plowing with a dmax crew cab

[Monte22]

I totally disagree with you. I own a fleet a gm trucks and I can't begin to tell you how many control arms, pitman arms, tie rods etc, I have gone through. Me and my crew, plow more than you and have been doing it much longer. In fact, I just replaced all of the above on one of my trucks with only 14,000 miles. Another truck was in yesterday for service and they told me all of the same things were bad again. I just replaced 12,000 miles ago.

If torsion are the answer, why don't the Kodiak's have torsion bars? Why did GM drop the torsion bars on the 2007 1500's? Torsion bars are terrible and no way as strong as the twin I beam. Ok the ride is not as good with a twin I beam front end, but so what. I want a truck that I can hang a plow and not have the plow be only two inches of the ground. Try and angle a 81/2 foot plow and every time you hit a bumb the plow smashes the road. You can put the 81/2 to 11 foot bilzzard plow, which weighs 1100lbs, on the front of a Kodiak and the front end hardly drops an inch. The kodiak also rides failry nice, has greater visibilty, and turns around 100 times better than any of my 3500 dually's.

My salesman always tells me that they have people weekly walk out the door when they tell them they can't put a plow on a dmax crew cab. He also goes the the truck meetings in Atlantic City every spring and the number complaint and topic from all the northest dealers is the front end. The dealers ask when they will have a front end that will hold a plow with a dmax and GM says the same thing every year, "We are working on it". That to me is sad to know how many potential trucks GM could be selling.

Also, the plow prep warranty excuse you used is a joke. You are worried about blowing you tranny, what about the regular cabs? You are worried about cracking frames? Gm offers a plow prep package with a regular cab, and they have exactly the same front end as a crew cab. Is GM worried about blowing a tranny with a reg cab? If the front was stronger, then it would not sag as much, which would keep the truck more level and there would be a lot less stress on the frame, in the end reducing cracking.

As for GM having the best front end in the industry, you are way off. I am GM guy, but the facts are the facts. The front ends suck. I am glad you have had good luck with your front ends, and I hope you never have issues. However, if I wanted a nice riding truck to work in then I would get a El Camino. I do not care if my head bounces of the roof when I go over bumbs.

GM has an awesome diesel engine, awesome tranny, nice interior, nice 100,000 warranty, but a bad front end, for what I wan't to do with it.

Also GM's front GVW 4800lbs. Ford's front GVW 6000lbs. BIG DIFFERENCE!!!

[JoeyD]

If you have front end parts wearing out in 12,000 miles your not doing maintance to it.

[Mark Rinker]

Sounds like you've made up your mind. Enjoy!

[Monte22]

No I haven't made up my mind just yet. I just hope and pray things will change soon. That is why I was very disappointed to find out the 07's have not changed. Well maybe 2008 will be the year. The rumor is that they will eventually follow the 1500's and install coil over's. At least with a coil over you can install a heavy coil or air bag. Time will tell. Hopefully GM will answer mine and many others wishes fast. I have one child and another coming and I just cannot put two car seats in a regular cab. Not safe. I need a back seat!

[Mark Rinker]

I am sure you can hang a plow on a crew cab and have a great plow rig. Many have already done it. What are you waiting for?

[Monte22]

Yes you can do anything, but if something goes wrong during the warranty perioed GM will not cover it. The truck has to have a VYU package to be covered under warranty. You plow, you know what it does to a truck, especially commercial plowing. Things break! It is a chance I am not ready to take. Again, this is the issue I have with GM.

[Mark Rinker]

The first plow truck I owned was a 1997 Silverado gasser. Looking back on the first year, it was lucky that I didn't wreck that truck beyond repair. I did almost everything wrong, until my pocketbook (from plow repairs) taught me three things:

1) Slow down;
2) If you are constantly and repetatively backing up and plowing forwards, you probably are plowing the lot inefficiently;
3) Pickup trucks should not be used to pile or stack snow. They are best used for running up windrows. Skidders and end loaders are for stacking.

Since that first learning experience, none of the trucks have had unusual wear and tear, transmission failures, etc.

Now we have more equipment, better operators (myself included) and the right accounts that let us get the time on the clock $$$ without overtaxing our equipment, or making lots of repetative forward/backward motion.

From the amount of repair you are reporting - we are doing something different.

Agreed on the control arm/pitman arm comments. They aren't lasting as long as they should on these trucks. I didn't consider those part of suspension, and have replaced a few.