no plow prep for 1 ton srw

[cat320]

Any one wanting to order a gmc 1 ton srw duramax/allison combo with a plow prep will not be able to.I can't tell you how stupid that is for a company to bring back the 1 ton and not be able to have it but you can get it in a 3/4 ton i'm guessing.

[BWhite]

I wonder what their reasoning was ?

[cat320]

I would too most of the people that would by that combination would be putting a plow and sander on it .Well they just helped me make my mined up on what trruck i will be getting .

[Alan]

It could be that whatever equipment is offered in a normal "plow prep" is all standard equipment on the 3500 SRW.

I ran into that a few years ago when I was pricing an S-10 with th ZR2 package. Could not order a posi rear on that truck. Reason for that was that posi was standard equipment with the ZR2 package.

It seems beyond belief that GM would offer a truck so suited to plow use and not let you equip it for that service. It might be wise to make sure the salesman you're dealing with has a clue about what is included/needed for our work.

[cat320]

Alan when you go on gmbuypower to build it you can get the plow prep for the gas then when you pick the diesel/allison combo it disappears, and is not avalable.So I woul assume that there is no plow prep stuff added into the diesel model but who knows.Why would a truck manufacture want to build a truck to acutally work with LOL , LOL .I call up the dealer near me he said you can do it I said to him long as it will be covered in my warranty and i told him to check well that was yesterday at noon still have not heard back .

[sonjaab]

CAT...Your right....No plow prep on the Diesel rigs for 05 !
I checked the "build your own" too.
There are a few 04 diesel Chevys left over tho. with plow prep.
Reg cab long box.........LOTS of 8.1 w/ Allie trans.

HEY........That "GM in the driveway" deal is still going on.
You pay GM supplier price with NO adv. fees or DOC fees either.

I know somebody....Shoot me a PM......geo

ALAN.......GM is a PIA about plowing related breakage on non VYU plow prep equipped trucks. Some dealers are good about it tho.
Just depends on the dealer...........

Something about the diesels front "spring" GVW and plow weight issues...........

[snonut12]

So are you saying that GM won't even offer snow plow prep package on '05 regular cab long box? This would be the best setup suited for plowing with diesel motor. A crew cab short box would be the worst configutation to plow with diesel motor which I can clearly see why snowplow prep package would not be offered. But not even on reg cab long box this year?? Hello GM?? :rolleyes:

[thesnoman]

When I bought my 2000 K3500 SRW new, there was no plow prep for it availible either. I was told that it came most everything in a plow prep package anyway (heavier Tbars than a stock 2500, engine oil cooler, aux tranny cooler and so on) Mine even had opt HD Tbars on top of that. Plow prep packages are more important in lighter weight trucks.

[wyldman]

Originally posted by thesnoman
Plow prep packages are more important in lighter weight trucks.

No plow prep,no warranty.Pretty scary having an expensive new truck with a voided warranty. omg

[sonjaab]

GM according to their web site does NOT offer the VYU plow prep. on 3500 Diesel trucks for 05.....................
OR 1/2 ton ex-cabs or crews either!

SOME 04 diesel models have it tho................

[thesnoman]

I do not think is has been offered on a 1/2 ton GM truck since the NBS came out.

[cat320]

I think that it was said that the motor was heavier but with an aluminum heads vs cast iron it should be lighter and they offer it in the '04's now that is stupid but i guess GM does not need the money and wants us to buy ford or dodge fine by me time to try the truck on the otherside of the fence. But I wish there was like an 800 or even a regular number or web site that goes to the engineers to tell what a bunch of DUMBASSES they are!

[thesnoman]

I do know that even with aluminum head the Dmax weighs a good bit more than a gas engine and the allison adds another 300lbs to the mix. Given the limited capacity of the IFS front end by design, (approx 4500lbs) it is not the wisest thing in the world to jam in a big heavy engine and then hang a plow on it too because it would be easy to exceed the axles rated capacity. Dodge had trouble with their diesel trucks too and upgraded the front axle on 4x4 diesels in 2004 to a AAM axle with heavier tubes and beefier joints than a D60 that it replaced. Some like a diesel and a plow but you really need more axle than GM puts in there for that. I use gas engines in my trucks to minimize the amount of weight on front axle.

