Heavy towing with the new Chevy. I have some complaints…

Don't be nice, it's a rental, yeah, it's a sad day because today is my last full day with the new ZR2. Chevy is coming to pick it up tomorrow, so today we're going to do

some

hauling tests with it. We

have

my garbage. trailer loaded with garbage that we

have

to take to the landfill, it's actually been here loaded for like a week. I've been waiting to do it in this truck and then we're going to go pick up

some

gravel back to gravel here we park the

heavy

wrecker so to tow and come back we're going to put about 8,000 lbs of gravel on the trailer, the trailer it weighs about 4500 5,000 on its own so we'll have a good weight back there so it's not all the Rainbow Dust and Unicorn farts with this truck there are some negatives and we're going to go over those as well especially once you get into the side of the work truck, so yes, it has some drawbacks, but what truck doesn't?

Of them, you see, I put my magnetic strobe light there so we could use it. We are doing traffic control stuff and this is probably one of my biggest

complaints

with this truck. Nowhere on this truck is there a 12 volt outlet. They removed them, all you have is USB and USB C everywhere, there are 120 volt household outlets, like three prong, in the center console and one in the back bed, but the lack of a 12 volt outlet is the biggest damn pet. What bothers me, Chevy, I better, uh, turn my light on there. I put the ecof stream here and they uploaded the Eco stream, where the hell did the EC stream go?

I don't know, I actually think I might have put it in. Anyway, I've had to run the EC flow here to turn on my light there, uh, my magnetic lights that I use when I'm

towing

things like dead trailers and things like that don't have lights that they use. that refrigerators plug I have a refrigerator and all the vehicles I have, how would I plug a refrigerator into that truck? You can't, no, well you could plug it into that 120 volt thing, but that's not the idea, but that's still not the case. The point is that there are supposed to be 12V refrigerators, so if I own this truck, I would have to plug in one of those 12V plugs.

Think about uh, this is a work and play truck. Think about going hunting, going camping, things like that, how? inflate your air mattress with a compressor, what plugs into one of those 12 volt finishes? Yeah, if you don't have the fancy morl tire inflator, people have a lot of people that have those little tire inflator packages you know, what do they usually connect to? 12vt, so how would you fill your tire? Yeah, oh, by the way, I lost a cover. Sorry, Chevy bills me for it, so the lack of a view, I hate when manufacturers do things like that, it's such a simple thing to have. a vehicle, it's just that they had to actively remove it from the vehicle because everyone else had it, maybe they had a checklist of things and I just didn't make it, doesn't mean 14 cents they just put this over their budget, but like it's a pet, people care about leaving the damn power adapter there, there are so many things that still need it, it's not all USBC and shit, now that's a good point, it's really, it's very like that, I think It's something that's probably overlooked in other reviews, like those are the little things that really matter in everyday life, yeah, because that's going to be a pain, like I said, toe lights up my bars of light, uh, my refrigerators, as you want. okay, take this truck camping again, like how are you going to inflate your air mattress, how are you going to power your refrigerator, all those things like tire inflators, all of that plugs into that and there's so many other things that use those. plugs still, as if those plugs were not obsolete.

However, leave them on the damn vehicle because now if I were to buy this, I would have to add that right, which means I'm separating the dash panels, I'm drilling holes in this fancy new dash and yesterday we ruined it. It's like it's solidly put together, yeah, like there's no noise in this thing for a long time, but now you'd have to drill holes to separate it and cut the wiring and stuff like that on this truck if you'd like to do it, but I'd have to run things. that I need to run and what most people would need for Chevy to return them.

Another drawback, so it's not as big of a drawback as I thought it doesn't have a front locker, yes it has a rear locker. , there is no front locker on the 2500 HD z2s, the bison make the smaller ones, the Colorado z2s, they all have it, I don't understand this because you know it's just under 1,000 ft PBS of torque in an 8,000 lb truck. with a front end ifs I get it, it's going to do one of these well here's the thing though I looked up this more last night I looked up all the off-road stuff after we took it off uh fig so uh everyone sees. they complained, yes, well, those Chevy tie rods and those Chevy steering wheels those an ARS blah blah blah this truck the ARS on the ZR2 HD these are specific to this truck, no, they are not the same ones that are on the standard Silverado, okay , the steering knuckles are steering knuckles specific to this exact model for the ZR2, the shocks and suspension, you see remote adjustable suspension reservoirs, yes, that's all specific, the steering linkages, all specific to this truck.

