Chevy 3500 Dually diesel, Anyone own one/recommend it.

[blakesbunch]

Ok so my truck is about on it's last legs and my hubby and I are searching for a replacement. I really liked the F250/350 diesels until this past week when a friends truck stranded her in Lexington. So I am rethinking the Ford idea for now.
So yesterday I found a Chevy Silverado 3500 diesel truck for sale. Loved it. But wanted to find out of anyone had one, and could tell me more. The pros and cons, the likes and dislikes.
I need a good truck that will haul my trailer with ease up and down the hills we have around here.

Thanks.

GB

[tweeter]

We have an '02, with about 125K miles on it. Love, love love it. It does get regular maintainence, and no real problems at all. We pull a 2 horse gooseneck, and it's easy to forget the trailer is even back there. The Allison transmission is awesome!

[jeano]

We have an '02, with about 125K miles on it. Love, love love it. It does get regular maintainence, and no real problems at all. We pull a 2 horse gooseneck, and it's easy to forget the trailer is even back there. The Allison transmission is awesome!

Had one back in the mid 90's, when Mr Jeano and I had duelling duallies--he had the red gasoline burner, I drove the diesel. It was like having my own personal garbage truck, and I mean that in a good way. We put a humoungous camper on it, one of those muthas that extends a good two feet beyond the truck bed, drove it over the mountains of KY and TN and GA and except for the turbo kicking in maybe once on the steepest grade (at Interstate speeds, mind you) you wouldnt know it was toting anything. A stout truck. It was wretched excess for us to have TWO duallies (actually it was wretched excess to have even one, as far as that goes, since at the time we had no heese and did no real hauling) so we downsized the diesel and got a normal truck that would fit inside the moving van when we went to live in WA for a couple years....I loved that truck.

[Tom King]

I've been driving an '01 for 8 1/2 years and it's one of the few things I've ever bought that turned out better than I thought it would be. I'll buy another one in another 8 years or so.

The mid '90's one was not a 3500. It was a C/K3500. Different animal entirely.

[equineartworks]

I desperately want one...anyone want to send me a couple of their "clunkers" to use as a trade in :lol:

[Guyot]

Have two, a 2000 and a '07.... both are wonderful and pull both a two horse and a large four horse head to head. Great trucks, wouldn't buy anything else! have fun shopping!!

[Mary in Area 1]

I want to be buried in mine. I have NEVER loved anything inanimate as much as my Duramax Dually. The Allison transmission is amazing. My truck purrs along the road pulling my 4 horse and everything loaded to the roof.

I love my truck.

[Fantastic]

I have a 2000 F350 and an FL-70 (don't know why I bought it; it's a stick - I can't drive it and it needs to go), and my ex has a 2008 C3500. His truck is amazing! It has about double or more the HP and more than double (I think) torque than my F350! My 33' LQ 4H is way too much for my F350, but the ex's C3500 pulls it with 4 horses in it like it's not pulling anything! I also just picked up 6.5 tons of hay that I hauled over several mountain passes, and his truck just purred. Of course it could have hauled way more, but trailer was maxed out. It reminds me closer to the Freightliner FL-70 (that I have only driven about 10 times, and I give up!) in it's pulling power than anywhere near my whimpy F350.

I am going to get rid of my two trucks and find a C3500!

[copper1]

Sweet ride! Pulls the loaded trailer like it isn't there! Comfortable and easy to drive. Love it!

[trubandloki]

I have a '94 with a whole boat load of miles on it (not sure the exact amount since the odometer has a glitch) and it is ugly and rusty but still does its job well.

[crazy gray horse]

I have an 06. I pulled a 39' LQ cross country - from WA state down to CA across the south to SC and up to NY. We drove through mountains, extreme heat and wind, rain, hail, ice, snow - that truck was great. I've had people ride with me remark how wonderful it rides - so NOT like a truck. I love, love, love my truck :D

[outofthebox]

Great truck,... Super comfortable seats and much better turning radius than the Ford heavy dutys. The diesel engine is quieter too. I also love the Onstar system that comes with all the new trucks.

[blakesbunch]

Thank you everyone for your input. That makes me feel so much better about this truck. It is such a big investment to make in these times that I want to make sure I get the "right" one.
By the way, my friends Ford is still in Lexington waiting repairs. It is costing a small fortune, not to mention the extra expense to have someone else trailer the ponies back home.

