Greetings from Afghanistan

[blackhawk17]

Hello all,

My name is Matt and I am not a Duramax owner, yet. From what I have read so far it looks like Duramax may be the one for me. I'm most likely looking at the LB7 or LLY years.

Anyway, I'm a Medevac pilot currently in Eastern Afghanistan due to return to Fort Riley in the spring. Been Army for 10 years, and as long as my wife can put up with it I will try to stay through retirement (though whether she can is sometimes in question).

I have a 2016 Grand Design 2800BH that my family uses pretty regularly, and our Tahoe just can't do it. Well, at least not without causing permanent damage. I knew when I bought it that I would ultimately need to buy a truck at some point, and now having towed back and forth across country (not in the mountains fortunately, now that WOULD have been stupid) with a vehicle not meant to tow that heavy, I now fully appreciate my need for a diesel. In my defense, the TT is fully within my legal tow limit as long as the Tahoe isn't grossed out with gear. The TT grosses out at 7700, with and an advertised hitch weight of 640, but really loaded down is over 1000. The Tahoe did surprisingly well, though I had guilt about it. Obviously I had a brake controller and WD hitch.

I'm hoping to pick up one of the early Duramax's for cash when I get back, and will be lurking around for useful info and maybe asking a few questions. For starters, I am a pretty savvy DIY'er on my Chevy gas engines, but know about jack on these turbo diesels, so I am trying to get schooled up now. Whatever I get will be my daily and the family traveler so probably no big mods, or at least anything that will make it louder or smellier.

Anything in particular I should be on the lookout for with the earlier model Duramax?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[Josh154]

Read read and read lol. When I first got my duramax I just read for months, the amount of information you can learn is crazy. You also chose a great forum to come to. Lots of very intelligent people here.

I'm willing to bet many will tell you to go with a lly over a lb7. The lb7 injector design was not so good and injectors tend to fail quite often. Even new injector may only last 50k miles and they are much harder to access. Lly had a new design for the injectors that is much more desireable and less prone to failing like the lb7. Several guys swap out the heads and whole top end of there lb7s to the lly just because of that.

One bad about the lly is there head gasket. Look around and you will see that the head gaskets on llys are not so good and usually fail at some point. New head gaskets will fix the issue but can be costly.

The lb7/lly use the 5 speed Allison which is weaker in stock form than the 6 speed found on the lbz/lmm. If you do decide to go lly try to find one stock as they do not like much extra power from efi live etc.

The lly will also have a variable vane turbo which is supposed to spool up quicker etc. if you are towing and decide to tune the truck via efi live you can have your tuner set up a tune with turbo braking. It simply shuts the vanes when you let off the throttle creating back pressure that helps slow you down tremendously.

If you can swing it I would look at some lbz's. They re did the head gaskets on those and they don't fail as often as the lly. They also have the stronger 6 speed transmissions.

Hope this is a nice little start, but like I said just do a lot of reading. It sounds like you have some time to find the right truck also. Welcome to the forums and thank you for your service!

 

[rcr1978]

Honestly I would look for a 06-07.5 LBZ if your looking for a older one. They have a better trans =6 speed, better injectors, faster plug controler, faster ecm. The LB7's had injector troubles, LLY's have a few wiring issue's they are fixable though. Both have week transmissions, and bad head gaskets. All of the above is fixable just depends on how much money you want to throw at them.

 

[rcr1978]

Read read and read lol. When I first got my duramax I just read for months, the amount of information you can learn is crazy. You also chose a great forum to come to. Lots of very intelligent people here.

You beat me

 

[Poltergeist]

:welcome7:

 

[SickLL7Crenshaw]

Welcome! We thank you for your service!

 

[moparkxracer]

Agree.

Honestly I would look for a 06-07.5 LBZ if your looking for a older one. They have a better trans =6 speed, better injectors, faster plug controler, faster ecm. The LB7's had injector troubles, LLY's have a few wiring issue's they are fixable though. Both have week transmissions, and bad head gaskets. All of the above is fixable just depends on how much money you want to throw at them.

 

[ALLY Fox]

Thanks for your service!! LBZ is the Holy Grail. My LLY does everything I've asked it to do. Been pulling our 10K#+ fifth wheel for over 6 years, probably over 30K miles now and has never let me down. I do all my own maintenance and repair except trans and tuning and it's still running strong. I mostly drive with the 120 tune but I don't really get on it much. When I bought it 7 years ago, I couldn't find a good clean non-lifted non-chipped LBZ I could afford so I got the LLY. I actually talked the price way down because it was a long bed and nobody wanted the LB. Good luck, just keep looking and take your time, they are out there if you're patient.

 

[TheBac]

I recommend to people completely new to Dmaxes to find an LBZ or an LMM (with deletes) depending on what body style they like. Plenty for sale all over the country.

If you're hell bent on LB7/LLY, you need to be a competent DIYer.

 

[Henshman]

Honestly I would look for a 06-07.5 LBZ if your looking for a older one. They have a better trans =6 speed, better injectors, faster plug controler, faster ecm. The LB7's had injector troubles, LLY's have a few wiring issue's they are fixable though. Both have week transmissions, and bad head gaskets. All of the above is fixable just depends on how much money you want to throw at them.

X2 on this post...I too got the itch while in Afghanistan...RC-West medevac ops 2011.

I have had my 1st d-max for three years now. Great and powerful trucks, listen to the wise ones on this forum and check out the vendors that sponsor the site.

Welcome aboard. Buckle up.

Fly safe brother,

 

[Burn Down]

Bahhh my LLY went 5 years on a 600hp tune before the head gaskets went, they didn't owe me anything... Also LLY's will have just as many injector issues as the LB7 just because of the age on them, Injectors are a wear item people.

I personally wouldn't be afraid of any of them, as long as it looks to be taken care of:thumb:

LBZ LMM run the hardest with the least amount of aftermarket mods. Transgo shift kit, EFI tune, lift pump, exhaust, EGR bloker plate and have a sh*t ton of fun:thumb:

Oh, and Welcome and thank you for your service!

 

[mebob2001]

Any used diesel is a risk. But 7s and lly both will cost u 5 to 7k at some point so buy one for 10k dump 5 into it that's 15. Might as well pony up now and have piece of mind with an lbz or lmm.
I got an 06 lly which we all know is an lbz they are the holy grail in my eyes. Never worked to there max potential. I got lucky and had one come through work and jumped on it for $12.900 with 180k miles little efi live and lift pump.
But biggest problem with a duramax of all model years is its like adopting a kid. Man you love your truck. And I'm sure some will agree with me there.

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