Duraburb Project

[Larry]

Sounds like a great project. I think you will find there will never be a true monetary payoff of doing such a swap with respect to mileage $avings vs. sticking with the 6.0L gas but more in the pride department and that is all that really matters. The largest fleet in the US (UPS) is converting their fleet from diesel to gas due to cost of admission of a diesel, cost of maintenance and overall durability. You can get an easy 300,000 out of a Vortec gas these days where as a Navistar (6.0/6.4L Powerjoke) diesel or Duramax have a habit of self destructing well before 300,000 miles. A replacement gas engine is about $5000. A replacement Powerjoke or Dirtymax is $15,000 plus you get to look forward to dropping $2500 to $3000 on injectors every 80 to 100K miles. You can buy a lot of gas for the price of owning a diesel. I work for a diesel engine manufacturer and would not even consider owning a diesel outside of an old Cummins or 6.5L.

One thing you might consider doing while the Sub is going under the knife would be to ditch the electric shift transfercase and find a manual shift. That is a major upgrade in the durability department on any late model GM.

 

[chilliwak]

I agree with Larry, the cost is HUGE to go diesel. But I love the whole idea of a BurB with a Duramax.....:ylsmoke:

 

[blakeape]

Awesome project! As everyone else said its a wonder GM never made one from the factory. I would run the truck with the diesel, 4:10's and 37's before you go through the hassle of re-gearing. I have a healthy Cummins on 37's and 4:10's and think the gearing is just about perfect. Remember that the D-max's came with 3:73's and 4:10's with stock tiny little 265/75R16's or even smaller.

 

[bfdiesel]

Remember that the D-max's came with 3:73's and 4:10's with stock tiny little 265/75R16's or even smaller.

So

 

[blakeape]

So

Soooo the truck might be a little out of its peak power range running 37's on 3.73's. It doesn't sound like the Duraburb is going to be a lightweight by anymeans and I think the engine and trans will both like a little help in the old ring and pinion department.

 

[bfdiesel]

He will most likely be fine. @ almost 550 ft.lb stock I would imagine it will spin them with little problem. I have a third the torque on 33's.
.

 

[Cody1771]

i ran 37's with 3.73" gears on a stockish gen 1 small block... you should have no issue at all

 

[klmore]

I will post some current pictures of the Sub tomorrow. I used it this weekend to go to my camp and get some work done, so I have the trailer hooked up. I'm going to take the time while the Sub is down to do some trailer upgrades at the same time. I may be getting in over my head doing two projects at once.:snorkel:

I plan on sticking with the 3.73's in the beginning. If I have to regear I'll address that later. I think with some upgrades and a good tune the 3.73's will be fine, only time will tell.

 

[klmore]

One thing you might consider doing while the Sub is going under the knife would be to ditch the electric shift transfercase and find a manual shift. That is a major upgrade in the durability department on any late model GM.

I have thought about that too. Do you have any more input on the subject? I have also thought about doing a SAS conversion with a Dana 60, but that would be later after the engine swap.

 

[blakeape]

The one thing I didn't think about with your situation is your truck probably doesn't have a 11.5 AAM axle factory. You probably have the new 14 bolt or something? which is great but the 11.5 is even better. So the 3.73's make a little more sense. I would hang onto that 4:10 front chunk in case you ever do want 4:10's and throw an ARB out back while you are into the 11.5. I tow a lot with my Dodge and wouldn't want any higher gear ratio, but my old 12 Valve also doesn't like to rev as much as these newer diesels.
Not to sound like a jerk but I also don't think a 6.2/465 on 33's or a small block/3.73's pushing 37's is even in the performance realm of what the OP is looking to do with his sub that will probably be close to 9000lbs and have a trailer hooked to it at times.
Jake

 

[Greggk]

i hate this whole ungeneralized thought about the whole diesel to gas price difference.....

look its broken down like this.

around my home diesel is approximately 30 cents more then regular gasoline. so in my case 30 cents a gallon in a 29 gallon tank is $8.70 cents more then gasoline filling the same tank. now you equate the fuel mileage. my 7.3 powerstroke truck averages 18mpg highway. same truck in say the 5.4 gasoline flavor gets 13mpg (being generous here). thats an average of 5mpg difference. or a total distance of 522 for my diesel on the highway, and 377 miles on the highway for the 5.4. I get an extra 145 miles out of my tank for $8.70. to get that out of the gasoline i would have to put an additional 11 gallons of gas in the tank for an additional amount of $37.40 so i go further for less money spent overall, and less fillups.

then look historically at resale values of vehicles with diesels, they generally are worth A LOT MORE then their gasoline siblings. for example take my 1999 F250 with a powerstroke. its worth $10,900 blue book. take same vehicle but with the 5.4 v8 or the v10 and its only worth $6500 with the same mileage. Part of this is the average Diesel will outlive 99.99% of all gasoline engines. very few gasoline engines are built to last more then 200,000 miles. diesels for example the 5.9 cummins in the ram or the 7.3 Powerstroke in the superduty fords regularly go 500,000 miles plus.

so take it for its worth, but this swap is definitely worth it in my eyes. especially since he owns the burb outright.

 

[bfdiesel]

My point is merely that a 360 hp duramax should be fine unless he is going to be towing heavy equipment around. I had an LB7 (300 hp) with 33's that would still run in cruise control weighing in over 26k total.

Also the 2006 duramax came with the AAM 1150 and the "new" 14 bolt is an AAM 10.5 used behind the 6.0. 8.1's and duramax's came with the 11.5 or AAM 1150

 

[klmore]

Burb

Pictures as it is currently.

 

[klmore]

Bumper gap and engine compartment.

 

[DoMiNiC1]

So when is she going under the knife? Love this project!