Bang for Buck Best Cheap Tow Rig?

96-00 k2500 suburban with 454, can tow just as much as newer trucks with 8.1 and get better mileage towing 2k lbs more.

Cheaper to purchase, and less quirks of the 01-07 Chevy electrical systems.

Can be found for less than $6k

Can tow 10k lbs with a regular license plate. This saves $250 or so each year over a weighted tag.

Gets 14 mpg empty, and 6-10 towing 7k lbs depending on speed.

Figure on factory trans lasting to 220k miles or so, then rebuild.

You can fit an air mattress in the back, when the weather gets to bad to camp.


I'm not sure how much benefit, if any, the 454 is. I had a '99 suburban with the 454 and it was a total slug not to mention the POS transfer case that has an oil slinger that wears a hole in the bottom of the housing and let's all of the oil leak out and burn it up and leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere 6 hours from home... :(
 
Another vote for the 6.0 Chevy/GMC's...and this is coming from a CTD owner that pulls a Toyota and knows the 3500 is overkill for what I need.

This.
There was a dark period in my life where I owned a Chevy 2500. The 6.0 handled a 4000# YJ just fine. Way cheaper than any diesel and as a bonus, GM IFS rides really nicely even when towing.

There, I admitted I once had a Chevy.
 
I pull with a 5.3 1500. Could I use more power? Sure, but it does fine for the once every couple months I use it for. Does it get crap for mileage? Yep, but with how much I use it, again its fine. Handles my TJ and the trailer fine.
 
I'm not sure how much benefit, if any, the 454 is. I had a '99 suburban with the 454 and it was a total slug not to mention the POS transfer case that has an oil slinger that wears a hole in the bottom of the housing and let's all of the oil leak out and burn it up and leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere 6 hours from home... :(
The 454 tows much better than a chevy 6.0

I've towed 7k lbs for years with a 6.0 chevy, and it was ok. Many times I pulled large hills in first gear at 4200 rims at 17 mph. This gets old fast. Especially not being able to run ac while towing. On the flat land is fine, put it in 3rd and roll all day at 3000rpm at 70mph. Once it's in the hills expect engine and trans temps to be at 220ish. As well gets around 4 mpg In the mountains. The rpm range is 3500-4500, below that go to 1st gear, flashers on, right lane 17 mph.

With a 454 and the same load, can run od on flat ground and get 9 mpg. Pulls all hills better and gets 6-7 mpg in the hills. Practically twice the fuel mileage as the 6.0. Much cheaper to buy than the newer stuff with 6.0s and don't have nearly the electrical gremlins as the 01-07 years.

My dad has towed with a 454, everywhere that I have towed with a 6.0. He gets the same or better fuel mileage than the 6.0, and he is pulling 1-2k lbs more than me.

Now I have avalanche with 8.1, pulling 7k, and my dad pulling 8500 lbs, I cannot pull away from him on hills.

He stays right with me, and can pass me if I fall out of the powerband, and he is cruising at 4k rpms.

The 454 get better mileage pulling a heavier load than my 8.1.

Over 4k rpms the 8.1 falls on its face, while the 454 pulls hard to 4500.

The 8.1 does better from 3000-3500.

My push button 4wd sucks, while the only issue of the older stuff is having to replace the front actuator every 100k miles.

@karatejosh witnessed this on our last trip.

Long story short, my 04 2500 avalanche with 8.1 was 13k with 86k miles with all options. Suburbans of similar years were the same or more expensive.

My dad's 97 k2500 454 suburban was $4600 with 44k miles. It now as 100k, and is only used to tow his rigs, or to the beach to fish.

We have 4-2500 suburbans to our family. Several have over 200k, one with over 300k.

Two needed transmissions at 220k. One was 01 6.0, other was 99 k2500.

One has 5.7 with 300k, all original minus water pumps and fuel pumps.


I tow 3k daily with the 01 k2500 with 6.0. I would much rather have a 454. If you are towing under 5k lbs, and stayed out of the mountains it's great. Definitely better mileage on flat land, and will never leave you stranded. Awesome suburban to run at 3500 rpms all day for 10 hrs towing 7k lbs and never miss a beat. But after driving and towing with them all,

I would only buy a 454 if I'm towing and offroad truck to the mountains often, and the 6.0 if I'm towing a boat to the beach. But the fact that you could almost buy two 96-00 suburbans for the price of one 01-07, is hard to beat.

