How much do you like your 6.5

[Robyn]

Now we have had more moaning about this or that than we need for a while.

This thread is all about the good things we have to say about our 6.5 powered rigs.

No trouble issues allowed..

I absolutely love my 95 Dahooooley. Of all the trucks I have owned in the last 10 years this little sweety is just so nice to drive and just has a feeling like an old pair of shoes that ya just cant part with.

The 94 Burb is much the same way. Great family rig and always handy to go haul stuff or just cruise off for the weekend.

Great mileage for a large vehicle. Sucker goes great in the snow too with no issues.
All in all if I could buy some brand new ones right now I would do it in a heartbeat (94-95)

Lets here some more stories of your favorite 6.5 powered truck or Burb

Best to all

Robyn

[twaddle]

We've found our GMC 6.5 Suburban to be one of the most versatile vehicles ever owned.
Great for carrying people plus luggage, hauling trailers, it's spacious. My wife likes the high seating for a good view compared to our old Volvo 940.

A couple of years ago we were up in the Scottish Highlands for a break, on the way back home we were laughing at the other 4x4 having to strap their mountain bikes to the outside or roof. We had everything in the back including the bikes with the rearmost seats folded and moved forward.

Last weekend I needed a trailer load of gravel from a local quarry, as usual I asked the machine operator to load the 16ft bed trailer right up. Ended up with 7 tons of gravel on that trailer (+ trailer which weighs 1 ton)and the 6.5 pulled it back home with no problems. The Heath PCM probably helped a little, hee hee!!
Had to take it easy so I didn't blow the trailer tires though.

I regularly put all the rear seats down, slide in a 8x4 sheet of plywood and use it as a service vehicle for my work as a self employed Caterpillar mechanic.

Cruising at motorway (highway) speeds of 70+mph is a breeze. To add to this the fuel consumption is pretty damn good for a BIG 3 ton 4x4.

We will be moving to Alberta as soon as the house sells and the 6.5 Sub will be going with us too.

Best wishes to all us 6.5 fans

Jim
Biggar, Scotland,
soon to be Alberta, Canada
PS. the Sub is looking forward to getting back over to North America and onto the correct side of the road.

[Robyn]

We own an operate a local gun shop and we also do trade shows from time to time. Not all that long ago we booked a show in Las Vegas.
This is about 1450 miles one way for us. The Burb was a sweetheart all the way and pulled down about 19 MPG avg for the trip. Lots of mountains to go over both coming and going.

I sort of keep an unofficial mental note of how many diesel Burbs there are in the community here.
Not hard to spot either with the Two Nostrils in the bumper.
very popular with the Horsie people here as well as many large families.

Good safe transportation me thinks.

Sort of odd that Ford dropped the Excursion.
Seems to me that they should have been as good as a Burb.
I drove a friends a while back and it has the Powerstroke in it.
Drove as nice as our Burb.

Must have been a sales thing me thinks.

Its wonderful to post some positive things here.
Generally when I come on in the early AM to cruise the forums prior to heading out all I see is "My broken this or my failed that" and who should I blame.

Please folks add some more good news and stories of your fav rig.
Some pix of the units would be good too but lets not get crazy with tons of them per post.

My goal in starting this thread is to lighten the mood a little and possibly encourage more positive postings.
We are all here to help each other with problems and not for one minute do I believe that issues will just go away.
I for one am the first to jump on my soapbox and howl if I am unhappy.

Lets see if we can keep this thread running for a long time and who knows maybe a record or something

Best to all

Robyn

[sturgeon-phish]

I really enjoy my 96. It pulls my 5th well, and hauls loads great. I love the looks, even better than the 2000 to date body styles. All this and 20+ mpg when I keep my foot out of it. Just got new treads on back so snow handling should improve. All in all, if I needed to replace my truck, the only thing I would change is going to a crew cab, grand kids are getting bigger!
I am putting an addition onto the garage just for the truck. With only 90 K on it I plan on keeping it for a while.
Jim

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

82 pickup: 4SP manual w/ OD; utterly fantastic mpg; loved that truck (still own it, thinking of parting it out)

95 pickup: 4L80-E, 4.10 gears, added Gear Vendors Aux. OD; bought @ ~ 80K miles, now has almost ¼ million; a couple FSD/PMD's (now got it mounted right); neither engine or tranny ever opened up; runs like the day I bought it - perfectly.

95 Sub: 4L80-E, 3.42 gears; bought it @ ~ 180K miles, now has almost ¼ million; neither engine or tranny ever opened up; runs perfectly.

