Suburban/Yukon 2500 year compare

shifty98

Observer
I have an 04 1500LT and it is great. Right now it is at 300k and has had ZERO drivetrain issues. Original motor, tranny, suspension etc. Just tires and brakes. At 250K I did replace the entire computer but thats it. I don't baby it either. I am a college student so it has been driven pretty hard. On top of that I own a landscaping company so during the summer it hauls a dual axle trailer full of mowers, mulch and whatever else. Needless to say I like it a lot.
 

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
A couple more things to consider when looking at various 2500's.... I have an '04 with drive by wire, I really don't care for it. In low range when trying to creep through technical terrain it is hard to modulate and makes it very easy to surge and hard to be smooth. Same to some extent when trying to back up to a trailer. I believe they went from a throttle cable to drive by wire in '03. Anyone else have this experience?

I spent a solid 12 months searching for my truck. A 6.0 2500 with 4.10's that was a Texas truck, religiously maintained and never exposed to snow or salt. I thought the 6 liter would be plenty of power and be a bit better with fuel economy. The best I can eek out of it on the highway (2 lane roads going 60) is 14-15 taking it VERY easy. Typical driving it's 10-11. Folks claim the 8.1 gets essentially the same mileage but you get a healthy bump in power and torque. The 4.10's with 33's give adequate low range crawling speed but on the highway driving freeway speeds has the motor spinning pretty good. Makes me think going to a taller tire wouldn't have a huge penalty as it would help highway gearing a bit.

Other considerations that are important when hunting 2500's... some were equipped with auto ride which makes shock replacement expensive and shock upgrades problematic. The higher trim levels had auto climate control which can be problematic and difficult to repair. I chose a truck with the manual dual zone setup. Despite this I have still had to replace the blower motor already and my blend doors are problematic periodically for what it's worth.

I wanted barn doors as they are more useful if you haul canoes or other items on the roof (a rear opening rtt) the barn doors allow you to still have full access to the back. You do lose the ability to have a rear wiper though.

There was also a quadrasteer version offered that got rave reviews by the press for the towing stability it offered combined with decreased turning radius. I would be concerned about the additional complexity and upkeep of the system though as these trucks are starting to get up there in age and I feel these trucks are best when optioned the least and kept the most simple. The drive trains are rock solid but it's the accessories that seem to be the issues on these things. I have replaced more sensors on my truck than any other used vehicle I have owned. As mentioned before the HVAC systems seem rather poorly designed.

My experience so far is that the front end's on the 2500's are pretty stout but a lot of the issues that can occur can be delayed by upkeep, specifically keeping the suspension and steering components greased. I have 160,000 miles on the original front end and no irregular wear on the tires though it is feeling pretty vague these days so it is due for a refresh.

These things eat up highway miles like champs but I found the ride offroad pretty harsh. There are good suspension options out there that can address that. I took the route of installing bilsteins, going to a D rated tire, and installed an onboard air system since airing down was necessary to make the ride acceptable in the dirt. This combo retained good handling on pavement, the good load carrying and towing ability, and allowed the ride offroad not to beat you up.

Overall, it's a super comfortable beast of burden that can be used for just about everything with little fuss and is supremely comfortable for long days behind the wheel. I love mine.
 

PGW

Observer
Just to add a data point. I specifically sought out an 8.1L 2500 truck (mine is a 2003 Yukon XL). A 6.0 would have been fine for me but who can pass up an extra 100ft lbs of torque :smiley_drive:. The 8.1L is thirsty but it is a monster engine, especially going up grades and climbing steep hills. It has a bunch of torque right off idle which is great offroad. Nothing seems to really slow it down. It has drive by wire which is a little surgey as mentioned above but I will be able to work with it.

When I first bought it it had 3.73 gears and 32"/32" tires, average mpg was 10-12. I later added 35" tires, 4.56 gears, lifted it, added weight, added a solar panel on the roof and a walk-on roof rack and the mpg afterwards was nearly exactly the same. I also eliminated the stock front axle disconnect which means the front driveshaft is always spinning now. This past fall I did a ~4,700 mile trip from 15ft above sea level on the Gulf of Mexico to 10,000ft plus in Colorado/Utah/Nevada. My total trip mpg was 10.39, this was loaded down at 8,200lbs :Wow1:. Even at that weight the 8.1L didn't care and it felt about the same as driving empty. The engine drank about 3 qts of oil, which is not really that unusual for a big bore engine. Seemed to get about 11-12 on the highway and 8-9 offroad. Maybe I was into some winter blend fuels which would knock it down a little. It replaced a 95 V8 ZJ which could get better highway mpg but got as low as 6.3mpg offroad. The Yukon is not my daily driver so fuel consumption is not much of an issue for me.
 
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upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
That's good info on the 8.1 and the relationship of load, and mpg's. I did a 4,000 mile trip to Colorado from Michigan and back in November and averaged about 10.5 with my stock height 6.0, 33's, and 4.10's. I have never wanted for power other than climbed steep grades in CO towing our 23ft camper where it had to work really hard. Seems like the 8.1 has a lot of advantages and not really any mpg costs. I have noticed the high ethanol content in the Midwest really affects my mileage.
 

01BURB

New member
You can relace the autoride shocks with whatever ones you want with no issues. I have on mine and super easy to do without using resistors or anything. Undo your battery, behind the plastic in the back passenger side is the SCM(Suspension Control Module), undo the pink plug into it(I think pink, has been a couple of years), let it sit overnight and then hook batteries back up. You can rip out all the autoride junk and run whatever shocks you want without idiot lights on dash or having to pay outrageous amounts for factory shocks. Mine has the 8.1 and I have ran the piss out of it. Even when working in Breckenridge area, I was still getting roughly 10.5 mpg Not great but you know what it is
 

upcruiser

Perpetual Transient
You can relace the autoride shocks with whatever ones you want with no issues. I have on mine and super easy to do without using resistors or anything. Undo your battery, behind the plastic in the back passenger side is the SCM(Suspension Control Module), undo the pink plug into it(I think pink, has been a couple of years), let it sit overnight and then hook batteries back up. You can rip out all the autoride junk and run whatever shocks you want without idiot lights on dash or having to pay outrageous amounts for factory shocks. Mine has the 8.1 and I have ran the piss out of it. Even when working in Breckenridge area, I was still getting roughly 10.5 mpg Not great but you know what it is

That's awesome, hadn't heard of that hack but that sounds like gold.
 

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