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NEED ADVICE ON SILVERADO 1500 NOW-PLEASE

simballsimball Member Posts: 2
edited February 2014 in Chevrolet
Cannot wait for the silverado 2500 ,need a new
truck now, don't want a ford. Will I have any
trouble pulling a l6foot stock trailer with the
l500 with towing package and 5.3 L.engine. Have a
96 silverado with 350 and have not had any
problems.,also can't make heads or tails of prices
people are paying over,under,etc dealers list.what
can I expect to pay for l500 LT or LS with larger
engine and towing package? Thanks for any info you
can give me. Patricia
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    dave40dave40 Member Posts: 582
    Silverados 5.3 engine will do just fine. They start around 20k
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    tnt2tnt2 Member Posts: 115
    How heavy is your trailer when loaded? It makes a big difference, I wouldn't be so quick to say that the 5.3 would handle it.
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    quadrunner500quadrunner500 Member Posts: 2,721
    Simball, the 5.3L Silverado can tow as much as your '96 with the 350, if it too is a 1/2 pickup. By the way, 2500's are available on dealer lots, but they are very rare. I've seen a few. The LT's are now almost as rare as the 2500's. Expect to pay more for one of those. For the LS, most people I talk to would agree 3 to 5 hundred over invoice is pretty fair but supply and demand varies in different markets. I think if you just subtracted 2500 to 3000 dollars from the window MSRP sticker, you would be in the ball park. It is probably going to take some negotiating though.
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    cdeancdean Member Posts: 1,110
    if your 350 can handle, the 5.3 won't have a problem. for pulling, make sure to get the 3.73 or 4.10 rear end.
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    dodgeramdodgeram Member Posts: 202
    You say you didn't like the fords, why not a dodge?

    They beleive they can tow more than the chevy. And alot cheaper in price. But hey it's up to you!
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    simballsimball Member Posts: 2
    Not interested in Dodge,becaue have had them before,no re=sell value where I live and don't hold up to what we dish out. sorry, mean no disrespect to you or your dodge.
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    tnt2tnt2 Member Posts: 115
    Everyone is seems to be so quick to say that the 5.3 would handle the task without knowing any of the details. Was your old truck a 1500 or 2500? How heavy is your trailer when loaded? What type climate do you live in? The 350 Chevy motor is (or was), IMO, the most versatile, dependable motor on the market, and I (now) own Fords. To say that a newly designed motor is as good would be jumping the gun. I'm still not sure that aluminum heads have a place in a work truck market. Time will tell.
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    cdeancdean Member Posts: 1,110
    the 5.3 has better pulling power than the old 350. but it is meant to be a light duty engine. Tnt2, you're right when you say time will tell. I think Ford and Chevy have learned from past mistakes with Al heads, and have things figured out. these engines were reportedly the most tested engine of any engine brought to production (reported by some magazine, not chevy). so this thing should be tuned and engineered to do the job. But for a workhorse replacement of the 350, you've got the all-iron 6.0 liter option. thats what its intended for. If you're REALLY pulling alot, you're going to want at least a 3/4 ton, anyway.

    I find it interesting that chevy has the 5.3 that performs like the 350, then engineered a motor .7 liters larger with only slightly better performance, but built much beefier. does this mean the 5.3 wasn't built to pull? It certainly has the power to pull, but gets a lot better mileage than the 6.0 (I think EPA figures in the 3/4 ton have the 5.3 about 2 mpg better). maybe only occaisionally pulling is what it's meant for?
    I would really like to see the functional requirements the engineers used in designing each motor.
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    stanfordstanford Member Posts: 606
    What's wrong with aluminum heads? When properly installed they don't break, and you find them on everything from V10s to 7000hp dragsters.
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    tnt2tnt2 Member Posts: 115
    I didn't mean for it to sound like I'm against aluminum heads. Do the dodge & ford v-10's use al. heads in their trucks? I don't know. In passenger, sports, and light duty vehicles, I think they are great. In dragsters it's a matter of weight savings, as after a 1/4 mile run they get stripped down. A tow vehicle undergoes some high heat and torque conditions that are not present in passenger cars. Will they survive that kind of punishment? The 5.3 will probably be a great motor for a light duty truck, but if someone is looking for a truck to do constant pulling, I'm not sure it would be the best choice.
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    stanfordstanford Member Posts: 606
    What would high torque have to do with your heads? The combustion force on the heads has a lot more to do with compression ratio and chamber size. Unless you torque the heads into the side of the engine compartment, they're going to do just as well as iron heads as far as that goes. As for heat, Aluminum dissapates heat better than iron -- that's one of the main reasons its used.

    And Ford, at least, puts aluminum heads on their engines these days. I have some on my V10. Dodge does on some of theirs.
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    tnt2tnt2 Member Posts: 115
    I guess I should have said load instead of torque. As for aluminum dissapating heat better, I agree. But, aluminum heads are more prone to warping at lower temps than iron and there is the constant battle of linear expansion between the two metals. Not to say that engineers haven't done great things in composition of the alloys to make them co-exist. The point I was trying to make to simball, was to make sure the 5.3 would safely fall into the towing range they required and not push the upper limits. As for ford's v-10, I didn't know they used al. heads. I would still give the same advice (even if the upper limits are near unobtainable).
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    cdeancdean Member Posts: 1,110
    don't worry about the strength of aluminum. some high strenght aluminums are stronger than some steels.

    The expansion of aluminum heads on top of iron blocks was the major problem when they first came out. I know Ford had a lot of problems in cars like the Taurus, that would blow a head gasket every 5-10K miles. they finally got it figured out, though. fudge factors or whatever, it works great now. So constant heat from pulling is not a problem, unless your engine overheats maybe, a problem which the heads won't be the your main concern anyway.
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    quadrunner500quadrunner500 Member Posts: 2,721
    Nothing technical here but the 4.8L and 5.3L aluminum head Chevy V8's have effective cooling systems to eliminate warpage as a major concern. Effective enough they can run up to 50 miles without coolant, by shutting off fuel to the cylinders, and operating at reduced power. When the cylinder is not firing, it is pumping air that cools it down. They rotate so all cylinders get cooled.
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    etuffly2etuffly2 Member Posts: 29
    Get the brochure for Silverados from GM - figure out about what your stock trailer will weigh loaded down with whatever you haul - go to the tow ratings on the brochure for the style truck you want and figure out which engine/rear end you need. It's not brain surgery.

    Best policy in my book is not to push the ratings i.e. if you'll be pulling towards the top end of what a 5.3 is rated for, get the 6.0.

    quadrunner500 - you are absolutely correct in your analysis.
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    tnt2tnt2 Member Posts: 115
    Thanks for clearing up what I've been trying to say all along. Don't push the ratings. The head issue was IMO.
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