[Erin Pittman]

We have an '02 and it's been great! Use it to pull a GN 5 horse trailer with tack room and changing area. No repairs other than routine maintenance.

[TXnGA]

I was looking this year at the new trucks/ models. My truck history is

'89 F350 dually- was a tank and sold it in 2002
'99 F350 dually 4x4- had slow pick up and go when hauling the 35 ft. trailer with living quarters, sold
01 Dodge 2500 diesal 4x4- love this truck, pick up was even better with this on the LQ trailer than the f350, still have it
'02 Chevy 3500 dually 4x4- same as the ford, crumpled in a crash while pulling a horse trailer when a women had a heartattack, crossed the median, and came across 3 hwy lanes and bounced down the front left of the truck to the end of the horse trailer. Medics said that the only reaon my mom walked away w/ minimal injuries was that it was a chevy. hauls well
03 Chevy 3500 dually 4x4- still has slow pick up and go, but hauls well. still have it
09 Chevy 3500 dually 4x4- (mothers) mother swears by it. still not 100% keen on it.

I did recently test drive the F250/ F350 duallys 4x4, Chevy 2500/ 3500 dually 4x4, and the Dodge Ram 2500/ 3500 4x4 and discovered that the ford and chevy were not up to par with the Dodge Ram 2009. Especially the dually 4x4. Love, love love it. Came this - close to buying it right than and there, than the sales man was an a** and made me hold off on buying it for now. The chevy and ford had very little pick up and go (with no trailer) and rode very uncomfortably. I was also told that the new ford electrics (radio/ dash stuff) was having problems repeatedly. The chevy was bumpy and still little pick up and go. I let my husband give me his input (on my truck) and he agreed that the dodge was the best truck to go with.

Another plus for the dodge trucks in the engine, the durability, transmission can go for 1/2 million miles and not need to be replaced. huals very very well whether it is the 2+1 or the LQ trailer.

[ESG]

I had a super customized (Western Hauler) '98 that was the biggest piece of $h!t to ever roll off the line. CONSTANT problems with it, and expensive ones, too. I owned it for two years, and probably put $7500 of repairs into it in that time, not including normal maintenance. The fuel injector pump ($2000 a pop, and it went out twice!), the alternator ($1800, and it nearly got me killed when it went out on a busy road :mad: ), the odd pump/gauge/valve that cost thousands - yeah, I couldn't wait to get rid of that thing. Oh, and I found out after the first fuel injector pump replacement that it had had a new motor put in it about eight months before I bought it - wonder why? :rolleyes: And yes, I did have it checked out by a mechanic before I bought it, and he said it was a great deal. Just goes to show that mechanics don't know everything, either. :no:

That said, this was before Chevy changed out the motors that gave their duallys a bad rap, so take it for what it's worth. But you can bet that I'll never buy one again.

[Guilherme]

We have an '08 3500HD (Crew cab, Duramax, LB, 4WD, LT trim, B&W Turnover Ball Hitch, RhinoLining). Very satisfied with the truck and all the options.

G.

[wildlifer]

Do you want a truck that will WORK or do you want a truck that feels like a car?

I have always loved Chevys -- just traded in a 96 Tahoe that I adored, that was one tough little truck and was running beautifully at 171,000.

A little research on the newer ones though, left me disappointed. The Duramax/Allison engine tranny combo is still great. But all the other parts have been "dumbed" down in order to create that car-like ride. Now it's more like a grocery hauler -- just crawl under and compare the frame, the radiator, the front end, with the Ford and it's pretty easy to see which one is more heavy duty (hint, the Chevy loses).

I don't like either of the new Ford diesels either -- the 6.0L is just plain cursed and the 6.4L while doing ok so far, gets you stuck with the new EPA filters which kill gas mileage -- but I did a little hunting and found a beautifully maintained low mileage 01 7.3L and I am NEVER giving it up!

I won't buy a Dodge period -- the Cummins again, is a great engine, but the rest of the truck is way too cheaply made.

If you are looking to get up and go.....well, don't buy a diesel truck, LOL.

What I really want is a Ford truck with a Cummins engine and an Allison tranny -- can someone build that???