Chevy Silverado 4-Cylinder Gas Turbo

That's just it, I don't give a rats ass about 15 more horse or a tiny gain in fuel economy, I wanna know it's reasonable to fix when the thing breaks, the simpler the easier and cheaper for this guy to fix it.

Repairing some of these things is making piston airplanes look cheap
 
Lol, just about every modern auto engine uses some form of VVT. It's usually imperceptible to the driver when it engages. The new 7/8/10 speed auto transmissions are a result of CAFE standards. The manufacturers have to try and keep rpms as low as possible, so it's either add more gears or go with a CVT. CVTs aren't bad, but they have their limitations, especially when used under higher loads (trucks/suvs). I don't see what it matters how many gears it has as long as it operates smoothly.


Automotive CVTs like Nissans problems are just bad engineering, the things have been in field tractors for years, slowly replacing the cheaper power shifts
 
I don't care much about mpg or café standards, more gears more torque at the lower speeds. If the 10 holds up as well as any other why not.
Who doesn't like better accelerations.? I like the program (tune) I have in mine now, I can bark 2nd and 3rd (six speed) with out having to put a shift kit in, like in the old days past.:)
 
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That's just it, I don't give a rats ass about 15 more horse or a tiny gain in fuel economy, I wanna know it's reasonable to fix when the thing breaks, the simpler the easier and cheaper for this guy to fix it.

Repairing some of these things is making piston airplanes look cheap

Luckily the politicians have made the decision for you, and you don’t get a choice in the matter. :)

Such talk against these expensive trends is crazy talk. It will destroy America. You may need to go to the camp for political retraining. LOL. :) :) :)
 
Funny, my '72 Chevy C-10 had a 3 speed automatic. I got close to 20 MPG on the highway empty at 70 MPH. Pulling my 5th wheel it got 10 MPG on the highway. I did spec out the engine, transmission and rear gears to fit my mission when I built it. Plus I put 1 ton suspension on it.

My 2005 GMC Duramax gets 19 MPG on the highway empty at 70 MPH, 21 MPG at 65 MPH and 10 MPG pulling the same 5th wheel.

I spent thousands more on the Duramax to essentially get the same thing. And there wasn't anything I could not fix myself on the '72.
 
Funny, my '72 Chevy C-10 had a 3 speed automatic. I got close to 20 MPG on the highway empty at 70 MPH. Pulling my 5th wheel it got 10 MPG on the highway. I did spec out the engine, transmission and rear gears to fit my mission when I built it. Plus I put 1 ton suspension on it.

My 2005 GMC Duramax gets 19 MPG on the highway empty at 70 MPH, 21 MPG at 65 MPH and 10 MPG pulling the same 5th wheel.

I spent thousands more on the Duramax to essentially get the same thing. And there wasn't anything I could not fix myself on the '72.

Your ‘05 Duramax does the towing with a lot more confidence than the ‘72 though, 1ton suspension or not. Getting the load moving was never a big problem for most trucks/engines, it’s the control and braking that has vastly improved, as well as the more refined ride.


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According to the WSJ, in the near future it will be 10's in all suv's, pickups, etc.

Shifting 5 myself isn't bad, may could go for 6. The last auto I owned spent too much time in what I considered the wrong gear, can't imagine what an 8 or 10 speed auto would do to my mental state. But then, I enjoy driving, not steering a couch with a cup holder gently down the road . . . . Yes, I'm quite aware of how to force an auto to downshift, but have never been able to force an uhpshift. Paddles do help, though, but aren't always available.

Test drove a car in the 90s with a garbage 5 speed manual--i got on it a little hard in 1st and a polished, chrome arm extended that would only allow me to shift into 4th. I pulled over and made the salesman drive me back, got in my car and burned rubber in 1st and 2nd leaving that dealership.
 
...Even in their “upscale” trucks in the slideshow in the background of the interview, they’re still using some tiny screen that’s smaller than my iPhone 6 Plus, and the knobs awe straight out of my ‘04 Yukon still, after a touch of chrome on them. The electronics behind the knobs look identical too, boring as hell after over a decade.

...

It appeals to us cheapskate Luddites who are still flying with a Garmin GNS 430 in our panel :D
 
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...Some think tanks are saying Ford should stop making trucks and SUVs and concentrate on small cars.

We shall see...

When the think tanks start putting their money where their mouth is (in the form of invested risk capital) I might start paying attention to them.
Most of us don't want small cars.
And those who might don't want to pay anything for them.
Government regulations and think tank pundits are always pushing the mainline manufacturers to produce some Utopian look-alike, soy-burning, jelly-bean vehicle that THEY think we should embrace. Fortunately, the American consumer still has some say in the matter.
 
Your ‘05 Duramax does the towing with a lot more confidence than the ‘72 though, 1ton suspension or not. Getting the load moving was never a big problem for most trucks/engines, it’s the control and braking that has vastly improved, as well as the more refined ride.

True, it does that.

