Silverado - Extended or regular cab?

Secretcreek, I have to say, I feel the same way about the vehicle I'm driving now. I sold off my 09 Titan when things took a turn for the worse and my friend said I could have his Isuze Rodeo to bang around in. I feel bad taking the vehicle because I gave him so much grief back in 1998 when he bought it, now here I am driving it.

It's all paid for and even though it can barely do the speed limit on I-75, and can't haul anything but the dogs and some camping gear, it's still a great little vehicle to get around in while waiting for this economy to turn around.

Plus the fact that my friend gave it to me right before he shipped out for Afghanistan makes it easier to over look the fact that it's an Isuzu. LOL

This past Jan I bought an '05 Silverado 'work truck' single cab/long bed 4x4 4.3L v6 w/ 70K, one owner and clean carfax. The engine hours divided by the mileage came to an average of 70 so it was all highway. Reading the RPO codes on-line I found it was ordered w/ a few goodies and a bed liner that show evidence of a ladder rack.

Both of my children are grown and gone and I was moving up from a single cab '93 ranger single cab...

I was thinking of a V-8 extended cab BUT I got the '05 for just a little over the average price of 01 - 02 V8 extended cabs that all had over 100K on the oddometer...except one '02 extended cab/longbed high rise cap and only 54K that was asking 15,999.00...

It was nice but I thought of where I drive when deer hunting. It may get there w/ out a problem but would be hard to park in the woods and it was too pretty to let the branches scratch it up.

I added a toolbox so I lost 2' from the 8' bed. I can get a hard rifle case behind the seats & figure three can ride from the cabin to our hunting spot. I'm getting a tonneau cover to make the bed private as my toolbox fits inside the bed.

I'm getting 16+ around town and close to 20 highway...and the longbed gets the 36 gal tank instead of the 24 gal one in the extended cabs...Nice on trips and i make a point to re-fill by 1/2 to avoid shock at the gas pump...

I'm happy. I have air, auto, CD and a big bench seat. After 300K in a S-10 small cab and 50K in the small cab ranger, it doesn't feel small to me...If my kids were small I would feel different; but we made do w/ the S-10 so it is not impossible.

Finally - a topic I know something about!

This is MY truck. Not my husband's, but mine. I love driving it and hate it when I have to drive our little car. This truck is so comfortable to drive.

We (I) have the 4 x 4 Longbed with extended cab. Came from a truck with a single cab and decided to go extended cab because we take our dog with us everywhere and were tired of having her lie all over us while we were driving. Currently have 144,000 miles on it - it's a 2000 - and expect to get many more miles before we have to replace this truck. It took us 2 years of looking all through our state before finding this truck set up the way we wanted it (must have was the long-bed). They are out there, but very hard to find in this area. We pull a stock trailer, carry a camper, haul feed (1 ton at a time) and have never had an issue with power. I have the V8 and can't imagine anything lower for the power, but that's just me.

If I had to choose between the extended cab and regular cab - I'd definitely go with extended. Especially if you camp and have kids. We drove from OR to AZ with one car seat and one booster seat in a single cab and never again. I was about sitting on the side mirror! If I had kids, no matter what size, still riding with me, no way with the single cab.

A good deal is only a good deal if you don't regret it after the sale (or in your case the buy). This might be handy because you know of it, but wait and look for another good buy giving you what you really need and want to fit your family's lifestyle. Don't settle.

CindyOR

SirDude,
You said:"My friend and I both drive about 25,000 miles a summer chasing hail so something like that meant a lot of savings."

I was reading too fast and misread part of that. I caught that you were single and then thought wow "this guy drives 25,000 miles a summer chasing tai....oops he said HAIL.

No not great the best v-6 ever, they even used them in school buses

We picked up an 03 extended cab Sierra 2500 HD 2WD a few years back.
It has the 6.5 box and the backwards opening doors for the back of the cab.
It runs the 6 L V-8 and loves to drink gas.
But I have never regretted buying it.

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

I have a crew cab with the 6 1/2' bed (GMC2500 diesel) and with children wouldn't have even considered the standard cab or extended cab. Couldn't fit the kids with the standard cab and with the extended cab the doors open backwards and it's hard to get people or groceries in in a parking lot. I haven't had any problems parking it as most lots are diagonal parking except for the hardware stores, and they have longer and wider spaces and aisles between parking. We watched for two years to find our used truck.

Our last truck was an extended cab without the back doors (also a GMC) with a full size bed, and I find I needed the cab space more than the long bed. But that may depend upon what you haul. We get things like chicken feed, fencing, hay, loads of bark or rocks more than we get lumber. If we're doing a big project, the lumber company delivers for free anyway and is cheaper than the box stores.

Dawn

Thanks for the responses, everyone. We've decided to look for an extended cab and the V6 or the 4.8L V8. I'm still getting conflicting info on what kind of trailor I need for my tractor. The Kubota dealer salesman says he has a single axle that's rated 3500 lbs. for $1500 (my tractor weighs about 2700 lbs.). The place on the other side of town that specializes in selling trailors says you have to get into a tandem axle for over 1500 lbs. and now I'm into a 16' trailor (which I don't need, but haven't measured my tractor yet) for $2500. If I have to buy a 16' trailor for $2500 to haul my tractor, I'll forget about hauling my tractor.

