2017 Chevy Silverado HD Duramax – Everything You Wanted to Know [Video]

2017 chevy silverado hd duramax
2017 Chevy Silverado HD High Country

The 2017 Chevy Silverado HD Duramax is out of the box. Chevrolet and GM spent a lot of time and resources developing the next generation 6.6L Duramax V8 turbo-diesel (codenamed: L5P). We have seen them testing prototypes in the Rocky Mountains for over two years. The new engine has the same displacement, but 90% of engine parts are new, according to GM. The company improved or upgraded most of the internals, including the crank shaft, connecting rods, pistons, cylinder heads, turbocharger, fuel system, exhaust system, and more.

All this work bumps up the power to a class-leading 445 horsepower @ 2,800 rpm and second-place 910 lb-ft @ 1,600 rpm. The new engine has improved emissions and it is quieter, as we noticed during our first drive. The 6-speed Alison transmission saw a couple of upgrades to handle the additional torque, but it did not have to be modified much.

The L5P engine is showing a lot of promise, but Chevrolet says the maximum towing and payload numbers will be “about the same” as those on the 2016 HD trucks? Why? GM says that a vast majority of one-ton (3500 series) truck customers do not tow much over 20,000 lbs. As such, they don’t see a need to increase the ratings and chase the 2017 Ford Super Duty, which is rated at 32,000 lbs towing, and 2017 Ram HD, which is rated at 31,200 lbs. One the other hand, GM did not upgrade the frame, suspension, or brakes on the 2017 HDs. As such, the ratings cannot far exceed those of the current HD trucks. We will publish the final 2017 specifications when they become available.

GM says that the new Duramax-powered trucks will have “about same” fuel efficiency as the previous engine. The fuel tank sizes are the same as before, but the DEF tank grows to 7 gallons.

Here are some of the slides from the technical presentation.

Get more details in the video below.