07 Chevy 2500HD ~300k opinions

[wander2039]

Good looking rig and one of the most reliable, easy to drive and comfortable GM trucks ever made. Rust is the only thing that could kill them.
Common problems I recall:
- Exhaust manifold bolts: No matter what, they snap.
-The steering shaft "clunk": I greased mine occasionally and even added a grease fitting. It would help for a while and I'd grease every time it came back. I never had the bushing issue.
- The cabin fan resistor: Mine burnt to a crisp. It didn't damage anything else, but when I got to it, it was charred.
- Transfer case pump rub: N/A
- Trans/Transfer Case Slip Yoke: Needs periodic greasing of the output shaft. Mine would get a minor clunk occasionally and greasing it soled the problem.
- Dash: tons of info on the wonky gauges. the stepper motors are replaceable now and there are company's that will repair or replace the whole cluster. I think even Dorman sells one.
- Wheel Bearings: The hub unit bearings are a little undersized, but more so on the 1/2 tons.
- Ground straps: the cab ground on the driver side cab mount is notorious to cause electrical gremlins and BCM
- E-brakes: Like all trucks with drum-in-rotor e-brakes, they are marginal when brand new and useless as they age.

But I feel like the good far out-weighs the nit picky issues with these trucks:
- Grease fittings on the front-end
- Comfortable seats and suspension
- Reliable power train - like legendary
- Strong C-channel frame
- Not as tall as a monster truck
- Decent visibility

That's a pretty good list LOL.. covers a couple of it's issues.. We've had the RV/Express 3500 for 13 years it's almost a repeat.

So far the list but it's really not bad. Something new every drive LOL

CEL for knock sensors.. so new sensors, harness and seal it up. Valve cover gaskets are gone.
Gas cap warning today
Oil pressure is pegged at 80 all the time, guessing new sensor. Need to test
Power steering guessing the pump but not sure. Not seeing a leak but sure can smell it in the cabin, maybe hyrdroboost
I can feel it missing, probably long over due on a tune up.
Steering column needs attention as mentioned.
Brakes needs some love, whole front end needs love but don't know to what extent yet.
New tires.. all of them were at 30psi so pumped them up to 50psi but they need replaced.

Too afraid to touch the emergency brake! Dash is missing a few lights but looks ok. Thinking the shift I'm feeling is the gas tank, maybe the foam came loose? Coming to a stop this morning sure felt like gas sloshing. New vehicles and it's secrets are fun.

 

[wander2039]

Just a follow up on the “thud” you could feel and hear. Even my wife commented on it. Moved the trailer plug from the bed to the bumper and noticed the spare tire was loose and flat. Aired it back up and made sure it was tight.. fixed! Has been like that for a long time based on the rub marks.

Doesn’t look like it’ll need a tuneup for long while. Running alot better after a sip of Costco’s gas. And since the knock sensors isn’t underneath that’ll be easier. Shooting myself in the foot on what its worth Should be rolling over 300k this weekend.

 

[wander2039]

Forgot about this thread, paid for the truck yesterday and a really good price. I have alot of wiggle room for repairs and not throwing money out the window. Hoping it can be the heavy farm hauler for the next 10-20 years and probably no more than a 100k. Overall seems well maintained and mostly highway miles.

Parts show up next week, really curious to know the oil pressure . Oil is consistent in color with our 04 6.0L. So many repairs planned but already have practice on the 04’s. Going to lube the slip yoke and see if it fixes the take off issue. Have a heavy duty fan clutch coming, this one is on all the time and has to be the reason for 12-13mpg. Maybe not but still not good. Transmission is slowly going to get Dex VI, going to try vacuuming it out a couple times before dropping the pan. Still a little red and temps were fairly low.

The debate is the dash.. I think I’ll leave it as a tribute to the previous owner since shes longer with us.

 

[JavierH19]

Yeah I'd leave it if that's how she loved it. Whole painted dashes on these look ugly but just the front trim isn't an issue. That doesn't look too bad. i'd've preferred a darker metallic gloss purple which I'm a fan of.

For my 4 speeds I'm using castrol transmax high mileage green bottle and they love it. Home depot has it locally for cheap and amazon sells it directly for the same price. The sierra had a tad slow shift out of second but now it's like new again. The Yukon had a quick sounding shift out of first that wasn't noticeable with feel just sound and the needle going down quicker but not anymore. Maybe the old style additive pack and the high 8cst kv100 has something to do with it. I don't see it as a long drain oil but since i have aftermarket drain pans I dump and fill them every 10-15k

 

[loneryder]

Forgot about this thread, paid for the truck yesterday and a really good price. I have alot of wiggle room for repairs and not throwing money out the window. Hoping it can be the heavy farm hauler for the next 10-20 years and probably no more than a 100k. Overall seems well maintained and mostly highway miles.

Parts show up next week, really curious to know the oil pressure . Oil is consistent in color with our 04 6.0L. So many repairs planned but already have practice on the 04’s. Going to lube the slip yoke and see if it fixes the take off issue. Have a heavy duty fan clutch coming, this one is on all the time and has to be the reason for 12-13mpg. Maybe not but still not good. Transmission is slowly going to get Dex VI, going to try vacuuming it out a couple times before dropping the pan. Still a little red and temps were fairly low.
View attachment 346285
The debate is the dash.. I think I’ll leave it as a tribute to the previous owner since shes longer with us.
View attachment 346286

Looks like the trans fluid has been done before.

 

[meep]

I couldn’t do the purple dash. Spray-on black bed liner and move on, or just flat rust-oleum black.

It really looks like you have a solid truck here.

 

[Rob_Roy]

Start by making it safe. Brakes, wheel bearings, steering shaft, etc. the rest of the maintenance items you can address over time.

The 4L80E in my C2500 suburban had a lot of wear on the TCC lockup piston/bore by 180K. Sonnax and TransGO both make an inexpensive repair kit for this issue. I opted for the TransGO TCC repair kit and also installed a “Shift Improvement Kit” made by Superior Transmission. With fresh Dex VI the old suburban now shifts better than it did when it was new.

 

[D60]

I couldn’t do the purple dash. Spray-on black bed liner and move on, or just flat rust-oleum black.

It really looks like you have a solid truck here.

I was so glad my JL Rubicon didn't come with the stupid red dash they offered. It was simply trying too hard to be "cool."

That said, OP's situation is sentimental and very different.