I don't share those parts with the standard silver R CU. Those are larger braces than I'm used to seeing on these trucks. I also said add 33, it's 35, yeah, um, yeah, so that's all reinforced, so there's two things. one that the entire front end is reinforced over your standard Silverado of course number one if you have a standard Silverado you can get extra

heavy

duty rack pieces for the front end if need be yes because the skin is bolted on in the same correct number. The second is that the differential uses a brake locking differential. Oh, it does if you put it in off-road mode.

Okay, which I didn't do when we were off-roading. Yes, I ran everything in normal mode and then realized that yes. off-road mode that activates the brake locking differential at the front, so when one wheel starts to spin, it applies the brake to that side and engages the other wheel like a locker, but without being as rigid as a breaking locker things like we just did. at that time, when will that video be uploaded? On Saturday, I know I asked before. They may have already seen that video when they watch this video. In fact, I think you'll know it's a good video, but yeah, none of these videos.

Posted yet because we're obviously still filming this one, but I think when you see this you'll see that where we flew the front end on that CU it has a hard locker in the front and it didn't hold up. So it reminds me what your jeep has and it works. Karina's Jeep, yes, yes, that brake locking differential works. So how it works is that when one tire starts to spin, you apply the brake to that one, which propels the other one and forces it to go, it's like a soft Locker. I get you, is it as stiff and solid as an Ecker like on the back of this thing?

I use a similar technique when using the brake with R and it tricks the differential by applying even pressure. it works, but it also applies the brake to the one you want to turn, while this one applies the brake only to the one you don't want to turn, so it would have worked much better, yeah, the technology isn't like that. It's not that bad, eh, it would have worked a lot better if I had put it in off-road mode, which also changes the shift points, throttle response, all sorts of other things to help with Offroad. I didn't do that, so yes, it does.

It doesn't have a front locker that's a negative, you can get front lockers for them after the market and it has a reinforced front so I don't think that's the negative I originally thought it was. I think it's actually pretty. Well, because what else happens when you have a locked Front Locker and can't turn? You can't turn exactly where the brake locking differential is, like on Karina's Jeep. The same thing that something will roll around and do its thing and like a wheel, but then you have to swerve to avoid a rock or a treat, and it does it unlike this thing, when it's all blocked, it just pushes straight and fights you, so I thought that was negative.

First I'm starting to I think it's a positive thing, no, I think it's smart on GM's part because one you have a lot of power, yes, and two, you have a lot of traction in the front, usually because that's what's on the Stamax track , You know? all their weights on the front end um and I think realistically, like GM, yeah, we're going to see a lot less warranty claims if we don't, if we don't put a locker on this, if we reinforce the front end and Don't put a locker on this. , so I talked about the front and the lockers.

I think it's positive. I would have to dedicate much more time to it. We actually used it in off-road mode, not street mode. Look, we can leave the trailer at my house, go back out and go again, that's not what I mean, or Chevy could just give me a lot more time with this truck, that's an option too. Chevy likes it if we turn this deal review week into the long lane. one year old, I wouldn't be mad, well one, we've been talking a lot and making signs to go drive the truck. two, um, we forgot my daughter's tennis shoes.

Cent school this morning only has his snow boots, so I have to go drop off Riley's tennis shoes at his school, then pull the trailer, then we'll load this thing up with some weight and stop talking about things and we'll start doing things right, so we hook up the trailer now that it's ready. we, options to configure our trailer, you can, we already had to name the trailer, what's the name, uh, what's Casey's name? We'll see, um, now tell us what type of hitch it is, is it a conventional boat, cargo, livestock, travel, utility, uh. It is a utility trailer.

Blind zone alert also those cameras in the mirrors, so this thing has little lights on in the mirrors right there, that when a car is in the blind spot, your truck turns on, so if you look in the mirror you'll see a A thing with a bright light in the corner lets you know that's where your car is, apparently this also extends it back to the trailer. The trailer has two axes. You don't have to do all this. You could just walk away, but like a normal truck. you can set up your trailer if you want it's the Center Point couple further back it's probably what 20 feet is 14t Trailer Plus the tongue no 18 that's yeah about 4ot tongue 18 18 now from the hitch point to the center of the ball this is for all your stability stuff so you know how much swing and it also likes to turn a corner so you can clear things like that so you know how long you hook that's how much tail swing you He gave him his truck and then from downtown. of the ball on the back of the trailer, you know how much you're going to cheat on a turn, so you can warn them on your cameras, um, what's that?

