Are the 6.2 diesels a good engine?

[Jrgunn5150]

My 6.2 sucks, it has about as much power as a tired 305

 

[75Monza]

I used to have an 86 GMC Suburban with the 6.2l. I put a 6" lift and 35's on it, full roof rack, big heavy front bumper and a rack off the back hitch to haul my CR500, poor little 6.2 couldn't get over a hill without dropping to 2nd (TH400 with 4.10's even). I lived in cold country at the time at about 5,000 elevation, so figured out really quick that I hated the glow plugs with a passion. Everywhere I went, I had to plug the damn thing in or it would never start, seemed like I would loose a plug every month and a controller every other year. This was my first diesel, so took me awhile to figure out what was wrong. I ended up buying a crate 6.5l out of Canada for $3,200 shipped to my door, put a gear drive in it to get rid of the chain since they stretch pretty bad, swapped over all the tin and accessories, put a Banks stinger kit on it, and had Redding fuel injection build my pump and rebuild my injectors. Turned out my pump and injectors were shot, that is why was a pain to start and sooooo gutless (even more than factory gutless). After I was done, I could actually leave a dual patch till second gear, it was awesome! Down side was the extra power pointed out my wore out semi-float 14 bolt with a gov-loc. Took me two weeks and I spit the gears out the back and shot an axle out the drivers side, lol.