Congrats!

The v6 is a fine truck, if I didn't tow with mine I would probably get a gas one as well since they tend to be a bit sportier. I love diesels as well, but sometimes gas is a better option for how you expect to use/drive it.

 

Here are a few pics. The first owner replaced the rock slider with side steps.

 

wow. first owner got rid of it quick . Must not of liked the zr2. Very nice looking truck OP

 

Is the Zr2 geared differently or tunned? I found my old v6 underpowered for the 275's (54lb ea) so I went with the diesel the next time around and that did fine.

That as my only complaint about the V6

 

Your V6 had the 6-speed auto, the new ones have the 8-speed. Makes a noticeable difference in how the truck behaves.

 

I did the same thing - was driving Dmax full size for 13 years before getting this gas powered ZR2. Kind of a reverse learning curve - when I first bought the diesels, I had to make a mental effort to steer away from the gas pumps. Now I'm do mental notes to steer away from the diesel pumps. :smile2:

 

Hello Lowrpmtorque, In the fifth paragraph you stated you have your tires set at 42 psi. cold naturally. Mine were set at 35-36, I know it's march and come June/ July those cold psi's will come up a bit. Question: Is that OK to keep them there? I know tire sidewall states "Max cold 51psi" @ Max load Is this OK to do so? Oh BTW nice pics of your ride

 

It is ok to inflate the tires up to the max pressure listed on the sidewall. I operated emergency vehicles, sometimes at high speeds under extreme conditions for almost 30 years. As a department policy the tires were always inflated to the max pressure listed on the sidewall, usually 50 psi or so cold. I never witnessed a tread wear issue related to high pressure in 750,000 or so miles of driving. Under inflated is a different story.

My plan is to monitor the tread wear with a tread gauge and adjust pressure if needed.

 

I also am a diesel enthusiast that bought a ZR2 with a 3.6. Just drove a lot better compared to the 2.8. Enjoy the truck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

At 42 psi. I don't believe you will get all the life you could in the duratracs unless you air them down to 35. 35 was perfect for me before I swapped them put for falken at3ws.

Might want to chalk test.

 

This is my first personal diesel truck. I have diesel f550 and 3500 trucks I drive daily for work. I was not a fan of the v6 but to each their own. I love the diesel motor on the highway. It's fantastic and I feel the truck handles great like a sports car on the curvy roads in my area. Off-road it requires more ommph to momentum up steep inclines and rocks. I rather enjoy slow crawling courses and zip along on gravel and fire roads waay faster than my old ram 1500 or jeep wrangle. I have dirt bikes for when I want to go fast.


With 34s I'm avging 25 mpg combined city/highway. Can't complain about that one bit. My old YJ got 14 and my dodge ram never broke 15 mpg.


Bottom line. We all have different tastes. I'm only weary about the emissions BS down the line once the warranty expires.

 

I find it interesting there already ZR2s with low miles for sale. It seems like I hear about them a lot and we also read about the weird quality control issues they had on the first batch. I wonder if these are "lemon law" trucks that the dealer took back and are reselling? Would that show up on CarFax?

 

Yes, no, maybe. How's that for an answer?

First off, lemon-law vehicles are really very rare. On the odd chance you should run across one, the only indication it could be a lemon law vehicle would be it's service record. Depending on the severity of the issue(s), GM could scrap the vehicle out. Just a note about Carfax: it's only as good as the people posting to it. Accurate postings aren't guarantied so you are depending on accurate reporting by honest people. Service records on the other hand are more likely to be accurate as the dealer is required to state everything they do to a vehicle to obtain warranty reimbursement.

 

My Dodge Charger was lemoned. They picked that car up and shipped it out of state and sold it in a state that doesn’t require a lemon certificate.
It had 700 miles on it. (I put 400, the dealer 300)

My friend who I’ve knkwn since we were 5 and is a car enthusiast and makes questionable decisions bought a bmw 135is used out of Colorado (we live in California). It was a lemon out of California (Berkeley bmw was the selling and returnnjng dealer) and was a private sale. There was ZERO record on it being a lemon. The dealers had extremely little paperwork trail onnit (I told him to get the paperwork to see what was broken and if it was actually fixed or just ignored and lemoned).
The only way the seller knew it had been lemoned was the original owner posted his story with the VIN on some forums.

My zr2, the local dealer refused to notate any of the issues on its service visit. I demanded they at least write my concerns down which they refused. I had to call gm corporate which didn’t much care.

So not everything gets noted. Far from it.

Also with the Psi. Yeah, don’t max that **** out,
You will kill yourself.

Our trucks say 35 psi. Drive, notice your wear pattern or if you have a tread thermo see how it’s heated across the tire and adjust the pressure.
A quick test is the chalk test.

But max’ing out your tires will make it handle like ****, brake like ****, chatter on bumps, wear itself out extremely quick in the center of the tire and handle like absolute crap. You will bounce chatter and float on crappy pavement at speed as the suspension fights the tires to keep them on the ground.

You will probably find with a temp or chalk test, that a max of 5-7 psi increase of cold starting temp over factory recommended cold psi will be as far as you can go before you start loosing tread effevtiveness (getting center bulging and loosing considerable contact with the edges of the tires)

The sidewall of the tire, and the stiffness of the tire and the natural shock and spring rate of tires are built into the vehicle dynamic in the original engineering.
If you look at real race tires for instance they come with a spring rate. Basically how that tire acts a spring. Super stiff tires will over work the shocks and springs and you will have a horrible time keeping the tires on the ground and it will multiply at speed.

I have a couple sets of conti Daytona ovals for the Mojave magnum, made by Hoosier oddly enough) and they are so stiff, as a banked oval tire for the Daytona series that they are horrible on non high speed, relatively straight, tracks because I can’t manipulate the coil spring rate low enough yet still put enough leverage on the tire. The tire over works the chassis at that point. Anyways. Those stiff as sidewalled tires were only for standing mile and magnum events.
They are essentially overinflated tires... super stiff...

31 years in first responder business. Who ever was your evoc instructor failed. Maybe this is why the POST’s around the country have taken over and have such involved lesson plans now.

 

Good info on tires. If one is truly serious about tires, the best thing to do is get the vehicle weighed on each axle, then contact the tire manufacturer to see what they recommend for your specific tire at that specific weight. Don't be surprised when you find out the rear tires require less than the front (because of engine weight vs an empty bed). Some manufacturers post that info, others make you ask. As an example, the tires on a dually are "E" tires, and the door jamb recommend 80 in all of them. This is a 'worst case' scenario recommendation, as the weight of an empty bed dually is way less than what the tires are rated at when inflated to 80 psi (12,320 pounds, if anyone's interested). Most dually owners run 50 to 55 lbs when empty. Even when pulling our 38 foot fifth wheel, 80lbs was over inflated.

 

Is the Zr2 geared differently or tunned? I found my old v6 underpowered for the 275's (54lb ea) so I went with the diesel the next time around and that did fine.

That as my only complaint about the V6

I have a 2017 Colorado Extended Cab, ordered with the 3.6 V6 (over 300 HP) and the 8-Speed transmission.
I have added the additional weight of a hard shell, tri-fold tonneau cover and stainless steel running boards, and I can tell you for a certainty that my drivetrain configuration of the 3.6 V6 and 8-Speed transmission is definitely not "underpowered" in any way.

It has plenty of power and flows through its gears smoothly.
I would never even consider a diesel over the 3.6 V6 8-Speed that I currently have.

Regards,
-Greg