95 6.5 turbo chevy dually

[NewGuy]

Any thoughts/suggestions on a 1995 Chevy dually, 6.5 turbo diesel. It has the extended wheelbase. 163K miles. We are going to do a full service on it. Paperwork says the turbo was rebuilt, new injectors, tranny rebuilt, all this past March. Please let me know what I should expect from this set-up and any preventative maintenance that should be done before I put it on the road carrying golf carts and pulling trailers.

[Jordy]

The 6.5 isn't the baddest diesel on the road but I drove one for over 200,000 miles before I sold it. The biggest problem you'll run into is with the injection pump. You'll also get used to pulling hills and having people pass you while you're running in the 45-50 mph range depending on the hill and what you have hooked up to it. Fuel economy was better than 16 around town and 18 or so out on the highway with mine. The 4L80E is a good tranny and I had 202K miles on mine when I had to have it rebuilt.
Here are a couple good places for information:
http://www.gm-diesel.com/
http://dieselplace.com/forum/
http://forum.thedieselpage.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi
Good luck.

[NewGuy]

Thanks for the info. The tranny was rebuilt in March. I am will be carrying 4 golf carts on the truck(4400lbs.) and 5 carts(5500lbs.) on the trailer that weighs about 2500lbs. I am thinking about trying to "beef" the motor a little at some point. Thanks for your help.

[Jordy]

I am thinking about trying to "beef" the motor a little at some point. Thanks for your help.
Unfortunately, there isn't alot of beefing to be done to the 6.5. As I recall Kennedy Diesel was making a chip for them for a while, but it wasn't anything comparable to the Edge box or some of the other mods that are out for the Duramax. Seems to me that the bottom end was rather weak on the 6.5's and trying to hop them up ended up with rather large piles of useless scrap. I did a Banks Power Pack on mine (they were pretty much the only option back then) and got rid of the restrictive downpipe from the turbo as well as added a K&N filter and boost and pyro gauges. That was the limit of the mods I did on mine.
It was a great truck, but just doesn't compare to the newer diesels and performance options available out there. My personal Duramax puts out more than double the horsepower that the 6.5 in my old truck made. Hard to contend with that. ;)

[Outnumbered]

Not sure what you are spending on that thing but I think you could do better with an older Dodge Cummins. Just be sure to get a stick. Ain't that right Jordy? :D

[Jordy]

Not sure what you are spending on that thing but I think you could do better with an older Dodge Cummins. Just be sure to get a stick. Ain't that right Jordy? :D
Actually, the older Dodges (in that year range) were about the same in the terms of horsepower and torque numbers. The 6.5 Turbo put out 185 hp and something like 400 ft lbs at the flywheel. The old 16 vavle Cummins, and the old 7.3 (pre-powerstroke) were all in the same range. Personally, I'd go with the 6.5 just because I liked that bodystyle on the Chevy.
Resale wise, I would think you might be able to get a Dodge with a Cummins that might be a couple years newer for the same price (definately go with the handshaker for what you're going to be doing), but I haven't shopped the used truck market enough lately to know. I do remember that the diesels especially, tended to be higher mileage than their gasser counterparts.

[NewGuy]

Not sure what you are spending on that thing but I think you could do better with an older Dodge Cummins. Just be sure to get a stick. Ain't that right Jordy? :D
I checked the older Cummins and all of them had at least 200k. This one has 163K, rebuilt turbo, rebuilt auto tranny, new injectors, etc. I am putting a 16ft. flatbed on it. Got it for 4K cash. AC is very cold, interior is in great shape. I got the automatic because I always have a bunch of my nucklehead employees that THINK they know how to drive a clutch, but don't. I figured for 4K it wasn't a bad deal especially with the longer wheelbase that I needed. I will check some of the sites that Jordy recommended about performance upgrades. Thanks guys.

[Outnumbered]

I checked the older Cummins and all of them had at least 200k. This one has 163K, rebuilt turbo, rebuilt auto tranny, new injectors, etc. I am putting a 16ft. flatbed on it. Got it for 4K cash. AC is very cold, interior is in great shape. I got the automatic because I always have a bunch of my nucklehead employees that THINK they know how to drive a clutch, but don't. I figured for 4K it wasn't a bad deal especially with the longer wheelbase that I needed. I will check some of the sites that Jordy recommended about performance upgrades. Thanks guys.
For $4k its a no brainer. Drive it til it dies and buy another. I wouldn't sink too much cash into it. Good find.

[Liquid Life]

Hey NewGuy check out the upgrades on this site
www.SSDieselSupply.com (http://SSDieselSupply.com)

[NewGuy]

Hey NewGuy check out the upgrades on this site
www.SSDieselSupply.com (http://SSDieselSupply.com)
Thanks for the info. All kinds of ways for me to spend $$ on it.

[Jordy]

Thanks for the info. All kinds of ways for me to spend $$ on it.
I think the first thing I'd be looking at is the PMD cooler/relocation kit. Those were very problematic based on design and location and it seems like a cheap/easy fix. Just my $.02 as I put more than one injection pump in my mighty 6.5. ;)

[carreraboat]

the pump is built by dephi so i would leary a replacement pump already jumped 250.00 kinda gotta consider that