Two Decades Ago, You Could Buy A Heavy Duty Chevy Silverado 1500 With A Big V8 And Four-Wheel-Steering: Holy Grails

There’s a segment of truck buyers out there who want their pickups to be better than a half-ton, but they don’t want a real heavy-duty truck. The “heavy half” technically serves this demographic and in the early 2000s, GM created a special truck with features you initially couldn’t find in a regular half-ton. The Chevrolet Silverado 1500HD offered buyers four doors, a burly 6.0-liter V8 engine, higher hauling capacity, and the option of four-wheel-steering through Quadrasteer. GM doesn’t sell a heavy half anymore so the 1500HD remains beloved by many.

The concept of the heavy half-ton truck is a fascinating thing. The idea of adding ever so slightly more to the capacity of a half-ton truck traces back to the 1970s. Beginning in 1975 and lasting a handful of years, GM sold its Chevrolet C10 and its GMC C15 in versions that were slightly more capable than the base truck. The upgraded C10 was dubbed the Big 10 while the C15 earned the moniker Heavy Half. In the past, the “ton” classification used to be a bit more literal. A half-ton pickup truck carried just that, about 1,000 pounds. A three-quarter-ton got you to 1,500 pounds and eventually, 1-ton trucks started showing up with around 2,000 pound capacities.

The heavy half trucks were similar to their base colleagues but had their gross vehicle weights kicked slightly higher to just over 6,000 pounds. The exact reasoning seems to be lost to time, but an often-repeated theory has to do with the fact that per government regulations, trucks with gross weights heavier than 6,000 pounds had a better time dodging tightening emissions. As Jason Torchinsky wrote in 2018, this sort of loophole is part of why the fastest American car of 1977 wasn’t a car at all, but the Dodge Li’l Red Express truck.

These heavy half trucks were nominally half-ton trucks, but they had greater carrying capacities. In the case of the GM trucks, GVW was increased from 5,600 to 6,200 pounds with upgraded springs and tires. Ford introduced the F-150 during this era as a heavier version of the F-100. Ford also had a light and heavy version of its F-250 in the 1980s.

Heavy halfs show up a number of times in modern truck history, too. Ford got cute and badged the heavy half version of the F-150 as the F-250, which was wild because Ford also sold an actual F-250 at the time, too. Over at Dodge, the Ram 1500 was sold in a heavy half version in the mid-2000s. Of course, Nissan also tried the heavy half idea recently with the Titan XD, which ended up being a failure. Some in the audience may argue that the heavy half never left, as you can option a modern half-ton to have more capacity for hauling or towing.

That truck wasn’t trying to dodge regulations but was targeted at an apparently small market of truck buyers who wanted more than a half-ton, but weren’t willing to go all of the way to a three-quarter-ton. GM catered to this market in the early 2000s with the Chevrolet Silverado 1500HD and GMC Sierra 1500HD, rare half-tons built for more and, at first, the only way to get a new four-door full-size from GM without stepping up to a heavy-duty-badged truck.

Following Up Perfection

If you’ve followed our site for long enough, you know we’re big fans of the GMT400 platform. It’s a truck design that seems so simple, yet it has attained GM truck legend status all of these years later. Of course, that means the folks at General Motors had big shoes to fill when designing its successor.

As WardsAuto wrote in 1998, General Motors started development of the GMT800 in 1993. This new truck had a lot riding on it. GM, which once sold America’s favorite trucks, slipped a couple of rungs down the ladder. It couldn’t match the might of Ford or the style of the hit second-generation Dodge Ram. GM’s truck market share went from 51 percent down to 37 percent before a slight rebound to 40 percent. Even worse, tossing GMC Sierra sales into the pile still meant that Ford demolished GM in truck sales.

Now it was time to catch up to and pass its rivals. WardsAuto explains that there was a lot of money involved in the development of the new truck. GM was set to spend $6 billion by 2000 on the new truck and its success in the market would determine executive bonuses, employee profit sharing, revenue from advertising, and of course, GM’s share of the truck market.

