Towing with a 5.3?

Congrats!

The air ride light on my Town Car is always on. I swapped the air ride for coil springs (single best mod for my car ever btw)...

May want to see if yours is now running standard suspension. (Sorry, not sure about the architecture of the Subs air ride)

If it has been swapped you can easily fix the light. If it hasn't and you still have air ride it could be something simple or something really expensive. You just need to do some tinkering.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Well, it is mine. Not as clean as I had hoped, but it will serve its purpose, and with a little TLC, shoudl be a pretty good winter driver.

Already had to change the MAF air sensor. The back wiper does not work, and the wire to the rear defroster is off (that is a terrible design - I have rented burbs with less than 300 miles and they were already popped off).

Going to clean the carpets pretty soon, rent an ozone machine and see if I can get rid of some of the odor. Probably will take it to a local mechanic to have all the fluids changed and the wiper & defrost fixed.

One last thing. The "service suspension" light comes on when I start it. Any insight on what that might mean? It seems to ride fine. I already pulled a buddies boat around 60 miles with it, and moved my boat out of the garage and back in today. The rear doesn't sag. Is the light worth checking out?

Here is a photo with my Malibu.

Bionic Man wrote:
Well, I put a deposit down on a 2003 2500 with the 8.1. It is a black, two owner LT, has autoride, sunroof, leather, looks to be pretty well loaded. I will see it on Wednesday (out of state). Hopefully everything goes well and will be taking it home.

If it turns out to be more truck than we want, I am confident that I can flip it and not lose any $.

EXCELLENT choice, we fool around withe 8.1L engines in boats and they are a BRUTE!

The Suburban is a heavy vehicle even when empty.

I would bet the "power to weight" ratio is the reason Cadillac uses much larger engines in their Escalade versions of the Suburban.

I suspect you will be very happy with your highly sought-after vehicle which should deliver excellent resale value when the time comes.

Plus you benefit from the heavier components aft of the basically "LS" big block.

Congrats!

We have a 2002 8.1 big block 2500 avalanche at our dealership with 94k. Fun little bugger, drives smooth, and has nonstop power. cars.com/kbexpressautos

Well, I put a deposit down on a 2003 2500 with the 8.1. It is a black, two owner LT, has autoride, sunroof, leather, looks to be pretty well loaded. I will see it on Wednesday (out of state). Hopefully everything goes well and will be taking it home.

If it turns out to be more truck than we want, I am confident that I can flip it and not lose any $.

I see. Well, I'd guess the 8.1 is pretty bulletproof, even with higher miles. The 6.0 also seems to be a durable motor. If you want a 2500, I wouldn't shy away from the 6.0.

I wouldn't see any reason to go with the '07+ new body style Suburban unless you can get the 6 spd.

Our '05 was a great vehicle. Perfectly reliable (only repair was a mid-steering shaft that developed a pop), very comfortable and versatile vehicle. Sold it w/ about 130k miles, working perfectly; the only real reasons being that 1) I had driven my dad's '10 Sierra 1500 for a week and really became enamored with the performance of the newer drivetrain; 2) my wife wanted something a little newer and fancier, and 3) we wanted the middle row captains chairs, as we were tired of kids climbing over the middle row bench to get to the back.

Good luck!

Thanks Ty. I don't pull the boat with the Grand Cherokee. I use my 3500, but may need something if towing tandem doesn't work out.

I can get into an 2003-2005 model year 8.1 for around $10k. The 2007 + with the new body style seem to be at least $7k more expensive, and still have the same miles. I haven't even looked at 09 +.

Trying to keep this one on a budget. It will not be a primary vehicle.

A 5.3 Suburban, particularly with 4.10 gears, will tow that boat just fine. Especially if you're coming from a Grand Cherokee, it would be a significant upgrade. Personally, I'd think the 8.1 or Excursion V10 is overkill, but it gives you room to expand, I suppose ...

But I will say the 6 spd in the '09 and later is a significant improvement. I don't know what 8.1 Suburbans are going for, but I would think for what you'll spend to track down an 8.1 2500, you might be able to find an '09 1500 ready to go.

Good luck!

Think I have decided to go away from the 5.3. Found a couple interesting 8.1s, but they are not anywhere close to me. Trying to figure out which I am most interested in.

Not sure how it will go buying a 10 + year old, 100,000 + mile vehicle that is 1000 miles away. Lots of pictures and hope the seller is honest when I ask questions I guess.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for the tip. I don't need something right now but don't want to wait a couple months either.

We will see what happens. That was a good price. Thanks for the tip.