What's the beef with Chevy trucks? CAR WIZARD shares their differences and which TO BUY & NOT TO BUY 

Bought my 2003 Silverado brand new. Been driving it for 19 years. 475,000 on the 5.3, 376,000 on the transmission before it started slipping. Still driving it daily.

This guy is very smart, he understands the big picture when it comes to auto repair. Not only the physical mechanics of it, but also how different generations of people react to auto repair. Love the videos!

I'm a grandpa and I like grandpa trucks and other grandpa times, but I especially like grandma!

1999-2007 best era ever for GM truck engines. My 2000 Sierra SLT has the 4.8L V8 with 180k miles. I have owned it for 21 trouble free years of engine and 4L60E transmission. Replaced a fuel pump, one set of spark plugs (125k miles), rebuilt rear diff. @ 150k, still GM weak link, one set of ball joints and tie rod ends @ 150k, and regular maintenance. Just replaced rotors & calipers @ 177k. Not bad for 21 years, still runs great, will never sell truck, just keep fixing. Had several offers lately, with price of new trucks what they are!

Still driving my 93' Chevy Cheyenne 4.3 v-6 with 389,765 miles . It's my daily driver to work .

With just about anything from the early to mid 2000s, they seemed so complex and technologically advanced when they were new, but compared to what came out a decade later, or today, they actually look very basic and primitive.

I’ve had every single body style since 1967 and multiple of each. For the money and the comfort as well as reliability, the 99-06 1500 is by far the best when it comes to a daily driver. Parts are cheap, they’re reliable and cheap. That said my 67 is my all time favorite truck. It’s good looking and sounds sweet. Put a lot into it. I built a 496 for it, and done everything but paint and body now. I’m glad I got mine way before people starting asking stupid money for beat up long beds. I got mine for $700 from the original owner with everything from the factory plastic seat cover to owners manual. The 99-06 is definitely the best choice for a daily driver

My dad had a 70 C10, 84 Silverado, and a 2001 Silverado 1500. Put over 300,000 miles on the first two. Had 279,000 miles on the 2001 when he passed away. We ended up selling it at auction for double blue book value. It was still in excellent shape. The I drove it to the auction house from his house, I was amazed at how well it drove and handled for a 21 year old truck. Those are the only 3 trucks he ever owned. He wouldn't think of driving anything but a Chevy. He used to say, "You take good care of a Chevy it won't let you down."

Being 27 years old I'm a big fan of fuel injection, and several other electronic advancements. But drive by wire can go screw. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the ole cable throttle. Sure they can stretch a little after like 200k miles, but they're cheap and easy to replace as opposed to the newer system (which breaks more often). Plus the feeling and precision of physically opening the throttle with your foot can't be matched by the crappy electronic pedal.

Would definitely like to see your take on similar era F series. Thanks, Car Wizard.

With all the fluff and extra garbage most tubers are putting on .. especially the skippable commercials !! I pay a premium to not have to sit through that shit ! This man held my attention and was correct with his info . I’ve owned all up to 05 Chevy trucks . Own one now . Thanks you !

Man, I am almost considering moving to Kansas just to have the Car Wizard as my mechanic. You really look out for your customers.

My father has 05 silverado right now with one of the 5.3 high outputs and that sucker has almost 400,000 miles still runs great a bit rusted out but as far as running it's in great shape

My wife daily drives a 94 stepside. it is a awesome truck. She just loves it. Runs and drives like a dream. Best truck Chevy ever made.

Scotty Kilmer and the Car Wizard are both great. The Car Care Nut is excellent for Toyota and Lexus products. They have saved me $$$ and stopped me from making major mistakes. Scotty reminds me of my late father, who was also an auto mechanic.

My second truck was a 96’ Gmc 2500 with 5.7 vortec with heavy duty tow package. Thing was soooo heavy duty it was wild… literally built like a tank. I remember driving over the scrap yard scale and it was weighing in at around 6500 lbs

My 99 silverado 3/4 4x4 has 499,000 km still runs great.Original engine has never been apart, original trans and fluid is clean and red.Take care of it and dont abuse it it will last a long time, that goes for a lot of others too !!

I knew a guy in the mid 90s with a regular cab, 4x4 with the 350 V8 and a 5 speed manual. What a fun truck.

