ya the 8.1 uses about 1 quart too 1 1/2 between oil change i believe may be wrong ?

 

Yeah, that's the golden nugget. I'm gonna findout exactly what my boss wants to do with the truck and maybe I can save'em from getting a ford. I know the 8.1's are still in existence but not in light trucks. But I still think there's a classic factor about them..............

 

What's he looking for exactly? Dually? Cab size? 4x4? I've run across a few of them here in Texas, mostly 2500HD crewcabs. I want to replace my '04 GMC with one if I find one that is priced right, so I am always kind of looking for them. My dad has a '07 GMC 2500HD reg-cab 4x4/8.1/6-spd and it is a fun truck to drive. Way more torque than any 6.0 truck I've driven. It gets practically the same mileage as my '04 6.0, 13 highway, 10 city/towing. It burned a little oil when it was new, but dad says it doesn't burn much now that it's broken in.

I pretty much talked him into buying his after I heard GM was not bringing the 8.1 to the 08+ trucks. He didn't want a 6.0 (gutless) and didn't want a Dmax (cost too much & diesel was already $3 gal). That was about two years ago and they were hard to find brand new and it was too late to order one. The only choices were fully loaded out crewcabs with leather ($50K...too much for a farm truck) and a few plain jane dually work trucks. He really wanted an ext-cab, but couldn't find one. Found the SLE reg-cab in central Texas and the rest is history. I don't think he'll ever sell it. If he does, it will be to me.

 

yeah my dad has an 02 with an 8.1l it uses almost 1.5 quarts of oil between changes and is no good on gas. does great pulling though.

 

Thanks, Neil. I found out that he want's it to pull his 5th wheel with and wants a 4door/ crew cab. Knowing all this I'm gonna keep pushing this on'em; I can't think of Ford making anything comparable towing- wise, and barring a Dodge V-10 which I've test driven one and it wasn't at all inspiring. Got any site recommendations where to look, Neil.....................

 

Well a good tune won't do anything for the oil consumption, but should be able to help the gas drinking some. We have an older '97 crew cab dually, with the 454 and 4.10's, on the highway it get's 14mpg. I know that sounds dismal, but when we got it, it would only pull down 10mpg. To me that was a great improvement and the old gal will actually run pretty well. Also as anyone will tell you, these things don't get much worse mileage loaded or not, up hill or down and not much less in town. They get what they get!

 

Right now I'm pointing out the virtues of the Allison as these tranny's serve duty in buses and other heavy environments. Since the tranny is better than bomb proof I told'em that it's atomic bomb proof. He seemed to perk up when I told'em that..............

 

Mostly Autotrader.com or Getauto.com, sometimes Ebay, but I work at a newspaper and deal directly with a few big GM used truck dealers so I've run across a few through them too. Over the summer I could have told you where to get 3 of them, but I think they all sold. I'll PM you one that I've been looking at, but is out of my price range (it's nice).

 

Thanks, I'll let ya know what develops. BTW- do you have to have a dually for a 5th wheel....................

 

just outta curiosity, why is he so set on a gas engine? seems a diesel would suit his needs better?