I think the biggest problem I'm going to have is finding a truck with a standard transmission. I much prefer a standard. It's what I've always driven. It's really hard to find a regular car now with standard transmission, but I didn't think it would be a problem with a truck. Chevy doesn't even make the 1500 Silverado with a standard any more! The dealer near my work said he thought '07 was the last year you could get one with a standard. I went to the Chevy website, and sure enough, no standard transmission option for a 1500 Silverado.

Get the extended cab, I have a Silverado 04 just rolled a hundred thousand last night. It is a V8 but a 6 would be o,k, v but extended for sure....

Be careful of standards in half-ton pickups. Many times, they aren't as heavy duty as the automatics.

Second note: The 4.8 and the 5.3 get about identical gas mileage. The 5.3 pulls better.

Third note: A 16' utility trailer in these parts goes for around $1500/new, ramps extra. You do need tandem axles. You don't need electrictrailer brakes for a kubota, not if you are pulling with a half-ton truck and take a bit of care.

From all the posts on this thread, why do I get the feeling some of us who want a regular cab and 8ft bed and a manual transmission are going to be driving antiques the rest of the way out? Well I already am as I want an 'old school' stump puller big straight six in pickup and a granny gear 4spd or 5spd. Still think lot of people with the 4 door half ton pickups with short box beds would be better off with an SUV set up to occasionally pull a utility trailer. Few seen to actually carry anything big in their pickups on regular basis anyway, with a big SUV, they could just hook on to a utility trailer when they need to carry a real load, yet have all kinds of comfortable passenger space along with plenty dry cargo space for groceries...

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Hermit John - I love manual transmissions, too. I would never, ever own an automatic anything! I have a feeling as time goes by, it'll even be hard to find a manual transmission car. I learned to drive on a column shift, never had an automatic, and the few times I have driven one, I thought it was boring. Guess I'll be driving antiques, too!

How do you find out about the transmission?

I obviously need to find out more about trailors.

Thanks.

Back in the 80's Ford made a "heavy" 1/2 ton. It had a 300 in-line 6 coupled with a four speed manual that had a granny gear in first. I've put a 16ft trailer with fresh cut pine logs (3 20', 2 16' and 1 8') behind a two wheel drive one of those and come out of the woods several times.

Wasn't the best gas mileage, but man, could those trucks work...

Your prospective truck will have the GVWR and other info on the door tag. more stuff about payload and towing than you may want to know:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-p...pacity/vehicle

Boy did you say a mouthful there. That is absolutely correct. Many have 1/2 tons have the same manual tranny that is in their cars~! And they are just not strong at all for a truck when pulling any type of trailer.
The friend that I bought my GMC Full sized PU from had huge problems at first when he bought the truck new as it had the small tranny in it that the cars have in them.
Finally he took the truck to a garage and they found a Heavy Duty Manual one, a 5 speed overdrive, and that is what it is in it today and every since the switch he had no problems and neither have I and now like I said in my post it has just under 300K on it.

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The trick with Ford 300 half ton gas mileage is to do whatever it takes to get rpm 1800 to 2000 at cruising speed. Thats its very favorite cruising rpm. A half ton Ford with 4spd granny tranny and 3.08 rear axle is a good compromise if mileage is important. Even nicer with 3.55 rear axle and a heavy duty 5spd overdrive out of 90s era one ton. Assuming engine in good condition and tuned well, you'll get 18 to 20mpg like that with carburetor engine. Ford made some 1/2 tons with like a 2.43 rear axle and light duty 3spd plus overdrive. They were barely drivable empty, forget doing any work, but could get nearly 25mpg driving 55mph. Basically an advertising gimmick when people were utmost concerned about gas mileage.

Its a shame GM customers never made the 292 straight six more popular. It was an option in GM light pickups well into the 1980s. It was very much like Ford 300. But think GM sold most of 292s to commercial customers. They would outlast an early small block Chevy V8 by large margin and much easier to work on than a "V" engine. Like the 300, the 292 developed max torque low in rpm range. Great for work with granny tranny, but GM customers preferred playing pretend race car driver and going for a v8 with an automagic.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Thats true my FNL has a 77 Chevy c-30 with a 292 4 speed granny 10,000lbs bucket truck man will that motor pull. I have never seen a 1/2 ton truck with a car trans. my 99 has a 5 speed granny with 100,000 and no problems. The trans. that you want to stay away from is the 700 r4 auto it is junk when you start pulling with it. I believe they did away with the 700 r4 in the early 2000's

The early 700r4 was weak (200r4 was even worse), I can remember when they first came out people were replacing them with older TH350 3spd automatics right and left as they failed, since they were basically same transmission except for the overdrive and TH350 was lot cheaper, but the later ones were much better and the early ones could be rebuilt into a strong transmission with later parts or aftermarket parts. They can be made to work without computer and have become quite popular with hotrodders and people wanting an automatic overdrive in an older vehicle. There are adapters to put them behind just about any make 6 or 8 cylinder engine out there.

If I just had to have an automatic, I'd probably go for one though I would pay the extra to get one built as strong as possible from one of the places building them for the hotrodder crowd.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

I grew up driving "three on the tree's", but I've been driving automatics since the early 90's. Last Fall I had to rent a car in Italy, and all they had were manuals. It was great (really was fun), and I even got the hang of using the clutch in steep hill towns very quickly.

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