2016 K2500HD work truck

[davischevy]

What color topper are you needing? BTW, are you going to show us this truck?

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by davischevy

What color topper are you needing? BTW, are you going to show us this truck?

Haven't taken any pictures yet. The dealer page for it still seems to be working this morning:
https://www.dennymenholt.com/Vehicle...-MT/3596886753

If we order a new topper it will probably be the matching white.

But a contrasting color would work as well. I found one on CL up near Great Falls but it is sort of a weird grayish lavender color to match their truck Three hundred miles away and $950 (about 1/3 of new price). Not sure if I can stomach that color or not ??? Just a plain green or blue or brown would be okay.

[1976gmc20]

Only thing so far that I really don't like about it is the seats. The 40/20/40 arrangement is fine but the bucket seats have this really hard ridge to get over to get in and out. I think we're going to try to find some foam pads to fill in the seat and raise the level up a little.

[57taskforce]

You’ll like it, I had a 2017 regular cab 3500HD, cab and chassis duramax with a utility bed and auto crane for a little bit as my company truck. Loved that truck. Now I’ve got a 2018 double cab 8ft bed 2500hd Sierra. I can tell you it’s a pretty tough truck. I’ve got a utility bed on it and I’ve been well north of the GVW several times (it does have aftermarket air bag helper springs) hauling engines around for my job(I work in oil and gas) I regularly set 5.9 nat gas Cummins, 3304 cats, 330 and 220 waukeshas even a few 350’s in the utility bed with all my tools, oil tanks, compressor, torch setup etc. it’s had chains on all four tires in snow and deep mud both many times. I’ve had it since January of 2018 and it’s got almost 70,000 on it now never been in for anything other than oil changes and tires. I plan to buy this truck when it miles out in another 40,000 or so miles. The similar year fSeries trucks we have don’t seem to stay out of the dealer for very long between taking forever to start for the gas trucks and a lot of def issues for the 6.7 diesels. The 6.0 moves the truck quite well for the weight and as said before has been exceptionally reliable.

[1976gmc20]

The 6.0 moves the truck quite well for the weight and as said before has been exceptionally reliable.

Just empty of course, but the highway coming home has a few hills. The new truck just rolls right up on cruise control without any apparent notice. But our little car has to shift down and scream on almost any hill to hold speed, so I only use cruise where it's dead flat, and just let it slow down a little.

The grill and fenders are crazy tall. You can barely see into the engine compartment. It's about the height of my old 1965 GMC 2 ton! But amazingly there is quite a bit of room around the engine. Of course you would need a 6' stepladder to get up in there

I'm not sure if I will like the gas consumption. I guess I have to get used to that again.

[1976gmc20]

Ordered a new Leer 122 "high-rise" topper for it today.

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

Ordered a new Leer 122 "high-rise" topper for it today.

Good choice.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by davischevy

Good choice.

Thanks! Only thing we don't like is that you can't lock it from the inside. We're going to have to jury rig some sort of inside locking mechanism - maybe a slotted plate that drops down over the latch shaft(s) and down inside the locked tailgate.

We had to get the tailgate re-keyed to match the cab because it turns out the bed isn't the same one that came off the pickup

I bought an aluminum sleeve to adapt the 2.5" hitch receiver down to our 2" ball mount. I will eventually buy a 2.5" ball mount but I don't really need that right now, just something that we can move our little camp trailer with and tow a U-haul. We pulled the biggest u-haul trailer that they rent up from CO to MT back 23 years ago with our old 77 Suburban and that same 2" ball mount.


Anyway, the tire pressure says 60/75 front/rear. It rides terrible empty on the gravel road. I'm thinking I could let the back tires down to 60 since we're not going to be hauling 3000 pounds most of the time ???

[1976gmc20]

And …

One of my daughters just bought a 2002 F*** F-350 SD V-10.

A failure as a parent, I am

[Greg58]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

And …

One of my daughters just bought a 2002 F*** F-350 SD V-10.

A failure as a parent, I am

She will love the power until it blows a spark plug out of the head!

Greg

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Greg58

She will love the power until it blows a spark plug out of the head!

Greg

And then you have to pull the cab to fix it?

She didn't ask me too much about it beforehand. Since she doesn't absolutely need 4wd (AZ) I had suggested trying to find an older Camper Special with low miles, either Chevy/GMC or Ford, but I was thinking pre-2000 at least.

She wants to pull a horse trailer and haul a slide-in camper.

