Last Saturday I bought my first diesel, a '97 Chevrolet 3/4 ton 4wd with an L65 motor, 5-speed manual and 3.73 locking differential. The truck is basically stock (except for a manifold PMD relocate) and is in exceptianally good condition and only has 91,000 miles on it. There are a few minor scratches in the paint with no dents, rust or evidence of body repair. The truck has the Siverado package and is metallic maroon with a grey cloth interior - the seats even hardly show any wear. Everything on the truck works - even the cassette deck (I had to dust off some 25 year old cassette tapes for the trip home). I found it at a small Ford dealer in the Ozarks SW of Springfield MO. They had received 8 inches of snow the day before so I got to test out the 4wd when taking my test drive. On the snow covered winding two lane road through town I had to find one short straight stretch in a river bottom area with no traffic where I could open it up to 65 briefly to make sure it would run well. I drove it 170 miles home with my ScanGuage II showing 22 miles a gallon from outside of Springfield (where I reset it after I hit I-44) to our house near Kansas City. For the most part I drove with the cruise set at 65 - I was inpressed with the mileage since the '07 Silverado classic that I had before would have only been running at about 12 mpg. The truck seems to start right up in below 10 degree weather and runs and drives down the highway just like new. I loaded some pictures in the my garage (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/garage.php?do=view&g=28998)section of this forum, here are a few of them below, the truck looked real pretty when I left the dealer but was pretty well covered by salt residue and slush by the time I got home:
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/garageimage.php?do=full&p=106390&d=1264943895
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/garageimage.php?do=full&p=106277&d=1264775514
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/garageimage.php?do=full&p=106274&d=1264775428
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/garageimage.php?do=full&p=106388&d=1264943864
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/garageimage.php?do=full&p=106393&d=1264943945
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/garageimage.php?do=full&p=106401&d=1264944093

Nice find. Reflects pride of ownership by the PO. I think the 3:73's and the five speed are the sweet spot for the 6.5TD.

Welcome.

Nice!!

Looks like a real clean truck. I remember when mine was like that, but that was at least 140K miles ago.

Jake

Very nice!

Very clean truck, congratulations!!

looks like a great find. very clean. nice rig

Yes the previous owner really did take good care of the truck. It runs and drives like a new one! I paid a bit of a premium for it, but I wanted something that I could just jump in and use - sometimes you just need a pickup and I didn't want another project (since I already have plenty of those in my garage). I don't know much of the history of the truck, the only warranty work was a PMD replacement at 31K miles. The PMD has since been relocated to a heat sink on the manifold (which I will be relocating). There were two receipts in the glove box, one for a LP replacement about a year and a half ago and one for a new rebuilt alternator last year (which has a lifetime Carquest warranty so it is nice to have that receipt).

that's a great looking truck! I had a 97' Z71 reg cab long bed with the same color combo and interior. I loved that truck and if it would of had a five speed I would probably still have it.

This truck is just what I need, the day after I got it I cut up and hauled a load of hickory firewood with it. I had an '07 Siverado Classic Silverado K2500 6 1/2 foot bed, 6.0L 4.10, with all the bells and wistles (LT3), but it was more than I needed, didn't have enough bed capacity and the gas mileage was too poor (about 12 mpg) to drive it except just when I needed a truck. This "new" truck should be just what I need and should last me pretty much forever. My wife liked the look of the old truck (gold with GMs aluminum wheels and stainless tubular steps) but the metallic maroon has always been "her color" so she likes the new one as well, plus she thought that it looked a lot better than she expected when I got it home!

You should do a lot better then 12mpg with the 6.5 ENJOY!

My 1500 mpg avg real close to 20 but mine is a daily driver no load mostly hiway about 100 miles a day. Runs great & just seems to get a little better with every little mod.

Move that PMD before it gets roasted...

I just need to come up with a good harness for it for the relocation and decide whether I want to purchase a new PMD at the same time and keep mine as a spare. I've been spending a little time on the forum over the past few days seeing what experiences people have with the various PMDs that are out there.