GM’s own research, which was conducted before the second-generation Ram changed truck expectations, suggested that truck buyers didn’t care as much about technology as they did power and size. Before GMT800 development kicked off in earnest, engineers created five pickup truck mockups out of wood and styrofoam, then placed a windshield and seats in them. Two of the test bucks were smaller than the then-current C/K, one was the same size as the C/K, and two were larger. Reportedly, engineers were shocked to learn that existing GM truck owners thought the C/K-sized buck was too small, forget about the smaller ones. Later tests revealed that customers wanted big power.

My retrospective continues:

The successor to the legendary GMT400, the GMT800, which launched in 1999 added some notable improvements. One headlining change was a three-piece frame as opposed to a single-piece frame. Having the frame in sections allowed GM to mix frame parts to match specific configurations for truck GVWR, wheelbase, and body. The front section of the frame was hydroformed, while the middle and rear sections were roll-formed or stamped depending on the vehicle. Bolted to the GMT800 frame was an independent suspension up front and leaf packs in the rear.

The excellent frame was only part of the equation, as GM fitted these frames with modern truck and SUV bodies as well as a variety of powertrain options ranging from gas engines and diesel to a CNG engine and a hybrid. Some people believe the GMT800 was and remains one of the greatest truck platforms of all time for its honest reliability, affordable parts, user-friendly repairs, and longevity.

Part of that reputation has to do with how GM streamlined production of GMT800 trucks. Magna International was in charge of building the GMT800’s frames and engineers achieved an average part count of 200, down 10 percent from the C/K. Other changes include a switch from painted metal parts to molded-in-color thermoplastic. GM found that while many truck buyers still wanted loads of chrome, plastic parts were likely to do well. The benefit was saving 30 to 50 percent in painting costs.

 

Other savings came from the Vortec iron block V8 family. While the competition was going for high-tech overhead cams, GM stuck with its push-rods. GM’s research showed that truck buyers didn’t really care, so long as the truck produced loads of power. Besides, sticking with a push-rod design saved GM $100 per engine.

The GMT800 made its debut in 1998 for the 1999 model year, with light trucks hitting the road first. Heavier trucks followed and a couple of years into production, GM brought back the heavy half.

Bigger, Better, and Stronger

As Truck Trend writes, GM saw the success of the Ford F-150 SuperCrew and the Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab and decided it wanted to create its own “half-ton” with a giant cab, which hit the road in the 2001 model year.

The Silverado 1500HD starts off as a crew cab with a 6.6-foot bed. While not the longest Silverado 1500 on sale at the time, the 1500HD stretched out 19 feet with a wheelbase of 153 inches, ten inches of wheelbase longer than a Silverado 1500 with an extended cab and a short bed.

Under the metal sat the chassis and running gear of a Silverado 2500, but pulled back a little. The only engine that was available was a Vortec 6000 6.0-liter V8 that made 300 HP and 360 lb-ft of torque. That power is backed by a 4l80E automatic transmission, is carried on 8-lug wheels, and is stopped with the brakes of a Silverado 2500. Since this was a burly truck, Chevy offered Quadrasteer four-wheel-steer to help you maneuver the beast. Without four-wheel-steer, the truck was practically a barge requiring 50 feet to turn around.

The big selling point of getting the 1500HD was that, at first, it was the only way to get a Silverado badged as a 1500 with a spacious four-door cab plus a big-ish bed. The 1500HD’s cab offered six more inches of legroom compared to the extended cab Silverado.

However, remember how I said this was essentially a Silverado 2500 calling itself a heavy 1500? This part matters too. In 2002, the most beefy Silverado 1500 netted you a GVWR of 6,400 pounds. Going for the 1500HD pumped that up to 8,600 pounds, the same as a Silverado 2500 with a regular cab and long box and the Silverado 2500 with an extended cab and short box.