[cat320]

The Gm trucks are only good if your not gonna plow with them LOL There used to be a time that GM made working trucks for the working guy I thought :grinz I think most of these trucks today are geared more for the di it yourself homeowner LOL .Not that I don't like the creatre comforts but a/c, tilt wheel power anything what was that all was optional back then now hard to just get one with out getting a whole lot of other packages. But GM has messed up right along with ther diesel engines, the 4500 series not having any 4wd untill now , and now not being able to put a plow an diesel front end what are they designing?? it's not as if plowing what just started this year and they never thought of putting a plow on the front end espescially a 1 ton pick up /chassis. I think GM nees a wake up call to reality :confused:

[thesnoman]

I think GM really needs to put a solid axle back under their 3500HD's like Ford and Dodge does.. The parts are out there to use so it would not be a major undertaking to do it. As far as a not being able to use a diesel plowing, I do not consider it a big handicapp myself as my plow trucks see little use the rest of the year (my 2000 K3500 only has almost 28k on it in 5 years) so a gas is cheaper for me by far and I never have to take any specail efforts to make sure it will start and run when needed.

[sonjaab]

GM has offered VYU plow prep. on reg. cab 1/2 ton 99 & up NBS trucks.

Ford FINALLY has 2 factory plow prep. options on the NBS F-150. You must get both!

:headwall

[wyldman]

Another one cleaned up and reopened.Again,lets stay on topic.

[ratlover]

Just to clarify......

You cant get a plow prep on a SRW 3500? But you can get one on a 2500HD?

A 2500HD is a 1 ton. a 2500 is a 3/4 ton PU if you go by the designation from days of old.

Only benifit of having a 3500 srw is that you get 265's from the factory and heavier springs in the rear and the added legal weight capacity with a few hundered more pounds GVW(same total weight of a trailer though IIRC). I'm pretty sure thats it.

The only thing a plow prep adds to a duramax truck is the auxilary blinky light and the reduced likely hood of warantee probs since its "plow preped"

Also the front axel rating is 4800# witch yes is less than the competitors but with the tare weight of even the duramax allison(especially since the duramax is a light diesel comparative) you can still run as big of a blade if not bigger and be under the FAWR than the competition. A 9.5' V is acceptable to run on diesel with what Chevy "puts up there", how much more blade does one need?

EDIT: Chevy isnt ever going to run a solid front axel "option". It would just be way to costly to produce 2 entirly different trucks. They are going to run IFS for awhile and if they get away from it then the whole line will get switched to something else. Having a IFS 1/2 ton and a SFA 2500HD and 3500(or how ever they want to market things) wouldnt be that much more costly IMO since they are diferent lines and pretty much completly different anyway but they arnt going to have differnt axels within the same line. That make sense how I explained my oppinion?

[cat320]

from what i have heard you can not get the plow prep in any diesel in '05 for pick up or chassis 1 ton.And if i was gonna put a plow on the front of a 30K+ dollar truck i would deffinatly want that warranty. But they helped me make my minde up ,have an '05 F350 on order .

[thesnoman]

Put a 9.5 foot blade on a diesel truck and run the front axle across a scale. It will surprize your. The GM IFS is not that study regardless of rating and will have premature ball joint wear when loaded near limit frequently.

[JohnnyU]

Originally posted by thesnoman
Put a 9.5 foot blade on a diesel truck and run the front axle across a scale. It will surprize your. The GM IFS is not that study regardless of rating and will have premature ball joint wear when loaded near limit frequently.

So will anything that is frequently loaded near its limit....

I suppose that a 9.5' blade is just too big for any truck... He'd be best to go with a 6 footer, it would be much easier on his weak IFS parts. pumpkin

[thesnoman]

Originally posted by SnowyBowtie
So will anything that is frequently loaded near its limit....

I suppose that a 9.5' blade is just too big for any truck... He'd be best to go with a 6 footer, it would be much easier on his weak IFS parts. pumpkin

And the point is with a lighter gas engine there is several hundred pound less weight on front axle when carring a plow (less engine weight and less tranny weight if no Aly either) which equals less wear and tear on truck front end.

[CT18fireman]

Are you buying a truck to work with or just get groceries?

It has been plainly decided that the majority here believed that the diesel is the better choice for a work truck.

Buy it, work it, fix it or buy another. If you are making money then you can afford the repair or a new pruchase.

If you know your dealer well, then they will repair under warranty. Heck with todays minute mounts they don't know whether the blade is 7.5' or 9+' they all use the same mounts.

