Best years of Suburban/Yukon XL 2500 4x4

Mac5005 said:
7.4 w/ 4.10 ftw if towing >3500lbs. Under and the 5.7 is great and will go 350k miles easily. Both are great.

Downfalls are FPR on 7.4, interior door handles and door hinge pins are consumable items.

Mostly Block off 7.4 egr and drill a 1/8” hole in block off plate, reattach egr tube.
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Injectors, FPR, dizzy gear wear, and a piss poor tune are the big downfalls for the Vortec 454; but easily remedied.
Doors pins, door handles, and assorted paint flaking off are GMT400 consumables across the board.

I've got a 1996 K2500 pickup with the 454 and I love it (despite it being a little bit of a clunker right now) but I would like to own a 454 Burb at some point for the sake of owning one for a little while. I owned a K1500 Suburban and that thing was a tank, 350/4L60E. Would've kept it had it been a K2500,

If one could get hands on a good Suburban for a bargain I'd jump on it. Or even shell out for an exemplary unit; these days the OBS Chevys are starting to get to collectors status; not sure how to feel about tbh.
 
Heaviest towing I plan on is my Jeep and our 23' bay boat, which both cases would be maybe twice a year. Long term plan is to buy a bigger boat, in the 8500lb range, but again towing it would be maybe twice a year and I would add bags and a trans cooler with fan before I did that. I think a 350 would suit me just fine until it blows and it gets swapped.
Plan is to not sell.
 
orange150 said:
What are y'all's thoughts on the GMT400 2500 burbs? Specifically '95 and up (for the updated interior)
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For me the 5.7 left a lot to be desired so I would only look for the 7.4
 
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orange150 said:
Heaviest towing I plan on is my Jeep and our 23' bay boat, which both cases would be maybe twice a year. Long term plan is to buy a bigger boat, in the 8500lb range, but again towing it would be maybe twice a year and I would add bags and a trans cooler with fan before I did that. I think a 350 would suit me just fine until it blows and it gets swapped.
Plan is to not sell.
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The 454 will play with that, mine will run like a scalded dog since it's got a little bit of tuning done and a Magnaflow muffler but I'm fighting some transmission issues right now that shut the fun down. Going to get it fixed and add headers, I'd like to cam swap someday but since everything is going to be pulled and rebuilt at some point the effort may be pointless.
I've got Firestone Ride-Rites on it now and a massive trans cooler to swap in; don't know how I ever towed without bags!

A 350 will work, it might struggle some if left stock but a tune and exhaust system will help it out immensely.
 
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