Tow Rig suggestions

ok so you finally say your DDing it... How far ? 5 miles or 60?

I was DDing my PSD 60miles/day, even at 15mpg (DD) 17-18 highway and 14-15 towing.. (calculated over 75k of use) thats a lot of fuel and subsequent mileage just to get from point A to B..

It's hard to ignore the diesel crowd when the argument starts getting to the "you want it' and 'real men drive diesels' level but do the math for your particular situation and your answer will be obvious..

My last C2500 w/ 350 got 15MPG DD ing it and 17mpg highway.. (confirmed with 3x500 mile trips and DD usage) It dropped to 10 while towing, it was a tired dog w/ 190k but still ran well.

my current C2500 w/ 454 - I don't have much seat time, but Its been averaging 12 empty (it has heavy ass work body) I got 12 pulling an empty trailer doing 65-70. That dropped to 10 when I pulled my camper home..

Both my trucks were 3.73 geared, and 4.10s will definitely hurt DD milage..

To summarize, I have no doubt that I could easily make the MPG drop across the board by copious use of the gas pedal. The engine does sound good when its pulling hard... If you drive reasonable you can see better MPG.. And you really need to compare the 3 generations of trucks.. Older carbed w/ NO OD.. TBI trucks w/OD. Newer port injected trucks w/ OD).

The safe answer is go buy a diesel dually. You will gain immediate acceptance from your peers and you will be the envies of all those who don't know any better. In your situation I'd go buy a later model chevy with a 6.0L the numbers are almost inline with the later 454s and will give you more drivability..
 
Honesty I don't drive a whole lot. Over the summer it'll be 20 miles a day tops, and come august and classes start back up, it'll be parked for the majority of the week and then 30 miles on saturdays, tops 10 during the week.


I'm going to call on a diesel suburban today and see about going to take a look at it.
 
Diesel Subs, while cool, the 6.5TD had it's quirks

No hard to work on, but know what you are getting into.

94 and newer use a totally electronically controled injection pump, and they are problematic, the FSD ( Fuel solinoid driver AKA Pump Mounted driver PMD ) is a $300 part, and is a frequent flyer. there is also a resitor in the plug connection that a lot of folks don't know about, can cause issues as well.
Injection pumps and lift pumps are an issue, ASK if and WHEN they have been replaced, ask for dated reciepts ! these are expensive parts, and can be the reason they are selling. ( injection pump rebuild will run in the $900 range for a good rebuild, test) Injectors are not usually an issue, but can be, GLOW PLUGS can cause you a world of grief, if they have been replaced recently, be very skeptical, ask if they kept the old ones, very common to break them off in the head and they fall ingo the combustion cup, where they will eventually fall into cyl and get eaten by a valve, now you have head problems.

THe basic 6.5 engine itself isn't bad, depending on care early in life, thought there are some with factory defects.

I'm not trying to scare you, just go in informed, and some what knowledgable.

Finding someone who can or is willing to work on them can be tough, and costly.

You have a PM
 
To be honest if you are only driving 20 miles or less and you want a New Truck.. I suggest a Chevy with 6.0 Gas engine.

I borrowed a freinds to tow to Tellico and we got 11.5 MPG towing my XJ and we held 50 MPH up Black mountian..

It road awesome had awesome power.. period best Gasser on the market..

but for me I had a small budget and got lucky when I found my 92 CTD.. yes I get 16.6 MPG around city and last time I towed I got 16.4MPG :)

for me I had to gasser tow rigs and they just did nto have the power my CTD has.. I like knowing I can pretty much pull whatever I hook up to it..
 
Not to Hi-Jack or anything but my wife asked me the question this weekend of a camper and if I plan on having her join me on wheeling trips to start planning to get one. I was thinking of getting one of those truck bed campers and towing the Jeep & trailers. The truck would NOT be a daily driver - it doesnt need to be a full 4 door, but at least jump seats - and besides the 1000K mile round trips once or twice a month and at least one trip to the desert and back. Not overly concerned with fuel mileage cause I know it will suck either way. Not to thrilled about a dually - and that being the last option... whatcha think?
 
My advice above also works with a camper on truck..

I also have a bed camper on my dodge CTD and it pulls with no problems
 
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