the wanderer

Excessive indulgence belongs to the boomer generation, especially when talking about trucks and houses. Millenials simply cannot afford to be excessive in anything (when it comes to money and purchases). Who do you think is buying chromed out Denalis with all that bling? It's not 20 to 30 year olds, they're still living with their parents. As for tech; yes they are more techy, they grew up with it and it doesn't scare them.

...definitely; because we all know millenials are just loaded and have money to burn; oh wait, those are boomers.

Ram has the leaking back window too. Somewhere I read that it's actually the same window manufacturer that is supplying the windows to Ram and GM. Not sure how true it is, but I'm on both this forum and several Ram forums and we get the leaks too unfortunately. Mine is scheduled to go in for service shortly for this exact issue. When did you rent said hemi, back in 1980? Because my Ram manual (2019) says: every 100K miles, or 10 years, whatever comes sooner. That said I agree the interior in GM needs some attention, mainly the upper trims. The Ram suspension rocks, dunno why you want leafs but everyone agrees Rams ride the best with either coil or air. They are a tad tricky-ish to setup when towing, more susceptible to bounce if the trailer tongue weight/ratio isn't dialed in properly. Toyota is moving to coil suspension as well.

We have the lifter failure in our Ram Hemi's too. For us, the strategy appears to be: run Redline 5w-30 oil with high amounts of moly, then send used oil off to Blackstone for an analysis. They tell you how much life is left in the oil, and also the amounts of wear metals (iron/copper/aluminum etc) that is inside your oil so hopefully if your lifters are on the way out then that should show up in the report before it happens. One theory why this is happening (to the hemi); high idle hours, cop cars etc sit their and idle and with that usage you need to change the oil every 2 to 4 weeks, which isn't going to happen with a cop car. Second theory which might apply to your 5.3 as well since you have a similar lifter setup; dirty oil gets into the needle bearings and seizes them, preventing the lifter from rolling on the cam. Eventually the lifter takes out the cam, it just grinds the lobe flat over time. If this is the case, a very high quality oil filter from Royal Purple or Wix can help, as well as a high quality oil with good cleaning detergents in it, and of course change the oil on time. So we are running a thicker oil, Redline 5w-30 is almost as thick as some other 5w-40's. But the hemi originally called for a 30 weight, previous manuals state 30 can be used when 20 is not available. This voids our warranty of course if they find out, since Redline does not meet the spec (or rather, they didn't pay to get their oil certified). I don't know what I would run in your case, but I would definitely do the used oil analysis as well as lower oil change intervals for some peace of mind.

I asked this before but nobody has given me an answer yet What are the RPMs sitting at if you are towing at, say, 65 MPH?

I guess that depends on where you live, but where I live diesel is always a fair bit cheaper except for those minor dips in gas price where diesel might be more for a bit (diesel prices are slower to react, both up and down, than gas)

I guess that depends on where you live, but where I live diesel is always a fair bit cheaper except for those minor dips in gas price where diesel might be more for a bit (diesel prices are slower to react, both up and down, than gas)

I guess that depends on where you live, but where I live diesel is always a fair bit cheaper except for those minor dips in gas price where diesel might be more for a bit (diesel prices are slower to react, both up and down, than gas)

The difference is deceptively large. 10 mpg vs 13 mpg is a 30% difference. I for one would love to save 30% on my gas bill while towing.

I get what you're suggesting here, but "insurance", "maintenance", and "operating cost" would be there regardless of him getting another new truck or keeping the current one. I do agree though; it may seem attractive up front, but even with crazy good used prices I don't think the math works in our favour especially if you plan to get another truck where they're not going to do much for incentives.

Stupid question, but can you not do a half yard at a time?

This is why I stick with chrome bumpers on trucks.

