next week with the TT in tow. I'll see how it does over solider summit.

I was kind of shocked when I pulled the engine hours. It only has 1971 hours on it and 48000 miles. Does that sound low to you guys? I don't think you can reset the engine hour reading, but I don't know Jack about GMC's. If that is true then... 48000/1971= just under an average of 25miles/hour. Maybe the truck hasn't been worked yet and that is why it seems flat in the 50-70 mph range when towing. I guess time will tell.

 

[Floppy Hat]

Saw your truck in the For Sale section??? That didn't last long. You going back to diesel??

 

[MR.CJ-7]

Yep, you know how salesmen go...One called me from his contact list and had a smokin deal on an '07 dmax. Way to good to pass up, unfortunately they couldn't help me on the trade very much. Hopefully I can move it myself