Impart me knowledge on older turbo diesel trucks, please

I found what seems to be a bit of a unicorn - a 1/2 '96 Chevy Silverado with the 6.5 TD. Seems to drive OK, but I noticed there's some "play" in the drivetrain - if you go from coasting along to acceleration, there's some definite play until the rear end gets the message...

Does anybody know if they stuck the 4L80E in the 1/2 ton if it came with a Diesel or if it's the 4L60E that's normal in the 1/2 ton.

I must say I kinda liked it, it certainly has enough poke and the fuel consumption isn't bad either, but we're still thinking that we'll most likely be better served by a Suburban.

Another GMC turbo diesel has surfaced around here. Does anybody have any comments on the longevity of the manual transmission in these? If it makes any difference, the truck in question is a '94 4x4 1 ton dually. Yeah, I know, perfect commuter truck.

Is it a 4spd or 5?

The 4spd was the Muncie M465. Basically an M420 with an aluminum top cover. Pretty much bulletproof, but not indestructible.

I believe the 5spd was a getrag unit which was a very close relative of the ones used in Dodge pickups.

Does the 94 have a mechanical injection pump? I forget whether it was 93 or 94 that was mechanical injection on the 6.5TD.

Check the Harmonic balancer to make sure it isn't coming apart. If it fails it will led to a broken crank. In my experience the balancer seem to last until around 300k, but i know of on case where a crank snapped at 120k.

I saw 300k out of 3 different 6.2's, but didnt learn about the damper leading to the failures until engine number 4

I have 430K on my '99 F-250 daily driver. I see no reason I can't drive it to nearly a million.

Longevity on these engines is not a problem.

I put 500,000 miles on each of two different Cummins 12v. Changed oil, sometimes. That was it.

^^ This is why I won't even look at another diesel in a truck. Put good suspension parts under it once and I never had another problem. The P.O. did a quality transmission rebuild at about a quarter million miles and it never gave me a problem. Any Cummins with some miles on it has had the bugs worked out of it from my experience (though this may be more true for 1st gens?)

DrBoost wrote: Any Cummins with some miles on it has had the bugs worked out of it from my experience (though this may be more true for 1st gens?)

The 12v in my '95 has some issues. The main problem seems to be leaky injector rails. There is a pretty strong diesel smell coming from the engine bay after it's been parked for awhile. And it's really, really hard to start if I let it sit for too many days (x10 when it's cold outside). I try to drive it once a week even it's just down to the local Lowes or Home Depot.

That is one thing I miss about my EFI gas-powered van: it tolerated sporadic use much better. I could let that thing sit for weeks (sometimes months) and it would start like I'd driven it yesterday.

jstand wrote: Is it a 4spd or 5? The 4spd was the Muncie M465. Basically an M420 with an aluminum top cover. Pretty much bulletproof, but not indestructible. I believe the 5spd was a getrag unit which was a very close relative of the ones used in Dodge pickups.

This one has a five speed.

jstand wrote: Does the 94 have a mechanical injection pump? I forget whether it was 93 or 94 that was mechanical injection on the 6.5TD.

94-on has the eletronically controlled pump. And yes, I know about the PMD...

jstand wrote: Check the Harmonic balancer to make sure it isn't coming apart. If it fails it will led to a broken crank. In my experience the balancer seem to last until around 300k, but i know of on case where a crank snapped at 120k. I saw 300k out of 3 different 6.2's, but didnt learn about the damper leading to the failures until engine number 4

Learned about those yesterday...

Regarding the Powerstroke and the Cummins - yes, I know that for a lot of use cases these are the better trucks. But they command a huge premium out here (especially the Cummins) whereas the 6.5 trucks aren't much more expensive than their gas powered brethren.

Nevertheless I'm keeping my eye on the Cummins and Powerstrokes as well...

jstand wrote: Is it a 4spd or 5? The 4spd was the Muncie M465. Basically an M420 with an aluminum top cover. Pretty much bulletproof, but not indestructible. I believe the 5spd was a getrag unit which was a very close relative of the ones used in Dodge pickups.

GM and Dodge both used the same 5-speed, the NV4500 with differen input shafts. Ford had to be differnt and used the ZF 5-speed.