Had an interesting conversation with one of my cousins recently at the annual family get together in the wilds of northern PA. He's had several GM diesel 4x4s, going back to the late 80s and still buys them. His son owns two large dairy farms, just bought another new Silverado diesel 4x4 this past spring (the hired hands now use his old one).
All of those GMC/Chevy trucks have had hard workouts on the farm, hauling gooseneck livestock and flatbed trailers, plus they often tote wagon loads of hay from the fields to the barn with them. Cousin likes them because they're thrifty on fuel, quiet and dependable. They tote cattle and hogs several hundred miles round-trip now, to the livestock sales, since the local auction closed some years back.
His take on them is that if serviced properly, they run forever. This is an old boy that has not only been involved in farming all of his life, had also spent 30 years as an OTR trucker and knows a bit about operating and preserving diesel equipment.
One of my other farmer-kin once used Chevy dualies w/454 gassers to lug his livestock trailers, then went with a Dodge/Cummins one ton flatbed w/fifth wheel for a few years, is now back in the GM camp with his new Duramax dualie pickup. Do have one on 'em with a Ford Powerstroke, but the rest of them all make fun of him...."Joe, that truck stinks and is waaay too noisy". <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