Hey, this is Grandpa. You nailed it ! Thanks. Good video.

Absolutely correct. I purchased a 1996 Chevy Tahoe with the 5.7 in 2002 with 36K miles on it, and still drive it in 2022. in 16 years the only major repair was to replace the fuel injectors. Previously I owned a 1970 K-10 pickup that never broke down, and a 1978 K-5 Blazer that I blew the tranny on towing a U-Haul trailer, picked up a replacement at the salvage yard and replaced it myself. You cant go wrong with an old Chevy SUV or pickup. Owned a 98 Dodge Durango with the 5.9, drove it hard for 100K miles with zero major issues.

The big thing with the modern electronics is the cost of buying the GOOD scan tool. Out of the range of the home mechanic. You can learn the repairs, but the cost of the tools and parts to do it right is the issue. The basics are still the same. You have to have fuel, air spark and compression in the right order.

Dear David- just purchased a bunch of your recommended tools from your AA’s link. Just passed my first grading period at auto tech school with an A. Thank you for inspiring me to change careers and fix these cars. Happier than I’ve ever been. Cheers!

Great knowledge about the Chevy/GMC trucks through the years you've mentioned. I too won't buy a $70k + truck,they're not worth it. I bought in 2004 a 1993 Chevy Silverado Z71 Extended Cab. Yes it has needed repairs and parts replaced and service work done. But parts are everywhere and affordable and the truck is easy to maintain. I used to look at other trucks but after I bought the truck I have now , I don't look to buy. Now I look and keep walking, thankful very much 🙏🏽. I've got a great truck, easy and affordable to maintain . It looks great, it's paid for, it's reliable, I am able to work on it myself quite a bit. It's been the best truck I've ever owned and I'm not planning to ever get another truck. Keep my truck always maintained and it should last me as long as I live. Thank you for posting this video. Take care and Happy New Year, God bless you and your family.

Thank you for your time in the service!! Also i really appreciate you're knowledge!!

My first truck was a 94 Chevy 1500. When I got it in 08 it had 179,000 miles. When I finally sold it 4 years later, it had almost 250,000. One of the most reliable trucks I've ever had. That TBI 350 didn't have a bunch of power but it just never quit.

I miss my '95 Z-71 SOOOO much, but all things considered, I'd rather have my '76 C-10 Long Bed back any day! 383 Stroker, 4 bolt main, 465 Muncie 3-speed, Vic Edelbrock Jr. cast aluminum valve covers & air cleaner, the works.

Had a 1993 half ton with 4.3 gutless motor, but it went 544,867 thousand miles, but when it blew there was no saving it. Used valvoline 30 weight all its life 3,000 mile oil changes cleaned air filter often never tore down , was bad about burning hole in rotor bug , went through 5 0d. Transmissions ! Drove it easy .

I've owned used '69 (self custom built) and new '94, 2000, & 2008 models. Pretty spot on evaluation from the perspective of a modern day shop mechanic. My frustration over the years was actually access to information. That has improved exponentially in the last decade or so.

Sold our 01 Silverado 4x4 last year with 400,000 miles on it, still with orig trans. It was used hard, but the paint held up and it had no rust. Was a great long-lived half ton.

Back then : "These things are too complicated, too expensive, too many pollution controls robbing your power, catalytic converters/seat belt chimes, they don't make'em like they used to, etc ..." Now : "Best truck they ever made wish i still had it/ wish I could find one ..."

My favorites are the 88 to 98 GMT 400 platforms. I've had 3 of them over the years and they were great.

My 2000 4.8 in a GMC Sierra went 200 thousand miles without an engine repair. Great truck! Bought new for $17k and sold after 200 thousand miles for $5000. The good ol days.

Really like seeing how your channel has developed over the years, Car Wizard. Keep up the good work and mind the scraped knuckles.

I forgot but for the GMT 400 styles IF YOU ACTUALLY READ THE MANUAL! it says that towing should only be done in D not in OD. OD is for regular everyday driving unless you are climbing large hills at speeds less than 45mph. As soon as I bought my truck I took 30min to actually read the manual and I do this for my 2014 nissan versa and it has 180k miles on it.

