Things I didn't realize existed

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 10/27/2015 at 15:26 • Filed to: None

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Did you know that GM made a 1500 HD? Yeah, me either. I guess its a 1500 chassis and body with the stronger 4L80e and the 6.0 V8 as well as stronger springs, and 8 lug hubs (and presumably the 14 bolt corporate rear end). Basically its just a 2500 without all the extra “heavy duty”ness of the exterior and a little lighter weight.

I knew that Ford did the same trick when they first introduced the Taurus F150 (10th generation) as the F250LD (Light Duty) with 7(?) lugs and stonger springs and axles as a stopgap until the new HD body styles came out. So you could either get a 3/4 ton light duty or 1/2 ton heavy duty, which just goes to show how pointless the words “duty” and “ton” are in the truck world.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:30

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I had a friend with one. It had like 250k miles and he drove it when his Cummins would go through another 68RE...

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:31

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Fascinating. 10k pound towing, does it get better mileage than the 2500?

HammerheadFistpunch > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 10/27/2015 at 15:33

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Its the same running gear, but a more slippery and lighter body so I would suspect its a little better.

Jcarr > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:38

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Frankly I’m a little surprised you didn’t know these existed. I still see them pretty regularly. I’ll occasionally even see a Quadrasteer now and then.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:38

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Sounds like a win-win to me then. Hey GM get back to work on these.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:39

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The Squarebodies also had this trick - what was called the “heavy half ton”. 1500 Suburban 4wds of the 80s are “heavy half”, and suffer for it, because they’ve got a loopy offset six-lug wheel that’s different than later models and has basically no factory 16”s available, and the brakes are not up to the job - which requires frequent front brake jobs, requiring pulling the hubs. Not fun.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:39

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Also it’s not the same body, the 1500’s(sans HD) didn’t come in crew cab guise until 2003.

HammerheadFistpunch > Jcarr 10/27/2015 at 15:41

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They were never on my radar I guess, I parked next to one the other day and did a double take.

Ash78, voting early and often > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:41

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I only buy the ones called “W/T” because I need that Wun Ton capacity. Fonetic spelling for the win.

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 10/27/2015 at 15:42

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Sounds like it more for the occasional braked travel trailer than it is for hauling crap in the bed.

HammerheadFistpunch > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 10/27/2015 at 15:43

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yeah, I noticed that too

LongbowMkII > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:43

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was a 2wd regular cab available? that sounds like the perfect truck.

HammerheadFistpunch > Ash78, voting early and often 10/27/2015 at 15:44

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You don’t want a White Trash edition truck? That’s what I thought of them everytime I saw it. What did that stand for anyway, Wide Track?

HammerheadFistpunch > LongbowMkII 10/27/2015 at 15:45

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Not sure. I’ve only seen them as crews...I wonder if they only did that body style so they could get the length right for the running gear out of the HD trucks.

crowmolly > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:45

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Pretty sure it’s “Work Truck”

HammerheadFistpunch > crowmolly 10/27/2015 at 15:46

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That makes sense...I mean it doesn’t because the way it was written it would be either a Work or a Truck

Work/Truck.

Do you get to choose? Silly GM.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:46

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We towed regularly with our Burb, but the brake jobs and squirrely-ness down the road from being on tall tires on 15”s presented some issues. We got some cheap 16”s that were supposed to be right offset, but they didn’t balance well. Also, the 700R4 trans wasn’t that rugged, but was better after we got one with a tow build. It’s offline right now because the 6.2 developed bearing web cracks in the block and lost oil pressure. Apparently that’s a thing. Anyway, the “heavy half” is a better tow vehicle than the half, but in that generation has some really screwy axle things going on.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:47

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Work Truck. The basic one. Still used I believe

Ash78, voting early and often > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:47

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Yeah, just a dumb old convention with a pointless slash. It usually means vinyl seats, no carpeting, the basics.

The truck world has a whole lot of nonsensical stuff.

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 10/27/2015 at 15:48

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we had an 89 and I hated towing with it...maybe that’s why? Man that thing was all over the road.

