2006 Silverado Daily Driver

[DirtBag]

Let us know how it pulls...My 04 Yukon XL has 4.10's and it pulls pretty well. My 01 Silverado has 3.73's and it doesn't do too bad either. You can't be afraid to let em scream a few RPM's to get there.

 

[98BlackSierra]

Let us know how it pulls...My 04 Yukon XL has 4.10's and it pulls pretty well. My 01 Silverado has 3.73's and it doesn't do too bad either. You can't be afraid to let em scream a few RPM's to get there.

Not ashamed to say it, but she pulls terrible. It only has 3:42 gearing and downshifts a lot on hilly roads. I pull in 3rd gear with tow/haul on and sometimes have to turn the air conditioning off when merging on the expressway or accelerating. My ‘98 with 3:73’s pulls far better than this.

Eventually I plan on upgrading to a larger tire and 4:56 gears, but for now with the small amount of towing I do, this works fine.

 

[movietvet]

Not ashamed to say it, but she pulls terrible. It only has 3:42 gearing and downshifts a lot on hilly roads. I pull in 3rd gear with tow/haul on and sometimes have to turn the air conditioning off when merging on the expressway or accelerating. My ‘98 with 3:73’s pulls far better than this.

Eventually I plan on upgrading to a larger tire and 4:56 gears, but for now with the small amount of towing I do, this works fine.

Do you tow all the time? Those 4:56 gears are gonna be gas guzzler gears if you don't tow all the time and the bigger tires will reduce a bit of what you gain with the lower gears.

 

[98BlackSierra]

Do you tow all the time? Those 4:56 gears are gonna be gas guzzler gears if you don't tow all the time and the bigger tires will reduce a bit of what you gain with the lower gears.

Not worried about fuel economy at all. The most I drive on any given day is about 5 miles back and forth to work and the gym.

Biggest thing is I just want it to pull a little easier. I wouldn't be going to a much larger tire than I have so I'm not worried about that affecting the way it would tow.

 

[98BlackSierra]

Came out of work the other morning to a flat front tire. They were in need of replacing bad, but I was holding off since I barely drive the truck. Dropped it off at Belle Tire yesterday morning and got it back today. Four new 285/70/17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers for $1,150 out the door…not too shabby IMO. The truck is filthy currently so don’t pay any attention to that lol.

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[Sean Buick 76]

I agree on the 4.56 gear swap that will work great and reduce stress on the engine and trans! Who cares if it revs a bit higher at least it will be happy. I made the same switch from 3.42 to 4.56 gears on my 05 and it was amazing! Then I did a cam, headers and dual 3” with a good tune. Fun fun. It was gutless before

 

[98BlackSierra]

I agree on the 4.56 gear swap that will work great and reduce stress on the engine and trans! Who cares if it revs a bit higher at least it will be happy. I made the same switch from 3.42 to 4.56 gears on my 05 and it was amazing! Then I did a cam, headers and dual 3” with a good tune. Fun fun. It was gutless before

Just out of curiosity, how much did you have to fork out for the gear swap? Trying to get a ballpark idea so I don’t fall over when I call for an estimate lol.

 

[Sean Buick 76]

Just out of curiosity, how much did you have to fork out for the gear swap? Trying to get a ballpark idea so I don’t fall over when I call for an estimate lol.

I paid $1000 labor and I supplied the parts but it was 4x4 so that was both front and rear diffs. I’m not sure about the shop rates where you are however around here this type of work is over a hundred an hour and it’s typically a 3-4 hour job to do a diff rebuild.

On my 01 Yukon with 3.73 I simply bought two used 4.10 diffs and swapped the complete diffs in but that was a bunch of work.

Not everyone is in the same boat however I have to weigh out the $ I pay for labor vs what kind of $ I could make if I work extra overtime. I built several vehicles this way paying my buddy roughly 1/3 of what I was making per hour of overtime. He was happy and I was happy, he had skills and tools I didn’t have so it was a win win.

Others will be the opposite, they will take time off work to complete tasks and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m just a firm believer that if I’m not 100% confident in a task then it may be better to pay a pro vs take the vast amount of time to learn how to do it and buy the specialized tools etc.

I’ve built lots of engines, however once I got into a high $ build it just wasn’t worth the risk to NOT pay a pro to assemble it and break it in. Just an example of my point.

Many times guys are stubborn and insist on doing stuff that they may or may not be capable of doing properly. Sometimes they get away with it, other times it costs them more down time and $. It’s a balance I guess.

 

[98BlackSierra]

I paid $1000 labor and I supplied the parts but it was 4x4 so that was both front and rear diffs. I’m not sure about the shop rates where you are however around here this type of work is over a hundred an hour and it’s typically a 3-4 hour job to do a diff rebuild.

On my 01 Yukon with 3.73 I simply bought two used 4.10 diffs and swapped the complete diffs in but that was a bunch of work.

Not everyone is in the same boat however I have to weigh out the $ I pay for labor vs what kind of $ I could make if I work extra overtime. I built several vehicles this way paying my buddy roughly 1/3 of what I was making per hour of overtime. He was happy and I was happy, he had skills and tools I didn’t have so it was a win win.

Others will be the opposite, they will take time off work to complete tasks and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m just a firm believer that if I’m not 100% confident in a task then it may be better to pay a pro vs take the vast amount of time to learn how to do it and buy the specialized tools etc.

I’ve built lots of engines, however once I got into a high $ build it just wasn’t worth the risk to NOT pay a pro to assemble it and break it in. Just an example of my point.

Many times guys are stubborn and insist on doing stuff that they may or may not be capable of doing properly. Sometimes they get away with it, other times it costs them more down time and $. It’s a balance I guess.

Thanks for the detailed response. I am gear swapping my OBS soon and my ‘06 likely won’t be far behind. Now I have a much better idea what I’ll be spending.

 

[98BlackSierra]

Last week, I ran down to a U Pull It yard south of our place. I grabbed a full console out of a higher optioned truck and luckily it was in decent condition and the hard to find color. Usually they’re all picked over.

Spent some time last night cleaning the carpets and installing the console as well as washing the truck since we’re headed up to Mackinaw City today.

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