My 1998 daily has 375k miles. Amazing truck. Friend just gave me his old 2000 with 350k, my new project.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s and started working on my own cars when I was 17 after watching and helping my dad for the majority of the 70s working on the family cars. I kind of threw up my hands in the late 90s like "grandpa" at all the sensors and plastic parts. Took me a decade to get back into working on cars and I don't feel intimidated any longer. Just finished rebuilding the 8.3 Cummins in my skoolie and I loved it. It has been decades since I rebuilt an engine. I replaced the high pressure injector lines and injectors as well. They aren't internal, but as long as I was rebuilding the engine, I was gonna replace everything. Anyway, my wife wants an older pickup, so this video is awesome!

Excellent guide! And yeah, the frequent mentions of Grandpa are very true. I'm just a few years older than you, and my grandpa was a mechanic. He was good with engines up to the 70s, then slowly as more electronics kept finding their way in, he felt less and less able to work on things. I remember him looking at a high-tech car in the mid 90s saying "I don't know what any of that is." Really is interesting how technology evolved, and got us to where we are now.

This is Grandpa here. Sonny, you missed one of the greatest engines of the 63 to 90 era, the 292 straight 6. I had a few of them. Smooth, reliable and a lot grunt with 280 FT LB of torque.

I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to give an amazing history lesson. Thank you for taking the time to explain and explain our trucks.

Im born in 1954. I really enjoyed this memory lane synopsis.... thanks

I agree 100% with early to mid 2000's cars being super easy to work on. That's the era of cars that I grew up with, the first car I did work on was my 2004 Mustang. A scan tool will tell you what's wrong almost right away, the engines aren't covered by plastic and the electronics make sense. Absolutely love this era and will keep buying cars from this time for as long as I can.

I purchased a 2000 Sierra 2500 with the 6L and a 4L80e based on an older video you made. I have fixed it with a bunch of rockauto and scrapyard parts. I live in the rust belt, the bolts are so big I can get almost everything out with my battery impact no issues. You are right. Super easy to work on with a 20$ bluetooth OBD2 adapter and a basic multimeter. Truck was cheap, parts are ultra cheap and super available and everything is super easy to access and fix. Truck was neglected, replaced all fluids, plugs, wires, new tires, new brakes, belts and hoses. AC even works after a recharge. It's been pulling my racecar and carrying a bunch of stuff no issues since then. Even with 200k miles, it fires up like new.

LMC truck is my go to for anything needed.

I think something good to mention to people about the 99-06 Chevy/GM trucks is the transfer case pump rib issue. If you have a 4x4 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton or 1 ton of this era, most likely you’ll deal with pump rub. I believe the diesels have it too. Basically a ring in the transfer case will wear a hole in the transfer case cover and leak all the fluid out. You have to remove the transfer case and install aftermarket parts to correct it. Some people have JB welded the holes. Otherwise great trucks. Wish I knew about it before buying one. Now I know.

I currently daily drive my '93 Stepside and she runs great! Awesome truck. I have done some matinance but overall a very reliable truck.

My boss has '90 Sierra EFI that was his first new vehicle he ever bought. He mostly drives his '10 Denali but his '90 is very clean, he says only major component he's had to replace was the transmission, very reliable truck.

I had a '73 C10 with the 250 straight-six in it and a three-on-the-tree. That thing was awesome. I was surprised how well it handled highway driving, given that it only had 3 gears. The 250 engine kind of reminded me of the Ford 300 straight-six in my '77 F100, except while it didn't have the massive torque down low, it was much more willing to rev and was overall a lot more pleasant to drive (the F100 kinda felt and sounded like a bus). I didn't get rid of the truck by choice, but man I'd love to have another one. With the straight-six.

I'm no mechanical expert but I do work on cars evry now and then.i really appreciate this video it helps knowing what models are better to buy or work on thank u for ur time Mr wizard.thanks for going over the towing issue and not to use over drive.i love learning knew things.thank you Mr wizard

I had an 06 Avalanche and it wasn't the most reliable truck but parts were extremely cheap and it was so easy to work on. Transmission finally gave out at 240k miles so I bought a 1999 Silverado for the price of a Transmission. It's treating me extremely well so far.