LongbowMkII > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:49

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perhaps, but wouldn’t a regular cab/longbed be the same length? I guess i could google...

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:53

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Without question you had the 15” wheels. That, and the steering boxes never get adjusted and only sort of stay adjusted. Lots of wheel play, lots of bump steer on the 4wd from the kingpin location, tall sidewalls, heavy vehicle - yeah, it’s how those are.

RallyWrench > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:53

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They actually sold those with the 5.3, if I’m not mistaken. I towed a rally car in a 25 foot trailer out to Nevada with a 5.3 HD, and it was horribly underpowered.

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 10/27/2015 at 15:54

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Yeah, the steering was poor...REAL poor. Still one of my favorite truck interiors though. lots of chrome, cool dash and that awesome textured seat material that needs to make a comeback.

crowmolly > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:54

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Next you are gonna tell me I can’t drop 4 pallets of stone pavers into the bed while blasting Seger

HammerheadFistpunch > RallyWrench 10/27/2015 at 15:54

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Wiki says they all got the 6.0 liter and you know wiki is never wrong...

HammerheadFistpunch > crowmolly 10/27/2015 at 15:55

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If you have it switched to “work” then maybe.

shop-teacher > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 15:57

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I did know this actually. On the GMT-800 platform that was the only way to get a crew cab with a 6-1/2’ bed, without stepping all the way up to a 3/4 ton. Regular 1/2 ton crew cabs only got the 5’8” bed, which I have on my truck. It’s too short for carrying pipe easily, which is annoying as hell to me when I’m working on my house.

shop-teacher > crowmolly 10/27/2015 at 15:59

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Only if you’re blasting Seger. Without the Seger, you can only drop 3 pallets of stone pavers in.

shop-teacher > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 10/27/2015 at 16:01

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The current “regular” 1/2 tons can be optioned out to something like 12k pound tow rating. I wish they’d bring back the old “Vortec Max” option, so you could put the new 6.2 liter engine into any 1/2 ton truck.

shop-teacher > RallyWrench 10/27/2015 at 16:01

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That must’ve been rare. I thought they all had the 6.0 as well.

Funktheduck > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 16:03

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I don't know what ton and duty are supposed to mean these days either. Very convoluted

HammerheadFistpunch > Funktheduck 10/27/2015 at 16:07

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I think if I were to start an independent truck company I would go for broke and just call it a Ton ExtraDuty! and it would be pre-set up with rockstar wheels, a light bar a billet grill and a 4 inch lift. I would fit whatever the largest engine I could source without worrying homeland security and then give it no exhausts at all.

Funktheduck > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 16:09

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The only way I would revise that is to call it the ExtraTon ExtraDuty or SuperTon ExtraDuty.

HammerheadFistpunch > Funktheduck 10/27/2015 at 16:10

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SuperTon ExtraDuty with the StrongRod engine.

Funktheduck > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 16:11

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I just laughed out loud in a waiting room over the “StongRod”

RallyWrench > shop-teacher 10/27/2015 at 16:16

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It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it, but it was my friend’s in-law’s truck and I distinctly remember it was an HD of this generation. We popped the hood to see what it had because it was such a joke climbing out of CA, and couldn’t believe it actually had the small V8. We were getting passed by semis.

shop-teacher > RallyWrench 10/27/2015 at 16:26

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That must’ve been pathetic. I have a similarly rare (not in a good way) ‘06 Sierra 1500 crew cab, with the 4.8. They sold so few of these, that that combo isn’t even listed in the owners manual page about tow ratings. I had to extrapolate my truck’s 5700 lb tow rating by seeing how much the other engines ratings changed from regular cab to extended cab to crew cab.

My Roadmaster is rated to tow 7000 pounds, so a full 1300 pounds more than my truck. Oh well, the truck was CHEAP. I picked it up for under $22k brand new, out the door.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Jcarr 10/27/2015 at 16:33

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I’ve only seen one quadrasteer truck in my life. It was interesting to watch as it made a turn to exit a gas station.