Probably four or five somewhere in there, I guess more like seven oh from the center of the pin, I think from the end of the hitch is fine. Trailer assist tire pressure. Trail, so this is a cool thing. I think you can set up your trailer here and when you hitch it up, you say what trailer. It keeps track of your trailer's mileage, so greasing the hubs, checking the brakes, all that, tracking trailer mileage, and setting maintenance reminders for your trailer. That's great, we're not going to do it. Can you give you a checklist so you can do one before the trip, oh for me with a company that is in transportation where we have to do pre trip inspections and all that, your truck can do it and you can add custom things if you want, that's cool, so if you had you drive this truck, tow it like you're pulling a goose's neck, doing hot shot type things, you can do your pre-trip check on the trailer right here so you can , oh, you can do a light test, wait, wait, for it to come out. it's going to work turn right turn left running lights reverse lights okay everything's okay turn left turn right turn running lights brakes look at the truck it's doing too cool you can check all the lights yourself That's great, great, come on.

I wish the map had a satellite view, that's something we can't get a satellite view on the map. I'm sure there is a hacker who can, but we don't have that option. I can see my trailers swinging here. I can see. I'm about to hit that deck right there so if I go to that mode I can see this front tire miss the deck now get back to the trailer we can see what's around us here now if we had the other camera I guess I would . show the trailer, there would be a camera on the trailer that we could see pretty cool.

I haven't looked in the rear window mirrors once when getting this thing out of here, so this is the passenger side. Tire, this is the driver's side. tire, so you can look great, okay, come on,what comes up. and down it will turn your wheels, that's how for the solid axle is this independent suspension, the tie rods and the AR AR and all that can be in complete parallel where the wheels don't turn and they do move in and out as They go up and down, but they do it exactly on the opposite side of each side, so everything one side does counteracts the other, so there is no change in the suspension geometry as the suspension It moves up and down, so the hardness is tough. hardness no this is not as hard as solid axle it will never be as far as drivability a solid axle will never touch this it's just you can debate them back and forth all you want those are the simple facts and yes They can make it tough enough to do what this truck needs to do and that makes it drive better I think that's a win.

Now I agree Casey. I have a question for you: where do you drive your truck most of the time on the road? Well, which one would you prefer? I would prefer it to drive better on the road. I agree because that's it, it's even like the tip of the toe, like if I buy this truck, I know the question comes: would you buy it, not this one? I would buy the gasoline engine. version, the diesel will have more power, you will get better mileage, that's all great, but I prefer gas engines and trucks, a good part of that is due to the bias of owning, I don't even know how many heavy trucks in the last year . decade and dealing with diesel engines and diesel emissions and diesel repairs and all that on all these big, expensive heavy duty trucks over the years.

I just don't want to deal with a diesel in my own truck so is the Duramax better than the gas engine on paper performance speYes it wins but I would prefer a gas engine in my own truck so it is expensive. This truck is very, very expensive right here. It will cost you between 80 and 100 thousand dollars depending on how you choose it. a lot of money for a truck and there are a lot of people who say they would never spend that much on a truck, then you are not in the market for this truck, so it doesn't really matter if you are in the market.

For a new truck this is the price range you will be in no matter what brand you buy, if you want this type of equipment level on a new truck that is what you will pay, no two ways about it. that, to the extent that it's very expensive, yes it is, but that's the price range that all of them are in, so that leaves out the price if you're looking, if you were thinking about buying a new truck , you brought up the same Good point about where you're going to spend most of your time driving it on the road so I'd probably want the best if it drives better on the road it may not work as well off road great this truck It's going to come out. on the road a very small percentage of the time compared to the time you spend on the road, so make it drive better.

This thing drives incredibly well. Another part is that I had never owned a new vehicle before. I had never had a brand. new vehicle before, so that's probably another part of why I think this drives so well, but you can't ignore the fact that if it will drive better than solid, end of story, yeah, that goes back to my style of gasoline versus diesel engine. The thing that pulls a load like this is that the diesel will run better, yes, but what percentage of the time you drive this truck will be as heavy as this on a trailer compared to the percentage of time you just drive the truck, not frequently ?

Exactly, I would say maybe your use case is two or three times a month, so in my use case and maybe not even this heavy 10% would be: I pull a trailer and tow a lot more than most people and I bet I'm uh 10% would be a very high guess. I think that's right, so 90% of the time you don't need all that big torque power, the gas engine would be fine, so it will go a little slower, not accelerate. Hill just as fast and all good, it will still get there just fine, so I would prefer the gas engine.

It has its disadvantages: it has no power outlets. I would have to put power outlets on it and there are no accessory switches, so I would have to add that, but that's not really the case, it's a reason that bothers me and that I even have to think about doing it, but it's not really a big deal to do it Yeah, I'm not the kind of person who's going to freak out about drilling a hole in this new Dash, most people I'm like a new truck, who cares. I would, um, but it's one of my things that bothers me that I have to do it, so I think it's, I think it's. a valid concern Casey because I mean this is aimed at someone who is going to work and play and I think it's as good as Chevy did elsewhere.

