5.3 vs 5.0

beerwolf

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Well I've decided not to go the 3/4 or one ton route. Going to get either a 5.3 or 5.0.
Is there anyone here that has owned both and if so which do you prefer?
 

X-it

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That is what they have rentals for. Anyway... I rented a F150 5.0 man I was impressed with that motor and truck for that matter. I never knew trucks got that kind of fuel economy. My 6.0liter gmc seemed like 1/2 the power and 1/2 the fuel economy.
 

Stompin Tom

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Well I've decided not to go the 3/4 or one ton route. Going to get either a 5.3 or 5.0.
Is there anyone here that has owned both and if so which do you prefer?

have had 3 5.3's the past 10 years or so, have been happy with every one. Current one is in wifes Tahoe, peppy and a solid 27 mpg on the highway. Previous one got sold to a kid after we put on 275000 km without a breakdown.
 

Clode

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I have heard that there have been some head issues on the 5.0, but for $400 there are optional heads. They offer a LPG/CNG prep package that comes with hardened seats, cheap option for way better heads.
 

j335

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If you’re going fully loaded consider the 6.2l chev. I replaced my dmax, pulls unreal and gets almost the same mileage as the 5.3l.
If you’re going base package don’t bother with the 6.2 as you need to be loaded to check the larger engine box ($3k)
 

busted2x

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have had 3 5.3's the past 10 years or so, have been happy with every one. Current one is in wifes Tahoe, peppy and a solid 27 mpg on the highway. Previous one got sold to a kid after we put on 275000 km without a breakdown.

My wife's Yukon xl with 5.3 gets like 14mpg. And has had to have pretty well every sensor in the motor, and alternator, and bcm replaced. we have a 6l for a shop truck. It's worse on fuel. Like 12. The new 6.2 is apparently way better on fuel than the 6l And they go like hell. If I was going gm again, which would be unlikely, I'd go with the 6.2.
 

young-gun

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Super impressed with my 5.0! Pull my 5th wheel in summer, and 16ft enclosed in winter.

Hooked up to father in laws 5.3 with enclosed and couldn’t believe it. Truck was screaming for 6hrs, 5.0 will only go over 2500rpm when passing, 5.3 was 3-4000rpm the entire way and if I tried to pass 5500. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!


Got 140000km on 5.0, nothing but oil changes

5.3 has 30000km, 2 times in for bent push rods, and had motor torn down and rebuilt (burning 2.5L of oil between oil changes).
 
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beerwolf

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Thanks for the tips guys. I did notice the 5.3 really screamed when I tried out a family members towing a small trailer around 2000 pounds.

I'll have to test out out a 5.0 and see how it does even though I've kind of lost confidence in ford over the years. we'll see!
 

c_nelson99

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got a 15 chev 1500 crew ltz 5.3L 4x4 6.5'box for a company truck, I gotta say even driving nice it barely gets 17mpg. It has major lag in the throttle under acceleration, and doesn't have nearly the jam my 11 ram 1500 had. It is a nice truck to drive and seems to ride decent. The one thing I hate, it has the worst turning radius of any truck I've ever driven. My long box 06 ram 3500 crew can turn sharper than this 1/2 ton.

Its a free truck so I cant really complain but it wouldn't be my choice to buy, the other guy at work has a 17 f150 ecoboost and its a way nicer truck to drive and gets better mileage.
 

MK4TDI

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got a 15 chev 1500 crew ltz 5.3L 4x4 6.5'box for a company truck, I gotta say even driving nice it barely gets 17mpg. It has major lag in the throttle under acceleration, and doesn't have nearly the jam my 11 ram 1500 had. It is a nice truck to drive and seems to ride decent. The one thing I hate, it has the worst turning radius of any truck I've ever driven. My long box 06 ram 3500 crew can turn sharper than this 1/2 ton.

Its a free truck so I cant really complain but it wouldn't be my choice to buy, the other guy at work has a 17 f150 ecoboost and its a way nicer truck to drive and gets better mileage.


yeah that lag in the throttle gets old in a hurry, specially when its trying to hold onto 4 cyl mode. If she has the highway gears, that just adds to the lag and lack of acceleration. Transmission tune wakes these trucks right up.

Being a company truck it won't get tuned but for better driveablitly in the city to combat the lag, put it in Manual mode and select gear 5. Some people also suggest that disengaging the "Active Grade Braking" helps as well but I did not notice that. All you have to do for that is click and hold the tow/haul button for 5 seconds and the massage should appear in the cluster.