24:24 The vortec 5.3l makes more horsepower and torque than the vortec 5.7l, but the reason it feels so much weaker is because the 5.3l makes that peak hp/torque at a way higher RPM. Peak torque at 4000rpm for the 5.3l and peak torque at 2800rpm on 5.7l. Unless you're really revving the crap out of those 5.3s you won't feel the extra power they can give

I am so happy that you clarified my concern in your video. I have a 2007 chevy 2500 hd 6.0L I have a heavy 27' gooseneck that I use to haul a vehicle or tractor around. Like you I grew up with the early 70's 80's and 90's mostly. About 6 years ago I broke down and bought an Autel maxisys scan tool with bells and whistles because I enjoy being able to do my own work. Every time I haul I notice that the rpm's jump to 3-4k which makes me think the truck is ready to explode because it is engrained in me that low rpm equals high torque and pulling power. You are exactly right in your sounds and description. aThe one problem that i encountered this last year was a no crank no start. Everything indicted a starter issue. I replaced the starter. and worked for a minute. then same issue. replaced battery. Again worked for a minute. then replaced alternator. Mind you, these were all original items with the truck and it was just turning over 100k. I volt metered the fuse block for 12.6v, tested source at fuse panel and would sometimes register 12.5-13.0. checked fuses. everything checked out. Replaced ground wires. I found online some people had issues with power wire coming from battery to fuse block and internal corrosion. I thought that can't be it because everything down line checked out but sure enough the moment I changed 2' of power line from battery to fuse block I have had no further issues.

Right on Wizard! 80s vintage Chevys. 350cid , carb through 86, TBI 1987 and newer.

After fixing a few things on my dads 1996 Silverado... it was amazing... inside & out... but all the frame mounts rusted... it was honestly perfect ... luckily a welder bought it & it still lives...I'm a diehard Toyota guy... but I loved it

I miss my '88 s10 such a great truck bought it for $500 learned all about the engine and rebuilt it put new floorpans etc.

Thank you for your comments on trucks. I had an 04 Silverado 1500, ran great, sold that for '16 Silverado 1500 4x4 with the cylinder management for fuel. Truck was not up to my expectations. As soon as the lease was up, got rid of that and got an '08 Silverado 2500 HD 2WD, Truck has some awesome towing, I've hauled excavators to lawn mowers, Truck now has over 300 K miles on it, I use full synthetic oil....been the best Truck I've ever owned...except it is a gas hog with the 8.1 Vortec.

Nice Summary! Love the 99 to 07 classic silverados. I Have an 04 Silverado 1500 with over 300K and going strong. Oil and wix filter every 3K. Still has original water pump, PS pump, engine and trans (stick). Fuel and brake lines were a booger to do, and blend door motors seem to love to fail and we have been through the Chevy Lean, but hell, after 300K they deserved new springs and cab mounts. thanks for your video work. I enjoy watching.

I have a 98 Silverado. Grandpa bought with 10 miles on it. I bought it from him with 92k miles, and currently it's sitting with 141k. I'm saving up to do the injector upgrade and redo the intake gaskets, seems OK for now, but I want to do it before it needs it. Thanks for the video!

Thank you so much for your vote of confidence on the great and powerful GMT800! The best feature by FAR that you forgot, they were the last models where a manual transmission was available.

Love your videos and it's clear to most how well versed you are from build to repair. Sane advice for all drivers. I still keep alive a Black 1985 S10 4x4 for basic use (fave early car w wonderfully terrible 80s decals). Just a basic, stock, 2.8L rochester 2se, and 700R4 that couldn't outrun a school bus full of nuns but still going and well because I keep some care in it.

Excellent, well thought out content. It's funny, a good friend of mine had the same reaction you had regarding ...... $75,000.00 for a pickup truck? No way !!! He and I are both machinists, and we both graduated from high school in 1979. We often joke about being able to fix any car or truck 1975 and older. He ended up buying a rust free Ford pickup with a bunch of rare options ( built in tool boxes built by Ford and delivered right from the Ford factory ). It had just had a rotisserie rebuild. Top to bottom. 351 Cleveland, HD transfer case, HD 6 speed Tremic manual trans, HD front and rear ends. It had all the best modern components. I think it was originally built as a camper special. The underside of the truck is just as nice as the top. The truck he bought was so mint, that I never would have thought to drive it in our New England ice and snow winter, but he would have had to drive a $75k new truck in winter storm conditions too. He bought it for in the low $40,000.00 I believe, and he can work on it himself, and ultimately paid roughly half of what the new Ford truck was going to cost. Another good video Wiz. Take care. Keith

Loved my 98 K1500 Z71. Sadly they are being ruined by sqwatters and all the clean ones are hitting new truck prices. Would love to have another in my life

The wizard is right! When i did the intake gaskets on my two 98 chevys, one a 4.3 other the 5.7, i went all out and got the mpi injectors and replaced all wear items, belts, hoses, water pump and so on, because i want to keep these trucks for as long as i can!

