2024 Silverado 2500 HD with the 6.6 Gas (L8T) Engine

KARNUT · March 23, 2023

Bite my tongue well here’s another Stan story. I’ve always been direct and to the point. Sometimes pretty colorful. I’m from that time period. Probably my last training after purchase for a new customer. This was seven hours away in west Texas. It appeared this costumer was starting a side hustle. Hired a camera crew to shoot a video. Arriving I noticed a way under weight trailer hooked to his truck. The machine is already running he getting ready to load up. I tell him that he’s unsafe. He said his state trooper friend said this is legal. I asked him to shut off the tractor so we could talk. He’s getting heated telling me the customer is always right and his phone rings. He proceeded to load while on the phone going too far forward. Starts yelling at me for not guiding him up. Finally after more back on forth of him being belligerent. I say very loud while backing to my truck where my trusty club is. And to the gasps from the video crew. Go find yourself. He turns off the tractor and says I can’t believe you said that. My follow up is. I will refund you for the tractor, your not worthy. I don’t need costumers like you. You’re choice. I see you have a video crew I’ll make your video, while training you. But I will not follow you there, you’re own your own. If you don’t make it in one hour I’m gone. It got done. Once I left he calls to complain. My nephew tells him that’s never happened before. It must be you. His offer stands until the end of business today.

asilverblazer · March 23, 2023

2 hours ago, nards444 said:

The issue with tow ratings is the manufactures arent standard and they really dont make any sense... Payload is your limiting factor in the whole equation and just about in every scenario you will bust payload before you get to 10k lbs on anything.

There is a standard tow rating formula - SAE J2807.

You're right though that you run will likely run out of payload, axle capacity, GVWR or GCWR before getting a 10k pound trailer behind a half ton truck.

diyer2 · March 23, 2023

Stan, Are you saying the trailer was going to be overloaded?

KARNUT · March 23, 2023

9 minutes ago, diyer2 said:

Stan, Are you saying the trailer was going to be overloaded?

A 14K tractor on a 7K trailer.

nards444 · March 23, 2023

1 hour ago, asilverblazer said:

There is a standard tow rating formula - SAE J2807.

You're right though that you run will likely run out of payload, axle capacity, GVWR or GCWR before getting a 10k pound trailer behind a half ton truck.

correct but last I knew and could have changed in the last few years, not all manufactures were following that formula. Bottom line towing capacity is a component of what the truck can do. But really is a misnomer and manufactures abuse it with advertising.

Most half tons have between a 1500-2500 payload capacity, with most be closer to 2k. When you figure 12-15% for tongue weight and 4 adults in the trucks plus your beer cooler in the truck, half tons just arent getting much being able to tow over 8k at least per specs.

Amcguy1970 · March 23, 2023

19 hours ago, Leonardo Willi said:

All this trailer pulling has me busting up because I just have to share this story about my brother in-law. He's a 12yr Marine vet with a can-do mentality and a good dude.

He lives in Orlando, we're in Ohio. They bought their first new trailer camper up here in Ohio and drove up to tow it home. He hooked this 24' bumper hitch type to one of those Blazer 2's - the unibody job with a 4.3. When they were loaded up to go home, bumper almost dragging, I couldn't control myself and had to go hide I was laughing so hard. First of all, I couldn't believe the place let him hook to it knowing where he was going. Second, I couldn't believe he actually thought this through.

Long story short (and it's hilarious) A week later and 2 transmissions later they made it home.

Today, he's got a Cummins Ram with an even bigger 5th wheel...Eventually he got it right. the same guy who had to hire a wrecker and divers to pull his Blazer and boat still attached out of Okeechobee pissing off everyone wanting to use the ramp for 2 days.

