# Overkill Truck?



## Rico454 (Jan 12, 2009)

1988 Chevy 3500 Dump Truck
Short wheel base
4x4 Dually
454 TBI engine 
4-speed manual
Dana 60 Front axle
Dana 70 Rear axle

Is this truck in your opinion too much? Is the 454 going to use way too much gas or do you really need the power to plow. Also is there such a thing that this truck may weigh too much? I know this is a really heavy duty truck, I just want some input from you guys if you ever wished to go stronger. wesport

I use this truck at a boat marina and this WILL haul ANYTHING!


----------



## FLASHMAN (Dec 6, 2003)

Rico454;712338 said:


> 1988 Chevy 3500 Dump Truck
> Short wheel base
> 4x4 Dually
> 454 TBI engine
> ...


No such thing as overkill when you're plowing... I supposed it does depend on what you mean by overkill of course. If you're concerned avout tight spaces, plow with a jeep... Other than that, I'd say that's a great truck to plow with. Look around here for info on how to protect the truck from typical plow damage. LOTS of info, and some VERY smart people here... enjoy..


----------



## lilweeds (Aug 3, 2007)

Wanna sell it? I'd buy that in a heartbeat!


----------



## dirt digger (Feb 27, 2005)

i drove my first 454 in a 3500 SRW this past storm plowing for the township....she drank it down good as far as fuel...19 gallons in 3 hours, then again we were plowing pretty hard (35MPH road plowing)

plenty of power though


----------



## Mark13 (Dec 3, 2006)

dirt digger;712438 said:


> i drove my first 454 in a 3500 SRW this past storm plowing for the township....she drank it down good as far as fuel...19 gallons in 3 hours, then again we were plowing pretty hard (35MPH road plowing)
> 
> plenty of power though


19 gallons in 3 hours, Wow. I didn't know that was possible. My 350 might burn 6 gallons in 3hrs.


----------



## Rc2505 (Feb 5, 2007)

My 350 burns through about 4 gallons an hour, or so. I have a 9 ft blade on it, so it's pushing some weight, oh yea I have about 1500 pound of salt in the back of it as well. Maybe thats my problem, lol.


----------



## fireball (Jan 9, 2000)

by 1989 the 454 became the standard order engine for the K3500 series. Best you ever got was 10mpg. Being that I thought it was a gas guzzler the next truck I ordered I speced it with a 350. The gas mileage was the same but it took forever to get to 50 mph from a dead stop. Stay with the 454.


----------



## CAT 245ME (Sep 10, 2006)

Mark13;712593 said:


> 19 gallons in 3 hours, Wow. I didn't know that was possible. My 350 might burn 6 gallons in 3hrs.


Mark, I had a 86 GMC K15, I bought a 400ci sbc (6.6L) and had put in the truck to replace the tired 305, well that 400 was a strong engine but I would only get 220 kilometers out of a tank of gas and the truck was stock. The GMC is gone but I did keep that 400ci. Someday it will live again.


----------



## scooled101 (Nov 19, 2008)

my 93 350 burns about 3 gallons an hour my 96 burns 4 + and my tracker burns a 1 gallon or so max an hour and thats moving around quickly.

The 454 did eat some gas tons of power and of course a k&n filter helped all of our big blocks and our other vehicles. How much snow are you averaging where you live? If its cheap enuff buy it and if anything sell make profit and buy something else


----------



## jdknight75 (Nov 10, 2008)

Rico i have the 8.1 liter 496, it does burn a little extra gas, luckily gas prices are low right now. As far as weighing to much, some manufactures say the front axle weight is to much with the big blocks, but my truck barely sqauts with the plow on, so you shouldnt have any problems at all.


----------



## BigDave12768 (Nov 17, 2006)

Throw a plow on it. It cant hurt


----------



## Rico454 (Jan 12, 2009)

Here in Pennsylvania the big blocks and the small blocks get roughly the same mpg going up and all these hills. So I think I like the idea of having the 454. On smaller 1/2 ton trucks I hear of problems of breaking their axles and pieces. But will the D60 or D70 still break pieces anyway?

And this may be a little off the subject but who prefers a manual over automatic?


----------



## Turbodiesel (Aug 5, 2008)

Rico454;712338 said:


> 1988 Chevy 3500 Dump Truck
> Short wheel base
> 4x4 Dually
> 454 TBI engine
> ...


 no such thing as too much


----------



## scooled101 (Nov 19, 2008)

to be honest the dana rear ends are going to be the least of your worries them axles are bullet proof i have a bunch of sets i keep around for our mudding trucks. the whole tuck is set up to be a work horse there isnt going to be much that truck cant do.


----------



## Steve 455 (Oct 23, 2008)

The manual trans sucks, reverse is geared way too low for backing up


----------



## Rico454 (Jan 12, 2009)

Thanks for all the replies. 
I will give this truck a shot at full time plowing. But first the engine needs to be rebuilt. I think it's only running on 7 cylinders and is getting low compression on some of the others. But it's still the best truck that I can think of. I'm thinking along the lines of better intake, exhaust headers and only if necessary a better cam.

Is there a way to wake this 454 up from the stock factory settings that chevy gave it?

Are there any recomendations on how to improve the engine a little bit without going wild?


----------



## Steve 455 (Oct 23, 2008)

Here's a few shots of my 86 1 ton 454 4 speed Dana 60 and 70 axles with a locker in back and 4:10 gears 

The 4 speed sucks and it's coming out soon for a TH700...


----------



## scooled101 (Nov 19, 2008)

well first if you are going to pull the motor see if it has oval port or rectangle port heads if you dont want to dig that deep just throw a mild cam in it like an rv cam, intake, carb and a set of headers that'll waker her up for sure. just dont go to big on any of the above mentioned or you really will loose all your mileage. drop a 350 in it until you are done rebuilding the big block, I have been down this road before its nice to keep the truck going


----------



## Steve 455 (Oct 23, 2008)

Im an Olds guy. Im probably gonna swap in a built 455 Olds into mine this spring


----------



## scooled101 (Nov 19, 2008)

nothin wrong with the olds rocket motors they are hard to find though you must be lucky to have a few


----------



## 70monte (Feb 5, 2008)

Steve 455,
Thats a nice truck you have there. You don't see too many 1 ton SRW trucks in that body style. There was one like that that sold a few months ago on Ebay that was close to where I live. It also was a 454/4 speed and only had about 105,000 original miles with very minimal rust. It went for around $5,500. I wish I would have had the money to bid on it. Here is a pic. of my 98 K3500 SRW with the 454/4L80E.









Wayne


----------



## Steve 455 (Oct 23, 2008)

Thanks but now ya got me drooling over that nice shiny truck with the 454 and 4l80E:salute:


----------