So my memory was wrong, my bad. The 6.2 is still quite a bit faster than the 3.0, but the first second or two does seem to favour the diesel. They both have 460 lb/ft of torque, the diesel hits peak torque quite fast whereas the 6.2 needs to build rpms (which is what gives the 3.0 its initial jump), but once the 6.2 hits the higher revs, well, its 420 hp vs 277, we kind of know how that's going to end up. The 3.0 also seems to beat the 5.3 in both off the line and 0 to 60. Definitely learned something new today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS_VxHdiYHg

I'm going to need some videos as proof for that I've watched enough TFL truck comparisons with the diesel vs 5.3 and/or 6.2 and even the 5.3 is faster (though my memory may be wrong). In any case, the 6.2 should be walking all over the diesel at any speed. Those tests were done at elevation too where the diesel has an advantage. The 6.2 was the fastest truck they tested short of raptor and TRX.

I misread your original post, I thought you said the "majority of my driving is 2 miles" but you wrote "majority of my towing is miles". That definitely changes things but I'd still avoid any diesel if you do mainly very short trips, towing or not.

Not a chance. Modern diesels do not like short trips, definitely not 2 miles, I cannot think of a worse use case for a modern diesel then turning it on and off within 2 miles each and every time. Even gas won't do well with that but it will handle it better. Long runs? Hauling loads? That's perfect. 2 miles is diesel abuse.

He is also talking about keeping his truck(s) 5 to 10 years. If he gets a diesel and drives it 95% of the time for a 2 mile trip, he is guaranteed to have issues.

Diesel's are not built for 2 mile runs. I would get the 6.2, you don't drive enough to worry about gas savings considering you just need 1 out of warranty expense on the diesel to kiss your savings permanently goodbye. And the 2.7 isn't a bad idea either, you only do it twice, and in the mountains it should perform well due to turbo and lots of low end torque.

HP/Torque ratings on an engine are measured at one spot; where it makes the most/peak HP, and where it makes the most/peak torque. For the 4.3, its: 285 hp @ 5300 RPM 305 lb ft @ 3900 RPM When you're truck is running at 3000 rpms, it's not making 285 HP, it's making far less, about 170 HP. Notice in graph below how peak torque hits about 3900? At 1500 rpms, the 4.3 is at 240 lb ft. At 1500 rpms, the 2.7 is at peak torque, 348, and it's pretty much flat all the way there to redline. Which means, the 4.3 is making only 68% of the torque the 2.7 is, at 1500 rpms. https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2013/Jun/0619-silverado-v6-fe.html

It's a great summary but it's missing torque curves, which would show why the turbo feels so much stronger than the 4.3 and in some situations even the 5.3. An engine produces power outside of "peak hp" or "peak torque", somehow that never comes up in these discussions, but peak power figures only tell a fraction of the story. So the 14% difference in torque is only when both are at peak; the difference will probably be closer to 30% or 40% when you compare both engines running at (say) 1500 rpms.

Anyone want to guess the amount in millions just sitting there?

You didn't watch the video I posted. That's ok, I didn't expect you too. But why are you comparing the 2 engines in two different trucks, that is completely illogical. The 2.7 is 380 pounds lighter than the 4.3 according to GM. It makes more power, more torque, and it does it at a far lower RPM (which means the effect of feeling that power is even stronger - do torque curves mean anything to you at all?) All while getting much better MPG. The difference is quite large.

Here is a great and honest comparison of the 2.7 vs 4.3 and 5.3.

There are certain FACTS about the 2.7 and 4.3; it out performs it in towing, 0 to 60, general driving (less downshifts required), and better MPG (except perhaps better MPG while towing). Those are facts. What is not a fact or not yet proven, is whether the 2.7 is more reliable than the 4.3, but for that only time will tell. I'm not sure why you're having trouble understanding my position. It's one thing to remain open minded or neutral about an engine, based on specs and reviews, until you've driven it and/or owned it (which is where I am). It's a completely different thing to trash it or write it off based only on specs, without having driven it or owned it (which is where you are). There are not enough user reports to form an opinion the reliability of the engine. Reviewers have towed with the 2.7 and actually preferred it over the 5.3 simply due to the abundance of torque down low. In a pure 0 to 60 the 5.3 will win, but most people live below 3000 rpms and the 2.7 makes more power than even the 5.3 in normal driving. Only when the 5.3 winds up does it make more power. Your 4.3 doesn't stand a chance. My point is not that the 2.7 is the worlds greatest engine and that the 4.3 is crap (that's not my viewpoint at all), it's about being open minded and willing to give an engine the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.