Here is the build sheet for the truck, it is equiped pretty much the way I would have ordered it if I had bought it 13 years ago rather than last month:

VIN 1GCGK24F7VE208258 VEHICLE BUILD Merchandising Model : CK20903 -1997 HD FLEETSIDE PICKUP 4WD Gross Vehicle Weight Rating : 3904 kg (8608 lb) Order Number : 5364SK Build Date : 02/10/1997 Build Plant : 1VE03 GMVIS is not the definitive source of GM Vehicle RPO information and is intended for service reference only. Should there be any questions about the vehicle's original build or RPO information please refer to the original vehicle invoice or window sticker. </B>OPTION CODES #SP AE7 - SPLIT BENCH RECLINING FRT SEAT AU3 - POWER DOOR LOCK SYSTEM A28 - SLIDING REAR WINDOW A31 - POWER WINDOWS BG9 - RUBBER COVERING-FULL FLOOR (REPLACES FLOOR MATS) BZY - BEDLINER B71 - COLOR KEYED WHL OPENING FLARES B85 - BRIGHT BODY SIDE MOLDINGS C6P - 8600 LB GVW RATING C60 - AIR CONDITIONING DF2 - EXTERIOR CAMPER TYPE MIRRORS - STAINLESS STEEL E63 - FLEETSIDE BODY FE9 - FEDERAL/NEW YORK/MASSACHUSETTS EMISSIONS FK2 - TORSION BAR SPRING ADJUSTMENT FK3 - TORSION BAR SPRING ADJUSTMENT GMC - ASSEMBLY PLANT-GM TRUCK & COACH GT4 - REAR AXLE - 3.73 RATIO G80 - LOCKING DIFFERENTIAL-REAR AXLE JD7 - HYD POWER DISC/DRUM BRAKES K34 - ELECTRONIC SPEED CONTROL K47 - HIGH CAPACITY AIR CLEANER K60 - 100 AMP DELCOTRON GENERATOR L65 - 6.5 LITER TURBO DIESEL ENGINE ALSO INCLUDES: * TWIN DELCO FREEDOM BATTERIES * 5 YEAR/100,000 MILE ENGINE LIMITED WARRANTY (SEE DEALER FOR DETAILS) * ENGINE BLOCK HEATER MW3 - HD 5-SPD MAN TRANS W/OVERDRIVE AND DEEP LOW NA5 - EMISSION SYSTEM-FEDERAL NP5 - LEATHER WRAPPED STEERING WHEEL NZZ - OFF ROAD SKID PLATE N33 - COMFORTILT STEERING WHEEL P06 - WHEEL TRIM RINGS R8M - SOLD RETAIL COMMERCIAL R9V - TRACKING-MATERIAL SHORTAGES SLL - SOLD ORDERS UM6 - AM/FM STEREO W/CASSETTE & CLOCK UQ5 - EXT RANGE SOUND FRT & RR SPKRS U01 - ROOF MARKER LAMPS VB3 - CHROMED REAR STEP BUMPER WITH RUB STRIP VG3 - FRONT DELUXE CHROMED BUMPER WITH RUB STRIP VK3 - FRONT LICENSE PLATE MOUNT VR4 - WEIGHT DISTRIB. PLATFORM HITCH VXS - COMPLETE VEHICLE LABEL V22 - DELUXE FRONT APPEARANCE V27 - FRONT BLACK BUMPER GUARDS V73 - STATEMENT OF VEHICLE CERT.-U.S. /CANADA XGK - LT245/75R 16E OOR BW FRT TIRES X88 - CHEVROLET CONVERSION YD3 - BASE EQUIP FOR SCH GVW PL-FT AX YD6 - BASE REAR SPRING YE9 - SILVERADO YGK - LT245/75R 16E OOR BW REAR TIRES ZGK - LT245/75R 16E OOR BW SPARE TIRE ZQ3 - TILT STEERING AND SPEED CONTROL ZY1 - SOLID PAINT Z82 - HEAVY DUTY TRAILERING EQUIPMENT 1SB - PREFERRED EQUIPMENT GROUP REJECT 1SZ - PREFERRED EQUIPMENT SAVINGS 13D - GRAY CUSTOM CLOTH TRIM 13I - GRAY INTERIOR TRIM 51U - DARK CARMINE RED METALLIC 6GK - FRONT SPRING SELECTOR LH

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