Top Speed

MikeNH · December 9, 2016

I still don't believe the whole drive shaft thing. My 92 is as long as my 14 was. That truck has always been a weekend warrior from the original owner to now with me. It can be tuned to over 600HP with a pulley and race gas. It has the original driveshaft. The first owner did test and tune often. The second owner a friend of the first hauled motorcycles to shows. Five years ago when I bought it I took it to Baytown with a mild tune and ran 12s on street tires. If we have to be concerned about driveshafts now that alone will keep me away from the brand. I'd be curious to see if the police Tahoe has a different driveshaft. Tire ratings fine, driveshafts no.

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If you don't believe it, hit YouTube and watch dyno pulls go badly.

KARNUT · December 9, 2016

If you don't believe it, hit YouTube and watch dyno pulls go badly.

Thats just fine, I can remember cruising from New Jersey to California in my dads 55 Buick at 120 MPH on interstate 10. The speed limit read 00. I remember being passed often by other cars. Full sized GMs and Fords a few Chryslers one of my earliest memories from the sixties. No Z rated tires or speed limiters. Shame driveshaft technology went backwards.

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Driver72 · December 9, 2016

I still don't believe the whole drive shaft thing. My 92 is as long as my 14 was. That truck has always been a weekend warrior from the original owner to now with me. It can be tuned to over 600HP with a pulley and race gas. It has the original driveshaft. The first owner did test and tune often. The second owner a friend of the first hauled motorcycles to shows. Five years ago when I bought it I took it to Baytown with a mild tune and ran 12s on street tires. If we have to be concerned about driveshafts now that alone will keep me away from the brand. I'd be curious to see if the police Tahoe has a different driveshaft. Tire ratings fine, driveshafts no.

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I agree. As I've mentioned before I've owned lots of cars, but never a new GM product before, until this Sierra.

I got it because I wanted the big V8, and not a turbo 6 in the Ford, or another Ram (though I liked the Ram a lot, just didn't want to get basically the exact same truck I had 3 years ago, since Ram hasn't changed the truck since 2013).

And don't get me wrong, I like the Sierra, but there's several things that GM should be on the ball with and more on par with (at least the Ram's).

But I would find it really hard to believe that GM would offer a big V8 with the power and torque it has in a 4x4 designed to pull up to 10,000 pounds (though realistically anybody pulling 10,000 lbs on a regular basis gets a 3/4 ton truck) and has the ability to go off road over mild rocks and so forth would have a driveshaft not over engineered and strong enough to not only take a few drag strip launches but spin at 105 mph safely when every other truck manufacturer does so, and even GM did in it's 2014 trucks and the Yukon goes 112 mph top speed.

Again, I don't plan on hot rodding this truck like it's a sports car, though I'm a fast car guy and have owned and will own more fast cars, but to not be able to go to the drag strip in a STOCK truck and reach the 1/4 mile mark without the rev limiter kicking in is lame (mag tests have this truck doing 14.0 @ 99 mph, which tells me, they hit the soft limiter at 97 and it eased up to 99 mph by the end.

The trucks BEFORE they got the 8 speed had times of like 14.1-14.2 @ 99-100 mph.

So again, with the closer ratio 8 speed, which has .4 second faster times to 90 mph should be able to do high 13's @ 101 mph stock.

I only have 475 miles on the truck, but i've already done one highway pass of an 18 wheeler, where I hit the soft 97 mph limiter before I even had a chance to go all the way around him. The truck goes from 70 to 97 pretty quickly, then eases up to 99 mph.

It did it with EASE. These trucks should be able to go to at least 108 safely, matching the Ram's (and I believe the F-150's too).

But as you said, if I have to be concerned about a driveshaft in a 4x4 truck, and their future trucks are limited to 99 mph, it's will give me serious pause in getting another. GM just needs to get with the program on that and a few other things...like the MyLink, which is many steps below the UConnect in speed, function and ease of use. Dodge's current UConnect came out in 2013 I believe. 3-4 years later, GM should have caught up by now, considering they are a MUCH bigger company, but then again, I heard of the CUE system in Cadillac's and the frustration with them for years and apparently it still sucks. so maybe GM just isn't that strong in the technology side of things.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent a bit guys. I do like this truck a lot and when I have to get on it a bit, she moves out pretty well for a 5,550 lbs piece of machinery. Nothing like a V8 in a truck, as it should be.

8secpumpgas · December 13, 2016

Yes the 98mph limiter sucks, mine cuts off about 60-100 ft before the 1/4. 2016 crew cab 4x4 6.2 8speed with 22's ran 13.86 at 98. My old mans 2015 Silverado with 20's ran 13.73 at 98 in good weather. Both trucks stock