I've been thinking about getting another vehicle since I don't want to keep using my street-bike as my DD and my truck has no HVAC.
I have been looking at everything from 5th gen camaro's, CTS-V's, imports and even some of the newer Dirty-max's.
While looking for d-max's I started looking at the Chevy express vans w/ Diesels and wanted to hear anyone's opinions on them. Are they good, bad, disastrous, or fairly reliable? I like them because I can use them to haul around my dirt and street bikes around safely inside rather than in the bed of my truck. It gets pretty good gas mileage (+20mpg). It has a 1ton chassis and I can use it to tow up to 9-10,000 lbs if I upgrade the hitch and put a shift kit on the 4L80e. And I can also set up the inside with some super comfy seats/couch/bed.
So my question is what should I look for when purchasing these?
Any duramax's prior to 2004.5 I should stay clear of because of injectors right? What are the limitations of these with regards to towing?
How different are they when compared to the truck based chassis?

Let's hear any opinions and comments.

 

A van??? seriously.

You need this https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...-clone-503926/

 

Do it!!!

 

I love that truck!!!

 

i'd do the van too man, perfect moto-hauler good for weekends at the track, and gets good gas mileage when DD'ing it, wish i could help on the info on these but i dont no anything on the motors really.

 

pre 2004.5 duramax lb7 motors are fine beside injectors and most have new injectors by now, they get better fuel mileage anyway. the 2004.5-2005 ran like turds most of the time. 06 and up are the best by me but get pretty bad fuel mileage.

 

I saw that, and I do like it, but its more than I'd like to spend for a used truck. Some of the vans I've seen are a third of that price. And I'm looking for something I can beat on, that truck is too clean to do that with.

I have a buddy who's been using one for a DD for a couple years and he loves it.

If I find a pre 2004.5 with the stock injectors, don't I have to swap heads too if I replace the injectors? Like the newer injectors don't fit in those pre-2004.5 heads do they?
Is the gas mileage difference due to all the emission crap they added to them? I could just pull that crap off couldn't I?

 

I'd look for a late 2006 up. Early 2006 and down Dmaxes have head gasket probs so keep that in mind... In mid 2006 they changed gasket design and no more probs. It's a 5K job at the dealer to replace the head gaskets.

 

Good info, thanks jarrett. I found an 06 with a lot of add-ons that looks promising. I'll dig a little more into it. How can I tell if it's early or late production cycle? Vin?

 

Yes but I don't know for sure on the cutoff. I know you can Id the newer gasket by looking at the rivets where gasket hangs out from between head and block. The newer gasket has a bronze color kinda like the LS gaskets. The early gasket is a fiber