I am considering the purchase of a '99 3/4 ton suburban with a 454. The unit was very well maintained, never pulled a trailer, and is clean and straight.

How many miles is a 454 with an easy life history good for?

And what will a rebuild run?

I checked KBB, but do you think that a clean 4x4 unit with no options and 175,000 miles is worth $3500?


-Mike

 

I had a 1992 Chevy 3500 with a 454, and it had 165,000 miles on it when it was retired. It was the original engine, and I can say it never gave me any trouble.
Ed G

 

I've seen them fail at less than 100,000 miles, and I've seen them go well past 300,000 miles. "Easy life" is the key phrase- the 454 is a "tractor motor," not one that likes a lot of revs (at least not in stock form). Worry less about the motor than the tranny in that 'Burb- I'll bet that's where the big money will be spent first.

 

My stepdad has a 2000 3/4-ton Xcab/long bed with the big block and 4L80E. I had a good vibe when he brought it home for a test drive and it has been great. Clean "unused" company truck, too.

I doubt you'd have issues with either the tranny or engine in that Surburban. As long as it has all the coolers in good shape. It's the stock 4L60E and the accompanying rear in the 1/2-ton that is definitely garbage.

I swear through past reading that GM pretty much built the Gen 2 era engines to go 100,000 miles and anything over that is great. Steppops truck is well over that (120,000ish?), I think, and it pulls a 31' 5th wheel travel trailer with ease.

Towing the trailer, he gets about 8 mpgs, empty....12c/15h with 3.73 rear axle gearing. The first time he pulled the trailer to Corpus through hills, he had O/D on and got 6ish mpg....we rectified that after he gave me the details.

He did want a PSD truck with a few years on it (cheaper buy), but contrary to popular belief, the used truck glut didn't affect prices down here. He got what works for him.

$3500 for a clean 3/4-ton anything at the back end of the C/K era sounds pretty darn good.

 

Thanks for the reply AlfredB1979. That is what I thought- $3500 for a clean 3/4 4x seemed to be cheap. Right now I am 2-4k below wholesale. I am not a big GM fan, but at this price I reckon I could run this as a backup truck until I trade for another new truck. It is a clean company truck with good maint. record. I should come out money ahead provided that Polarbear is not right about the tranny warning.

Compression test came out 145-150 yesterday. I am going to take a closer look at the truck now.

-Mike

 

I have seen one that went to almost 500,000 but that was all hwy miles pulling a somewhat light trailer. The guy replaced the engine and went another 300,000 miles before he got rid of the truck.

On the other hand he went through 5 transmissions and 6 clutches.

I have also seen a few blow up at less than 100,000. Most of it has to due with maintance and use.

He now runs a dmax and seems to be happy with it.

 

The bear is right. My friend with a 454 got over 300k with no engine problems, but replaced 3 transmissions.
Dono