OK Tahoe / Yukon owners question for you

[kawakx125]

Re: OK Tahoe / Yukon owners question for you

I drive my 5.3 with a 6500# load up to Tahoe from LA. A lot of hills and a lot of shifting out of OD. A lot of the time I am downshifting to 2nd gear let alone dropping out of OD. I would love to have a 6 speed especially one that I could force manually like the 6 speed Allison can.

the 6spd's in the half tons are pretty much exactly like an Allison in that you have PRND and ''M''. shift the lever down to ''M'' and there is an up/down button on shift lever that allows you to select what gear you want 1-6 and the transmission will not go above that gear. works awesome for slowing down on descents, but if you are in tow/haul the transmission will go ahead and downshift to keep your speed the same even if you are in ''D''. saves quite a bit of braking IMO

 

[jkust]

Re: OK Tahoe / Yukon owners question for you

I drive my 5.3 with a 6500# load up to Tahoe from LA. A lot of hills and a lot of shifting out of OD. A lot of the time I am downshifting to 2nd gear let alone dropping out of OD. I would love to have a 6 speed especially one that I could force manually like the 6 speed Allison can.

I keep it at 65mph with cruise on. Really there are only two hills that will cause it to go to 3rd and only then depending on the wind. If I anticipate the hills better and speed up going into them I can avoid any down shifts. I'm all for the newer technology of a 6 speed especially for even a marginal improvement in mpg's when commuting to work and I'm sure I'd get used to the differences quickly if I owned one. Where I do appreciate it is when driving those chevy Traverses with the crazy underpowered 3.6 liter and i have to redline to get it moving at an acceptable pace at times. The 3.6 has way too low of torque numbers for vehicle the weight of a truck body suv and it really benefits from the 6 speed.

 

[kawakx125]

Re: OK Tahoe / Yukon owners question for you

my 03 reg cab with 5.3 got about 14-15mpg average under normal driving combined city/highway. my 11 ext cab 5.3 will get 17 combined. i've seen as high as 21 on a highway trip. cruising at 65mph i'm at about 1500rpm

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: OK Tahoe / Yukon owners question for you

I have 3:73 gears and am at the limit of my tow vehicle (7,800 loaded) It bulls good i am old school and just like towing in drive instead of OD - I might handle it but what i am doing is working for me and I do not expect to get any sort of MPG pulling that load. 60mph is about 1,800rpm - not exactly in the engines powerband.

LK

 

[Silvertip]

Re: OK Tahoe / Yukon owners question for you

my 03 reg cab with 5.3 got about 14-15mpg average under normal driving combined city/highway. my 11 ext cab 5.3 will get 17 combined. i've seen as high as 21 on a highway trip. cruising at 65mph i'm at about 1500rpm

And I've made a 3500 mile road trip with my 01 Yukon and averaged 20.1 which included a weeks worth of driving in Colorado high country.