Bill Kemp
Active Member
is anyone pulling there boat with a chev. avalanche. i'm thinking of buying one and was wondering what other poeple like and dislike about them.
chev. avalanche
- Thread starter Bill Kemp
- Start date
FlatOutAlly
Well-Known Member
Hang on. RedAllison will be here in a minute or two. As soon as he gets back from the beach. 
GotMyAlly
Well-Known Member
I think he's got a laptop on the beach and he'll be all over this post!Hang on. RedAllison will be here in a minute or two. As soon as he gets back from the beach.
RedAllison
Well-Known Member
Someone callin me??? :mrgreen: Sorry for the delay, just got in from takin da kids too the Turtle Farm and eatin at the Hard Rock Cafe! :beer:
My Avie is a first year/intro model (the kind with all the plastic cladding) an 02 Z-71 with 3.73 lmtd slip. At 11K she had to have a new torque convertor, but of course it was under warranty. At about 12K it started gettin the "piston slap" that was notorious with the early 5.3 V-8s. Since the first oil change all my baby as had is Mobil 1 syn. But in all honesty this winter she hasn't "slapped" as much. It's not really anything I've worried about, it only does that on the first cold start of the day and even then it only lasts about 5-10 seconds. Besides GM fixed that problem in 03 or 04 and I haven't heard of anyothers doing it.
I've done the usual tranny flush in 30K increments and that's about it. (Seems like I replaced the battery lastyear but that's just normal, it gave me the excuse to replace it with a bigger 850cca anyway!) The truck tows my ProSport like it aint back there and 80-90 on the highway is a cakewalk. For the sportsman with a family it's dang near THE perfect truck IMHO. For years I've been (and still am, gonna get my wife one for Mothers Day next year) a Suburban nut but the Avie has the benefit of being able to throw bloody game animals or wet/smelly coolers in the back without worrying about anything while still having seating for 6. (I ordered mine with the benchseat.)
My only pet peeve is that the bed covers on mine leak like a sieve and have since day one. My brother had an 04 Avalanche and his didn't leak as much but he only kept the truck for a year but he trades em quick anyway. In fact for about the last year I have left the covers off. If I leave them on all the time, especially in the summer, after rains and high humidity they will cause a mildew STANK in the bed. But the covers are nice when traveling as you can lock everything up back there and not worry about it walking off.
As far as performance, the Avalanche is built on the Suburban chasis so it shares the same coilover rear end as the Tahoe and Suburban. That makes it's capacity lower than a pickup truck (I carry my 4 wheeler and loads of mulch/sand with no problems tho) but it rides like a Cadillac!!! I say the Suburban platform thing to show you what kind of towing you can expect, the Sub is still the king of tow trucks so you can expect the same with the Avie. In fact the Avies weigh 500#s more than the Subs surprisingly. I have a brushguard, roof rack and lights on mine as well as bugshield and rainvisors. Before I put all that crap on it it would average 17mpg and I once got over 20mpg on the highway with it. But once I "necktified" it she gets 28mpg!!! 14 in the city, 14 on the highway!
I REALLY like the new body style, they are SHARP!!! A red Z71 with 20" rims is what I'd have to match my boat if I were gonna get another Avie soon...
Good luck,
RA
My Avie is a first year/intro model (the kind with all the plastic cladding) an 02 Z-71 with 3.73 lmtd slip. At 11K she had to have a new torque convertor, but of course it was under warranty. At about 12K it started gettin the "piston slap" that was notorious with the early 5.3 V-8s. Since the first oil change all my baby as had is Mobil 1 syn. But in all honesty this winter she hasn't "slapped" as much. It's not really anything I've worried about, it only does that on the first cold start of the day and even then it only lasts about 5-10 seconds. Besides GM fixed that problem in 03 or 04 and I haven't heard of anyothers doing it.
I've done the usual tranny flush in 30K increments and that's about it. (Seems like I replaced the battery lastyear but that's just normal, it gave me the excuse to replace it with a bigger 850cca anyway!) The truck tows my ProSport like it aint back there and 80-90 on the highway is a cakewalk. For the sportsman with a family it's dang near THE perfect truck IMHO. For years I've been (and still am, gonna get my wife one for Mothers Day next year) a Suburban nut but the Avie has the benefit of being able to throw bloody game animals or wet/smelly coolers in the back without worrying about anything while still having seating for 6. (I ordered mine with the benchseat.)
My only pet peeve is that the bed covers on mine leak like a sieve and have since day one. My brother had an 04 Avalanche and his didn't leak as much but he only kept the truck for a year but he trades em quick anyway. In fact for about the last year I have left the covers off. If I leave them on all the time, especially in the summer, after rains and high humidity they will cause a mildew STANK in the bed. But the covers are nice when traveling as you can lock everything up back there and not worry about it walking off.
As far as performance, the Avalanche is built on the Suburban chasis so it shares the same coilover rear end as the Tahoe and Suburban. That makes it's capacity lower than a pickup truck (I carry my 4 wheeler and loads of mulch/sand with no problems tho) but it rides like a Cadillac!!! I say the Suburban platform thing to show you what kind of towing you can expect, the Sub is still the king of tow trucks so you can expect the same with the Avie. In fact the Avies weigh 500#s more than the Subs surprisingly. I have a brushguard, roof rack and lights on mine as well as bugshield and rainvisors. Before I put all that crap on it it would average 17mpg and I once got over 20mpg on the highway with it. But once I "necktified" it she gets 28mpg!!! 14 in the city, 14 on the highway!
I REALLY like the new body style, they are SHARP!!! A red Z71 with 20" rims is what I'd have to match my boat if I were gonna get another Avie soon...
Good luck,
RA
Bill Kemp
Active Member
thanks for the reply red, i test drove several tonight found a white 2wd 04 model that i really like going to try and work a deal on it tomorrow.