12th Apr 2004, 19:31
You must also remember that you only bought a 1/2 ton pick-up... You can't expect that little ole' 4l60e trans to last forever... A little bit of advice.. next time you buy a truck that you are planning on doing a lot of towing with.. get the 3/4ton with a heavy duty trans, like a 4l80e or Allison trans.
22nd May 2008, 09:12
The transmission in his truck is the 4L60E which is suitable for light towing at best, and with a 4X4 truck it's already got quite a load on it.
14th Sep 2008, 19:05
I am just about to turn 200000 miles with my 96 Chevy. Never skips a beat. Love the truck. Would tow anything with it.
7th Nov 2009, 22:45
I just bought a 97 Chevy Z71 Extended Cab Silverado and it's awesome. It runs and LOOKS like it just came off the show room floor. I have had a lot of great comments on this truck.
4th Dec 2009, 18:46
I'm glad to hear some positives. Just bought an 1997 Z71 as described pretty much here. It was the sales manager's personal truck. Looks new, leather interior, with 117000 miles.
What impressed me was there were no mods to the truck. It looks like the day it was sold new, 'cept for bed liner, dual exhaust, and hard bed cover.
Don't tow much, but my dad lives several hundred miles away and I have to go at a moments notice. Rain, snow, ice or whatever.
I did lot of research, and after weighing options for the price of brand new, I think this was a fantastic deal provided I don't have any major malfunctions for say 50,000 miles.
Considering my 1990 Silverado had 196000 when I bought it 10 years ago. I've replaced the motor with a used motor and bought a monster tranny for it in the last 90000 miles. Not bad for 1000 dollar truck in rough shape, but the Z71 is 8 times that, and looks brand new, so I'll be back here to say how it goes, but might be awhile.
I found the best thing to keep the miles off your truck besides gas price is a Harley, hehe Happy trails.
9th Dec 2010, 21:51
I have a 97 1/2 ton Z71 4x4 that has 250,000 miles on the Vortec 350. It runs like a champ and shifts great. I keep my fluids and filters clean, and I would not hesitate to take this truck cross country! Chevy rules :)
I will never buy anything but Chevy, and ps, Toyota SUCKSSSSS.
18th Dec 2002, 11:20
My extended cab Z-71 came loaded with everything Chevy had to offer at the time plus a bad fuel pump, a bad alternator, and drive shaft. All coming after the warranty was out. The insulation in the drive shaft came unglued and would stick to one side causing a violent vibration which burned up the transmission. Now I have the hard shifting into second gear and until now no one could even guess as to what it could be or how much it would cost to fix. It almost makes you fell like going out and buying a Toyota!