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SUVs Chevrolet Suburban & Tahoe Chevy Tahoe
6383 messages, Last post on Nov 17, 2009 at 4:38 PM
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Replying to: tsf7 (Feb 13, 2009 8:44 am) That 31 gallon tank has been a real benefit, too. I have 2WD, 3.42 gears, and we get about 15-16 around town, 20 on the highway. Although we had a strong head wind going both directions from Fort Worth to McAllen and back last weekend, and managed about 17, at over 70 mph most of the way. Not bad considering it's rated for 18 highway. We've towed an 18' and a 24' travel trailer (rentals). I plan to try a 30' trailer next. It will be well within the 7300# towing capacity, and it comes with a weight distributing hitch as well. It seems that wind resistance, not weight, is the major issue when towing. We love the YXL and have thoroughly enjoyed our times renting those travel trailers. I am very tempted to buy a trailer at some point, in which case I'll probably also try and upgrade to a 2500 Suburban/YXL. A cousin has one with the 8.1 and says while he barely gets 12 mpg downhill, he can't even feel his 25'-ish travel trailer back there.
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Replying to: ahightower (Feb 17, 2009 4:51 pm) The good news is the Sub handles the weight pretty well as far as the chassis goes -- it never feels overmatched, pushed around, ect, even when loaded at or above its listed capacities, and that includes going from Utah to Oregon, to Colorado, and to Montana so far, over some pretty steep, long mountain grades. Living in Utah, we have to climb hills every way we go, usually combined with wind, so we tow in pretty challenging terrain on virtually every trip. Combining the weight with the wind resistance, the Sub is adequate, but could certainly use more towing power imo -- 4th gear is pretty much useless unless on flat ground w/ little or no headwind (which we rarely have), and we spend lots of time in 2nd gear  4000 rpms going up hills. And get 8-10 mpg as a result. With 3.42 gears, I'd imagine you'd probably just have to drive it in third gear to save your tranny, although the tow-haul mode does a pretty good job of limiting excessive gear hunting under most circumstances. I shopped 3/4 tons a little, but decided that the estimated 5-6 trips with the trailer weren't worth the extra sticker cost (2500s are harder to come by) and wouldn't be worth the extra gas bill each month, as we use the Sub for a daily driver as well as a vacation-mobile. And I don't think the extra 30 ft.lbs of torque from the 6.0L (360 ft/lbs in the 6.0L vs. 330 in the 5.3L) would make much of a difference at all. Although the 8.1 L puts out 447 ft/lbs, which would probably make some difference, those numbers aren't anywhere close to what a diesel will do, and gas mileage is dismal at best. Anyway, after several months of shopping, I never came across a used 8.1L in my price range, so I never got a chance to test one out, but I don't think I would have bought one had I found one. We also shopped diesel Excursions, but decided that the substantially higher cost (they jumped in price quite a bit after Ford quit making them), the more unwieldy vehicle for daily use -- we test drove a few, and my wife, who was going to be the daily driver, didn't like them at all -- and the questionable reliability history of the 6.0L diesel engine made the 1500 Sub w/ 4.10 gears our vehicle of choice for now. But in light of the fact that we use the trailer a lot more that I thought, and I underestimated how taxing it would be to pull it in our hills and wind, I'm definitely coveting a Duramax Crew-cab or Dodge Cummins Mega-cab when I'm pulling the trailer (we only have 2 kids, so if we make the extra relatives drive their own cars, we'll have plenty of space). I towed the travel trailer with my bro-in-law's '06 2500 Duramax once to try it out, and with twice the torque of my Sub (660 ft/lbs!), the difference was incredible. As a result, unless GM does come out with the 4.5L Duramax Suburban soon and it is up to the task as far as towing goes, there is definitely a 3/4 ton diesel pickup in my near future, as much as I love the Suburban for everything else. Sorry to turn this into a Suburban travel-trailer towing essay. Happy to answer any other questions about my experiences, though.
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Replying to: tsf7 (Feb 17, 2009 10:14 pm) Yes, tow/haul mode does alright. I just don't get in a hurry and stay at or below 65 mph. Like you said, a few tows a year would make poor mpg from the 8.1 the rest of the time difficult to swallow. But if I owned a tailer, I'd like to think we'd use it at least once a month (I'm sure every new RV owner justifies the purchase that way!). Maybe the new six-speed automatic makes the 1500 better. You get the tall final drive for unloaded fuel economy, and still have plenty of flexibility with gears 3-5 for keeping it in the relatively narrow power band when towing. Anyway, I agree a diesel would be nice. Wasn't Ford supposed to be putting a small diesel in their F150? Maybe they'd also put it in the Expedition EL, and that would prod GM to get one in the 1500 pickups and Suburbans. We can only hope.
