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2019 Chevrolet Silverado 4500HD, 5500HD and 6500HD Unveiling


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I THINK they already had 4500-5500s in other countries like in Mexico... not sure but I remember seeing some duallies badged with 4500-5500 down there...

Would have to see the trucks to tell you what they actually were. But it's not uncommon for people to play with badges; 4500-5500's were around previously from GM but they bailed out of the medium duty market years ago. They were based off the Chevy Express/GMC Savana van body and had the typical fiberglass tilt nose. Before that they were called Kodiak & Topkick and for a while used the same cab the 1988-1998 regular light duty trucks had but again with the big tilt nose.

 

The "real" 3500HD that was made from 1991-2002 in the U.S., and by real I mean a 15000 lb GVWR truck with a straight axle front end, Dana 80 rear, 4 wheel disc, and 19.5" wheels.. used the 1988-1998 pickup truck cab and front clip but had its own unique chassis which was based off the motorhome platform...these trucks continued in Mexico for several more years. Here, the 3500HD badge started being applied to the GMT900 3500's which were HD in name only, had none of the characteristics or load capacity of the previous models.

 

These brand new 4500-5500 are neat looking trucks in that they are back to using the pickup truck cab but with the tall tilt fiberglass nose. They look like they'll make nice medium duty trucks but it's too bad GM abandoned the old 3500HD idea so many years ago. Those were tough old trucks.

 

I miss my 3500HD wrecker, I built this truck from a basket case 1994 parts truck that used to be that rotten 6.5 turbo diesel; I did a full swap on it using the Vortec 7.4 out of a 1996 model and an NV4500 5 speed, as well as a full 1995-up interior swap.

 

35hd_265s.jpg

 

Richard

Edited by someotherguy (see edit history)
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Those are kind of like the 4500-5500 trucks I saw down there... they use them as garbage trucks, police wreckers and even Coca Cola trucks... you are correct Richard... I also saw some of the kodiak-style cab trucks badged as 4500-5000...hell I think I even remember seeing some badged as F450-550 for some Fords but dont know if they had all the HD stuff

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