Keep 6.6 gasser or move down to 3.0 Duramax?

BuckWallace · January 12

Alright y'all, I need some advice here. Back in 2023 I sold my trusty 2010 Tundra and bought a new 2024 Sierra AT4 3500 with the 6.6 L8T gas engine. We had just bought a larger trailer and needed the extra payload. Our trailer isn't super huge (27', 6500lbs) and we only tow 5-6 trips per year, but it has a higher tongue weight for a trailer that size and by the time we loaded our family and gear in the bed we were well over the Tundra's payload. At the time I was still working from home full time and we always drove our Highlander if we went anywhere as a family, so the huge, gas guzzling truck wasn't a concern.

My company forced us back into the office last year and I'm now commuting 3x per week (about 50 miles round trip) and the fuel costs are starting to get to me. That, coupled with the relatively unpleasant ride of the 3500, is causing me to conisder selling it and getting into a 3.0 diesel. The payload on an Elevation diesel will be enough if we load carefully and I calculated the fuel savings to be about $1200/yr (even considering the average cost for diesel in my area). Between trading my gasser in or selling it and buying an Elevation diesel, I'll be pocketing about $6-10k and getting a brand new truck (albeit a lesser trim than I have now, but I don't really care).

All that said, my gasser hasn't given me any real issues and I know it will likely be less of a headache in the long run vs a modern diesel. Am I crazy for wanting to get back into a half ton?

rjgvt · January 12

You’re crazy! Just kidding. Is there a reason for the 3500HD over the 2500HD? I have a cap on mine and it sits about 1k pounds over curb weight with 2 of us in the truck. With 60psi in front and rear, it rides pretty good. I’m retired and it’s my only vehicle. It doesn’t keep me from going where ever. Truck will be 2 years old next week and have just under 26k miles.

Your trailer tongue weight should be between 10% to 15%, 650 lbs to 975 lbs. Well within the specs of a 2500HD. My tongue weight is rated at 1600 lbs and max towing at 16k lbs for a bumper pull. Registration here is by GVWR. If I had max towing package or a 3500, it would cost me more.

Diesel here is more than gas plus DEF costs.

Edited January 12 by rjgvt

BuckWallace · January 12

1 hour ago, rjgvt said:

You’re crazy! Just kidding. Is there a reason for the 3500HD over the 2500HD? I have a cap on mine and it sits about 1k pounds over curb weight with 2 of us in the truck. With 60psi in front and rear, it rides pretty good. I’m retired and it’s my only vehicle. It doesn’t keep me from going where ever. Truck will be 2 years old next week and have just under 26k miles.

Your trailer tongue weight should be between 10% to 15%, 650 lbs to 975 lbs. Well within the specs of a 2500HD. My tongue weight is rated at 1600 lbs and max towing at 16k lbs for a bumper pull. Registration here is by GVWR. If I had max towing package or a 3500, it would cost me more.

Diesel here is more than gas plus DEF costs.

When I test drove HDs I couldn't tell much of a difference between the 2500 and 3500, so I just went with the 3500 since it wasn't much more (also no difference in registration in my state). Honestly, the ride really isn't that bad unless the roads are bad. I also recently upgraded to monotube shocks, which definitely provide a more "compliant" feel, especially over bigger bumps.

Edited January 12 by BuckWallace

Another JR · January 12

There is definitely a difference in rear spring stiffness. With the truck empty, you mainly notice it going over large bumps like speed bumps where the 3500’s second stage leaf comes into play. There have been some threads describing the spring differences.

The springs could be changed over for way less than you’d lose switching trucks. You also could just remove the third stage springs, but that wouldn’t improve the ride when empty.

Personally I would not want to tow a 6500 lb travel trailer with a half ton. I’m sure it can pull it fine, but handling characteristics, stability in windy conditions, and control in hard braking would all suffer. Plus I just like having plenty of payload margin rather than being maxed out and forced to use a weight distribution hitch.

Edited January 12 by Another JR

dieselfan1 · January 12

No brainer if it were me.

Keep the truck you have.

Your probably going to run out of payload on the 1/2 ton just like your Tundra.

150 miles a week commuting is not even worth talking about.

Epsilon Plus · January 12

Get a commuter turd-mobile. If not, great deals on the 2.7 Turdbromax. Brother in law gets 26 combined in his commuting and with 430tq and a turbo it won't have any extra difficulty moving 7,000 lbs than the DEF laden mini diesel.