[thesnoman]

Buy right and wisely and you will not have to fix it. I have five years on my gasser K3500 with a heavy Fisher blade and I expect 5 more at least out of it (truck and plow as plow is stored inside during off season and lubed at all points at season start) If I had a diesel truck I would be fix a lot of thing before the 10 years were up. So far this truck has cost me nothing out of pocket other than maintaince and I plan to change the original dual batteries before winter even though they appear to still be fine. I still have a 79 J20 Jeep that pushed snow until 2003 when it was taken out of service for restoring. It still ran well and still had stock engine, tranny and orignal Tcase as well and all as factory had built them. I buy tools that last, not one that have to be replaced often.

[wyldman]

So let me get this straight now.Your saying a gas truck will outlast a diesel ? or your would have to fix a lot more things ?

We service both diesel and gas trucks (as well as plow with them),and I can tell you there is NO difference in lifespan for the rest of the truck.The engines are a different story.A lot of the IFS trucks will eat front end components no matter what engine sits in the engine bay.

I don't think you quite understand how a lot of us use our trucks.We plow with big powerful trucks,and drive them hard.We plow 8 hours in a very small storm,and 30-40 hours straight during the big ones.We hang huge blades,sidewings,salters,etc off these things,and blast around plowing as fast as we can.We do try and stay within legal weight limits though.Why ? Productivity.Productivity = better profit.

So if your into buying "tools that last,not one that have to be replaced often",why are you buying a gasser ?

[PSDF350]

he keeps buying them chris becuase he hasn't got a clue what a real truck is. not to mention the fact that he is an instigator.

[Alan]

Originally posted by thesnoman
Buy right and wisely and you will not have to fix it. I have five years on my gasser K3500 with a heavy Fisher blade and I expect 5 more at least out of it (truck and plow as plow is stored inside during off season and lubed at all points at season start) If I had a diesel truck I would be fix a lot of thing before the 10 years were up.

You're telling us that in 10 years you would have under 60K miles on a truck that was bought new.

(my 2000 K3500 only has almost 28k on it in 5 years)

I doubt you would be doing much to ANY truck with that kind of mileage, regardless of how the front was loaded.

My S-10s get as much mileage as your truck, virtually all of it plowing, and they are running heavy on the front (8' Sno-Ways). They are both "mature" but I'm still not doing enough repair to them to worry about the costs compared to what they earn.

If I were going to buy new, today, I'd go diesel. I figure a truck will last for 15 years easily, that's based on body condition. In that time I would have at least 300K on one and the longer engine life would be a benefit. Granted, I'm not running super heavy plows so I might not get the full wear effect from the axle loads but I doubt I would be into those nasty ball joints any sooner than every 3 years. That cost is an expense of being in operation, fix it and go working some more.

[towman]

for plow trucks we have more gas motors than diesel, only because we do not use them for anything but plowing, now the tow trucks are a differant story, they are all diesel and will be for as long as we are in the business, we have a 7.3 ford non turbo with close to 3 hundred thousand hard towing miles, just doesn;t happen with a gasser, for the family man gasser is great . wich hey my personal trucks are all gassers but i do not work them hard and demand big things from them, but if pushing it hard no doubt a diesel will win hands down every time

[sonjaab]

LOW MILES ON A PLOW RIG.............

Thats wild........Usually on my under 3 yo truck I have just under 30k miles.
Seems low.... but the truth is those are HARD 10k per YEAR miles pushing that "white gold" . I don't baby the rig either.

But I do have other vehicles to drive............:D :D

CAT......There are still some 1 ton 04 GMs w/diesel and plow prep.
on the lot around NY. My bud can still get ya that employee discount deal !............geo

[cat320]

Thanks Geo I went with the Ford this time around ordered an '05.I still have not heard back from the dealer i called and have talked to in the past at the gmc dealership :confused: . I guess they don't need the bussiness.

[snonut12]

That's exactly what I do. When I contact a dealer about doing business with them (buying something) and if they don't or took forever to contact back to me them I make the decision to move on to someone else. Not contacting back shows that they don't take business seriously.

[nsmilligan]

I have an 04 3500 srw GMC. 8.1 with allison and plow prep pkg. reg cab long wheel base. When I speced the truck in May the plow prep wasn't availible on the diesel, not that I would spend the extra 7200 for the option, for a truck that will see less then 10K/year. LOVE the 8.1 seems a little better on fuel then the Dodge V10, and with 4:10's and a true 5 speed a lot more pulling power. So far really love the allison, it seems to be geared a little lower then the Dodge in reverse, so we'll see how that effects plowing.

Bill