I think they missed the mark on that one, I really agree. I agree 100% if I were in the market for a new Truck this would be at the top of the list. I agree. Of course I would like to drive the others and really see why none of them are going to drive badly, no, but this one is going to drive better. Well, we drove this on super snowy and icy roads, planted as small as possible, my wife and I used it to run around town doing our errands. The type of truck makes excellent turns, tight maneuvers and parking, no problem we have used it for.

towing

now we have used it for offroading, um, it's all done very well, the truck itself is a very good balance between that work and play, I think, and the daily driver is super comfortable for my daughter in the back, my wife up here. she can drive it very well she has all the cameras to maneuver and stuff, yeah it's this truck I would take, it's easy, it's easy to live with.

I would 100% consider it if I was looking for a close truck so, but I would like to try the others as well and see which one like you said, if the other one comes close to this one as well as this one, but it has power arms, overhead switches, That's all good enough, I might be looking deeper into that. one, yes, but no, I think if everyone was worried it's the 12 volt upgrade switches. I think Chevy did a pretty good job because everything else is nice. I originally thought the lack of the front locker was a negative, but I really look at it now.

I understand the truck a little better and since it has beefed up control arms, reinforced steering, knuckles and tie rods, larger front ends and locking differential brakes in off-road mode, that's not a disadvantage , I think it actually goes back to an advantage because you have that grip on the front and you've reinforced the pieces at the same time, yeah, so you're not going to go Kaboom when you do something dumb in general. I think they did an amazing job on this truck, it's a little Techy for me, that's just me, but also if you're paying that much for a truck you better get every tech feature you can imagine and you'll have them available to you, Whether you want to use them or not, there are those things that bother you. things on mine as far as the outlet changing things like that but like you said that's minor yeah it's small potatoes it's nothing you can't rectify but you know this is an $85 to $85 truck 100,000 depending on how you specify it.

I shouldn't I don't have to come, yeah, it's the little things and really that's what makes the difference in these things. You know, when a group of people get together and say okay, let's put this stuff in for a truck and I don't think it was just an oversight on Chevy's part, no, it's not an oversight, they don't have that excuse because it was in the trucks and they removed it, it's not something they forgot to put in, it was these. the trucks had it to a certain point where someone made a conscious decision to take them off the trucks, so no, no, no, they don't get a supervisory excuse from that, okay, so they intentionally took the 12 volt plug out. to Casey and now he's leaving. go cry in a corner for the rest of his entire life, yeah I mean I don't know what happened, someone at some point took him away and then he has to go to the time out zone, do you think he would get it? stop saying a letter from

chevy

if i made a sho t-shirt that says

chevy

put it back on and put like a little logo that shows the plug yeah if the only thing we complain about is some switches and some plugs , that's my only serious complaint, that's serious. it's like you know that's the only thing I'm serious about this, it's trivial things, you know, at the end of the day, the truck itself, the driving, the use, the power and the handling of the driving and the different Four wheel drive features, all that stuff is great.

I love it, yes, I have been very happy, yes, I have been riding Princess as a passenger, uh, you drove it, you drove it before me, yes, I drove it a little bit to control traffic with it. He was controlling traffic and we left. I use someone else's 100,000th truck as a bumper and traffic, so I drove it a bit. Casey has driven it a lot more than I have, he's obviously playing with it and so far I'm impressed mhm so it's quiet too. It's yeah, we're having a really nice conversation, the engine is quiet, the road noise is quiet, my wife commented on that too, like this makes my Jeep feel so clunky and old and nutty, because it does.

Quiet, quiet, Toyota boy, because this thing is so quiet and smooth that, like on a long road trip, on a family trip, it makes a difference, yes, no. I think I think a good word for this truck is comfortable yeah comfortable or also very much. livable and this is not it, this is not your standard work truck, this is not your standard off-road truck, we have to come to that compromise, it has almost everything you want, which brings me back to what I said at the beginning of this Chevy if you wanted to make this a long-term loan type of promotional deal here.

I wouldn't be mad about it because I could put this truck to work and get a lot of use out of it and be very happy with it if you want to make a deal here, so yeah, I make that deal, I make that deal all day, big deal, so that's going to wrap this up, um, this wasn't a sponsored thing, this wasn't a paid thing, this was literally, they just reached out and said, hey. You want to get a free truck for a week to try it out and use it as your own and have fun.

It was that simple. I wish it was much longer than a week and I had some fun. I got some work. I finished it and I really like it, so thanks for watching, see you next time.