Mr_Shamrock
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2009
- Messages
- 127
Re: towing with chevy 7.4 , 6.5 , 6.0
I don't have any experience with the 6.5's but just about everyone that has says stay away from them (including a 20 year GM tech). Especially with diesel so high now. I have driven many 96 and up 454's and they are my favorite motor all the way around. I used to drive a 99 2500 with a 5.7 that got 16 empty and with just about any kind of trailer the MPG's dropped substantially. It also struggled with the heavier stuff. I currently own a 98 GMC C3500 dually with a 454. I drove it to Florida empty and it got 14.6 MPG. I have driven it with a 20 foot trailer loaded to Atlanta and back and it got 12.4 MPG. We pull our boat with a 96 K2500 Suburban which used to be mine, but my dad bought it from me. It gets 10-11 MPG currently pulling a loaded 22' pontoon (AKA parachute) in the mountains with 8 people in the truck. I will get even better out of it as the injectors are leaking right now. This is a common thing on the Vortec 454's but the good news is they are easy to change and can be bought for $130 a set. I already have them and am just waiting for dad to have a down day to install them. So I obviously vote for the the big block gas burner - they are easy to work on and parts are relatively inexpensive. We have pulled our boat with a 2002 Suburban w/ a 5.3, a 2005 Escalade w/ a 6.0, a 2003 1500HD w/ a 6.0 and although the 6.0's did fine the big block just straight out pulls it better. We hit some pretty steep inclines on our way to the ramp (highway 11 to Lake Keowee) and that 454 handles the inclines like nothing. I couldn't stand how the 6.0's and especially the 5.3 would kick down and rev up on every little hill. To be fair our current Suburban has 4.10's and the rest had 3.73's.
I don't have any experience with the 6.5's but just about everyone that has says stay away from them (including a 20 year GM tech). Especially with diesel so high now. I have driven many 96 and up 454's and they are my favorite motor all the way around. I used to drive a 99 2500 with a 5.7 that got 16 empty and with just about any kind of trailer the MPG's dropped substantially. It also struggled with the heavier stuff. I currently own a 98 GMC C3500 dually with a 454. I drove it to Florida empty and it got 14.6 MPG. I have driven it with a 20 foot trailer loaded to Atlanta and back and it got 12.4 MPG. We pull our boat with a 96 K2500 Suburban which used to be mine, but my dad bought it from me. It gets 10-11 MPG currently pulling a loaded 22' pontoon (AKA parachute) in the mountains with 8 people in the truck. I will get even better out of it as the injectors are leaking right now. This is a common thing on the Vortec 454's but the good news is they are easy to change and can be bought for $130 a set. I already have them and am just waiting for dad to have a down day to install them. So I obviously vote for the the big block gas burner - they are easy to work on and parts are relatively inexpensive. We have pulled our boat with a 2002 Suburban w/ a 5.3, a 2005 Escalade w/ a 6.0, a 2003 1500HD w/ a 6.0 and although the 6.0's did fine the big block just straight out pulls it better. We hit some pretty steep inclines on our way to the ramp (highway 11 to Lake Keowee) and that 454 handles the inclines like nothing. I couldn't stand how the 6.0's and especially the 5.3 would kick down and rev up on every little hill. To be fair our current Suburban has 4.10's and the rest had 3.73's.