Blessings!

[gmctd]

Ha!!! Look at my sig..........the right side, please.............no, yer other right..............

[JeffsTowTruck]

Well in the 8 years she let me down only 1 time. That was the injection black box, guess it was not her fault.
So I have no real complaints, I do wish there was a little more power ,but I don't have a lot of $$ to spend on it so maybe that's my fault..
Great truck to have made it through a hurrican and sat under water for a week or so..

[NH2112]

My thoughts are that excluding electronics issues the 6.2l/6.5l, along with the 318, are the most reliable and durable light truck engines ever produced (the 5.9l Cummins, Navistar/IHC diesels from 6.9l & up, and IHC V8-304/V8-345/V8-392 were all medium truck engines first.)

[JeffsTowTruck]

Hey I did get new stripes this summer from Fleetwood!! I match!!

[JeepSJ]

Love it. Without a doubt, the best engine swap I have ever done.

[winemaker]

I just turned 350,000 km last week on a 1000 km trip. Anyone else feel like they know the truck by feel? This truck feels like it's got a lot of life left. She fires right up, runs strong and smooth.
My buddy Grant, who was a member a couple years ago and told me of the value of TDP, had a 94 3500 dually extracab 5 spd when I had a Dodge cummins with no proper hitch. His truck had the Heath TurboMaster, MaxE Tork and 3.5" exhaust when I borrowed it to haul my 1979 27' Travel Trailer 500 kms up the Coquihalla. That sucker ran like a hotrod!
A couple years later I sold the low-mile Dodge in favour of my high-mile Chev and I couldn't be happier.
This is a truck that I could grow old with.....unless I can talk my wife into a crewcab down the road!
Brett

[More Power]

I like Robyn's idea for a thread like this. All too often, the problems people have overshadow the good stories we know are out there. I received the following email message today from a fellow 6.5 owner that I'd like to share. Jim

I was reading a few things on your page about your 6.5TD power project, and I read that you put 200,000 miles on it in seven years. I love my 6.5, it’s a 97 3500 dually, and in 10 years I have put 425,000 miles on mine. I've only replaced glow plugs, filters, one starter, batteries, fuel pump (not the injector pump) and the radiator (took a hit from a rock one day). It still runs like a champ and I'll run it until it hits the ground.

Sincerely,
Rob from NC

Rob might send a few photos. If he does, I'll post them...

[KallyI]

I wrote this about my truck last September, here in TDP:

I made a few changes to my truck this year, I completed the intercooler and gauge installation, put a 3" crossover pipe in, a 3" turbo downpipe, and Kennedy's boost controller.
Wow!!!, what a difference pulling a load. Places where the PCM pulled fuel, The engine temp went up, and Lord knows what my EGT was, plus I lost about 25-35 mph, (belching black smoke), I can now go up, and maintain my speed, or possibly lose 3-5 mph,, with no smoke. Some hills I can even gain speed if I want or need to. I've put about 4,000 miles on in this configuration, and I am very pleased. I haven't seen an EGT temperature over 1000

I still feel that way about it!

[Robyn]

Maybe we can make this thread STICKY (Hint Hint)

This thread so far is doing just what I thought it might.

So many happy people out there that own 6.5 powered rigs and drive the wheels off of them.

If GM offered them again as an option I'll bet there would be folks standing in line to get one. Me

Robyn

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

"If GM offered them again as an option I'll bet there would be folks standing in line to get one." In a Sub - yessir. Well, after someone else had put ~ 150K miles on it, so I could afford it.


Blessings!

(signature in previous post)

[Turbine Doc]

Love it so much bought a second 6.5 so now I have 2 C1500 Burb & K1500 truck

[ercaduceus]

Love it so much bought a second 6.5 so now I have 2 C1500 Burb & K1500 truck

I agree. I like my truck so much that I'm thinking about getting a short wheelbase SUV (Blazer/Yukon/Tahoe) with a 6.5 for my wife. If the 6.5 is such a horrible engine, why are there so many around?

[Subzilla]

Ya'll are sure being a bad influence on me in my time of making my decision (see thread: http://www.thedieselpageforums.com/t...ad.php?t=28704 ). Thanks Robyn!

[Subzilla]

Ya'll are sure being a bad influence on me in my time of making my unemotional, practical purchase decision (see thread: http://www.thedieselpageforums.com/t...ad.php?t=28704 ). Thanks Robyn!

[Robyn]

I am a bad influence on a lot of folks I am told

HAAAAAAAAAAAAA its fun being an influence

Good to hear the positive things here.