Personally, I’m a fan of the 80s, 350cid driven, 2 or 4 wheel drive. Worked on two of them the last many years, 1990-2021, gained a lot of good experience fixing stuff. Electronic control module replacement on both with no start situation happening. That was the biggest challenge. AC compressor replacements, and the usual battery, starter, alternator, serpentine belt, radiator, brakes pads and rotors. All stuff that happens after 200K miles.

Just bought a 1978 c10 big 10 straight 6 250 for $1200 with 1 rust spot on the passenger side door...thats it. The guy said it didnt start or run. He had a hole in the fuel line by the gas tank and the fuel pump was toast. I replaced both and it started up just fine and purrs. I absolutely love this truck.

My 02 Silverado 5.3 has been fantastic. It still has the original motor, transmission and rear end. I have had a couple of the common issues you described in other videos, but the truck has 350k on it and is still doing fine. It was leaking oil at the main rear seal, so I had to bite the bullet on that one ($1700), but it was worth it. Put in a new oil pump at the same time. It wasn't the o ring on mine, that looked brand new. The oil pump did the trick on the pressure and it's purring like a kitten again. I'm not going to ever sell it. It will reside in my driveway until I die. If I ever have to, I'll put a re-man trans or motor in it, but so far they are doing fine. It's not a daily driver at this point, so only a few thousand miles a year now. It will probably outlast me.

I have had a lot of Chevys through the years: '53 3800, '64 K10 Sub, '67 C10, '69 C10 Sub, '72 K20 Sub, '87 V1500 Sub, '98 1500 Sub, 2K Safari, and now an '07 Sub. Not a fan of the 4L60E, but truth be told, they went nearly 200K before the 2 I had to replace went bad. I would honestly take any one of those old truck back. I did all my own work on all of them, including engine rebuilds (the '53 and '64). I've had a couple of Fords too, and they weren't too bad, but seemed to break more often.

I would watch this as a 6 hour video. I learned a lot about the nuances that I’ve been overlooking.

I have a few trucks in rotation at all times. 89 V1500 Suburban, 85 Sierra C10, 98 C1500, 94 4.3 S10 Blazer, and a 93 V8 S10 Blazer for fun. All are reliable, all have interchangeable parts, all are very cheap to repair, and all of them have increased in value since purchase. I have spare parts for all of them, mostly basic engine electronics, starters and alternators. They all get driven regularly, and all are maintained accordingly. Rather weak transmissions here and there, but nothing that can't be acquired and repaired properly for an even longer service life. Thank you for all of your info and videos, have fun out there!

The 67-72 Chevy trucks as well as the 73-87 GM Square Body trucks (including the Square Body Blazer and Suburban) are definitely the best looking Chevy trucks out there and definitely looks a million times better than any Modern GM truck out there and not to mention more reliable and more bulletproof than the modern ones as well.

Helped me out a ton. Just got a 96 gmc sierra pickup given to me. Very very clean truck. 186k miles. But im pretty sure that the torque converter is bad. Also suspect that the injectors are too. It's a 4.3 4l60e truck. But im going to be putting a 5.3 liter LS based motor in it. Id like to get it running again first though.

