Re: [A/S] Tow Vehicles

[kentgeld@xxxxxxxx]

Stephen,
You are right.
GM's diesels have not got a very good track record.

Chevy has had a dismal time with them because they always seem to think
they can just convert a gasoline engine to diesel.
This does not work.

The new Duramax is not a GM engine. It is a Isuzi product.
The same goes for that new trans behind the Duramax. It is a scaled down
Allison.
These power trains are non-GM  mostly because of "budget cuts"
It seems GM layed off  (or let the people "early out") all the designers
of there power trains in the last ten years.
Rumor is that they can't even design a transmission anymore.
My experience with there automatics prove this out.
The same can be said for Chrysler and Ford.
There was a time not too long ago that if you got 40,000 miles out of a
Chrysler automatic you broke some kind of record.

If I were going to do some serious pulling and needed a "new" tow vehicle
I would probably go with a stick shift. 
I pull my Airstream all over the country with a automatic (700R4) but
that transmission has got so many modifications that you can't really
call it a GM product anymore.
If a person were not willing to invest some serious cash and time in a
automatic to make it handle the load then I would say get a stick.
If one were looking at a late sixties truck to pull with I would
recommend something with a iron case manual as opposed to an aluminum
case. They are much tougher by design.
Most 3/4 and one ton GM trucks of this age had the old bulletproof iron
transmissions.
Those transmissions last almost forever and if they do fail I think
cooking dinner is more work that rebuilding them. The fastest I have ever
done it was around two hours and that was taking my time.
Keep in mind that these old trucks are not very comfortable for the long
haul and get terrible gas mileage but a good set of bucket seats and
maybe a cruise control unit would go a long way to making them the best
choice for a heavy load like a Airstream.
I can provide all the model numbers for the trans and transfer case to
look for if these are needed.
Hope this helps,
Mike Kent