I own a 2001 Chevy crew cab duramax with an alison transmission. I purchased it used last year. I must say it is the nicest truck I've ever owned. It has pulled/hauled whatever I have needed. I now no longer need a pickup truck, so I am thinking of trading it for a 3/4 ton panel truck, that being either a suburban 6.0/3.73 rear end or a Ford Excursion 6.0 or 7.3 diesel. I know very little about the Fords. How do the Ford transmissions compare to the Alison? Is there an advantage between the 7.3 and 6.0 Ford diesels?

I will be pulling a 31' travel trailer along with a wife, two kids, a 50# dog and 2000# of cargo distrbuted between the truck and trailer.

I am not soliciting Ford or Chevy bashing, simply an honest education.

Thanks

jim

A friend of mine has the Ford Excursion gas and hates the mileage but loves the vehicle. He bought it several months ago and is getting rid of it for a diesel. Just 1 persons observation.

a friend had a excursion 2wd and pulled a 37 ft trailer and found that it could not take the load and had to add air bags then he traded up. if you get the excursion I have the air bags for sale

My buddy that owns a ford dealership has bought back 6 trucks this year because of the 6.0 powerstrokes that keep blowing injectors.. Be cautious of the 03 diesels.

Why not add a shell to the truck, or do you need seating for more then 4?

Jim, from personal experience, here goes.


I had a 01 2500 Suburban with 8.1 engine pulling a 32' travel trailer fully loaded at 10,000 lbs. Have a friend with almost identical set up but the Suburban was the 6.0; hands down the 8.1 pulled way better and actually got better fuel milage than the 6.0; empty highway with 8.1 I was getting 14 doing 70 mph; pulling the trailers at 70 I was getting 8 to 8.25; the 6.0 was getting under 8 consistently and could just not keep up at all. You can see by my sig. what I have replaced it with and me and the wife are extremely happy. Friend bought a GMC D/A and is also very happy. Tried to get wife to look at a diesel Excursion 3 years ago and she would have absolutely nothing to do with it. Way too big, to long, to wide, to high, hated the seats, hated the seating, did not like the mirrors, tough to turn, etc., etc., and my wife almost never complains about anything and if I would have bought it I would be sleeping in the garage. Yet, she asks me to leave the 2500HD at home for her to use during the week if she needs to pick something up or get rid of baskets of yard waste. Go figure? I privately sold the Suburban and I still wish I could have talked wife into keeping it for her vehicle but she would not give up her 03 Monte Carlo SS Competition so I ended up selling it. Absolutely love the 2500HD D/A and with fuel prices, etc., it is the best decision regarding vehicles I think I have ever made. I have a business associate that has a diesel Excursion who pulls a big boat and I know his fuel milage is not as good as the Chevy's; someone told me that he is actually thinking of trading it on a GMC but he has not personally told me that. I have offered to pull his boat one day for him but he has not taken me up on it yet. If only Chevy would build that Suburban D/A they promised the last few years I would have one!!!! Personally speaking and this is only my opinion, after owning a 99 and 01 Suburban and now the 04 2500HD D/A, I think you will be very, very disappointed in the switch especially from the towing aspect of the D/A, unless you need the seating capacity.

Keep the truck. Only issue I can see is if you just need more seating capacity.

Everything that sprintmod1 said I had a 01 8.1 sub and loved it I wish I could have kept it and bought my dmax too. You can't go wrong with the 8.1 if your looking for a gas motor best out there. I would have bought a dmax sub too.

Keep your truck, add a cap and one of those bed rugs. Then you have the best of both worlds.


They make very nice, well sealed caps. And, with the addition of the bed rug, the bed is very neat, clean, and dry.


You can even add a passthrough rear window and seal the gap between the cab and the cap.


I don't think you'll go wrong with that route.


But, if your mind is made up, I'd stay with Diesel for towing. More power, more efficient, and diesel fuel price tends to be much more stable.