Need some more clarification on this. If it had the 4.3 it wasn't a unibody, that was a full framed SUV built on the S10 chassis. Second, those had a pretty solid towing capacity, somewhere between 5k and 6k with the 4.3. A 24' camping trailer should put it under or close to the max capacity. He may have been a little over but not enough where you can't control yourself laughing. Anything made to tow is done so where a buffer is built in, that shouldn't have killed that truck. The 4.3 and 4L60 combo was pretty stout back then. If it failed it is because it was already on its last legs (maybe lack of maintenance or abuse) and if it failed again right after because it had a lemon of a replacement, not because it was so severely overloaded and it cooks it self in a few hundred miles, not sure where the humor is in that with a string of bad luck, but to each their own if that is funny.

Granted there is tons that go in to this. Was it a 2 door, was it high miles and neglected. Was it modified, did he move his whole life in to it and the trailer was nearly double the weight? Most 24 footers today are around 4-4500lbs, and those years SUV's tended to have springs that sagged especially as they aged, so that just made it look worse than it really was.

we towed a 21ft cuddy cabin boat with a Astron van (same chassis and drive train). It was 3900 dry. so 5k with trailer before anything. We went all around the great lake with a family of 4 with out an issue. That van made it to somewhere north of 200k before we sold it without a major issue, only an alternator. To this day my pops says that is the best vehicle he ever owned. Looking back it was overloaded some (probably about the same as your BIL if he even was), but it took it like a champ. Those were good vehicle, it did sag and eventually replaced it with a 1500 Sierra to tow.

I am paying more and more attention to the 2500 6.6 gassers, I may go that route next time. My only issues are ride versus the half ton and the off road worthiness as we do make back country trips out went in our current full size. Widths are about the same and wheel base with the standard bed shouldn't be much difference. Have some time to decide but I am swaying that way as we tow, have toys and want to go more down that route as we get older.

Tyler

Edited March 23, 2023 by Amcguy1970

Pryme · March 23, 2023

4 hours ago, nards444 said:

correct but last I knew and could have changed in the last few years, not all manufactures were following that formula. Bottom line towing capacity is a component of what the truck can do. But really is a misnomer and manufactures abuse it with advertising.

Most half tons have between a 1500-2500 payload capacity, with most be closer to 2k. When you figure 12-15% for tongue weight and 4 adults in the trucks plus your beer cooler in the truck, half tons just arent getting much being able to tow over 8k at least per specs.

Most half tons are 1300-1600lb payload now days. They have so much crap installed in and on them that that is what they are the last half decade. Only a few unicorn max tow half tons are close or at 2k pounds payload.

your avg crew cab 4wd 1/2er is about 1,400lbs

77xbody · March 24, 2023

6 hours ago, Amcguy1970 said:

Need some more clarification on this. If it had the 4.3 it wasn't a unibody, that was a full framed SUV built on the S10 chassis. Second, those had a pretty solid towing capacity, somewhere between 5k and 6k with the 4.3. A 24' camping trailer should put it under or close to the max capacity. He may have been a little over but not enough where you can't control yourself laughing. Anything made to tow is done so where a buffer is built in, that shouldn't have killed that truck. The 4.3 and 4L60 combo was pretty stout back then. If it failed it is because it was already on its last legs (maybe lack of maintenance or abuse) and if it failed again right after because it had a lemon of a replacement, not because it was so severely overloaded and it cooks it self in a few hundred miles, not sure where the humor is in that with a string of bad luck, but to each their own if that is funny.

Granted there is tons that go in to this. Was it a 2 door, was it high miles and neglected. Was it modified, did he move his whole life in to it and the trailer was nearly double the weight? Most 24 footers today are around 4-4500lbs, and those years SUV's tended to have springs that sagged especially as they aged, so that just made it look worse than it really was.

we towed a 21ft cuddy cabin boat with a Astron van (same chassis and drive train). It was 3900 dry. so 5k with trailer before anything. We went all around the great lake with a family of 4 with out an issue. That van made it to somewhere north of 200k before we sold it without a major issue, only an alternator. To this day my pops says that is the best vehicle he ever owned. Looking back it was overloaded some (probably about the same as your BIL if he even was), but it took it like a champ. Those were good vehicle, it did sag and eventually replaced it with a 1500 Sierra to tow.

