Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Chevy or GMC 1500 with the 4 cylinder

Most definitely, if one had to bet on one vs the other. The 5.3….327CI….has a solid track record.

I’ll also take the mechanics advice over the you tube GM engineers. What would one expect them to say?????

The 5.3 is not a 327. Two completely different motors.

5.3 3.78" bore x 3.62" stroke

327 Chevy: 4" bore x 3.25" stroke.

Anyhow, the 327 in stock form, hits 6500-7000 rpms in second and third gear, completely loaded down with 4000 lbs of green firewood. Smoothest, quickest reving small block I've ever owned.

Thanks for the clarification….

Completely different design too.

great 2.7 thread 90 plus pages and multiple years deep of owners there on one of the gm forums, the oil is discussed heavily, I ran some slippery Amsoil thinking it was best available for awhile and It used oil, let the dealer change it with their stuff and it doesn't, doesn't matter as hardest cylinder liners known to man and the engineers couldn't seize it or kill it (one of only two) so just don't get all that and a bag of chips with the super skinny oils and you're gtg

the half tons do more work and bigger bread and butter segment than the Tahoe and suburban...9000+ tow capacity on my 2.7, so you're wrong, there's a different reason they don't...yet, likely just too hard a sell for the more upscale luxury segments, despite it being the smartest half ton motor in the segment...the fancy foo foos that care more about options, technology, autonomous driving and gadgets than solid engineering won't understand lol...that'll be why

We get it, you bought a 2.7 and think it's a loaf of home made bread....Nothing more going on here. You got the bread and no butter.

Addition: Every foo foo option on a Suburban and Tahoe is on the higher end 1500's...Hmmmm

Just started driving one for a work truck a few weeks ago. I don't think I'd want to tow much of anything especially in any mountains or hills but not a bad pickup so far.

It does very well, especially at elevation. I live at 6K ft. and can be at 11K in just over an hour. Much better in the mountains than my old 5.3 and the 6.0 we had in my wife's 2500 Suburban.

I ordered a Canyon so it will have the 2.7, looking forward to trying it out, not towing heavy anymore. Selling my 2500 with the 6.6 gas, but it has been a great truck and engine. No issues like the 5.3, POS engine.

I’ve got a 5.3 in a 2004 Suburban that has been outstanding. Nearly 270,000 trouble free miles.

The 06 I sold a while back has about the same miles on it.

Same deal, no issues.

Only issues a 5.3 had were the AFM engines and those issues can be easily remedied.

Actually come to think of it just about any engine that's been designed in the last 15-20 years from the big 3 have had some sort of problems.

Thats what happens when the government forces them to make more efficient engines.

That’s probably because it doesn’t have the cylinder deactivation.

$250 or less remedies that.

A bit more if a guy wants to completely eliminate it by getting inside of the engine.

Yep, you’re right.

Lol, I take it you got one of these foo foo models? Haha, are you even a real truck guy?

It’s hard to get through as people just can’t seem to wrap head around what boost really does. That turbo is another bank of cylinders that is unaffected by elevation. So if you live 2000’ and under and never spend much time above you’ll not like see all the boost benefits.

I live at 4000’ there’s a hill near here the highest point of the transcanada highway about 4700’, we all have to tow it heading west to play. At this elevation the 2.7t has 90 ft/lbs more torque than the 5.3 and it has that at 1100 rpm lower.

There’s plenty of tow test videos online. It runs around a 5.3 all day long. It can actually do more work than the 5.3 and it can suck the gas to prove it. At my elevation I have 22 ft/lbs more than the 6.2! Sure it has 63 more hp but it’s also much heavier.

So have fun with that work truck but it’s more work truck than a 5.3 as it has a proper truck motor in it.

No I couldn’t get one at the time….tho if I could have, I would have. I just need a hunting truck, so given a choice, I would rather have something nice. Work trucks don’t interest me at all.

However, real truck guys usually are not driving around in 4 cylinders. 🤣

It’s a good motor ruined by the afm/dfm lifters nonsense which I think started after 2014 sometime? Might have to look that up. I had a 13 suburban foo foo ltz 5.3 6-spd and it was solid, thirsty but it was a short experiment as turns out I’m a truck guy lol. If get a 5.3 now just delete all that afm/dfm stuff and should be good. Or just find the ones with the truck motors in them lol...2.7t.

That’s what the big block guys said to the cummins guys back in 1989. Oops

My custom is a long way from old school base lol. Full power seat, mirrors(heated), keyless and push button start, power windows with the 1-touch etc, heated rear window, air/tilt/cruise, auto-start, onstar bullshit. Don’t need heated seats and steering wheels with auto-start. I’m beyond comfortable and it’s ideal for giving big game animals their first (and last) truck rides.

Ps for the thread. My best bud has a 14 5.3 and similar cargo trailer we drag around all year for hunting and fishing. There’s nowhere that motor has proven better, and it eats a bit more gas. It’s a good motor as I’ve said, just not with afm/dfm lifters stuff. The 2.7t is smarter choice if buying right now imo. The v8’s already shot through the liver as the future is boost. It will just take a minute to get there. Same as the cummins did to the NA big blocks. Boost or die.

You should probably verify with some gm dealers techs and service managers which is the least worked on half ton motor. While many of the 5.3/6.2’s have been in for a few sets of lifters and the diesels for emissions limp mode issues the 2.7t doesn’t have a single common warranty issue yet in 5 years.

People like to people though...move slow in groups, don’t like change lol.

Lucky for you though you’ve been brought up to speed finally. Choose wisely.