Howdie Boys!

Im truck shopping for a daily driver/ towing truck. I want/ need the ability to tow my toyota or other small 4x4 with reliability and also pop aound town to the mall:D

Anyway, Im looking the most at GMC's, Gas really. Anyway, Im lookin at this big arse 8.1 liter (496cu ft.:eek: ). What is really sweet is that that engine comes with an Allison 1000 series five speed automatic. This is a bad tranny from what I hear, bad to the damn bone...

Anyway, is the 6 liter to puss?

Is the 8.1 to much?

What the deliyo?

Muchos Gracias!

get the diesel, YO! Same bad-ass Allison tranny, wayyy better mileage than the big block. I would not get the small-block for towing, but that's just me. The diesel option is expensive, but it is worth it over the long run, if you are gonna own the truck a while...

i have some buddies with both of the trucks you speak about.one has a 4-wheel drive with the 8100 engine and he loves the truck,but only gets about 10mpg empty.the other has the 6000 engine and he carries about 3000lbs of tools everday with him(field mech.)and also pulls a trailer all the time.he said it has plenty of power and gets about 12mpg daily driving with the load he carries.but his auto tranny went out with about 50000 miles on it and had to be replaced.i also have a buddy with the duramax-allison and he hates it,says hid sons dodge cummins will walk off from him and out pull the dura-max.you might get the 6000 with a standerd tranny and get good feul milage out of it.but what do i know i have a ford psd:D hope this helped you some...

My Pops has the Duramax, and he loves it. He went in to the dealer looking for the bigblock, but all they had was the DuraMax, so they talked him into it. He towed a 28' fullyloaded travel trailer(with pop-out), a 650lbs quad, trail 110, generator, plus everything needed for 2 weeks of hunting, over the serras, and all the way to Moab area Utah. The cruse control was set at 75, and it never missed a beat. He also managed around 14 Mpg doing it. Around town enpty he can average 22Mpg, but he usally dosen't, cause he enjoys using the go pedel! He has driven both Dodge and Ford oil burners, and he by far preffers the Chevy.

My Dad's Allison/Duramax SMOKES my HO 6 speed Cummins.

I would get the 8.1 so I could get the Allison Tranny with it!

nolen,i have never driven the duramax just going on what i was told.i started to buy the cummins but dodge did not have a crewcab.and the chevy was way out of my price range,so i got a ford:eek:

We have a 2001 Sub with the 8.1 and that think is the biggest gas hog ever. I think the best we have seen so far is 10mpg. I don't think I would ever use it for a daily driver just for the amount of gas that it uses. By the way, I drive over 70 miles a day so I really care about mpg.

The 8.1 has gobs of power.

I wanted to go gor the 8.1 aswell but I heard if the gas milage being 12 mpg highway. So I went with the 6.0 its got plenty of power. but I havent towed with it yet my wife drives it to work everyday and it averages between 17-18 mpg. alot less then my old '96 with a 350 but its got alot more jam. the 8.1 would cost more to run and about $4000 (Canadian $) inital purchase since you have to upgrade to the Allison. I don't regret buying the 6.0.

Diesel Diesel Diesel Diesel!!!

YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT!!

If you're towing Toyota's, I'd think the 6.0 would be fine. Especially if you're looking at driving it unloaded a lot.

I just towed my FJ40 on a 16ft trailer from Dallas to Moab with my '01 1/2 ton Suburban with the 5.3. I thought it did very good. Not great, but very good. On the hills outside Albuquerque, I held 55-60mph. Otherwise I was doing 75-80 all the way home. I think the 6.0 would have had no problem.

If you are not pulling a 10K trailer, and you have the choice, get the 3.73 gears with the 8.1. That should help the daily driving a LOT and will still have GOBS of extra power to tow!

I pulled a 6500 lb trailer over Red Mountain pass (11,000') this weekend and the truck was awesome! That Allison compression braking is great. That thing will down shift the motor up to 4 grand! I barely had to touch the brakes going down. You have all the extra HP that you can afford gas to use.. :)

Going thru NM into UT, it only occasionally dropped out of 5th gear! Of coarse I was following several Diesel's, so I had to slow down a bunch.. :D :D

Out of our group, I was getting fuel milage just a little below the Diesel's. The best was the Cummins, and he was getting 10 when I got about 9. Although, he was pulling a ton or so more than I was....

Running 70+mph thru Texas with a major cross wind, 95 degree outside temperature, I was running 200 water, and just under 200 tranny temp. There is plenty of power, but the tach is too high (~2600) with the 4.10's so the milage drops off when you get above 65.....

... get a $500 beater Honda Civic and suddenly the daily driver MPG issue is a moot point.

cm "have heard nothing but good about the Allison ... but it's all second hand info" k