Towing with a half ton is going to suck because of the chassis and brakes, not really the engine choices. All of them can move 7,000lbs.

Registration costs, taxes, insurance differences, DEF....etc might narrow down your fuel savings if you really did some precise math. I'm not trading my badass HD for a fragile half ton & going through all the swap hassle for $100/mo, but that's just me.

KARNUT · January 12

I agree with the last post. Honda, Toyota and Mazda have great reputations for over 100K reliability. Drive the truck once a month until you need it. The car the rest.

Atlas · January 12

The headwinds here are transaction costs of swapping trucks, potential 3.0 reliability issues, and you're swapping a 3500 for a 1500 but still intending to pull a 7k trailer.

Don't get me wrong, I love the way my 3.0 pulls, and it does get really good MPG, but fuel economy wasn't a primary goal of mine.

You'd be an excellent candidate for a used EV, if you're able to install a Level 2 charger at home. And keep the 3500 for your towing needs. We have an EV for commuting and we'll probably never NOT own an EV again.

I'm also of the camp that 150 miles per week is not much. But what happens if you change jobs or get pulled in 5x per week. There are probably a lot of ways you could cut expenses around the home if you're feeling a pinch keeping your 3500 fed so it can run back and forth to work. But I hear you on it's not comfortable for a commute. That's where a disposable EV comes into the picture for us.

Edited January 12 by Atlas

XY74 · January 12

100% agree on the get a beater for commuting idea. I live in the rust belt and have long used a winter beater, the thought of my new truck covered in salt makes me ill. Different reason than yours, but same result. Keep the miles off the family vacation specialist and put them on something cheap to operate.

newdude · January 12

15 hours ago, BuckWallace said:

Alright y'all, I need some advice here. Back in 2023 I sold my trusty 2010 Tundra and bought a new 2024 Sierra AT4 3500 with the 6.6 L8T gas engine. We had just bought a larger trailer and needed the extra payload. Our trailer isn't super huge (27', 6500lbs) and we only tow 5-6 trips per year, but it has a higher tongue weight for a trailer that size and by the time we loaded our family and gear in the bed we were well over the Tundra's payload. At the time I was still working from home full time and we always drove our Highlander if we went anywhere as a family, so the huge, gas guzzling truck wasn't a concern.

All that said, my gasser hasn't given me any real issues and I know it will likely be less of a headache in the long run vs a modern diesel. Am I crazy for wanting to get back into a half ton?

Have you actually looked at the trailer door sticker on an Elevation diesel to see the "as built" payload its rated for? Not just the online website numbers. The numbers on the GMC site or the GM Order Guide don't actually tell the full, as equipped and optioned, on the ground built truck payload. If you were over on a Tundra, a 3.0 Duramax 1500 won't be much better if better at all.

The best payload on a 1500 GMC would be a 2.7 Turbomax in Pro configuration, but you can step to SLE or Elevation and still probably be in the 1800-1900lbs payload range.

IMO, a cheapo commuter car sounds like the best move perhaps?

Here's an SLE crew 6ft.6in: 1521lbs payload, 8700lbs towing, 870lbs max tongue. GM calculates at 10% trailer weight for the tongue rating.

Here's an AT4 crew: 1385lbs payload, 8800lbs towing, 880lbs max tongue. GM calculates at 10% trailer weight for the tongue rating.

Pryme · January 12

Keep HD get cheap step and fetch car. Thats what I do. I daily drive my 21 Corolla. Non hybrid and I still avg 35mpg. If it’s just freeway I get 40-42mgp and with my 3 peak snowflake tires I hook up fantastic in the snow it’s a non issue.

Chuck FB · January 12

I would have a hard time giving up an HD truck now that you have one and go back to a 1/2 ton, one of my neighbours has a conventional RV trailer which is around 26 or so feet I believe but its empty weight according to the sticker he said is 7200, add in water and camping gear and who knows where it ends up being in that scenario, more than likely over 8000 anyway but he had never physically weighed the trailer. So he was pulling it with a 2008 3/4 crew cab standard box 6.6 duramax with no weight distributing hitch and life was good. Then he bought a 22.5 GM 1/2 ton with the 3.0 duramax and its an elevation trim with crew cab and the short 5.5 or whatever they are box and his has the max tow package which includes the 3.73 axle ( and if the coolers etc are different I don't have that answer ). That was a wakeup call though as per the vast difference in total vehicle heft and stability and tire ply etc and now he runs a weight distribution hitch and he put timbrens on it as it just wasn't able to carry the hitch weight even with the distributing hitch. He said it seems fine and has ok power but when anything is off such as getting a certain amount of side wind, then he said its a stressful drive as the truck weight just isn't there and the suspension is softer and the tires allow for more sway ( of course 10 ply tires could be put on it ). Like he said, it works but have to watch what one is doing in less than ideal conditions. Oh and he bought the 1/2 ton used and the one thing he assumed and just failed to pick up on is that a truck like the 1/2 ton elevation with the max tow does NOT have low range. That part about the GM half tons rubs me the wrong way, in my mind a 4x4 truck should always have low range.