Capacities were similarly hefty. In 2002, the best Silverado 1500 in terms of payload had a regular cab and a short box for 2,021 pounds of payload. The Silverado 1500HD came in with a monster 3,143 pounds of payload in rear-wheel-drive form and 2,847 pounds as a 4×4, not too far off of a 2500’s stats. It was a similar story with towing. A regular cab Silverado 1500 could tow up to 9,200 pounds but the Silverado 1500HD could handle up to 10,800 pounds, just like the 2500s.

In other words, you more or less got a Silverado 2500, but with that bigger cab and badging that made the truck sound like a 1500HD. Some icing on the cake at the time was that standard Silverado 1500 buyers couldn’t get that 6.0-liter V8, either. Otherwise, your experience was similar to that of standard 1500 buyers, including a split-folding rear seat, a CD player, cruise control, and power accessories. Options included a limited-slip differential, a trailer hitch, tinted glass, forged aluminum wheels, power seats, and a combo cassette/CD player.

Thankfully, this truck isn’t so rare that nobody reviewed them. Here’s a snippet from a Truck Trend piece:

The 1500HD’s 6.0L V-8 needs revs to work best, with only 400 rpm between rated horsepower and torque peaks. It’s not quite as smooth as the 4.8 or 5.3, but clearly has more grunt and gets this 3-ton truck moving with ease. We’d pay extra for the 4.10 gears–they give better performance while incurring little mileage penalty, and the tow rating rises to 10,000 lb. Big trucks rarely excel in minimum braking distances, and this Silverado was no different. But pedal feel, resistance to fade, and water-shedding ability are all quite acceptable. The steering is nicely weighted, and directional stability is good, indicative of the long wheelbase.

Occupants should find the front seats ideal, as many adjustments and fabric instead of slippery leather keep you from sliding sideways or submarining. Instrumentation is superb and includes transmission temperature as standard, and as an LS model, there’s less automation than the LT, for those who prefer to make decisions themselves.

By design and size, the 1500HD suffers when it comes to tight places, its 50-ft turning circle and 2.0 in. shy of 20-ft length conspiring to keep you away from garages and small villages. It’s not easy on gas, and the long wheelbase will end up pogo-sticking on frost heaves and expansion joints like a mechanical bull. But for something that does many things, this is hard to beat and an excellent illustration of why full-size pickups are still the best-selling-vehicle class.

When new, Chevy sold the Silverado 1500HD for $29,425 ($52,095 today). If you wanted a splash of more luxury in your life, there was also the GMC Sierra 1500HD, which is said to be the rarer of the two. That one was $30,053 ($53,207 today). These trucks went up to bat against the Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab, which was $25,500 ($45,146 today), and the Ford F-150 SuperCrew, which was $32,000 ($56,654 today). Adding Quadrasteer to the 1500HD was at first $4,000 ($7,081 today) before falling to $2,000 ($3,540 today).

These weird trucks were sold until 2004, when GM finally got around to giving the standard 1500 a crew cab option. Buyers of 1500s were eventually able to nab those engines, too. But even then, the 1500 crew cab was stuck with a shorter 5.7-foot box and didn’t have the heavier-lifting capabilities. The 1500HD made a return a year later and sold until 2006. Chevy bowed the 1500HD out of production in 2007 with the 1500HD Classic.

In terms of rarity, it would appear that these trucks aren’t that hard to find. This is one of those situations where “rare” means options like getting Quadrasteer. For example, GMC allegedly moved 39,006 Sierra 1500HDs in 2003, of which 3,912 are said to have Quadrasteer. One thing’s for sure, and it’s these trucks have huge fans.

If you want one of these beauts, I have good and bad news. The good news is that you can find them for under $10,000. The bad news is that those cheaper trucks tend to have terrible rust and a bunch of miles. Examples closer to pristine are said to get into the $20,000 range or more.

So, if you’re a fan of the GMT800 and want something a little less common than the everyday 1500, the 1500HD might be your choice. It’s basically a 2500 cosplaying a 1500, targeting the kinds of people who wanted a really big truck but without having to commit to a heavier-duty nameplate. As we’ve seen with trucks like the Titan XD, these sort of heavy half trucks is a weird niche.

(Images: GM, unless otherwise noted.)