What is a good year and engine / tranny combination for this purpose: Weekend use pulling a 3000lb boat and loaded with camping gear. I'm thinking manual tranny, but I know that is hard to find. What has the best reliability ? What should I watch out for ?

actually, an automatic tranny is best for towing, there isnt any clutch to wear out. i have a 350 in mine and i pull well over 3000 lbs regularly with ease. hope this helps!

The 88 thru 95 C1500, 350 Throttle body injection trucks are easy to work on, give very little trouble, and have plenty of towing power. I would go with the automatic trans thou. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

About any full size Chevy truck would handle your needs. Like grimesjm1 said, the auto would be better for towing, and as 95silverado said the 88-95 350 TBIs are very reliable and have plenty of low end torque (300 or 310, depending on what web site you look on, and it comes at well under 4000 rpms).

With that said, the 96-99 C/K trucks would handle the trailer even better (vortec 350s are multi-port injected, and full roller motors, and make 255 hp (around 40 or so more then the TBIs) and 335 lbs-tq)). The upside with going with a 96 or newer is just that: newer, but if you find an 88-95 truck for a reasonable price that is not eat up with miles, then you will end up with a very good and reliable truck.

Go auto. Don't need to shift gears.

Any truck with a V-8 will pull a 3000 lb boat, a 5.7L is the best choice for both power and fuel economy.

As for pulling a boat? Go automatic and not for what you may think. Consider this, you are unloading and loading your boat on an incline that goes straight to the water. I have owned several boats over the years and I definately prefer going the automatic route.

You have the safety of an E-brake AND a park pin.

-slacker

if you go auto keep it in 3rd gear. overdrive will toast a tranny unless you are on flat roads if not to many shifts up and down will take a overdrive out.

I have 281k miles and i can still pull 4000 pounds on level ground. Not healthy and she hates me afterwards, but still, it can be done. I pulled a friends truck out of a ditch last year, His front wheels were in soft sand and his rears were in the air. So we put it in four low i pulled and he gassed it. Worked fine. Chevy trucks are extremely reliable.

Dude, I wish my '98 had the 5.7L but that lil' 4.3L has V-8 attitude! I deliver auto parts and and sometimes I forget I have a big load on the highway. However, you are talking about towing vs. hauling and alot more weight at that so I would also recomend the 5.7L and the auto trans would be better for towing. I used to tear up auto trans but mine still Cadillakin'!!! Enjoy

Mine is a 98 3/4 ton 5.7L 350 auto, with 183,000 miles. I regularly pull a 13,000lb load with her, and she handles it like it's nothing. Although you probably don't need more than a half ton for what you are going to be pulling, these are super trucks.