Best years for used Duramax?

We are towing with our 2005 3500 2wd dually. It drives and runs like the day we drove it out of the chev in Tempe Az Dec 14th 2004.

chevman

06 is largely considered to be the best. If I remember right an 05 LLY can be tuned to be the EXACT same thing. I had an 06 for 6 wonderful years. I had a few things come up (maybe even more than most folks) but still think it was by far the best truck I ever owned. I mainly sold because at 150K miles and ticking up quickly as my daily driver/company truck, I needed something that wasn't going to cost me too much moving forward. My brakes, water pump, alternator, starter, injectors, turbo, head gasket and pretty much everything else were original and I felt I was living on borrowed time for something expensive. Being a company truck there were also some pretty good tax incentives for me to get a new truck.

Check out www.dieselplace.com for more specific info. They are GREAT trucks if you can find one :)

I have the 2006 LBZ and WOULD NOT give it up. I've had many offer's To sell. I have 164,000 miles and have done normal stuff and glow plugs. Good Luck!

I agree with KD, when talking used the LLY or LBZ are, IMO, GM's best Duramax.

The LB7 Duramax from 2001 to 2004.5 had injector problems. GM ended up offering an extended warranty on the injectors. I think it was around 200,000 miles or 10 years. To make matters worse the injectors are hard to get to and require partially disassembling the engine.
The LLY Duramax from 2004.5 to 2005 had relatively few problems. Some claim they overheat but I have one with 205,000 miles on it that does not so I don't know how much to believe that claim.
The LBZ Duramax from 2006 to 2007.5 came with the 6 speed Allison instead of the 5 speed. It also had increased HP and no DPF or DEF. These are considered the best of the best Duramax. If you find one you better buy it because it won't be for sale for long.
The 2007.5 to 2010 LMM was basically reliable and trouble free. It gained the DPF. The 2011 - 2015 Duramax LML has also been pretty reliable and trouble free. The Bosch CP4 injection pump has given some issues but GM has tended to fix them under warranty. The same pump is used on the 6.7 Ford with similar issues but Ford seems to blame the problem on the customer and not repair under warranty.

We tow with a 2006 2500HD LBZ and love it. When we bought it from a private owner we were told, not by her, that it was the best they ever made. We bought it 3 years ago with 32K on it and it is now almost to 90K, most of it towing our Keystone Everest back and forth across the country, up and down both coasts and into the Canadian Maritimes. We've only had one annoyance, the turbo crossover pipe came apart several times and it has now been fixed thanks to a TSB from GM. We run Michelin LTX MS2 tires and are on our second set. Did I say we love it?

Good luck! Bob