My 2002 Silverado 5.3 has 250,000 on the original trans and motor. I recently replaced a vacuum line for the fuel pressure regulator, all the fluids, a couple gaskets, plugs and wires and it runs completely smooth like new. It had a misfire CEL and it ran rough when cold until I replaced that little vacuum line for the fuel pressure regulator. Also preemptively replaced the pick up tube O-ring wile replacing a leaky oil pan gasket. I towed a 4500 lb travel trailer, loaded with probably at least 1000 lbs of tools and crap in a 2001 suburban 5.3/4l60e through the mountains of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Utah, It can be done if you keep it out of overdrive, definitely get a weight distribution hitch otherwise you have to really accelerate to keep the truck in front of the trailer while going downhill especially around turns, I had to stop in Washington and buy one for $500 at an RV store, and you really need a trailer break controller, before i had one coming off the freeway ran thru a red light and partway into an intersection because I couldn't stop, no idea how heavy I actually was, I might have been overloaded, towing cap is 7000 lbs tho. MPG was pretty good too, like 11 or 12 mpg from what I remember. The Truck definitely screamed at 5000+ rpm while going up any hill, at any speed, kinda felt like if you went uphill at too low of a speed the truck wouldn't be able to overcome the weight because it wouldn't have enough torque if it didn't have a gear to drop down into for the rpms to be above 4500 ish, like he said it doesn't feel torquey low end at all, but it made it thru some serous elevation and nothing broke or overheated. They are good trucks.

1999-2006 was the best years of of chevy trucks. My buddy has 400,000 on his 2003 duramax and 335,000 on his 6.0L, but in our area there are so many with 360,000 miles for sale. Great trucks. The 4L80 transmissions in the 2500hd models usually fail at 280,000 miles.

Loved the mention of the how the RPMs work on the 99-08 trucks. Kind of a throw back to hailing 450 gal of water up hill, had (have) both the 4.8 and 5.3 engines and when you hit the hill and they down shifted they just took off up the hill (as much as one can with 450 water). Love those trucks, need to get them back on the road.

Thank you car wizard. You know that most of us make enough money to just make a living, and getting the best band for our buck and having a reliable vehicle is most important.

Thank you for clearly explaining the properties of these 5 generations of chevy half-ton truck engines. I love that you point out that if you embrace and understand the mechanics of computer controlled fuel injection that the LS based engines are fun to work with. With that in mind, I plan to swap an LS based 2000 to 2006 engine into my OBS truck.

The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to stop the drains. A friend of mine who worked at a couple of GM Dealer shops as a mechanic and service writer during the later 1980s had this to say about GM cars: " There are a lot of good ideas in principle in these engines, but the incredibly cheap way that they are implemented ruins everything." By all reports it has continued thus until the present day. And not just GM.

I remember the pickup trucks of the late 50's and 60's. I'm old.

You do not need to pull the heads on an LS based engine. You just have to pull the timing cover and spin the cam so the lifters rise up into the bore. The secret to keeping them up there is to push a piece of 5/16 aluminum rod or wooden dowel into the oil galley. Normally the lifters will stay up in the bore after spinning. The dowels are just a fail safe. The block is 20" long, so I cut mine to about 24,25" so it leaves a nice handle during removal.

All great trucks that will last a very long time if maintained. The problem is the rust once they get age on them and if you live where they salt the roads in winter time. Awesome video👍

I love my 98 Chevy K1500 great truck and reliable. Bought it around this time last year with 288k had to put a new engine and transmission in it and basically restored it. I fixed some rust replaced some worn out components and basically have a new truck. As I said before I love it and besides the little quirks it’s had here and there it’s been a really reliable truck. Not the fastest or most powerful truck out there but it does what I need and is the truck I wanted. I honestly feel blessed to have my dream truck at 20.

That's an awesome summary! My personal favorite has always been the '00-'06.

The GMT-400s were the last good trucks GM built. The GMT-800s (1999-2006) were mechanically reliable, but the body integrity and interior build quality left much to be desired.

Wow, your explanation of the towing ability of the late 2000's engines answered a lot of my questions. I have a 2008 Silverado long bed regular cab WT with the V6. It's a beautiful truck for its age and is in great shape. But, it struggles towing even a 2800 lb camper. I've been thinking something is wrong, but it behaves just as you describe. Once it kicks down a gear or even two it pulls just fine. It's good to know that this is normal and won't hurt the engine. Thanks!!

Loved your informed Chevy truck series. Yes, I'm an old school grandpa type, an L31 vortec 350 is now in my wheelhouse, but with a simple 650 carb and coil in the cap dizzy, trans is a 350 turbo and electronic overdrive, no scanner required and parts are everywhere. My truck is an 83 el camino and my gas mileage is about the only thing I may want to upgrade some day.

