Looking for a cheap towish rig for my 24' enclosed (>7klbs fully loaded) and I have a line on a dead cheap rwd 06 2500HD with the LQ4 6-liter. No lifter tick, drives nicely, former Highway dept truck - it's orange! Little over 200k miles, sub $3k.
What should I know? Beyond the transmission needing lots of cooling for serious towing.
Front end parts can wear quickly. Brake hard lines like to rust, if they haven't been replaced yet plan on doing that soon, GM sells full replacement kits under $100, it is that common. Intake manifold gaskets are likely on the way out of notnreplaced already. Fuel pumps are usually good for 150k. All parts a fairly priced and available anywhere. It will be fine towing 7k, I've towed 10k with my 6.0 Suburban 2500 and that was a bit much, no issues with 7k.
It will need some combination of a wiper module, a window motor/regulator, driver's door switch at some point because they all do. When the ABS starts acting funny because the rings on the front are corroded with salt... replace the whole control arm with ball joints because it's cheaper to do it all at once and the ball joints seem to go about every 80-100k. Wheel bearings lasted me 150k.
If you live in real salt the brake lines will rust badly where they loop the frame in the front. Paint them, keep them clean... or change them when they squirt.
Basically - like Sonic said - the whole front end wears reasonably quickly. It's not expensive or really difficult to work on.
Mine was a diesel so the rest won't apply.
The upside is it was a FANTASTIC truck.
Sonic covered it pretty good. A few other things to check on, at least what I found on my 03 Burb. Plastic heater hose connectors at firewall, they get brittle and break, not too bad to change. Trans and engine cooler hoses can start weeping, either Rock Auto or Amazon has them for a good price. Trans cooler is a good idea, if it doesn't already have the factory external one.
Dear lord, looking at parts based on all your input and everything is so cheap.
Buy it now.
I had a 2000 with the LQ4 and 4L80 as this truck will have. I towed 8000 regularly for several years with factory tow package and the tiny cooler that came with it. Trans temp was not an issue. Surprisingly the factory trans temp gauge on that truck was VERY accurate when compared with a laptop readout.
Front ends have a lot of joints so they get sloppy way before they get unsafe.
A Vinci 210/218 .551 cam, long tube headers and a decent tune does AMAZING things for towing ability, especially if you have any long hills to pull.
The trucks ride nice and the drive train is bulletproof. Buy it.
Yeah my 85 burban just failed and I'm looking into a 2007-11 range right now and it seems to follow that current theme too.
DaveEstey wrote: Looking for a cheap towish rig for my 24' enclosed (>7klbs fully loaded) and I have a line on a dead cheap rwd 06 2500HD with the LQ4 6-liter. No lifter tick, drives nicely, former Highway dept truck - it's orange! Little over 200k miles, sub $3k.
Sub $3k, and drives nicely? Sounds like a steal! It being a 2500hd it should have a good trans cooler on it.
Huckleberry wrote: When the ABS starts acting funny because the rings on the front are corroded with salt...
Actually it has been experience that when the abs acts up it is because corrosion on the spindle under wheel speed sensor acually pushing the sensor away from the reluctor wheel. The sympton will be the abs activating for no good reason when you are almost completely stopped. Remove the sensor, remove the rust under it with a wire wheel or roloc disc, and reinstall the sensor. Gotta love a free fix.
I have the same truck from 2002. It has been great, knock on wood. I'm at 220K miles.
Its a beast. Depending on the assembly plant you'll have some little nagging problems. Canadian trucks seem to be pretty solid. Dad has two canadians and they've been bulletproof. My brother in law has an Arlington that has been a bit of a lemon.
One year ago I was in your exact situation. If that truck had popped up, I would have jumped on it fast. I ended up with an 02 F150-7700 (light duty 3/4) with 98k for $4500. That is more truck, more motor, more everything with a few more miles and less money.
I'd do it.
And re: towing. 7k lbs will be a breeze with it. I sometimes do 10k with my F150HD for short times and it does pretty well (except for the P-rated tires the previous owner put on it)
7k behind that truck will do very nicely.
Do it. I saw that as well but was waiting for you to jump on it.
The motor in these things are great. My sierra Denali has the same motor and trans with a dana60 and it is a great truck.
Yeah I committed to buying it
The only down side will be fuel economy that struggles to get into the teens. My '11 is an extended cab long bed and even with the magic 6-speed that I love it averages between 12 and 13 mpg.
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