Help buying new truck

JimCost2014 · November 13, 2019

22 minutes ago, davester said:

Well, it's cuz the fat hips the dually has, makes parking more of a hassle, residential streets with parking on both sides, stuff like that.

And never, ever let your wife/girlfriend drive it anywhere except for an empty parking lot, almost 100 % guarantee fenders will be missing otherwise.

Donstar · November 13, 2019

6 hours ago, Lfod1836 said:

I currently have a 2016 1500 LTZ/Z71, 5.3. I tow a Jayco 28 ft. (6500 lbs loaded) TT The truck struggles to maintain 60 mph (flat land)

I agree that a 2500/3500 is a good choice if regularly hauling a substantial trailer. However, I believe your current truck should do better than you describe. Perhaps you have a 3.08 gear ratio?

ShotgunZ71 · November 13, 2019

My 2020 Silverado 2500HD pulled my 9500lb TT great and returned around 8.5 mpg. Now, it tows my 42', 14,300lb 5th wheel and does fine with that as well. I'm around 7.5 mpg towing that, vs the 8.5 towing the TT. Not too bad for that much more camper. I have the new 6.6 gas engine, also.

Jh8473 · November 13, 2019

Buy a ZR2

Lfod1836 · November 14, 2019

1 hour ago, Donstar said:

Perhaps you have a 3.08 gear ratio?

GU6 code in glove box = 3.42. I think that was the only option with the 8 speed transmission.

redwngr · November 14, 2019

18 minutes ago, Lfod1836 said:

GU6 code in glove box = 3.42. I think that was the only option with the 8 speed transmission.

fwiw, with the 8 speed, 3.23 was the standard rear end, 3.42 was what came with the NHT (Max tow)

Lfod1836 · November 14, 2019

10 minutes ago, redwngr said:

fwiw, with the 8 speed, 3.23 was the standard rear end, 3.42 was what came with the NHT (Max tow)

Hmmm interesting. maybe it also came with Z71 package? I don't think i have max tow. But I know It's 3.42 diff.

powerhaulic · November 14, 2019

I had a '17 NHT maxtow 6.2, pulled 8800# TT, NY to FL couple times a year. Did the job well and was a blast to drive when not towing too.

Traded for a 2500 Duramax Denali, it didn't even know that trailer was back there.

Then traded for a fifth wheel........had to air bag and increase tire load ratings........

Now traded for 2020 3500 AT4, It has a nicer ride than the '18 Denali did......

Catch where this story is going..........go drive a 3500

redwngr · November 14, 2019

3 hours ago, Lfod1836 said:

Hmmm interesting. maybe it also came with Z71 package? I don't think i have max tow. But I know It's 3.42 diff.

Max tow will have NHT code on the glovebox label.

Does the truck have tow mirrors?

Lfod1836 · November 14, 2019

8 hours ago, powerhaulic said:

I had a '17 NHT maxtow 6.2, pulled 8800# TT, NY to FL couple times a year. Did the job well and was a blast to drive when not towing too.

Traded for a 2500 Duramax Denali, it didn't even know that trailer was back there.

Then traded for a fifth wheel........had to air bag and increase tire load ratings........

Now traded for 2020 3500 AT4, It has a nicer ride than the '18 Denali did......

Catch where this story is going..........go drive a 3500

Nice!! This is exactly what I was hoping to hear. You obviously did not regret going up to the Duramax 2500 even though you had a more capable truck for pulling than mine with that max tow 6.2l. I plan on test driving a 3500 very soon.

Thanks!

Lfod1836 · November 14, 2019

6 hours ago, redwngr said:

Max tow will have NHT code on the glovebox label.

Does the truck have tow mirrors?

It did not come with tow mirrors, I added them later. NHT is not one of the codes in the glove box. But GU6 is on the list which is the 3.43 diff. So it must have also come with another package other than max tow.

GM RPO Codes – Factory Identification Labels and Interpretation

RPO Code	Description	Ratio
GU3	Axle Rear	2.93
GU4	Axle Rear	3.08
GU5	Axle Rear	3.23
GU6	Axle Rear	3.42

SkidooSteve12 · November 14, 2019

14 hours ago, Donstar said:

I agree that a 2500/3500 is a good choice if regularly hauling a substantial trailer. However, I believe your current truck should do better than you describe. Perhaps you have a 3.08 gear ratio?

