What Manuals To Own

[vault]

I just bought a I have a 95 GMC 3500 6.5 turbo. Nothing wrong with the truck just want to build I library so I'm prepared. What Repair manuals would you recomend? I have not been able to find a factory service manual that covers the diesel yet. I see the diesel page has a trouble shooting and repair guide. How user friendly is it?

[Hubert]

Introduce yourself (a signature helps) and what you want out of the manuals and how much you are going to attempt.

Helm Inc publishes the official manual (and its a little pricey). I think they are a supporting vendor. The alldata.com through autozone is very good. The only trouble is they both assume you are a pretty good mechanic already. The diesel page books are also very helpful. I have the 6.5 trouble shooting and repair book. It gives a few more tips for us avg joes. I use all 3 of those sources of info especially the first time I do something. Between those 3 sources and the forum on here you can just about do anything you want.

A ton of info is on the forum for reading just have to search through and pick a few threads. If you search, read, and actively participate in the forum when you can lots of people will chime in when you get stuck on something.

[vault]

Well I use the truck primarly to haul construction materials 2x4 etc. and landscaping materials. Occassionally I would haul a car or my 1967 intermational 504 tractor w/loader not any great distance 25mi. It is the second family car 2 kids 2 dogs. As I just bought it it has no mods. the first thing I'm going to do is exhaughst.

Since this is an older high millage truck I know to expect maitaince. I've never worked on a diesel. Like I said before there is nothing to fix yet on the truck I just want to be prepared for the day. I will try to tackle just about any progect if I can get all the information together before I dive in. I have changed the usual starters, plugs, water pumps, etc..have restored a 73 corvette convert 454 4spd that was almost in scrap cond. Also I converted a jeep Cj7 to a chevy small block 400 with turbo 400 tranny. One of the reasons I was asking is with the corvette I had to buy the factory light truck overhaul manual to get the info on the 454 engine and refer to the corvette shop service manual for the rest. I like to use the dealership service and overhaul manuals provided by GM when I can find them they are way more informative than the chiltons and haynes.

Are the factory manuals available or are the helm, dieselpage, and alldata adaquate?

[DmaxMaverick]

Welcome to the Forums, Vault!

The Helm manuals are the same as factory shop manuals. You can get them at www.helminc.com (http://www.helminc.com) . www.alldatadiy.com (http://www.alldatadiy.com) has the same manuals online at a much lower price, but it is an annual subscription service. Chilton's and Haynes leave a lot to be desired.

[trbankii]

I picked up a set of the factory (Helm) manuals for my truck from another member here who was selling his set in the classifieds. I'd also recommend the 6.5 book sold here on the DieselPage - a lot of good information in layman's terms rather than the full blown tech in the factory manuals. From there I'd start considering some of the back issue sets - I have a full set of those for reference as well.

Those and the forums should take care of anything you'd want or need to know...