When my GMT400 isn't enough...

[scottydl]

Looks just like mine... and I thought the white exterior/blue leather interior combo was a unicorn!

 

[1989GMCSIERRA]

If you’re dead set on keeping your Burban he only thing to do is add more power. It’s gonna cost money.

1. Take your trailer on a significant weight loss. Tow with ALL the tanks empty. Buy food ice drinks when you get there. It won’t make any difference in price. Get rid of any dead weight on the trailer. You know trailers tend to get porky as time goes on. Carry not what you need. I have a camper trailer too. Only carry what you need.


2. Have yours rebuilt for additional power go pull a 95 and up MPFI system 454 junkyard motor. Swap it in your Suburban along with the better heads and a cam. I would pull the complete drivetrain build it swap it for minimal downtime.

3. Supercharge it.

The problem with all these mods is you’ll gain power but it’s gonna cost you a ton of money. And down time.

3. Personally I would look into getting a diesel. I own two 7.3 diesel fords. They have been impeccably reliable. A good pre DPF Duramax would be a good choice. I don’t endorse Dodge as I had a few for service vehicles and the trucks just don’t hold up from my experience. I’m not trying to start a truck argument just my experience.
By the time you add up all the mods the costs and everything involved...you’re going to be in a lot of money on a vehicle that simply will not keep its value long term or tow like a diesel would.

 

[Kelcey]

Good discussion all. Keep it coming!

I'm not sure I absolutely LOVE this Suburban, but I do like it a lot and physically it's in great shape. I'm the 2nd owner and the original owner babied it, rustproofed and undercoated yearly so it has almost no body rust. Mostly I like the price I paid (under $5000) and the fact that I'd probably get most of that back upon selling, as someone mentioned above. For fun I looked up a few 05-06 Duramax Silverado's, and was pretty happy the first one I saw was priced around $9900... but then I saw it had 301k miles. Haha, no thanks! Any decent miles (100k-150k) bumped the prices to $15k-20k which is more than I'll pay for something that I only tow with a few times per year.

I don't mind checking out some upgrades to my 95's 7.4L, but I've kinda outgrown big roaring exhaust and I have to decide how much is really worth putting into upgrading a sub-$5000 truck with over 115k miles. Googling top end kits was showing prices around $2600-2900 (not including installation)? I couldn't justify that. The Burb IS in really good shape for 25 years old, although maintenance/repairs averaged $1000 annually over the 4 years I've owned it. The more expensive things (tune-up, brakes, suspension parts, fuel pump) shouldn't need to be repeated for years to come since I don't put many miles on it.

Decisions, decisions.

If you can swing the price, a crew cab duramax would be the best vehicle for the job. The power/torque and efficiency is lightyears better than any gas engine. You'll double your fuel mileage will more than double while towing and you can blast through the mountains at 80mph without breaking a sweat. 10k travel trailer is a light load for the newer duramax trucks.

I have owned three duramax powered trucks. One was a 2006 3500 Cab and Chassis Flatbed, I sold it with 420k on the original engine and trans running like a top. Another is my daily, a 2007 Classic 2500hd with 249k miles, original engine, trans, and injectors. Both trucks were/are daily driver and farm trucks. Towing heavy on a weekly basis. I wouldn't let the mileage on a dmax/allison truck bother you as much if the truck is in otherwise good condition. That powertrain is bomb proof and proven to go to extremely high mileage under rough conditions.

 

[scottydl]

How many miles were on your Duramax trucks when purchased? Everything I find that I consider reasonably priced (for a 10-15yo truck) is in the 100k-200k mileage range. Makes me a little nervous since I often have no idea what kind of maintenance they received for all those miles.

 

[Sparkysikes]

My friend has a 95 ram 2500 cummins. He says it like this.

It's a diamond (cummins) wrapped in ****. Rebuilds the steering once every 2 years but hey that tq and mpg are good enough to afford it I guess

 

[scottydl]

I saw a cherry looking diesel Excursion yesterday and it was SWEET. Slightly lifted and super clean. Most of those are early 2000's right? That would be the perfect option, except that it's a Ford and they are even more rare than the 3/4 ton Suburbans.

EDIT: I guess I overestimated the towing capacity of the Excursions... according to Trailer Life Towing guides, the 6.0L and 7.3L Powerstroke diesel options topped out at 11k# towing, which is only 1k more than what I currently have. Not much extra margin there.

 

[Sparkysikes]

But when you tow 11k with them. It's butter! My friends 02 7.3 excursion got 20 plus on the freeway and towed like a Train. Got a legit 11 to 12 towing close to 15k

 

[letitsnow]

Interesting. My '01 7.3 F350 never got better than 15 empty/11 towing. I bought it after reading all of the BS!!!! mpg claims on the forums.

 

[letitsnow]

That was driving like an old lady. Usually it was 12-13 empty... My 97 E350 7.3 was about the same. Other than daily driving, I used both for several trips from MN to the west coast and back.

 

[Sparkysikes]

Computer freeway mpg 20 to 22. When I used my bosses 99 F250 club cab long bed 4x4 manual I got 15.1 to 17 combined mileage.