I love your vid"s,your very honest.I"m 62 retired on disability.I have a 96,4cyl,Sonoma with a 4l60 trans.Just had the trans rebuilt,185,000 miles.Love the truck it"s perfect for me and the amount of driving I do.I used to haul alot of firewood with it.Never knew about the keep it in regular drive tip with heavy loads,great tip.I would still rather have a 650 Edelbrock than fuel injection,anyday.That"s just me.

I still have one of those hex wrenches, on a flexible mount, to adjust the points on GM cars, using a dwell meter, along with a timing light.

Napa had a wiper motor in stock for my 1970 C10 as of 6 months ago, really enjoyed your video keep them coming

I really like my 04 Silverado. I haven’t had any engine issues and the only service I’ve had to have on the 4X4 drivetrain is the actuator on the front differential has to be replaced. I guess I’m fortunate that there haven’t been any transmission problems after hauling a trailer full of firewood dozens of times over the years, and I’ve got less than 70K on the clock.

If youre looking to get a 1998-2007 silverado few things to take note of. They have a history of blowing power steering lines in cold, switching out to transmission fluid significantly helps out here. Another thing is that the transmission needs a fluid flush at around 150-200k miles. The 4L60E transmission is really solid at stock power but it needs to be maintained. Parts for them are cheap, the engine is rock solid reliable and would get you home on 4 cylinders if it had to. Only downside to a 1998-2007 is the body rusts in the northern states. So you can pick up a solid rust free one for about $6-9k (depending on where you buy it) and if you undercoat it, it will last a long time.

Having owned a 78, 89, 96, 07 NNBS Chevy. I was ready to argue, but you hit all the nails on the head. My brothers 94 2500 350/5 speed towed so much better than my 07 2500HD 6.0/6L80e. It was unreal. Think we both had 4.10 gears. TBI is reliable, with 20mpg, on a 350/700r4 2wd, my 96 the spider injection isn't bad doing it yourself. Your prices make sense, I know you know what you're talking about in every video, but this was a great example.

I really got lucky with my 2011 Sierra WT with the 4.3L. Got it December 2020 for 10 grand from my work. Got it at 86k miles, I've done all the maintenance schedule stuff listed in the manual including transmission fluid change(not flush). I plan to swap the plastic plenum with a Mercruiser metal plenum and changing the injectors from Spider to the MPFI. Hopefully before the end of this year. Glad it has the 4.3 so I don't have to worry about AFM even if it feels wimpy on the highway.

Awesome video Wizard. I’ve got an ‘08 Sierra & I love it. It’s a great durable truck. Very easy to work on.

I am usually a fan of the 2003 to 2006 pick-up trucks from General Motors, especially the 5.3 L V8 engine and the crew cab model.

Some of us would watch a six hour video! Nice job!

I just want to say thanks for being a really good storyteller it makes all the sense in the as I am closing in my fifties and seeing the same thing you have we all used to be able to work on stop we can still do brakes and easy stuff like brakes and tires whatever the problem is ignition a compression but you did a great job explaining how things of all thank you!!!

Hey there, Car Wizard. I just found your channel and watched a few of your videos. They're all great. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I've had some older half ton Chevy trucks in the past, and I liked them all. Currently I have a 1997 C2500 with the big block. It's still running great, and it's the most comfortable truck that I've ever driven.

I inherited my dad's 1969 C-10, I remember when he bought it new. It had a 305, I believe, he put a 350 crate motor in it in the late 70's. It was his commute vehicle, but we also used it a lot with a camper on it, towing our ski-boat, so I guess he wanted the increased power. I'm reviving it from a long sleep right now, give me carburetors and points ignition any day!

Six hour video. I'd watch it with great enthusiasm. You know your stuff and you are enjoyable to learn from!

For most any part you have trouble finding at a parts store, for example the wiper motor for a 71 Chevy pick-up...there is Rock Auto. Parts acquisition is not a reason to shy away from some of the older stuff anymore. The example wiper motor is available for well under $100 and will be at your door in a few short days.

Amazing video and commentary. Life long Toyota/Chevy fan boy. Currently drive 03 suburban & 04 avalanche because I absolutely hate working on my own vehicle.