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Another 1500 or 2500hd thread?


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New member here. I currently have an 02 2500hd extended cab 4x4 flatbed with 6.0l and 4.10. 100% work truck with sprayer and pallet of fertilizer on back. Also pulls 300 gallon of water and 2 ride on sprayers. I also have an 08 1500 extended cab 4x4 with 5.3 and 3.73. Backup work truck, family, errands, hunting, etc. I'm going to sell the 08 and get a crew cab. I definitely want a 6.5 ft bed. I'm struggling between 1500 crew 4x4 with 5.3 and 3.42 and the 6.0 with 4.10.

 

Truck will make 1-2 trips a year with 4 atv's to colorado. 10-20 20-100 mile trips a year with spraying trailer or kubota l3400 tractor and implements Another half a dozen random trips with others boats, campers, car hauler, hay, pumpkins, etc. It will also serve as primary family vehicle. We will be driving to Ontario next week for a week long fishing trip. So comfort and mpg do factor into the equation. I wish they still offered the 6.0 and 3.73. What kind of actual mileage are people getting out of the 6.0/4.10/4x4? What about the 5.3/3.42/3x4? The advertised 22mpg seems crazy?

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I have about 3,000 miles on my 2016 6.0/4.10 Crew Cab. Most of my driving is short trips, 5 to 10 miles in a rural setting. I'm averaging 12 MPG lifetime. I have briefly touched 17 MPG for a consecutive 25 miles on a rural road trip, but the minute you have to stop, accelerate, or idle that number is tanked in a hurry.

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I also take a lot of short trips around town when I'm not towing. I average 11-13, less in the winter.

 

Towing I average a lot less....

 

When I had my 1500, I was getting in high teens around town. Definitely a lot different.

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I'd say the 2500 with all that you tow. It's better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it. I recently made that mistake and bought a 15 halfton with the max tow package. It was rated to tow 12k pounds and I still ended up trading it for an HD because it wasn't enough. Save yourself the headache and buy the HD. Just food for thought though.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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My 2015 2500 6.0L Z71 Double Cab 4.10 with snow plow prep has averaged 14 mpg for the 23,000 miles on it. On road trips, I have gotten as high as 18. All of this is highly subjective to the weather, terrain, and the driver. I am not as aggressive a driver and many others are. I drive my pickup pretty much like I drive my semi truck. Gradual take offs, and I always am looking way up ahead so that when I see something coming up or light or stop sign, I am slowing down well before I get there to minimize braking. Time it right and I don't even have to stop before the traffic light changes green again. I let everyone else race to the next one. I don't drive 55 everywhere, but I generally stay a little slower than the prevailing traffic and that avoids a lot of accordion affect of speeding up / slowing down all that time that happens when folks are drafting each other. That eats fuel like crazy.

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With all of the towing and hauling you do, I'd recommend the 2500HD. Don't worry about the 4:10's. Their MPG is no worse than the 3:73's, but they run better. Even with 4:10's, the engine is still loafing along at highway speeds because of the 6 speed transmission. I only tow/haul a few times a month, but my next truck will be a 2500HD. It's a lot more truck for the money.

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With all of the towing and hauling you do, I'd recommend the 2500HD. Don't worry about the 4:10's. Their MPG is no worse than the 3:73's, but they run better. Even with 4:10's, the engine is still loafing along at highway speeds because of the 6 speed transmission. I only tow/haul a few times a month, but my next truck will be a 2500HD. It's a lot more truck for the money.

 

 

I have yet to find a vehicle with 4.10 that I didn't like. From my 1968 Camaro I had once on up thru my '98 2500 to my present 2015 2500. I can pull off some very good mpg's even with 4.10. Once one goes 4.10, they will never go back to taller ratios.

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I have yet to find a vehicle with 4.10 that I didn't like. From my 1968 Camaro I had once on up thru my '98 2500 to my present 2015 2500. I can pull off some very good mpg's even with 4.10. Once one goes 4.10, they will never go back to taller ratios.

I agree. It's a good ratio, unless you spend most of your time cruising at 80-85 mph. Might be a bit thirsty at that point. For most uses though, it's a great compromise of good pulling power and acceleration...while still being able to hold the top gear on the highway. My buddy even had an older generation 1500 with the 5.3 and 4:10's (and the 4-speed)...and it felt much more snappy than most 5.3's...and got better MPG than the 3:42 geared truck I had at the time because it didn't downshift from 4th to 3rd every time someone sneezed, haha.

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Here is another reason to go HD in a GMC product. All the 2500 and 3500 models are built in the good old USA by union workers in Flint , Michigan or Ft Wayne Indiana making a living wage. Go for a 1500 and have a good chance getting a truck that starts with "3" in the Vin and you get a vehicle built in Mexico by workers making

poor wages.

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That "union built in the USA" really doesn't sell with me as much as it used to. My 2013 Freightliner, two plants that build that model, one in NC the other in MX. Mine was built in NC. Dealer didn't tell me at the time of the order, they were keeping their fingers crossed it would be built in MX, as they almost always have problems with ones built in NC. True to form, it took the dealer 2 weeks to fix problems with NC factory build before I got the truck. Parts missing, parts not installed properly, etc. I quickly pulled the small union built sticker off the lower driver side window and tossed it. Now I know why there are some lay offs going on now at that plant. Obviously, that doesn't suggest that all automotive plants are bad, they are not. I have had two pickups from the Ft. Wayne plant and they have done a great job with both of them. But the UAW definitely tarnished itself with the NC plant. And I have hauled a LOT of freight into the Ford KC plant in Claycomo, MO. Watching those guys do stuff... I am not impressed with them either.

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What is more important to me than a union sticker is a company that shares some of it's profits with it's employees to the point where they have enough buying power to actually purchase some of the products they make.

Having a middle class with buying power is what made the US and Canada great countries. Closing Plants in the US and Canada and opening new ones in Mexico does not excite me. I feel better buying a vehicle built by workers making a living wage, union or not. A few years back my parents did a bus tour in Mexico and when they drove past a new automotive plant, the driver told them that the legal fruit pickers in California made higher wages than the employees building vehicles in that new plant and that is a shame.

I am real happy with the fit and finish on my 16 High Country built in the Union plant in Flint, Michigan.Every bit as good as my Japanese built 2015 Mazda 3 so American Union workers can compete with the rest of the world and they have to if we want to keep our standard of living. I have worked Union all my life and proud of the work I do as a millwright or industrial mechanic. One bad Union worker can tarnish the reputation of a 100 good ones and the one mistake that Unions make is protecting the incompetent but that is changing.

I enjoy your posts, Cowpie but that turtle is hard to look at LOL.

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One factoid that most people don't factor in, it is the jungle of govt regulation across the spectrum that causes many businesses to go off shore. It's a minefield that costs businesses. It is a major factor why I won't expand my business. I have enough trouble wading thru the snake pit of regulatory nonsense. Last thing I need is to expand and invite more govt snakes in the pit. It is rarely a matter of cost of labor alone.

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