buying new truck w/ 454... mileage info?

[FlatBlackBurb]

yesterday i went up north to look at a sweet truck that i'm thinking about buying. she's a '97 K3500 crew cab long bed (single rear wheel) with 6'' of lift and 35'' tires. interior is cherry, it's got two tv's in the headrests (like i'll ever use them), and everything in the truck works.

it has the 454 which i took for a test drive and i can truthfully say that she had no problem spinning those tires! plenty of power and it seems to be a very very quick truck!

i'm currently fed up with my truck... it doesnt see much offroad anymore since i barely have the time/money for it and since it's a suburban, i can't fit my dirtbike anywhere in it which is annoying. i want a vehicle that i can use as pretty much a daily driver (probably about 15 miles a day to school, work, then back home) and a truck with a decent amout of offroad capability for screwin around in the mud.

what kind of mileage do you think i could expect from this truck? i don't know what kind of tranny is in it, i took a look at it when the owner wasn't there it was just his wife and all she knew about it was "its a big red chevy".

i'm not expecting 18 or anything like that but i'm hoping it gets above 10.

also any tips for keeping the fuel economy of this beast to the max?

thanks

she really is a sick lookin truck:

 

[mrdrinksalil]

I tow with one of those sometimes but its a dually. Lets just say there are two tanks on mine for a reason and I hope your dads last name is either exxon or mobile. With my rig on the back and hauling flat roads at about 55-65 I'm about 8-9MPGs

Thats a nice lookin truck though. How much $$

 

[FlatBlackBurb]

theyre askin 10... i'm gonna try and bargain with them for a little bit of a discount

 

[dremu]

Fuel economy tips are going to include lowering it to stock and putting stock size tires on it, plus maybe regearing it. You cannot use the word "wheeling" in the same sentence as "fuel economy" unless they are separated by "means I have crappy"

That one at least should have a 4L80E or a stick with an OD fifth. My sixpack has a TH400, so above 55-60 it starts spinning so fast you can watch the gas gauge drop ... but yeah, as it sits, I'd expect 9, 10 MPG. Note that the speedo (and odo) may not have been recalibrated for the bigger tires, so mileage numbers from that odo are not necessarily reliable.

For your dirt bike, you might consider one of those cargo carriers that plug into the receiver hitch... or IIRC you can get (or make) hitch carriers specific for bikes, that ramp down and you roll the bike up onto, then it balances out and you latch it horizontally. Coupla ratcheting straps and you should be golden.

http://www.nextag.com/receiver-hitch-motorcycle-carrier/shop-html

something in that vein.

Not to dissuade you from the sixpack -- I think crewcabs are the end-all to human exist -- but it would be cheaper

-- A

 

[franco802]

Love the 454, loads of torque at such low rpm!

 

[YZEATER]

have fun loading the dirtbike in the back of that. what kind of miles are on it?

 

[Avery4jc]

Same truck as mine but a couple inches higher...

Expect to get about 10-11 unloaded and obviously a couple less while towing assuming it has 4.10's like mine (although I think all SRW 1 tons had 4.10's)...
I love the truck and have thought about lifting it on 35's for a while but just can't justify the money for an ifs lift kit. I think these CCLB's look much more proportional on 35's but for now the 33's don't look too bad.

Just to make yourself fell better I paid $14k for mine about a year ago (without the wheels/tires that are on it now) so if they're asking $10k and it's already lifted with wheels/tires I'd go for it.