I agree. I pulled my 28' camper with my 2013 1500 LT with 5.3L and it would run as fast as I was comfortable going down the highway. I added air bags to the truck when we had a big pop-up camper and really liked having the air bags on the truck. They weren't really that necessary with the 28' camper and weight distributing hitch and sway bar. Towing in the summer was easy, it was towing in the winter with my new 29' long aluminum snowmobile trailer that make me upgrade to a 2020 2500HD with the 6.6L gas engine. I only tow in Michigan, so no mountain passes, but it is a very capable truck and rides great as a daily driver HD truck. I never got that great of gas mileage with my old '13 1500 anyways, so my new HD's mpg isn't that much of a difference and I only drive it around 12-14K miles a year.

Donstar · November 14, 2019

1 hour ago, SkidooSteve12 said:

I agree. I pulled my 28' camper with my 2013 1500 LT with 5.3L and it would run as fast as I was comfortable going down the highway. I added air bags to the truck when we had a big pop-up camper and really liked having the air bags on the truck. They weren't really that necessary with the 28' camper and weight distributing hitch and sway bar. Towing in the summer was easy, it was towing in the winter with my new 29' long aluminum snowmobile trailer that make me upgrade to a 2020 2500HD with the 6.6L gas engine. I only tow in Michigan, so no mountain passes, but it is a very capable truck and rides great as a daily driver HD truck. I never got that great of gas mileage with my old '13 1500 anyways, so my new HD's mpg isn't that much of a difference and I only drive it around 12-14K miles a year.

I would/do pull a 6500lb trailer through the mountains with my 4.3 V6. My current trailer is shorter than Op's but about as heavy when fully loaded. I will not intentionally drive an overloaded truck and trailer combination but there are very few configurations in the 1500 lineup that would be overloaded with a properly attached 6500 lb. travel trailer. I would love to buy/drive a 2020 GMC 3500 as a daily driver if affordability wasn't an issue! 95% of the time I'd use it to haul around my 18lb Pomeranian cross looking like I was about to pull something heavy!

Chevyguy85 · November 14, 2019

18 hours ago, Lfod1836 said:

Ok... Explain this because It will be a Daily driver..

The other issues others didn't mention is if you get a SRW you'll more than likely get the short bed (for some reason people love that thing) vs a dually that will come with the nice 8ft bed. Longer truck means bigger turn radius. If the truck has the tow mirrors on it then the mirrors stick out farther than the fenders. Makes it easy to know if the butt will fit when driving through something, mirrors hit butt will most likely hit. DD a dually is no where near the scary proposition that seems to be said over and over on the internet, especially this forum. If you cant' drive a SRW then you can't drive a dually either. As far as the 2500 vs 3500 SRW unless something has changed on the new ones the difference in empty ride quality is negligible. 3500 SRW is basically just a 2500 with an overload leaf when ride quality is concerned. Previous years used to have a couple differences but none that really did anything to the ride.

Lfod1836 · November 15, 2019

9 hours ago, Chevyguy85 said:

The other issues others didn't mention is if you get a SRW you'll more than likely get the short bed (for some reason people love that thing) vs a dually that will come with the nice 8ft bed. Longer truck means bigger turn radius. If the truck has the tow mirrors on it then the mirrors stick out farther than the fenders. Makes it easy to know if the butt will fit when driving through something, mirrors hit butt will most likely hit. DD a dually is no where near the scary proposition that seems to be said over and over on the internet, especially this forum. If you cant' drive a SRW then you can't drive a dually either. As far as the 2500 vs 3500 SRW unless something has changed on the new ones the difference in empty ride quality is negligible. 3500 SRW is basically just a 2500 with an overload leaf when ride quality is concerned. Previous years used to have a couple differences but none that really did anything to the ride.

Good info thanks, It really looks like it makes more sense to look at the 3500 SRW due to more capability and negligible price and ride quality difference.

Edited November 15, 2019 by Lfod1836