Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives GM HD vs Tundra

Too late to order the truck you want???

Thats ironic Blaine,

A friend of mine here was looking for basically the same truck as you but wanted 3.73 gears. He looked at over 20 trucks and they all had 4.10's!! Nearly every truck dealers found for him in TX had 4.10 gears, the ones that they did find with 3.73's were single cab long beds etc. He found plenty of DMax's witth 3.73's but all the 6.0 gassers had 4.10's.

This was last year though.

Maybe he needs to look in OR and WA for a truck and you need to look in TX for yours!

Bill

With the new six speed tranny, GM dealers seem to think the 4.10s aren't needed.

They stopped making '09s a while ago, and it will be another 3-4 weeks before they start with 2010s. After they catch up on their backlog--remember, contrary to what B-HO wants, Amercians want their pickups--it will be another 6-8 weeks. So I could be looking at 4 months before getting a truck, and I can't wait that long. My oldest dughter will need her car this fall for college, and I have a LOT of work for a pickup to do.

I paid $1200 in 2007 to have 4.10s put in my 2002 Dmax. The problem with the dealer is they charge you high reatil on every part, plus $100 a hour for labor.

Dang. Not being familiar with GM heavy axles, can't you pull the chunk and buy a set of gears - take it to the local speed shop or 4x4 place and get it cheaper?

I loathe dealerships for service for that very reason.

$1200 IS the cheaper price. The HD gears are stout.........

go with the HD 6.0 gasser HANDS DOWN!I have an 09 expect @ 15.5 to 16 mpgs city/hwy buddy of mine has 08 dmax and it gets @ 14 city/hwy ALLWAYS regins and was 10k higher.cant speak for the toy but for a big rear end and all that power they sure do get a good look at my chevy when it goes by them!

Well, since I couldn't get a 6.0 with 4.10s, and the only 6.0 I drove had 245/75R16s, I needed to see if I could live with 3.73s and 265/70R17s. Thus I drove a 6.0 so equipped yesterday evening. It was a pig. The final drive ratio of the 3.73/265 combo was too much.

I then re-entertained the Tundra. However, everytime I look at the frame and rear suspension I pause. The final straw was this. No doubt, a Tundra with LT tires, overload springs and/or airbags could ocassionally haul 2000 lbs from Home Depot to my house 3-4 miles away. However, there is no way I could put 2500 lbs in the bed AND tow a 7000 lb trailer 1/2 way across the country (I have done that with my '02 Dmax). So I decided to suck it up and get a DMax again.

My dealer found me an extended cab, long bed GMC Dmax/Alli with the Z-71 package. It was even in the color I liked, and at a price I could afford. I'll add a spray in bed liner, a remote starter, nerf bars, good floor mats, Pittman and ilder braces, get an ECM with a tow tune and get rid of the DPC. Probably get gauges as well, maybe add a lift pump and secondary fuel filter.

I'll get it next week. Here is a pic:

Gonna give the Amsoil a whirl again too?

After the first oil change, I think I will, though I don't know if I can run an extended drain oil.

Good Lookin' Truck, Blaine!!

I knew (or thought I knew) from the beginning of this thread that you weren't going to be happy until you had another 3/4 ton Dmax.

Just the comments, even the positive ones, you made about every other truck, you seemed to have "compromise" in your voice.

I'm sure any of the others you considered would have served you well, but I feel you wouldn't have been completey happy.

Just my .02.

Again, SHARP lookin' truck!

Bill

If you have a GM 6.0, there ain't no way in hell you're passing anybody and still getting 15MPG. 12..maybe. And you're sure as hell not blowin' by any newer Tundras, properly equiped.

Blaine,

Good for you, old friend.

It is incredibly hard to get away from the incredible torque of the Duramax. I truly love mine.

Love the color, by the way.

We need way more photos after you get your new baby.

Steve

Blaine,

I have to agree with the zapper...that is a nice color. Since you can swing it, I think you made a much better choice over the gasser 6.0.

What do you haul around that you put 2000# in the bed of the truck?

And no matter what side you fall on, GM or Toyota, absolutely no one can fault the fabulous six-speed Allison 1000 transmission.

The Allison 1000 is the transmission that comes as part of the package on the 2006-2009 Duramax and it is a freakin' dream.

By the way, Blaine, I'm delighted that you found a 2009. They are a little scarce up here in PDX and the word is that the 2010s will have a lot of added emmission controls, to comply with the 2010 standards, and that they will ve 12% to 14% higher in MSRP than the 2009. The extra $6,000 to $7,000 will pay for a heck of a lot of diesel fuel, my friend.

Glad you got it!!!!

Steve

Everyone but me (the guys at the dealership, my wife, my co-workers) knew I'd wind up with another Diesel. However, they all let me work though it. The only reason I can swing it is because of the GM family discount and the $3500 cash back they are offering. I am also getting a decent insurance settlement. I did give up $2K in options I would have liked to have to get me into the Dmax. Things like back up sensors, Bluetooth, built in MP3, universal home remote, fog lights, etc.

They had the truck at my local dealer today and I got to drive it. It is awfully close to how my first Dmax drove with the 90 HP chip in it.

One time I filled it up with bags of rocks, another time I filled it up with concrete blocks, another time a 2/3 of a unit of plywood.

Steve,

The LMMs have a "diesel particulate filter" (DPF) that filters out soot. That is fine, but when the filter fills up, raw fuel is injected into the exhaust aft of the CAT to heat up the DPF and clean it. That hurts mileage. I might get an ECM with a tow tune and DPF delete program, then remove the DPF--haven't decided yet.

However, the 2010's will also have urea injection. It is a small tank that you'll have to fill up with urea--a blue liquid--every few tanks of diesel. It too is injected into the exhaust and virtuall eliminates all the emissions from the diesel. That isn't a bad thing, but it's one more thing to hassle with and it will increase the cost of operating the truck. Further, if they don't make the truck so it won't run w/o urea, then nobody will bother to even fill the urea tank.

Maybe the police can read the ECM if they oull over a diesel and give a ticket if the urea tank is empty. Regardless of how thew enforce it, it will be an added hassle and and added expense.

So yes, I'm glad I got a 2009 as well, and they are getting scarce. They quit making 2009's a several weeks ago, and won't be making 2010s for several more weeks. I guess it would be three months before a guy could get one.

But don't worry, the new head of GM says the "New GM" will be making the cars people want to buy. I guess "the people" didn't get the memo on what they are supposed to want to buy...........

Had a guy at Menards assure me that a pallet of landscaping block would be OK to haul in the box of my F150. As he was loading them in with the fork lift, he damn near blew my tires. I caught him before he let down the full weight of the pallet and he loaded 1/2 of it on.

Lesson learned I guess.