Should I keep the truck?

chupe442 · April 6, 2014

Is your 08 2500hd a gasser or diesel? If a gasser, you owe as much or more than what it is worth at $20,000 (trade in).. At 94000 miles, you are close enough to 100000 miles and that really wont make a difference as these things are built to get to +200000 with decent maintenance.

Your giving your truck away and the dealer will be more than happy to help you. That said, you dont need us to tell you what to do. You have an 08 2500hd LTZ. Not sure what you need for more comfort in you daily comute. A new 1/2 ton will be very comfortable and get better mpg for sure. You will have a big payment for a long time.. If that makes you happy, then that is what you need to do..

greg74 · April 6, 2014

Your dad sounds like me. You can't plan for everything, but you can have emergency funds. C/C only use for vaca. House paid off, just paid cash for our new tow vehicle.

Retirement in 84 days. Just depends what you are willing to do and I am at the curmudgeon stage in the mid 60's. Our kids don't understand us some times, though.

My Dad has been debt free for years (we are too) but he takes it a step further. His budget puts money into his truck fund, truck maintenance, etc. He has a household appliance fund and others... He pays (himself) every month into these funds. When he needs to do maintenance, he has the money, when he wants to replace a vehicle, he has the money. When he needs the washing machine fixed or replaced, he has the money. He had a 94 chevy pickup he pulled his travel trailer with, decided back in 2008 that he wanted a new truck. He had put an engine in his 94 in 2007 paid for out of his truck maintenance fund. He paid cash for his new truck (shopped until he found the truck and price he wanted). He has been making car/truck payments to himself since he was in his 20s (he is in his 80s now). It has worked very well for him, he is very disciplined with his finances.

He believes the only one you should be paying interest to is yourself. He understands that it would be hard to buy an house in today's world like that so a home mortgage is ok, as long as you put a big down payment.

I agree with your dad. Just because you can get credit for something, doesn't mean you should go out and spend up to your credit limit. I don't take it to the extremes your dad does but I think having a few thousand in the bank for the unexpected should be the norm instead of so many people I know who wouldn't have enough extra money to replace a dead battery. They think I'm stupid for having a surplus of money in the bank. Truth is, they're the irresponsible ones for spending it all on frivolous things they don't need. I could have bought a newer truck but my 99 more than meets my needs for a truck and I paid cash for it. I could buy a nicer car but my 2004 grand am still runs and drives great and is pretty comfortable and gets great mileage for long trips and is paid for. In this case of buying a new truck over keeping the old one, you have to weigh in how much the current truck is worth, that will greatly affect how much you owe. In the end, its what you feel most comfortable doing. Having a warranty on a new truck is another pro of buying a new one.

Kalabin · April 7, 2014

Is your 08 2500hd a gasser or diesel? If a gasser, you owe as much or more than what it is worth at $20,000 (trade in).. At 94000 miles, you are close enough to 100000 miles and that really wont make a difference as these things are built to get to +200000 with decent maintenance.

Your giving your truck away and the dealer will be more than happy to help you. That said, you dont need us to tell you what to do. You have an 08 2500hd LTZ. Not sure what you need for more comfort in you daily comute. A new 1/2 ton will be very comfortable and get better mpg for sure. You will have a big payment for a long time.. If that makes you happy, then that is what you need to do..

Yeah, the more I look I keep coming back to my current setup. I was just concerned with the reliability aspect of it, and since every one says it should last a lot longer I'm just going to keep it. Figure the money i'll save I can put money into it to make it "mine". I think we all get the case of new truck itis, but every time I look at the half tons with limited payload I always wonder if I'll end up pulling a heavy TT again, and if so I know I wont want the half-ton for that.

And it is a 6.0 Gasser, I have had dodge offer me 22k for trade in on it...... ;)

chupe442 · April 8, 2014

Reliability.... That thing is just breaking in!!!

If towing capacity is your hang up, the 1/2 tons have the capacity that is very close to your 2500hd. My 2011 Sierra has a 9500 tow cap compared to the 10200 my 03 2500hd had.... That said, You have a 2008 Chevy 2500hd that you know. It runs good and you like it.. Put a couple of fun mods on it and drive it til the wheels start falling off or the kids come along and you have to trade in for a van..... LOL!

Glad your not trading for a Dodge!! Have some fun with that bad boy!

Kalabin · April 8, 2014

Reliability.... That thing is just breaking in!!!

If towing capacity is your hang up, the 1/2 tons have the capacity that is very close to your 2500hd. My 2011 Sierra has a 9500 tow cap compared to the 10200 my 03 2500hd had.... That said, You have a 2008 Chevy 2500hd that you know. It runs good and you like it.. Put a couple of fun mods on it and drive it til the wheels start falling off or the kids come along and you have to trade in for a van..... LOL!

Glad your not trading for a Dodge!! Have some fun with that bad boy!

I always thought it was weird how the 3.73 gearing was rated at 9800lbs then step up to 4.10 and it goes to 13,000. Oh well atleast I know if I ever wanted to pull heavy a gear swap could do it. Really the heaviest trailer my wife and I may look into in the future has a GVWR of around 7,000 and a tongue weight of around 800 when loaded. Just, job kinda forced us into not using our toys and sold everything off.

At least if I keep the truck then I will never say I don't have enough truck for anything I would want to do. Payload on this guy is a little north of 3400lbs, I would like to get rid of some of the torque management etc, but not sure if I really trust a tuner for long term use.

chupe442 · April 8, 2014

You will be hard pressed to find any negatives about a Black Bear tune on your truck.. I am getting ready to pull the trigger on one myself.

dirtfan21 · April 8, 2014

You won't believe how nannied these 6.0L HD's are from the factory. My BlackBear tune made this thing come alive! My advice to you is keep it, throw an intake, exhaust, and a BlackBear tune on it and drive it like hell. I even picked up a 1-2 mpg's highway with those exact mods, well if you can keep your foot out of it.

Kalabin · April 11, 2014

You won't believe how nannied these 6.0L HD's are from the factory. My BlackBear tune made this thing come alive! My advice to you is keep it, throw an intake, exhaust, and a BlackBear tune on it and drive it like hell. I even picked up a 1-2 mpg's highway with those exact mods, well if you can keep your foot out of it.

Dirtfan21,

Did you by chance try any other tuners prior to the BlackBear tune? I'm a little hesistant on having to datalog etc, really all I would want is to remove the torque management and tighten up the shift points which a lot of other tuners do now. I was also told on the NBS 6.0 that the exhaust / intake were hard to beat and get very little gains, did you notice anything personally? Or were you going for the tone of the truck.

dirtfan21 · April 11, 2014

I have used a handheld in the past with a different truck, this is the third truck I have had tuned by BlackBear and I would never do anything else. Best bang for the buck of any mod I have ever done. You just can't compare a handheld to an actual custom tune for your truck and for your truck only. Without a tune the an aftermarket intake or exhaust is really just for sound and looks, but with a tune they are worth installing IMO. BlackBear told the the factory air box flows quite well but the factory intake tube is a bit restrictive because of the sound deadening baffles. Problem with our HD trucks is they do not make only the Airaid MIT tube like you can get for the half tons, at least I couldn't find one when I bought my full K&N intake.

If you have questions email Justin from BlackBear and just ask, he is a super cool and very informative guy. I don't really have raw data that I can give you on performance gains I achieved with my mods.