[Greg58]

I helped a friend fix his V-10, E-350 van when it blew one out. It took 3 of us all afternoon. Had to buy a Helicoil kit and it really sucked.
One of us was a School Dist, mechanic who had done it before.
He told my buddy to sell that thing before it happened again! He didn't listen and within 6 months it happened again. This time he paid to have it fixed and sold it immedeatly!
Best thing was he bought a 2004 GMC 2500 4x4 with 8.1 and Allison. He absolutely loves that truck, only bad thing is he is a leadfoot and only gets 9mpg.
Maybe your daughter will have better luck!
Greg

[davischevy]

Our motorhome has a V10. It's about the only option in gas powered RV's. If I have a problem like that I will have owned two Fords. My first and last.

WE ran our first 8.1 Chevrolet to over three hundred thousand miles, and sold it. We have one now that is headed toward two hundred thousand, and going strong. They are trouble free with the Allison transmission.

[1976gmc20]

Well, she didn't ask me before buying it

We have a ~2010 F-550 with a V-10 and all I know is that is uses a lot of gas but at least the county is paying for it. It does have 4000# of water on the back, and the pump and the toolboxes full of saws and nozzles and fittings, etc etc etc. Decent enough truck and it is nice to have 500 gallons which means you can squirt for more than five or ten minutes. But brand new it's had issues like the bright lights may or may not work or stay on. Always happens to me and not someone else.

It's actually a state loaned truck, and another VFD in the county blew the transmission out of one just like it at about 300 miles. Apparently they were driving around slow on two track roads or no roads in High Range instead of low range.

[1976gmc20]

Okay, here is a picture of our "new" pickup. We don't have the topper for it yet.

(I rotated and saved it as a copy but the dam thing is still sideways - f*** phones and f*** Windows 10)

[davischevy]

You did good. I approve.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by davischevy

You did good. I approve.

Thanks

Just thinking ahead a couple years … what is a readily available taller tire size that will fit on these pickups without lifting? (it's tall enough overall, but I'd like a little more room under the rear differential) It has 265/70/17 of course. I'd like to go to a /75 or /85 if possible.

I am going to get some steps for the cab, not so much for me as for my wife.

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

Okay, here is a picture of our "new" pickup. We don't have the topper for it yet.

(I rotated and saved it as a copy but the dam thing is still sideways - f*** phones and f*** Windows 10)

When my pics are out of rotation. I rotate them to another crooked pic and save. Then i rotate them to proper and save. Usually works.

[Palf70Step]

Fixed your picture. Nice truck. I don't see many folks going for regular cabs lately. Glad someone besides me likes them.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Fixed your picture. Nice truck. I don't see many folks going for regular cabs lately. Glad someone besides me likes them.

Thanks.

We wanted an eight foot bed and did not want something 25 feet long. There's just the two of us and the back seat would have been a waste of space.

And I wanted a real pickup, not one of those metro-yuppie things

[1976gmc20]

17 mpg - I guess that's not too bad

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

17 mpg - I guess that's not too bad

That is great. We have a 2016 4 dr, LWB, and it wouldn't get 17, downhill with a tailwind.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by davischevy

That is great. We have a 2016 4 dr, LWB, and it wouldn't get 17, downhill with a tailwind.

Grandpa drives like a grandpa

Only a hundred miles, so there could be some difference in filling. But the long term average fuel mileage on the computer keeps going up. It was 10.9 the first time we filled it leaving the dealer, and 14.1 yesterday. When you live this far out of town, you learn to fill up every time you are in town.

I bought some floor mats and a pair of "nerf bar" steps so grandma and grandpa can get in and out easier. This thing is about as tall as my old c/50 but without the running boards. So now I have a project to install them.

Still waiting on the Leer topper to come in ….

[Matt Man]

Nice truck. I would like to pick up this body style but would prefer a 3500hd. But as you mentioned, it is hard to find a regular cab pickup now it is only me and my dog so no need for a 4 door.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Matt Man

Nice truck. I would like to pick up this body style but would prefer a 3500hd. But as you mentioned, it is hard to find a regular cab pickup now it is only me and my dog so no need for a 4 door.

Thanks

This one rides so rough that I would hate to drive a 3500 unless it had a couple or three tons in the bed. I did let the rear tires down from 75 to about 60 psi which helped a lot. I don't remember my 1973 K/20 riding anywhere near as rough as this pickup does.

It's kind of a pinch right now because we don't have the topper yet. Like yesterday after we bought the steps, I put the box in the cab when we both went into the ranch store. Probably no one would have bothered it (hard to even see unless you walk up to the rail and look down inside the bed) but I just wanted to lock it up.

But the plan is to build a full width 6' long sleeping platform inside the topper, and still have room for a footwell in the back by the tailgate. That's why we absolutely wanted an eight foot bed and did not want an extended or crew cab in addition to the long bed. We had a setup like that up until 1990 when we traded the 71 pickup and camper shell for a Suburban because the twins were getting bigger.