Duramax Or 6.0l For Light Towing?

[gwhite]

Hi I am new to th forum and was wondering what you guys thought the best truck to get would be. I am buying a business and will be needing to tow a 14' or 16' cargo trailor with about 1000 to 1500lbs of cargo, so the total wieght should be around 4000lbs. Ill have to tow it about 500 miles a week. I dont live in the mountains or anything so dont have to worry about steep grades. Thanks in advance for your help.

[goforit]

If 4000 lbs is about the max you'll be towing I would stick with a 1500 series truck. A 2010 1500 with the 5.3L engine and 6 spd trans is rated to pull over 9000 lbs. The 1500 will also get better mileage and ride better when you're not towing. If you really want the 2500 truck, the 6.0L will be more than capable, and I don't believe the $9k upgrade for a diesel would be justifiable.

[gwhite]

Thanks goforit I should have mentioned that I would be buying used 05 and up so I dont know if that makes a difference. I didnt know if the betterfuel aconomy of the duramax would make up for the difference in price.

[Big black truck]

The 5.3 will be your best bet. It will get close to 18mpg empty and won't do too bad towing. There is mis-information about diesel mileage and towing. They do not get the 13-20 mpg towing. A diesel can get great unloaded miles, but towing they go to pieces. I have owned 7 diesels and am speaking from experience. Just 2 days ago, my partner was pulling a dump trailer with john deere skid inside and averaged 5.7 mpg. After seeing the consumption on his display, we unhooked and hooked up my silverado. I ended up averaging 9.5mpg hand calculated. He drives a 2008 dually duramax.

[dewfpo]

Something to think about if looking for a used diesel..... My concern about buying a used diesel is all the folks that buy programmers and add them to their diesels. They seem as commonplace as canned beer nowadays. They're easy to install and remove and it's almost impossible to tell if a vehicle has had one on. This puts more strain on the engine, trans, and driveline than there were originally designed for. I don't know how much difference that makes but it's pretty much not a issue for gassers. Even chipped a gasser will only make 20-35 more HP than stock and only at very high rpms.

 

DEWFPO

[jro909]

6.0

[r1byker]

The 5.3 will be your best bet. It will get close to 18mpg empty and won't do too bad towing. There is mis-information about diesel mileage and towing. They do not get the 13-20 mpg towing. A diesel can get great unloaded miles, but towing they go to pieces. I have owned 7 diesels and am speaking from experience. Just 2 days ago, my partner was pulling a dump trailer with john deere skid inside and averaged 5.7 mpg. After seeing the consumption on his display, we unhooked and hooked up my silverado. I ended up averaging 9.5mpg hand calculated. He drives a 2008 dually duramax.

 

I just drove from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles towing a 6 x 12 box trailer weighing around five thousand pounds. On the flats going 65, I got 15.5 mpg, according to the DIC. I was pretty pleased because my Suburban with the 5.3 and 3.42 dif would only get 11.5 under the same circumstances. My guess is you'll do fine with the 6.0 but make sure you have the 3.73 dif and the six-speed transmission.

[ATMINF]

The 6.0 gasser should be fine. Since you are looking at a 2005, the good thing is that they have several years on the GMT-800 platform at that ponit, and all the little fixes were already done on the GMT-800 gasser platform at that point. The only issue that I know of from the GMT-800 Duramax are the cooling issues in the 04-05 years. I have a 2006 3/4ton gasser that has been great. The only downside of a 2500HD truck is gas milage. Towing is in the 8-11 mpg, with city being 12-14, and HWY in the 15-16+.

[bluArrow]

6.0L with the Banks Power Pack if you're thinking 3/4 ton. The Power Pack will bump your fuel economy a couple miles per gallon and since the truck is going to be used for a business it's a write off.

Trailer Life magazine did a comparison a few years ago between diesel and gas powered trucks used for towing. All factors considered, the diesel didn't begin to save money until the 100,000 mile mark, and that was when the diesel option was cheaper than it is now.

[Big black truck]

The 5.3 will be your best bet. It will get close to 18mpg empty and won't do too bad towing. There is mis-information about diesel mileage and towing. They do not get the 13-20 mpg towing. A diesel can get great unloaded miles, but towing they go to pieces. I have owned 7 diesels and am speaking from experience. Just 2 days ago, my partner was pulling a dump trailer with john deere skid inside and averaged 5.7 mpg. After seeing the consumption on his display, we unhooked and hooked up my silverado. I ended up averaging 9.5mpg hand calculated. He drives a 2008 dually duramax.

 

I just drove from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles towing a 6 x 12 box trailer weighing around five thousand pounds. On the flats going 65, I got 15.5 mpg, according to the DIC. I was pretty pleased because my Suburban with the 5.3 and 3.42 dif would only get 11.5 under the same circumstances. My guess is you'll do fine with the 6.0 but make sure you have the 3.73 dif and the six-speed transmission.

 

 

Take the 11.5 vs your 15.5. At a 4mpg difference over distance traveled, subtract the cost of fuel from diesel .40c and then figure the difference of cost of a used diesel compared to a used 5.3 ,then unloaded mileage, even if the same, still favors the 5.3 as gas is cheaper....see where I'm going?

Another thing....the DIC always reads more. I have never had a truck or car that is accurate.

[gwhite]

wow thanks for all the responses! I realy am looking at the 2500 6.0 thanks to your imput. I found a 07 2500 single cab 6.0 WT with 34000 miles on it for 10500. ( old body style) I always overdue stuff so thats why I would feel more comfortable with a 3/4 ton. The current business owner drives a f250 powerstroke and my inlaws are in the same business and they drive a f250 and recomended I get a diesel. I gues they should have looked at a chevy

[r1byker]

The 5.3 will be your best bet. It will get close to 18mpg empty and won't do too bad towing. There is mis-information about diesel mileage and towing. They do not get the 13-20 mpg towing. A diesel can get great unloaded miles, but towing they go to pieces. I have owned 7 diesels and am speaking from experience. Just 2 days ago, my partner was pulling a dump trailer with john deere skid inside and averaged 5.7 mpg. After seeing the consumption on his display, we unhooked and hooked up my silverado. I ended up averaging 9.5mpg hand calculated. He drives a 2008 dually duramax.

 

I just drove from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles towing a 6 x 12 box trailer weighing around five thousand pounds. On the flats going 65, I got 15.5 mpg, according to the DIC. I was pretty pleased because my Suburban with the 5.3 and 3.42 dif would only get 11.5 under the same circumstances. My guess is you'll do fine with the 6.0 but make sure you have the 3.73 dif and the six-speed transmission.

 

 

Take the 11.5 vs your 15.5. At a 4mpg difference over distance traveled, subtract the cost of fuel from diesel .40c and then figure the difference of cost of a used diesel compared to a used 5.3 ,then unloaded mileage, even if the same, still favors the 5.3 as gas is cheaper....see where I'm going?

Another thing....the DIC always reads more. I have never had a truck or car that is accurate.

 

 

The only point I was making was that I got better gas mileage in the diesel than in the gas motor. I didn't buy the diesel for it's better mileage; I bought it because of the massive torque; the trans only downshifted once on my drive and that was going up a 6% grade. Also, diesel here is slightly cheaper than regular gas. I would never recommend someone buy a diesel for it's fuel economy because the upfront cost would take too long to get a payback; unless they drove 100,000 mile a year.

[plowtruck]

Ive got a RCLB 2500hd with the 6.0 and I tow my commercial fishing boat that weighs approx 6000lbs and the truck handles it well in fact I can barely wait to pull my dads boat that weighs 13000lbs