I am looking to buy an 04-07 GMC 2500 Crew cab regular box 4x4 because I recently bought a 22 foot enclosed car trailer to haul 4000 lb A body's around.So total pull weight will be around 7500 pounds. I will only occasionally haul enclosed trailer with car in it, mainly truck will be a empty daily driver 95% of the time. My question, is a 6.0 litre gas engine with tow package going to be OK or is it the opinion Duramax diesel and don't bother with gas engine? I am leaning towards gas engine and am wondering if anyone has a Gas Crew 4x4 Chev GMC that occasional hauls enclosed trailer? Thanks for any feedback
My 6.0 2000 2500 hd is an extended cab 4 x 4 and is more than enough to pull my 24 foot enclosed even with a full sized car inside. It has power all the way through the range from merging to passing. We just used my cousins 2007 chevy c30 window van with the 6.0 to pull my enclosed trailer to bike week with 6 bikes inside. It drove beautiful. We could even use the cruise without an issue. Tony
If you go with the 2500 go with a automatic. My 5 speed sucks between 3rd and 4th gear. 3rd has alot of power but you run out of rpm's and 4th no power dies right out. I love the truck otherwise.Once your out on the highway tow's great.
Not sure about the crew cab, but my xcab does great towing (and plowing). 6.0 auto w/ 4.10's. I'm thinking of dropping a 6.0 in a 3rd gen camaro I have sitting around. They also make that truck with an 8 liter...supposedly 450 horse. Heck, the 6 liter's rated at 345 hp? (if you believe the salesman). If you take the added weight of a crew cab into consideration, you may be better off with the bigger engine. If you drive like I do, that is. I like to maintain 70+ mph...prefferably 75-80. Make sure your trailer has a good inertia and electric brake. You tow a little more weight than I do, my boat and trailer come in at about 4k lbs.
Thank you Tony,528,Kevin and Steve for you feedback obout 2500 Gas GMC.:beers2: It sounds like such a truck will be up to the job so a Duramax diesel is probably not necessary.
Update I just bought a Black 2006 2500 Crew cab 4x4 Duramax Diesel truck with Charcoal leather interior.Maybe a bit overkill but I plan on keeping truck for a long time . Cheers!
I have an '05 Chevy crew cab, long bed, 4x4, with duramax engine and allison trans. I like it a lot. I can tow anything. And when not towing I get just over 18 mpg overall.
I have towed with a truck like this many times. A friend owns 2 of them and I borrow one when I need ot move a car as my impotent 1/2 ton GMC witha weak trans will puke it guts out. But I digress. The 3/4 ton with the 6.0 is a good tow vehicle!
Greg and I have had the oportunity to have towed with the 6.0 the 8.1 and the Duramax all with the same load on it. A 23' open flatbed all steel trailer and my 73 Century. About 6000 lbs The 6.0 did decent and I was impressed with it. It was in an '01 2500 HD Crew Cab long box 4x4. It had the 4 speed auto (4L80e) and 4.10 gears It towed fine on the interstate @ 75-80 and stayed in O/D with the cruise set. On the two lanes in the hills it was in and out of O/D and would loose speed going up hill. It averaged 8 mpg on that trip. Only used it once as we borrowed it for the trip. The 8.0, HOLY COW what an engine. This one was an '03 extended cab 3500 dually 4x4 with the Allison and 4.10 gears. A world of differance to the 6.0. In the hills it would still drop out of O/D but would hold speed and would shift back into O/D before the top of the hill. It would average 10 mpg towing @75-80, 5mpg at 110 (not one of our brightest moments). The 6.0 wouldn't even think of hitting 110. The Duramax, Again HOLY COW what an engine. This one is an 05 Crew Cab 3500 Dually 4x4 with the Allison and 3.73 gears. Without a doubt this one is the best of them all. It cruises down the interstate and doesn't even break a sweat. Towing it gets 18 mpg and solo it gets 23, No BS. I call this one THE WINNER* Rich, I think you will like your Duramax.
Greg, you get 18 mpg towing and 23 mpg empty with a 1 ton dually???? You've got to tell me how you're doing that!! Are you running with a tuner or chip? Any mods to the intake or exhaust? Stock sized tires? I gotta know!
i've worked on hundreds of these and I talk to at least a dozen local delaers weekly and i've never heard, or seen, those mileage figures... wow, that's impressive..... my 2500HD is tuned about as perfect as can be, and I only get 16-20 not towing...
My 2006 Dodge 1ton 4x4 MegaCab Cummins with the single rear wheel gets 21.3 mpg empty amd the last time I towed a car it got 16.8mpg. It only has 30000 miles on it and all the diesel guys tell me my mpg will continue to go up as the motor gets run in good about 50000 miles. It is bone stock btw.
Aftermarket 4" exhaust from the downpipe back. Greg also has a Bully Dog Triple Dog downloader controller and an Outlook Express moniter. He runs it in Extreme most all the time. It gets better mpg in "extreme" setting than it does in "stock" setting. Intake system is stock with the exception of a K&N filter. Tire are a bit bigger than stock but not enough to make a difference. We have even done the math ourselves and it comes out the same as the information center in the truck. It also has 120,000+ miles. If its true that diesels get better mpg with more miles on them then this may be part of it.
