BigSkyFamily
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Re: Who Daily Drivers their diesel TV?
I daily drive my 03 Duramax so I can give some long term feedback unlike the guys who daily drive a 2 year old truck with 30K on it. Almost 300K miles on mine with a lot of aftermarket performance stuff and making almost 600hp and 1,000lbft of torque. It's long paid for, blows the doors off most sports cars in a drag race, and will probably beat your unloaded Toyota to the top of the mountain while pulling our 5th wheel. I pulled our travel trailer around with our suburban for years saying "I don't need a diesel to pull our camper a couple months of the year". After buying a diesel, you couldn't pay me enough to switch back to a gasser. Other than my performance upgrades, my Duramax has cost less in maint. than my wife's gasser suburban.432Views0likes0CommentsRe: Best years for used Duramax?
"Best year" is a relative term and depends on your personal views. I have an 03. Yes it's the dreaded LB7 with the injector problems. But it's also the only generation that doesn't have a bunch of EPA mandated emissions bullcrap on it. To some of you that might not mean anything. To me it means that in the process of turning it into a fire breathing dragon I didn't have to spend a bunch of money eliminating EGR and DPF garbage. My truck looks like a grandpa truck from the outside. Bone stock, not even aftermarket wheels, no lift, nothing. The only clue to it's performance would be the 5" tailpipe. For my purpose the LB7 is the best generation. The injector problem doesn't matter to me, first thing I did was yank the stock injectors in favor of 30% overs anyway. The injector problems were largely blamed on poor fuel filtering and lack of sulfer for lubrication in todays diesel fuel. I've added an Air Dog fuel preperator/lift pump that filters down to 2 microns instead of the stock filter's 7 micron. I also double filter my fuel by running a 2 micron CAT filter in (the CAT filters cost half the price of the stock ones and are a better filter) the stock location. I use an additive in my fuel to gain lubricity. 270K miles on it making big power and still running strong and pulling our 5th wheel around the mountains of Montana. I'm up against the limitations of the stock bottom end. If I turn it up much more it's just a matter of time before the connecting rods spontaneously disassemble themselves. I'll wait till I feel it's tired before I go into the engine to upgrade. Which I will do long before I buy a newer truck. This one is long paid for. These are fun trucks. Research, pick the best generation for your intended use, then order up EFI-Live for some performance/economy gains. You won't be disappointed.324Views0likes0CommentsRe: So all of you 1500 haters
Terryallan wrote: We were driving up 321 earlier running 70 MPH. A 3500 with what looked like a 28' toy hauler passed us. We watched it as it SWAYED, wiggled, wondered around on the road, and nearly went in the ditch. So you see, It does not matter what you tow with. If not done correctly. It will sway. Having a 2500, or 3500 is NO magic elixir. My 30' TT is dead still behind my F150. I would not be in that 3500 with that TT hooked to it. It was too scary I've got nothing against half ton trucks at all and I don't see anything magical about my 3/4 ton. But travelling this summer over the passes in northwestern Montana and northern Idaho my 3/4 ton ran 75-80 mph (save your "OMG OMG TOO FAST TOO FAST" comments, I don't care!) up 4th of July and Mullan passes with 7,500lbs behind it and got 13mpg doing so. While my father-in-laws 1/2 barely managed 60mph and 6mpg with 7,000lbs behind. That is all the reason I need to keep my 3/4 ton diesel, and that is honest personal experience, not a "magic elixer".569Views0likes0CommentsRe: External Speakers, do you really want them ?
We use ours all the time, at a respectful volume when in a campground with close neighbors. When boondocking, which is most often, we turn it up more if we want. The sound quality is not great, but good enough for me. My truck has a high dollar system that can rattle every window in the campground. But I don't. I appreciate great sound quality at high volumes. The lower quality of our trailer speakers doesn't bother me. Quit being a bunch of grumpy old men. Life is too short to always be pissed off about stupid things like speakers on your trailer.297Views0likes0CommentsRe: Bullydog GT Diesel Tuner
Bullydog makes brutal power...but it will destroy your truck. Dump that junk and get efi-live with an edge cts insight monitor. Canned tuners suck. Check out tunes from Kory Willis, Idaho Rob, and Cumminstuner.com If you don't have EFI-Live, you'll be chasing someone that does.1KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Tow Haul Mode
Tow/haul mode turns my truck into a completely different animal. I always use it when towing and it never hunts. The trans runs about 30 degrees cooler too. Almost 200K miles and no transmission failure yet....heck I even tow with my big tune sometimes and still have no problems. Heck I even use tow/haul mode around town unloaded when I feel like giving some punk kids in their fart carts a good duramax spanking.519Views0likes0CommentsRe: would you pay $41 to enter a National Park?
No, I would not. I live 20 miles from Glacier National Park and I refuse to pay the $35 they want for entrance. I live in Montana, I see wildlife in my backyard, and know many places to go play outdoors that don't cost me a dime and are every bit as nice as the park.....with thousands fewer people to trip over.280Views0likes0CommentsRe: Towing in the mountains with a gasser????
Sounds like it handled it fine. I towed a lot with a gas truck. Never thought I "needed" a diesel. Now that I have a duramax/allison truck, I'll never buy another gas truck, and I'll never buy a truck without an allison automatic unless I buy a manual trans.211Views0likes0Comments
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