Just my experience driving and towing with 6.0-454-8.1 for the last 12 years.
 
I bought (off this board, actually) a 94 2500 RCLB 4wd Dodge/Cummins with just over 200k for 3k. Towed great. It would have been fine If I didnt get too excited about how crazy easy/cheap it was to make it freaking haul ass, And, That roasted the automatic in about 3,500 miles, so I sold it and bought a 97 with a 5spd.

My best advice is to not be in a hurry, and have cash ready. If they are selling it cheap, (and it checks out good), they most likely need the money fast and are more willing to bargain if its right there in thier face.
 
@Mac5005 Any of the newer body style GMs can benefit greatly from some simple tuning. Those 8.1s can be woken up quite a bit. It's a crying shame that the 8.1 powered Suburbans didn't get an Allison like the trucks did though. That would have made a nice difference with an extra gear.
 
The 454 tows much better than a chevy 6.0

I've towed 7k lbs for years with a 6.0 chevy, and it was ok. Many times I pulled large hills in first gear at 4200 rims at 17 mph. This gets old fast. Especially not being able to run ac while towing. On the flat land is fine, put it in 3rd and roll all day at 3000rpm at 70mph. Once it's in the hills expect engine and trans temps to be at 220ish. As well gets around 4 mpg In the mountains. The rpm range is 3500-4500, below that go to 1st gear, flashers on, right lane 17 mph.

With a 454 and the same load, can run od on flat ground and get 9 mpg. Pulls all hills better and gets 6-7 mpg in the hills. Practically twice the fuel mileage as the 6.0. Much cheaper to buy than the newer stuff with 6.0s and don't have nearly the electrical gremlins as the 01-07 years.

My dad has towed with a 454, everywhere that I have towed with a 6.0. He gets the same or better fuel mileage than the 6.0, and he is pulling 1-2k lbs more than me.

Now I have avalanche with 8.1, pulling 7k, and my dad pulling 8500 lbs, I cannot pull away from him on hills.

He stays right with me, and can pass me if I fall out of the powerband, and he is cruising at 4k rpms.

The 454 get better mileage pulling a heavier load than my 8.1.

Over 4k rpms the 8.1 falls on its face, while the 454 pulls hard to 4500.

The 8.1 does better from 3000-3500.

My push button 4wd sucks, while the only issue of the older stuff is having to replace the front actuator every 100k miles.

@karatejosh witnessed this on our last trip.

Long story short, my 04 2500 avalanche with 8.1 was 13k with 86k miles with all options. Suburbans of similar years were the same or more expensive.

My dad's 97 k2500 454 suburban was $4600 with 44k miles. It now as 100k, and is only used to tow his rigs, or to the beach to fish.

We have 4-2500 suburbans to our family. Several have over 200k, one with over 300k.

Two needed transmissions at 220k. One was 01 6.0, other was 99 k2500.

One has 5.7 with 300k, all original minus water pumps and fuel pumps.


I tow 3k daily with the 01 k2500 with 6.0. I would much rather have a 454. If you are towing under 5k lbs, and stayed out of the mountains it's great. Definitely better mileage on flat land, and will never leave you stranded. Awesome suburban to run at 3500 rpms all day for 10 hrs towing 7k lbs and never miss a beat. But after driving and towing with them all,

I would only buy a 454 if I'm towing and offroad truck to the mountains often, and the 6.0 if I'm towing a boat to the beach. But the fact that you could almost buy two 96-00 suburbans for the price of one 01-07, is hard to beat.

Just my experience driving and towing with 6.0-454-8.1 for the last 12 years.
I will add that the 8.1 avacado also sucks at rock bonceing in 2wd pulling a trailer and my short ass can barely see over the dash lol my tundra with the 5.7 dose great but it would be tuff to find in your price range I use to regularly pull 5k with my long bed 4 door taco v6 to Harlan and it did fine but I had good trailer breaks lol
 
@Mac5005 Any of the newer body style GMs can benefit greatly from some simple tuning. Those 8.1s can be woken up quite a bit. It's a crying shame that the 8.1 powered Suburbans didn't get an Allison like the trucks did though. That would have made a nice difference with an extra gear.

