Thoughts on truck selection...

[CinderSchnauzer]

I thank all those who have given advice and I will post some pictures (if anyone wants to see). Hey, do I have 'cojoines' now???

John M

Great choice. For me anyway, pics of the truck will be sufficient. Pics of the cojoine's would be too much information ..............

 

[dodge man]

I'm sure you will be happy with your choice. It's not a Dodge........but..........................

What kind of driveway do you have? It must be really steep if you need 4 wheel drive to get up and down it. I'm sure others will agree, we need pictures.

You went throught the problem we all do when buying a truck. Some days I wish I had a 18 wheeler, some days a tandem axle dump truck, sometimes a 1 ton dualy, some times a small car that doesn't eat gas like a hog. It sounds like you got a great comprimise.

 

[nmu98]

Congrats on the new truck. I agree with Duanne, take the tires down to 64psi. I think the computer will not throw a warning there. mich less and a handy yellow light will come on.

Pics????

 

[jcmseven]

Yes, my driveway is steep, and gravel. I have had to rescue many a garbage man and UPS man from the bottom with my tractor or Gator. As for the tire pressure, they were at 80 lbs. at the dealer, so I had already had them lower the pressure to 55 in the front and 65 in the rears before bringing the truck home, so I was already "aired down". The truck has a great deal of torque and that is not your friend when trying to feather it up the drive. The left front suspension has a little rattle they are going to look at today when I go to do my paperwork. I will say, this dealer has thus far been the best from sales to service of any I have EVER dealt with. I am going to wait to do PIX until my factory navi is installed and the headrest DVDs for the chillins, to get the full effect. The truck is also filthy with the pollen. A good wash is in order before the pictures. If someone will look at them I will post them. Builder has already given me a guarantee that he would buy my truck if I was not happy with it, so who could ask for more???

John M

 

[jeffster]

First, I absolutely love my Dmax/Ally (2006 Chevy LBZ LT3). However, in regard to spinning tires, I go through tires like crazy as I am unloaded most of the time. There is so much torque and the rear is so light that it is a lot of stress on the rears (not to mention it rides pretty rough unloaded when offroad or in the curves). My last set of BFG AT KOs lasted all of 22k miles and they were gone. Running Duratracs right now and we'll see how well they hold up. At 58k miles on the odo (owned it since new), this is my 4th set of tires and no, I am not a rough driver or a speed freak by any stretch. That said though, that is my only complaint about the truck. I love it and it is paid for.

 

[JESSE1]

You'll like it. GM has always built a good driving truck.

 

[Builder]

When I first got my GMC3500 it only had a pickup bed and stock skins on it. I could smoke the tires to the point of darkening the sky with the torque and the two rear wheels locked together.

Now with the extra 1,000 lbs of utility body & tools, it's a little harder to smoke the tires, plus I'm trying to make my General Grabbers last at least 25K miles.

Ahhh, the pains of owning a work truck.....

 

[Builder]

Builder has already given me a guarantee that he would buy my truck if I was not happy with it, so who could ask for more???

John M

Yep no problem. Now that GM trucks are worth almost nothing, I won't have to pay much for it, either.

Best part for me is someone else to talk to that owns a GM.
All the Ford guys hatin' on me was getting old.

 

[nmu98]

First, I absolutely love my Dmax/Ally (2006 Chevy LBZ LT3). However, in regard to spinning tires, I go through tires like crazy as I am unloaded most of the time. There is so much torque and the rear is so light that it is a lot of stress on the rears (not to mention it rides pretty rough unloaded when offroad or in the curves). My last set of BFG AT KOs lasted all of 22k miles and they were gone. Running Duratracs right now and we'll see how well they hold up. At 58k miles on the odo (owned it since new), this is my 4th set of tires and no, I am not a rough driver or a speed freak by any stretch. That said though, that is my only complaint about the truck. I love it and it is paid for.

Odd... I have 28K on my stockers and they are still in great shape. I expect another 25-30K out of them, seriously! I have a 50 gallon transfer flow tank in the back that is full most of the time, and I drive nice. I cannot understand why you would go through tires so fast unelss you have a leveling kit or that your alignment is way off....

 

[Diamondpilot]

My F-350 only gets about 30,000 miles out of a set, the same with my neighbors 2007 3500 SRW Dura Max. We rotate every other oil change which we do in my shop, or 10,000 miles. He is like me and has a trailer on the back ranging from 5,000# to 13,000# in his case and in my case from 7,000# to 15,600# about 2/3 of the time the trucks are on the road so that may have a lot to do with it. One thing I did notice on his last time I rotated them was he was getting cracking on the sidewalls. His factory tires were Bridgestone Duravis M773II. He just got some new to the market Goodyears put on last week for $600 out the door in 285/75/16.

Here is a link and a picture of the Goodyears he chose. I will probably get the same ones on the F-350 next time around.
Goodyear Tires | SUV and Truck Tires | Wrangler DuraTrac
Chris