I am paying more and more attention to the 2500 6.6 gassers, I may go that route next time. My only issues are ride versus the half ton and the off road worthiness as we do make back country trips out went in our current full size. Widths are about the same and wheel base with the standard bed shouldn't be much difference. Have some time to decide but I am swaying that way as we tow, have toys and want to go more down that route as we get older.

Tyler

My 2001 Astro van was unibody,it was a 4.3 with a 4l60e that I had to replace at 110k.It towed my pop up great but no way I would have towed a 24ft travel trailer with it.

nards444 · March 24, 2023

14 hours ago, Pryme said:

Most half tons are 1300-1600lb payload now days. They have so much crap installed in and on them that that is what they are the last half decade. Only a few unicorn max tow half tons are close or at 2k pounds payload.

your avg crew cab 4wd 1/2er is about 1,400lbs

Correct a lot of them are in that range, without max trailer its pretty easy to get to 1800-2k on a lot of models. But either way payload dictates these trucks are probably in the 6-8k range and not 10-11k

Pryme · March 24, 2023

16 minutes ago, nards444 said:

Correct a lot of them are in that range, without max trailer its pretty easy to get to 1800-2k on a lot of models. But either way payload dictates these trucks are probably in the 6-8k range and not 10-11k

My Tundra was only 1,430. And that was a double cab. The crews are in that 1,300-1,350 range. I looked at all of them when I finally got a 2500. Plus didn’t want all the stuff they are stuffing into half tons

rdonarski · March 24, 2023

I talked to my cousin who just retired as a GMC service manager last year. I asked about the oil consumption. He said that the last 2 years he worked, his service truck was a 6.6L gas. He put a lot of miles on it and also did snowplowing with it. He had no issues with oil consumption. Furthermore, he didn't know of anyone who has had oil issues. He did say that people who use the wrong oil, will have problems. He had two 8.1L GM V8 gas engines in his boat. He used Shell Rotella T oil. One of the engines started using oil. He switched to Amzoil and the problem went away. I've used Amzoil Marine Diesel oil in my skid steer for the last 22 years with no issues. Right after I bought it, I ran into an Amzoil dealer at a fair and asked him what he recommended. He recommended that because it is made for diesel engines that sit for a while w/o use. That fit my skid steer to a T.

Edited March 24, 2023 by rdonarski
Posted on wrong thread

skorpyd · March 26, 2023

As far as oil consumption with the 6.6 gasser it hasn't been an issue for me, except for the time when the oil change garage didn't fully tighten the filter and I noticed a puddle in my driveway. I tow 14k rated trailers regularly sometimes at full capacity and maybe a little extra once in a while. 137,500 on the odometer today. Best truck I've owned and I've owned a lot of them.

Pryme · March 27, 2023

18 minutes ago, skorpyd said:

As far as oil consumption with the 6.6 gasser it hasn't been an issue for me, except for the time when the oil change garage didn't fully tighten the filter and I noticed a puddle in my driveway. I tow 14k rated trailers regularly sometimes at full capacity and maybe a little extra once in a while. 137,500 on the odometer today. Best truck I've owned and I've owned a lot of them.

That’s a great testimonial.

any issues with oil deposits and all that jazz? Or still full power without hesitation?

Ry Guy · March 29, 2023

I called my local dealership this morning and it turns out that they had 2 available allocations for HD trucks. I went ahead and put in an order for a 2024 Silverado HD 3500 with the 6.6L gas. I ordered an LT with the midnight edition package so I could get the new front end without having to step up to an LTZ. The dealer indicated that there might a start restriction on special edition packages such as the midnight edition package, but I'm not in a big rush since I currently have a truck and don't have a commute. The trade-in value for my current truck will play a big role in deciding whether to go through with it when the time comes.

99chevyburb · September 6, 2023

I have a 21 Silverado 2500 with the 6.6 for my company truck and pull a 7k lbs trailer with it everyday and it’s burning about a quart every 1,000 miles, everyone else in the company that has one is complaining of the same problem.