Goodbye Hemi

[Ken]

Well...I was supposed to speak at Robb's resort on Saturday at 8AM about Trail Patrol to a group of 4Wheelers there for a Leadership training class. I got to about Uncle Tom's cabin and the road was gone...I was sliding around at 5MPH on balding tires in 4WD....so with discretion the better part of valor, I turned around.

I got my Pizza Hut fleet discount number...went to John L Sullivan and bought a Chevy 2500HD Duramax with 6 Speed Allison tranny...fully loaded....Leather, DVD, XM, Onstar, Sunroof, running boards, 7yr/100k warranty....MSRP was 49K....fleet price was just under 43K. Done.

I'll post some pics when I get home...but I drove it this weekend....LOVE the power...wow. And much more luxurious than my Dodge.

[ACLakey]

Very nice, congrats. They are great rigs.

[MrPolaris]

ken just wants more power. . . how long till you get new tires for it? that is the one complaint that I have with the 2500HD is the tires they put on them are smaller than what I would like to have.

And if you want to get bigger tires, costco will not put anything bigger on them as they got sued in the past as the owener of the truck claimed the bigger tires made their trannie fail. . .

[Chadd]

Watch out putting bigger tires and tighting the torsion bars on the Chevys. you will have ball joint and alingment problems.

[WillRide]

Dude, you're going to love that truck. A buddy at work has a loaded D-max and it has so much power. He just put a 4" lift on it and some beefy tires, not too crazy though. With the taller tires, he lost a little fuel economy, about 1 mpg. But between the added traction and the cool factor, it was worth it.

Maybe some day... Guess I should start playing that lotto!

[MrPolaris]

Watch out putting bigger tires and tighting the torsion bars on the Chevys. you will have ball joint and alingment problems.

how much bigger tires would cause this problem?

[Chadd]

If you go any bigger than stock you have to raise the torsion bars.. Most common size is 285-75-16 or 315-85-16..

[scotte]

The reason the tire places won't put bigger tires on them is because the factory rims are 7", and nothing wider/bigger than stock is spec'd for such narrow rims.

Now even with other rims I've heard some places (Costco) won't put bigger tires on them (like that stupid lawsuit), but any excuse like that is just a lame one. America's Tire Company didn't have an issue with bigger tires (other than the fact that I wasn't going to shell out $$ for new rims, so I stuck with the small ones).

[scotte]

BTW, here's the first 2 things you should buy for your truck.

#1. Install one of these at your first oil change http://www.kennedydiesel.com/detail.cfm?ID=212#N-Type

You'll discover the oil drain is right above the skid plate. After making a mess of it several times, I finally installed one of these, and it's freaking awesome. Plug in some hose leading right down into the oil drain pan and open the valve. Get the one with the nipple.

#2. http://www.lubricationspecialist.com/pr ... cts_id=113

The first time you bleed your fuel filter you'll (probably) tear up the stock plastic bleed screw. This is a cheap all-metal replacement, I just installed mine last week. (This place sells the Fumoto valves also).

[Ken]

WOW...that drain plug is SWEET.

[oldtrucks]

If you go any bigger than stock you have to raise the torsion bars.. Most common size is 285-75-16 or 315-85-16..

I went to 265's and didn't need to adjust the torsion bars......but I did. Brought the front up about 1 1/2" from the stock height in the front, so now the truck looks level. No problems with the front end to speak of .......yet. I'd like to do a Tuff Country 4" lift and go to a 315 when these wear out, any taller and I'd have to buy new ramps or use the winch to load and unload the quad Good choice Ken, 4 door or extra cab?

[MrPolaris]

BTW, here's the first 2 things you should buy for your truck.

#1. Install one of these at your first oil change http://www.kennedydiesel.com/detail.cfm?ID=212#N-Type

You'll discover the oil drain is right above the skid plate. After making a mess of it several times, I finally installed one of these, and it's freaking awesome. Plug in some hose leading right down into the oil drain pan and open the valve. Get the one with the nipple.

#2. http://www.lubricationspecialist.com/pr ... cts_id=113

The first time you bleed your fuel filter you'll (probably) tear up the stock plastic bleed screw. This is a cheap all-metal replacement, I just installed mine last week. (This place sells the Fumoto valves also).

That nipple thing would have been perfect for my old truck. . . I had to take the skid plates off every time to get to the drain plug, otherwise I would have this exact problem listed. This site also has a great price on Fuel filters. I went ot hte lcoal auto store and they do not sell fuel filters yet for hte LBZ engine. I had to go to the dealer and they want to charge 50 bones for a filter. these filters are supposed to be better, and are 20 bones cheaper. . . will proably end up paying the difference in shipping, but if these work out, will get them in bulk and see if Ken and Larry want in to help spread the cost. . .

[MrBill]

There is one good thing about working in the filter business some years ago.
I get filters straight from the factory at a great price.
Oil filter with new o-ring $6.05 each
Fuel filters both water sep. and filter with o-rings $15.90 each.
I still have two cases left.
If I remember right Ford wants $85.00 for the fuel filter.
Sorry I don't know who make the filters for the Chevy's

[scotte]

I've heard Racor makes all the Duramax fuel filters...

[MrBill]

I've heard Racor makes all the Duramax fuel filters...

WOW I'll ask engineering about this next week.