New To Me Tow Rig!

[animalguy]

Here is what I picked up last week. 2002 2500HD 48K miles, 8.1/allison, 285's. Traded my powerstroker in on it.

 

 

 

With the trailer

 

[s-ten]

Sweet truck. The 8.1 and Allison is a great combo, nice color as well.

[04silverado1500]

very nice looking truck! looks like a good combo coming down the road aswell i bet it will handle that load with ease. what is your initial thoughts on driving it compared to the powerstroke. any reasons for getting rid of the ford

[2000DV4.8]

VERY nice! How does the 8.1 compare to the Powerstroke?

[pwall]

Nice truck! and trailer too!

[animalguy]

Well I can't really make an honest comparison to the stroker yet. I've only made a 30 mile round trip pull on realitively flat ground to take the trailer in for warranty work. Unloaded, I love everything but the fuel comsumption.

 

That being said my first thoughts are; the acceleration isn't nearly that of the diesel while coming up the freeway on ramps, but still not too bad. Secondly, the acceleration from 50-70ish is FLAT, very FLAT, to the point of thinking maybe I need to go find a dmax. The ride quality is a little better while towing, but not what I was hoping for, then again this particular stretch of freeway is very bad, the concrete joints really bounce hard. Maybe some different shocks would help? The PO still has the OEM shocks on it. As far as the lack of power I am truly suprised, a friend has an '05 with the 6.0 and he could run right with my diesel for the most part, so when the 8.1 dogged on me I was shocked. It looks like this truck hasn't been used much for towing, the receiver and trailer plug show little signs of use, so maybe it needs a few miles to "seat it for towing", but being a used truck I doubt that is it.

 

On the good side, this truck doesn't "work" me as much to drive. I didn't realize how much I fought the steering or how uncomfortable the seats on the Ford were until I drove this truck. This truck is MUCH, MUCH easier to maneuver. Backing up the trailer in my tight driveway is cake with this truck, maybe because its shorter, maybe because GMC's steering system doesn't suck like Ford's. Even with my stock tires on the Ford I couldn't turn the wheels unless moving (dealer said that was normal), that sucked for backing a trailer. Another item I'll put in the positive column is hopefully maintenance costs will be lower (both scheduled and repair), the stroker was killing me with costs.

 

I decided to get rid of the Ford for a few reasons. The biggest was I wanted a crew cab, I have a baby on the way and the Supercab Ford I had was going to be a huge pain with a car seat. Next was I felt the clutch slip a few times when towing($1600 parts and labor). On the last few trips the turbo was surging, many said it was bad, but normal, but mine had never done that in all the time I owned it (since new in '99) and it was getting worse quickly. A quick pricing of turbo options left me with $2000 in parts alone for a new turbo. On the last trip the cruise control started sticking in the on position and almost caused a very bad wreck with the TT in tow. And the powersteering pump started howling. Basically I saw quite a few repair bills coming in short order. Plus my wife absolutely loathed the Ford and it was painful to watch her try to drive it. She loves the GMC and drives it more than me...wait that should be in the negative list!

 

I suppose the biggest difference could be that my stroker had a multi-position chip and I used to tow with it on the +80HP setting, which put me aprox 325HP/600+ torque, so its not really an apples to apples comparison.

 

At first I felt screwed by the dealer, they gave $14,000 for my trade and sold me this ride for $20,500 but I really don't know, the dealer said it was a smokin deal, but I'm still not warm to it yet. But it accomplished what I wanted, a crew cab and a vehicle the wife can drive when I need a spell off when traveling.

 

I am going on a trip in a few weeks where I will get a mix of 6-7% grades and flat highway for about 1000 miles. That will be my real decision maker. If it's still a dog I'll probably be saving my pennies for a dmax.

 

Going into the deal I expected poor fuel mileage and much less power in comparision to the diesel. Give me a few weeks then I'll tell you if I'm happy with the deal.

[grdavenport]

I'm taking delivery of a 2001 Suburban with 8.1 tomorrow. I'll be very interested to see what you get for mileage. I'll be towing a 4K# Caprice on an open trailer, totaling about 5,000#.

[1999 Tahoe 4x4]

You got yourself quite a combination of dreams.

 

BTW: Thanks for sharing your experiences with the GM and with the Ford.

[cerbomark]

Nice truck. Give it some time to adjust, all vehicles have different strong and weak points. Good luck.

[1999 Tahoe 4x4]

On a second note; I was surprised about your experienced flat acelleration around 55. I never drove an 8.1, but I really thought the 8.1 was a bull. I'm a bit disappointed now. But I still want one! I heard they stoped production of that engine. I hope they will bring it back.

 

I share your driving experiences with the Ford. At my work we have a fleet of over 130 Fords and Lincolns. I drove a few of the early modell Excurisons; at 70mph I could hardly keep it in my lane, at 55mph I once almost lost control of the vehicle in a light curve going over railroad tracks. That Ford truck sure handles like a sponge.

 

But as far as maintenance (other than Transmission and A/C-relays problems until Model 2001) we never had any other problems with the Fords/Lincolns. And that in ten years and 130 vehicles, each going about 200.000 miles in 4 years before sold/replaced.