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Replying to: 73shark (Jan 28, 2009 4:56 pm) |
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Replying to: ahightower (Feb 18, 2009 10:59 am) As far as the travel trailer goes, I know a bunch of people who never use theirs, so we aimed conservatively and bought a cheaper trailer that we could tow with the Sub to see how much use we'd get out of it. We actually use ours about twice as much as I estimated -- 2-3 times a month in the summer, plus a few early and late season trips that we could not or would not take in a tent -- too cold! It has been a great investment for our family. It is nice to get the kids away from tv, video games, ect on a regular basis (we specifically did not opt for the tv in our trailer!) I do think the new 6-spd auto would help the 5.3 tow better. There is a big gap between gears in the 4-spd -- often it will be at high rpms in 2nd or 3rd not working too hard, but when it upshifts, there isn't enough power to pull the higher gear, so it has to shift back down. I don't know whether the 6 spd has a much higher final drive than the 4 spd, but filling in those gaps would certainly be nice, and would help out a bit with the performance, I would think. As far as diesels go, Ford and GM announced smaller diesels for 1/2 tons in early '08, to start production for the 2010 model year. I haven't been able to find out whether GM actually plans to follow through, but I suspect they are not on track to do so now that they've had all this financial trouble. Oh well. There is always that company in Colorado that will swap in a new 6.6 L Duramax/Allison combo into a 2500 Sub for $15k or something like that! Happy motoring ... |
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I have a 03 Tahoe with 5.3 L. I get around 18 mpg hwy. I bought it used with 86,000 miles. Warranty claims were instrument cluster replace, fuel tank fuel module replace,intermediate steering shaft replace, right front diff shaft seal replaced,pressure cycling switch replace, transmitter of rear door compartment lock replace. I like the power and the ride, and ease of parallel parking, though there are different suspensions available, I tried some pretty rough riding Tahoes before I bought this one. It does have some play in the steering while turning corners around the block but not while driving on the highway. This may be the way the steering box is set up, but is not a major issue. I am concerned about the reliability of the electronic modules and dash cluster though. I also have a 03 Silverado short box with the 8.1 L and it gets the same mileage. The last I checked was 33.5 liters for 150 miles. 1 liter is about the same volume as 1 US quart. Both have 3.73 gears |
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Replying to: regina1 (Jan 22, 2005 3:29 pm)
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Replying to: mmercuri (Mar 10, 2009 12:28 pm) If it is the next question is, what mileage do you have and have you ever changed the front shock absorbers? Also, do you have oversize wheels on your truck? Does it feel like you cannot stop the truck if you hit brakes right before or after a bump on road? All of the above points to direction of inadequately working shock absorbers. Arrie
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Replying to: arrie (Mar 10, 2009 2:01 pm) Yes, it happens after we hit a bump. I have just under 65K Miles (not bad for 9 years old), we have Kelly Safari Tires P245/75R16, and we have NOT changed the shock absorbers. I haven't really thought about the stopping that you mention before/after hitting bumps, so I would have to say I don't recall a problem stopping. -One thing to note that might be helpful to you... once when this happened, 2 men driving almost next to us had us pull over because they saw the severe shaking and wanted to look under the truck to make sure the front wheels weren't going to come off! They did a quick 'by the side of the road' check, and didn't see anything unusual. This particular time we had just gone over some bumps, and we were in a slight turn to the right. Although this has also happened when we are going straight. Although this has only happened a few times, I have this fear that the wheels are going to come off when I'm on the highway! Is that even possible? Any thoughts? Thanks again! 
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Replying to: mmercuri (Mar 11, 2009 4:57 am) Again, it sounds like your shock absorbers are all gone. For a 9 year old truck you should change them anyway. And they are not really that expensive. Do you think your tires are in a good balance, i.e. do you feel any kind of vibration in the steering wheel other than when shaking goes very bad? It could be that when you hit a bump it gives the suspension spring system an impulse that is then kept vibrating by off balance tires. How about tire wear? Do they wear evenly. i.e. no outside or inside edge wear? The big shaking should be taken care of with new set of shocks and tires should be in such balance that you feel absolutely no vibration when you drive. You can test shocks by applying weight on front bumper (same for rear). When you remove the weight the truck should raise up and then slightly down and stop at its normal resting position. If you see any movement up again your shocks are to be replaced. i.e. shock absorbers should stop the up-and-down movement at 3/4 point of the vibration cycle and not start up again. Arrie |
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