I agree with what some others are saying that it might not be an all bad idea in the bigger picture to have a ****** box ... er, I mean a nice economical car or small suv and get a lot of use out of that if you would prefer not to rack up the miles on the truck and get better fuel mileage etc.

As to the ride of an HD truck, I've mentioned before on this forum that my truck being a gas but optioned up fairly well so its not a light weight truck at around 7700 lb out the factory, even with the bak flip cover and rubber mat and some tools etc and spare gas in the back I can still run 40 psi front and 35 rear and still be within safe tire to weight limits. No, that won't help your fuel mileage but it sure mellows out the slight imperfections in the road. Temporarily you could try running lower pressures ( yes the tpms will pop up every time you start the truck ! ) and make your drive more pleasant for the time being until you decide on another mode of transportation to/from work.

BuckWallace · January 12

3 hours ago, newdude said:

Have you actually looked at the trailer door sticker on an Elevation diesel to see the "as built" payload its rated for? Not just the online website numbers. The numbers on the GMC site or the GM Order Guide don't actually tell the full, as equipped and optioned, on the ground built truck payload. If you were over on a Tundra, a 3.0 Duramax 1500 won't be much better if better at all.

The best payload on a 1500 GMC would be a 2.7 Turbomax in Pro configuration, but you can step to SLE or Elevation and still probably be in the 1800-1900lbs payload range.

IMO, a cheapo commuter car sounds like the best move perhaps?

Here's an SLE crew 6ft.6in: 1521lbs payload, 8700lbs towing, 870lbs max tongue. GM calculates at 10% trailer weight for the tongue rating.

Here's an AT4 crew: 1385lbs payload, 8800lbs towing, 880lbs max tongue.  GM calculates at 10% trailer weight for the tongue rating.

Yes, the specific Elevation I checked has a payload of 1,631, which I was pleasantly surprised with. My 2010 Tundra's payload was about 1,300, so the Elevation would definitely have given us some more capacity.

Overall, I can totally see myself regretting getting rid of the L8T. It's so relatively simple compared to all the engines in the modern half tons and I'm sure it'll give me much more peace of mind in the future.

I did run numbers on the initial cost + insurance - fuel savings and it would take me a fair amount of time to break even on getting a cheap (even sub $5k) commuter car. There's also the consideration of added mileage and wear-and-tear on the truck if I'm commuting in it, but I'm not super worried about that.

AndrewF · January 12

2 hours ago, BuckWallace said:

Yes, the specific Elevation I checked has a payload of 1,631, which I was pleasantly surprised with. My 2010 Tundra's payload was about 1,300, so the Elevation would definitely have given us some more capacity.

Overall, I can totally see myself regretting getting rid of the L8T. It's so relatively simple compared to all the engines in the modern half tons and I'm sure it'll give me much more peace of mind in the future.

I did run numbers on the initial cost + insurance - fuel savings and it would take me a fair amount of time to break even on getting a cheap (even sub $5k) commuter car. There's also the consideration of added mileage and wear-and-tear on the truck if I'm commuting in it, but I'm not super worried about that.

Another vote for the commuter car and/or keeping the L8T since you already have it.

Side comment but that tundra only had a 1300 lb payload? That’s pretty useless for a truck especially when subtracting out occupant weight. I think I’ve had more weight in my beater Corolla lol

Edited January 12 by AndrewF

Pryme · January 12

24 minutes ago, AndrewF said:

Another vote for the commuter car and/or keeping the L8T since you already have it.

Side comment but that tundra only had a 1300 lb payload? That’s pretty useless for a truck especially when subtracting out occupant weight. I think I’ve had more weight in my beater Corolla lol

Yeah my 16 tundra double cab sr5 4wd had like 1,370