Chevys have always had ****ty turning radius... and heavy steering wheels.
 

beerwolf

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Didn't realize that they had a ****ty turning radius and bad lag starting out. Maybe a new 5.0 is the way to go.
Why are the dodges so cheap? I'm staying away from them but obviously there must be a reason?
 

c_nelson99

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yeah that lag in the throttle gets old in a hurry, specially when its trying to hold onto 4 cyl mode. If she has the highway gears, that just adds to the lag and lack of acceleration. Transmission tune wakes these trucks right up.

Being a company truck it won't get tuned but for better driveablitly in the city to combat the lag, put it in Manual mode and select gear 5. Some people also suggest that disengaging the "Active Grade Braking" helps as well but I did not notice that. All you have to do for that is click and hold the tow/haul button for 5 seconds and the massage should appear in the cluster.

Chevys have always had ****ty turning radius... and heavy steering wheels.


I think half the problem with turning radius is the fact the axle placement is so pushed to the outer edge of the truck. They really seem to stretch the wheelbase on the gm products, it probably gives a stable ride but man does it kill the turning radius. And you are right, the steering is very heavy feeling. And that BS remote start only running twice at 10min run time is sure not nice at -30.
 

Cdnfireman

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Didn't realize that they had a ****ty turning radius and bad lag starting out. Maybe a new 5.0 is the way to go.
Why are the dodges so cheap? I'm staying away from them but obviously there must be a reason?

It’s like everything else you spend money on, you get what you pay for. Dodge products across the line get the poorest ratings for build quality, reliability and probably most importantly safety.
When the big three build a half ton and one of them is considerably cheaper, there has to be a reason. Build quality, poor material content quality are just a couple of reasons.
 

Trashy

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I have a 2016 Chev LT Crew Cab with the 5.3 and towing package, just turned 40,000K
It has an extremely light steering wheel, has a great turning radius, rides like a dream, get between 9.6 and 13.2 for mileage, I haven't hooked onto a trailer yet, no problem leaving rubber down off the line, the v4 to v8 thing can be a pita, but a chip can solve that, all in all I'm very happy with it, coming from an 05 F350 diesel.

I've had older 5.0's for work trucks and they were good too...... I was looking at Ford, but waaaaayyyyyy too much $$$ for me. Didn't like the Dodge interior. Didn't like the GM front end, or body panels. But the 16 and newer Chev's caught my attention and that's my 2 bits :beer:
 

beerwolf

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I have a 2016 Chev LT Crew Cab with the 5.3 and towing package, just turned 40,000K
It has an extremely light steering wheel, has a great turning radius, rides like a dream, get between 9.6 and 13.2 for mileage, I haven't hooked onto a trailer yet, no problem leaving rubber down off the line, the v4 to v8 thing can be a pita, but a chip can solve that, all in all I'm very happy with it, coming from an 05 F350 diesel.

I've had older 5.0's for work trucks and they were good too...... I was looking at Ford, but waaaaayyyyyy too much $$$ for me. Didn't like the Dodge interior. Didn't like the GM front end, or body panels. But the 16 and newer Chev's caught my attention and that's my 2 bits :beer:

I'm going to test one out this wknd trashy. I really like the 2016 and up chevy look. Looks like sticker price on a basic cloth interior one is around 45,000. I'm guessing you could probably knock 10g off depending on dealer..
 

acesup800

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Believe the 6.2L requires premium fuel as well, so add another 10% to the fuel costs if mileage stays the same.
 

j335

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Believe the 6.2L requires premium fuel as well, so add another 10% to the fuel costs if mileage stays the same.

91 is recommended 87 is fine. I own one...
 

acesup800

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91 is recommended 87 is fine. I own one...
Not sure why you would pay a premium for the 6.2 and then run 87. Pretty sure it was to retard the timing to prevent knock with 87. Not saying it won't run fine, but what's the point?
 

j335

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Not sure why you would pay a premium for the 6.2 and then run 87. Pretty sure it was to retard the timing to prevent knock with 87. Not saying it won't run fine, but what's the point?

If I pull usually I toss in 91 octane for the power. Power on demand, some people are better off with a smaller engine like a 5.3 or 5.0, but I wanted power to replace my diesel.
To each their own
 
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