Moving from 1/2 ton truck to HD truck

[ruffdog]

The new Silverado HD trucks with the 6.6 gas engine all come with the Allison 10 speed transmission now.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I use a 2015 Chevrolet 2500 HD with the 6.0 gas motor with 4:10 gears it pulls everything I hook it to, I pull a 30' gooseneck trailer with a large cabbed farm tractor and I also pull a 20' bumper pull equipment trailer 3 to 4 days a week with my skid steer and forestry mower, it doesn't get great fuel mileage loaded but I don't have all the modern diesel problems either. The 2500 that you are looking at will handle a real load far better than your 1500 Ram.

 

[WM75Guy]

If you can find a plain jane truck, the price will be better. All these luxo-Barbie-princess haulers with heated and cooled leather seats... moon roofs... heated steering wheels... 100K for a truck is just stupid. Turn in your man cards, ladies.

I am fixing to order one of those, without the sun or moon roof. Do I turn in my card when I order it or when it is delivered? Also, who do I turn it in to, you or the dealership?

 

[dieselscout80]

I didn’t need a diesel to tow/haul what I do and I don’t drive it real often and lots are short trips which are hard on diesel’s.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I am fixing to order one of those, without the sun or moon roof. Do I turn in my card when I order it or when it is delivered? Also, who do I turn it in to, you or the dealership?

Turn it in at the dealership. They have a bulk disposal program to handle the sheer volume.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

In Minnesota you might as well get the one ton, the yearly license renewal is cheaper

 

[Blue Mule]

The HD trucks have a stiffer suspension and chassis. When you tow, you want the stiffest chassis available.

The HD trucks have torque, couple that with gearing, and you get pulling power.

That's what is holding me up. A lot of these HD trucks, such as the 2021 Silverado 2500/3500, do not have better gearing. In fact, the gearing on my Ram 1500 is significantly deeper. It's mostly all in the transmission.

Engine horsepower is identical. The HD does have a slight bit more torque output, but it's in a truck that also weighs 1500 lbs. more so it's probably a wash.

Like I said in the first post, steering/stability may be better but performance will not. It's got me scratching my head.

 

[Hay Dude]

Have a very sweet Ram 1500 Hemi truck I got new (leased) last year.

Been thinking about moving up to a HD pickup to make towing my big enclosed trailer easier. Diesel HD trucks are insanely high in price. Even with 150k miles on them, you’re looking at $50k around here. So I opened my search up to gasoline HD trucks as well. I found a 2021 Chevy Silverado 2500HD with the new 6.6 gas engine. Sweet truck, extremely well cared for. Problem is, the 6.6 gas is a 400 HP engine. The axle is a 3.73. The trans is the old 6L90 that’s been around since 2006 and the ratios are really tall. So, I threw that combo into a spreadsheet along side the same info (power, trans ratios, axle ratio) from my Ram 1500. Looks like my Ram has significantly more pulling power in every gear, despite the 3.21 axle ratio. If my truck had the 3.92s it would be a bloodbath. But yeah, power/gearing advantage from 0 to 70 miles per hour. AND my truck is 1,500 lbs. lighter so that increases performance even more over the HD. I get that a HD truck is heavier and therefore in theory should handle/steer better with a trailer but I have a hard time justifying a move up to HD to get worse acceleration, fuel economy, and maneuverability. Sigh…

The Ford gas HD trucks can be had with 430 HP, 10 speed trans, and 4.30 gears which is a stellar combo but they are like finding a needle in a haystack. I can’t find one in my price range anywhere in this entire region.

The Ram HD gas trucks are nice but they seem to be abused on construction sites or work sites and by the time I find them on the used market they’re pretty rough.

"When going to HD trucks, go straight to 1 ton"? That’s what I was thinking too. But I looked up the tow chart from GM’s own website and it is surprising. The 2500 gas can tow more than the 3500 gas (only a couple hundred lbs., likely the difference in weight between the 11.5 and 12.0" axles). The payload gain on the 3500 is less than 500 lbs. If you go diesel then there’s a couple thousand lb. advantage for the 3500, but that’s not really a huge deal either. Surprising though that on the gas trucks the difference between “3/4 ton” and “1 ton” is almost zero on paper.

Just remember there’s a a good reason for that. Comparably equipped Diesel trucks outperform gas trucks immensely when they are used for towing or constant high mileage driving. The comparison of the 20 year old diesel truck to the new gas truck doesn’t count. LOL
Then there’s resale value.

Just look at the torque curves and ignore the “paper specs”. Even an older lower HP diesel will make more torque between idle-2,000 RPM. Thats where you want your torque.

The 3/4 ton truck has a slightly higher tow rating because the truck is most likely a lighter curb weight. It may have lighter spring packs or rear axle, etc.

Me? I’d take the 1 ton and get the heavier suspension. All those “paper specs” are just that. I would also think a 1-ton would have more rear axle “pin” weight capacity for the hitch load of the trailer.

 

[dodge man]

I think you are focusing on gearing and horsepower too much. All things being equal you are correct, a 3/4 ton or 1 ton is going to accelerate slower. Unless you are towing at or near a trucks limit I just wouldn’t worry about the gearing.

How heavy of a trailer are you towing, how much wind does it catch, what is your current trucks payload? Almost all half tons are limited by payload. They also require a weight distribution hitch over 5000 pounds of trailer weight.

 

[Randy52]

I have a 2023 GMC 2500 HD Durmax diesel just love it. pretty much all the options I wanted for $80,000. I thoght was a decent price for the truck I got.