Jcarr > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 10/27/2015 at 16:35

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If I remember correctly the steering changed based on speed. At slow speeds the back wheels would turn opposite the fronts to tighten the turn radius. At highway speeds they would turn the same as the fronts to make changing lanes smooth.

TwoToneLoser > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 18:06

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You can just see the Stonger® springs there... Damn fine springs.

HammerheadFistpunch > TwoToneLoser 10/27/2015 at 18:06

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only the best.

SuburbanPhile > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 19:23

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I've owned three 1500HDs - 1/2 ton frame with 3/4 ton suspension, brakes, engine, tranny.

Bowtie_Guy > HammerheadFistpunch 10/27/2015 at 22:35

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Actually these are a full on 3/4 ton truck. When the new style silverado came out in 99 they had a 3/4 ton “Silverado 2500” sold right alongside the C/K 2500s that had the 6.0/4l80e. In 2001 with the release of the Duramax & Allison combo they had the 2500HD with was the same truck but with a raised frame & taller hood (& alot of minor details) to clear the diesel but they still sold regular “2500”s until 2004.

Originally the new 2500s could only be had in regular & extended cabs but in 2001 with 2500hds release there was a crew cab configuration & to compete with Ford’s new “super crew F150” GM needed a half ton crew cab but did not have the tooling to do it on a half ton chassis so they “made” the 1500hd by taking the 2500hd body & “2500” chassis & half ton front sheet metal (1500s & 2500s had a different front end from 2500hds) & sold it as a “half-ton” for marketing & insurance purposes only even though the GVWR is 600lbs less then a 2500hd (8600 vs 9200) a half ton pickup is 7200lbs GVWR.

The production run for 1500hd’s is technically 2001-2003 & 2005-2007 because in 2004 GM released a true “1500” crew cab with a smaller 5.5ft bed & for that year they rebadged the 1500hds as “2500”s (non-hd) but after the regular “2500”s were discontinued in 2004 the crew cabs were popular enough that they went back to 1500hds & sold them alongside “1500” crew cabs until the new style trucks came out in 2007.5.

You could say im obsessed with GMT800s (99-07 GM truck). Ive had 4 over the last 5 years & ive been searching for the right 1500hd for the last 3. I only bought a diesel because i couldnt find a nice 1500hd last year

Oh & one more fun fact. From 2003-2006 1500hds could be had with “quadrasteer” GM’s cool electronic controlled rear steer axle. 2500hds could not get this option becuase they had a different rear axle & the way to tell if a 1500hd has “quadrasteer” or not is they had a different bed made of FIBERGLASS that bulged out over the wheels.

GMC 1500hd with quadrasteer

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > HammerheadFistpunch 10/28/2015 at 00:16

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Yup. Used to own one. ‘03. Quadrasteer. Fantastic truck. Wish I still had it, but, well, ‘08 economy and such.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 10/28/2015 at 00:18

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When I had one it would do about 16-18mpg freeway unloaded and about 10-12mpg freeway pulling a 6,000lb dual axle trailer.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > RallyWrench 10/28/2015 at 00:23

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Are you sure it was an HD? I used to have one and it was the 6.0, not even close to underpowered, even when towing.

Because of course my experience with one makes me an expert on the subject.

michaeljamhar > LongbowMkII 10/28/2015 at 00:52

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Recently picked up a 2500HD in this exact combo with the 6.0/5 manual and imo it is the perfect truck even with the 14 mpg average!

Tarukai > HammerheadFistpunch 10/28/2015 at 01:51

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GM also had 2500 Light Duty models from the late 80s/early 90s. They were the 2500s with 6-lug axles.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > shop-teacher 10/28/2015 at 10:30

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Well that’s what I’m getting at, putting the strength of the gear from the 2500 into the 1500 like above. Could be pulling 15,000 and giving the finger to ford and ram.

shop-teacher > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 10/28/2015 at 11:07

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I think they’d be wagging a different ... extremity :)

bmw325_num99 > Jcarr 10/28/2015 at 16:23

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I clicked on the link expecting it to be about the Quadrasteer but saw that the truck didnt have the weird stance and clearance lights on the fenders.