Not to hijack the thread, but after reading many forums and reviews of tuning done on 8.1s, they usually destroy the 4L85e soon after tuning them up, with a plug and play tuner. The only thing I would do, is have a reputable shop tune it on a chassis dyno.

But for me, I'll take the safety of hopefully being able to make it home vs being stranded with some more hp.

Both of the 4L80s that I blew up and @transman731 rebuilt, allowed me to make it home pulling a trailer. They just shifted way early and super hard/fast when they were cooked.

To.the op,

Wanna buy an 04 avalanche 2500 with 8.1? Lol
 
I wouldn't use a plug and play tuner on anything. There are too many tuning programs available these days and they can get a much better tune than a "canned" tuner. Transmission tuning is a HUGE part of it, so I definitely agree that you don't want to go about that blindly!
 
How many acres of land you own? If you have 10 do like me and run farm tags on whatever truck you own. Half the price of weighted tags literally.

I thought with farm tags, you had to stay within a certain radius of home, and couldn't tow across state lines.

I used to run them when I lived at home with the folks. The paper you have to sign says that it can only be used for farm use. They can definitely give you a ticket for pulling a vehicle to the trails. Have never heard of it happening, but it can.
 
I used to run them when I lived at home with the folks. The paper you have to sign says that it can only be used for farm use. They can definitely give you a ticket for pulling a vehicle to the trails. Have never heard of it happening, but it can.

Oh yeah I know the risk and what the paper says but for the last 8 years all has been fine.
 
This.
There was a dark period in my life where I owned a Chevy 2500. The 6.0 handled a 4000# YJ just fine. Way cheaper than any diesel and as a bonus, GM IFS rides really nicely even when towing.

There, I admitted I once had a Chevy.


There.... now the healing can begin.
 
My excursion, 2001, 5.4, 4x4, at. Heavy, but get 9-10 mpg towing my turd in the mountains. It's at the low end of your price range and it's pretty reliable. $5k. 2 coils has gone out..and a spark plug did blow out on my wife while in the ghetto of Durham while taking my son's class on a field trip...but $120 later good to him this has only happened once, but all in all a great tow rig for the lowest of budget. I saw one on CL the other day for $3500, with 225k. I would get another one. I love the 3rd row. Me and the wife use it as a tent while wheeling. a queen size air matters will fit as well. Just remove the 3rd roihgh99 w before the trip, lol. Hope I sold you, misery loves company
 
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How bout a early 90's Cummings fairly cheap for a diesel but still good on fuel around 20 mph and reliable and all mechanical motor
 
What about a Ram 2500 with the Hemi? I would assume they do well, cause I towed my TJ to Harlan with a 1500 Hemi, the 2500 is geared lower with bigger brakes and I see them significantly cheaper than Cummins.
 
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What about a 2500 burb auto 4x4 350/4l80e/dont remember the tcase. For towing,with factory,or dealer supercharger on it, 200K plus still running strong.
 
I'm looking at tow rigs slightly above that budget and still having a hard time. Part of me wants to consider diesels, either 6.0s or 6.4s, but I hear far too many horror stories about injector replacement, even if the oil cooler doesn't take the head gaskets out. A good friend of mine works for MS Dept of Wildlife, had nearly every 6.4 they owned go back for a $7000+ re-injectoring.

Ugh...
 
I'm looking at tow rigs slightly above that budget and still having a hard time. Part of me wants to consider diesels, either 6.0s or 6.4s, but I hear far too many horror stories about injector replacement, even if the oil cooler doesn't take the head gaskets out. A good friend of mine works for MS Dept of Wildlife, had nearly every 6.4 they owned go back for a $7000+ re-injectoring.

Ugh...
Id not worry about the 6.0 injectors if you consider it. They do go bad occasionally but you can replace them yourself if you can remove a valve cover and you can buy them for $250-300 each. I've replaced them 1-2 at a time before. No real need to do a whole set unless you want to. I've replace all the injectors on one bank in 3 hours. Someone who's never done it before can easily do it in one full day on a weekend.

The 6.0 injectors don't have to be programmed. I believe the 6.4s do because they are common rail. That make changing hem yourself a little harder.
 
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