MUSCLE TRUCK

CHEVY'S SILVERADO PICKUP MIGHT BE BIG AND BRAWNY ON PAPER, BUT IT LACKS IN MUSCLE WHEN IT COMES TO LOAD AND TOWING CAPACITY IN STANDARD FORM. RAMBLER VEHICLES HAS DEVELOPED A GVM AND GCM UPGRADE PACKAGE TO FIX THIS... AND WE JUMPED AT THE CHANCE TO SAMPLE IT

- MATT RAUDONIKIS 

FULL-SIZE American pickup trucks are becoming much more prevalent on Australian bush tracks as third-party remanufacturers bring more models to Australia with factory backing. Rambler has seen this growth as well and caters to those wanting a USAbuilt truck. A Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss was recently given the Rambler treatment to rectify the load and towing deficiencies of the standard truck.

You can no longer get the Trail Boss model in Australia, which is unfortunate, as it was the most affordable in the line-up and, as we said at the time, the best model in the local range. At $105,000 it represented a better buy than the more luxurious LTZ, and now you'll need closer to $120K to get into a Silverado LTZ from GMSV, and more again for the ZR2.

The Silverado 1500 is already a big rig and its 3745mm standard wheelbase ensures it's a comfortable and stable tourer able to carry big loads over long distances. Where the Silverado 1500 falls short is in its standard GVM, but Rambler has fixed this for its Chev builds. The standard GVM is 3210kg leaving just a 752kg payload for the LT Trail Boss; hardly enough for a full-on touring set-up with all the fruit. And if you were to put a full weight 4500kg trailer on the back with around 450kg on the tow ball, you're not left with much GVM at all.