Don't under estimate my '72. I built it to do what I wanted it to do, and that was to pull my 5th wheel. I put 4 wheel disc brakes on it as well as changed the vacuum assist to a newer and more efficient after market unit. The rotors were thicker and larger than stock to handle the heat when stopping my trailer. I made one mistake of replacing the 1/4 inch brake lines with 3/16 brake lines. That put more pressure to the disc which meant the tires would lock up quicker. What it didn't have was an anti lock system on the brakes. I just can't get used to the anti lock brakes. The '72 also didn't have a very well insulated cab so the A/C would not keep it as cool inside as I wanted on hot summer days.

I did change the suspension. I tightened it up and tuned it to get better handling out of it and take a lot of the body roll out of it in the corners. I installed weight jacks on the front and back so I could adjust ride height on the road. It handled more like a late model stock car than an old truck.

It pulled the trailer quite well. And with a seat out of a '93 F-350 in it, it was comfortable to ride in. (seats are one thing Ford got right in their trucks) I also changed the steering wheel with a wheel from a 81 Camaro. Those just seemed to fit my hand well.

Thinking of that old truck is putting the want to back in me. I have a 70 Chevy pickup on the property that needs a total restoration. I am thinking of building a twin turbo charged straight 6 in it. Gonna have to get to work collecting brake parts again.

But again what you say about confidence has some truth in it. The 2005 Duramax had everything I wanted right off the show room floor. All I did to it was add an after market 3 micron fuel filter system on it, replace the exhaust with a turbo back 4 inch system with a muffler and replace the intake system with a 2001 GM gas truck system that I modified to get a bigger and smoother air flow into the engine.

The 2004.5 and the 2005 Duramax had a built in flaw in the cooling system. When the fan clutched kicked in, it would throw hot air into the box holding the air filter which would fool the engine into thinking it was over heating, which in turn would make the driver think the engine is over heating. I sealed the intake from being able to draw any air from under the hood, stopping that problem. It gets all its air from the front of the truck.

In case you haven't figured it out, I like tinkering with vehicles to make them just a little better....:lol::lol:
 
...But then, I enjoy driving, not steering a couch with a cup holder gently down the road...

Everybody knows why we have automatic transmissions. How else to hold the travel mug in one hand,o_O burger in the other, :confused:talking on the bluetooth handsfree :Dand steering with one knee? :cool:
 
According to the WSJ, in the near future it will be 10's in all suv's, pickups, etc.

That just seems to increase the chances of having a faulty shift solenoid, clutch pack, bearing, check valve, whatever by about a factor of 10,000. And the cost of overhaul or replacement will double.

Giant waste of time and money IMHO. Transmission shops will love the work, owners won't.
 
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Everybody knows why we have automatic transmissions. How else to hold the travel mug in one hand,o_O burger in the other, :confused:talking on the bluetooth handsfree :Dand steering with one knee? :cool:

I, being old school, do that in my standard transmission Mini. While waving as I shift and pass you in the corner. :D
 
That just seems to increase the chances of having a faulty shift solenoid, clutch pack, bearing, check valve, whatever by about a factor of 10,000. And the cost of overhaul or replacement will double.

Giant waste of time and money IMHO. Transmission shops will love the work, owners won't.

Meh. If the 10-speed auto tranny is anything like the transmissions Ford has been making for the past decade or two, it'll be fine. My '98/'08 F-150 racked up 150K miles without even a hint of an issue while towing/hauling significant weights on a semi-monthly basis. Ford can be harped on for several things, but I don't think their transmissions have been too much of an issue. I get that there are more parts, which naturally increases the chance of a failure, but I doubt it ends up being statistically significant, especially if the costs of repair were offset by savings due to fuel mileage.
 
That's just it, I don't give a rats ass about 15 more horse or a tiny gain in fuel economy, I wanna know it's reasonable to fix when the thing breaks, the simpler the easier and cheaper for this guy to fix it.

Repairing some of these things is making piston airplanes look cheap
We aren’t talking fifteen horsepower or tiny gains in fuel economies. We are talking 1/2 trucks that are reasonably sized and a guy can fit in a downtown parking garage. They get better fuel economy than their far less capable previous generations. Once Saturday rolls around - a guy can pull a trailer or boat easily with that same 1/2 truck that would have historically required a big block and a 3/4 ton or better. That big block really sucked when you weren’t towing given it’s awful economy.

So, you may not care about this stuff, but that’s simply because your mission doesn’t require the ability to tow 8K or more pounds across the continent reliably (I’ll be doing that in August). If it did, these fuel economy differences and modern innovations like the Ecoboost, 10 speed transmissions, etc, would make a little more sense to you.

You can do a big trucks job with a smaller truck than you used to be able to. That means a lot of money saved in fuel when you’re not towing which makes sense for most weekenders.

I had no interest in new trucks and their gimmicks until I gained missions needing one. Then I was pleasantly surprised with the innovations, advancements, and capabilities.
 
I, being old school, do that in my standard transmission Mini. While waving as I shift and pass you in the corner. :D

Don't know why you would bother passing. In that thing you could probably just drive under. :)
 
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