When a Ford and A Chevy could still last 10 years...

[cdlaine]

With respects to the great Mr. Haggard....


Celebrating my first 10 years with the big block (this month)...

may have just been lucky but it has been a great truck ! I hope

to get 10 more years from this one... built to tow.

Well done GM .

woohoo ! (easily amused).


Charles

[1320quick]

cdlaine wrote:
Colorado...

That sure doesn't look like an 11 year old truck... does altitude
living/towing require any special tunings ? When I lived in Colo. Sprgs.
and we travelled to the ski resorts my prior Chevy ran a little rough...
but never did anything about it as I was returning to approx. 6000 ft. (Ft. Carson).

R.D,

Go ahead, show us the pic of your beauty... I too had sticker shock
looking at the 2014's... I'm going to do what it takes to get 10 more
years on my truck.

Really enjoy reading these stories around everyday use trucks and longevity.

Charles

Thanks I really try hard to keep it nice. I have never done any kind of adjustments for the altitude. Clearly the lack of air cause a loss in power but the truck seems to still run very smooth. The EFI and ECM do a great job of compensating for the altitude. I've pulled the 5th wheel over Eisenhower, Fremont, Monument and Kenosha passes so far and I have no problems keeping up with the traffic flow.

[cdlaine]

Colorado...

That sure doesn't look like an 11 year old truck... does altitude
living/towing require any special tunings ? When I lived in Colo. Sprgs.
and we travelled to the ski resorts my prior Chevy ran a little rough...
but never did anything about it as I was returning to approx. 6000 ft. (Ft. Carson).

R.D,

Go ahead, show us the pic of your beauty... I too had sticker shock
looking at the 2014's... I'm going to do what it takes to get 10 more
years on my truck.

Really enjoy reading these stories around everyday use trucks and longevity.

Charles

[Its4mykids]

Love my 1994 w/ 52186 miles. We looked at the new trucks, and really liked them, but I can do a lot with that money when I have a beauty sitting in the garage that does the job just fine and is paid for. Plan on keeping it another 10 years.

[1320quick]

Nice to read all these positive things about GM trucks. I have a 03 2500HD with the 8.1/Allison as well and I sure do like it. It's got just over 40K miles on it. I had a 2500# slide in camper since I bought it and it pulled it fantastic. I was a little concerned about how the gas engine would perform when we upgraded to the 5th wheel last summer since we live in Colorado and do a lot of pulling through the mountains. I have been very impressed how well the big block pulls the 5th wheel. It still looks and rides like new so if I can get another 10 years, that would be fantastic.

[Lessmore]

We had over 180,000 on our '97 Chev Astro with the 4.3 Vortec V6, which as many know is essentially a Chevy 350 V8 with two cylinders cut off.

Towed with it, transported family all over...it put in 10 cold, hard winters...temps go down to 30 to 40 below here...winters last 5-5 1/2 months. All engine needed was one tune up during that time.

I miss it still.

[mkirsch]

I've got two Chevy trucks that are 10+ years old.

One babied and kept in the barn all winter with 39,000.
One driven practically every day that just ticked over 200,000.

[catfishmontana]

45Ricochet wrote:

catfishmontana wrote:

45Ricochet wrote:
I' m embarrassed you guy's with the nice clean bays. She has lived on a gravel road most of her life so I gave up making her look nice.



On edit
OPPS wrong photo of my 5.9 Cummins, let me look for it. Dusty for sure.

Can we see the rest of the boat?

Mostly on the London Bridge area this time of year in Lake Havasu :W

Very nice!

[cdlaine]

happy to tow 12k lbs all over the Rockies for a few weeks this summer, trouble free, ...

That's the ticket ! .... the gas bill... inevitable with this size

guzzler. I *cough* am still trying to learn to embrace the gas station

visit part of the equation (10 years on...). Ha!

Charles

Bill.... awesome photo.

[danojeno]

I wish I could say my 06 8.1 truck was bulletproof, but at only 65k miles, it might take a while to confirm this. I was happy to tow 12k lbs all over the Rockies for a few weeks this summer, trouble free, until I added up the gas bill. Great motor though.

[Volkov]

I don't get the Allison 😞
Have to settle for the 4L85, not a bad tranny but....
No probs there yet.

[cdlaine]

Nicholas...

I've been more worried about the Allison then the 8.1... was
relieved when I had it serviced (routine) and no metal shavings
were on the magnets. Even dropping a grand or two (while painful)
is small taters compared to current market replacement. No signs
to date of fuel pump problems... knock on cast iron.

Charles

[Volkov]

Love my 8.1 too, no replacement for it in the Burb/Yukon XL so I hope to keep her going for a while.
2004 150k km's/90k miles. Hasn't been trouble free, but almost all of that has been electronic/electric. Finally got shot in its achilles heel though and waiting for the new fuel pump, plus almost $2k of other things to fix her up fully. My wife was shocked, but it should last a while and sure beats depreciation on a new one.

[partsman01]

Here is my big block,
It is in my 1996 GMC 7.4 454

[PaulJ2]

Can't resist---04 8.1/3:73 2500 38k.