heck, my 454 dually gets great mileage if I shut the engine off and coast down hill. unfortunately the real world keeps getting in the way.

Pulled my 30' Panther 1000's of miles (14 yrs) with my 1999 1/2 ton 5.3 Sierra.
I currently pull my 37' AT with an 8.1 Avalanche with 3.73's. Took a trip out to 1000 Islands NY from West Michigan and back with no issues. Never felt I needed more engine and mileage wasn't too bad ~9 mpg. I do make sure the breaks are good.

But it's still better than what the boat gets(LOL)?

Appreciate the feedback. You’re correct probably closer to 6-6500 with trailer, fuel, etc. I recall checking a couple years back and pretty sure it has 3.42’s in it. I did have a local tuner flash it over the summer and it definitely tows better, but it still was at 4-4500 rpm on the rolling hills. You think a set of 3.73’s would help to give it a little extra grunt and not necessarily need to downshift? I don’t mind taking hills at 55, but it didn’t seem to matter to the truck my speed, it just wants to keep the RPMs high towing up grades.

I was looking at whipples yesterday and know that would do the trick, but it comes at a cost as well. Maybe I’ll start with gears and see how she goes. Already laying the groundwork with my wife on why a whipple “just makes sense” 😂.

After receiving my personal property tax bill yesterday on a 10 year old truck and 8 year old minivan, no F’ing way am I buying a new truck. The county was kind enough to adjust used car values with the current market.

Thanks for all the input from everyone! Definitely helpful for factoring in a decision.

I’m sure youre right, it’ll probably be just fine. I’m pretty religious about maintenance. Curious to hear how the new 10 spd trans does for you.

I pulled my 16,000 pound 31 foot inboard diesel parasail boat on a all steel trailer almost weekly with my 98 350 non vortec conversion van for many years.

Had airbags on the van but just surge brakes on the trailer. Never was a question of pulling power just pre planning for stopping and situational awareness.

Recently Pulled to Florida from Michigan 10,000 of boat and gear with my 2003 5.3 Explorer hi top conversion van loaded with another ton of gear so probably grossing 18,000.

Going through Tennessee I drove just like I drive my semi. Rush the hills and play the gears as rpm’s start dropping and keep the motor revving .

I was super impressed how good that little 5.3 did and didn’t feel bad running it in the 4000 rpm range running the hills, just keeping an eye on the trans temps.

I’ve only pulled 15000 behind my 6.2 Escalade on flat in Florida but I can say it definitely has a lot more torque than the 5.3 in my van.

Heck it was only 40 years ago all semis were grossing 80 thousand with only 250 horse of 8-92 Detroit roaring away.

I used to regularly haul 10tons of hay and trailer behind a 1982 F350 6.9 back in the day, you wanta talk about beating the absolute living crap out of a truck. Had over 200grand on it and still pulling when I left the farm.

Actually fwiw your 98 should be a Gen 1 Vortec.

Exactly, that's what makes me chuckle every time these threads pop up.
Think about all the stuff (boats, racecars, whatever) hauled by the standard for so long prior to that time. The 4 door Chevrolet C30 or GM C3500 dually.
Any old picture there they are hauling stuff.

With these anemic power numbers taken from 1979 and 1988 brochures snips below.
Interesting to note in 88 there was the carb LE8 and the L19 454, notice how much lower the torque was produced on the L19.
Might be a misprint.
Edit Found a 96 L29 also
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...c00d03ca16.png
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...4611b74083.png
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...df4fbecce5.png

And they had 3 speed transmissions or at best a 4 speed manual.

2500/3500 with T400 4.10 gears and factory wheels where close to 3k rpm at 65mph.

In the early 90`s I pulled my stock car on an open trailer with a white 1979 F150 with a straight 6 two on the tree (blew second gear, rev till it won`t go anymore in first and shift to third)

was the truck red by any chance ? :)

Backing the early 80s We had a old 1968 C-30 Dumptruck we hauled corn with during harvest, 327 with a dead cylinder, one 30mile round trip per a quart of oil.
Only saving grace was the splitter on the four speed, and brakes were something that were only halfway useful if you were empty.

Damn fact checkers. Lol.

Beaten like a redheaded stepchild.😁

This thread should be locked down until these Tall Tales of Trailer Towing are reviewed and verified by the Ministry of Truth.

Careful, once they review it they'll probably send you a retroactive EPA fine.

Well don't sell yourself short. :drink:

Wanted to let y’all know this post wasn’t in vain.

Installed some RC airbags over the weekend and had the chance to test them out yesterday. At 60psi the bed is completely level and really pulls like a different truck when towing.

I’d recommend them to anyone towing with a half ton, regardless of boat size/weight.

FYI - the Rough Country instructions are a throw away. My wife walked into the garage about 4 hours in and said “so that’s how it’s going” 😂

Damn U Bolts were cross threaded out of the gate, fittings leaked, bolts that were too short. A typical 1-2 hour job lol

I drive an '05 Excursion most of the time. I pull my skidsteer, mini ex, and dump trailer quite a bit. I also have a Boss V plow and move quite a bit of snow on our properties every winter. I cannot even tell that my 28 Skater is following me, so that is not much of an issue.

Today I found out the needle bearings were found in the low pressure oil pump and the 6.0 "bulletproofed" Powerstroke engine may be junk. A zero mile rebuilt is about $9,000 installed. The truck is about worthless without it. I look at it as 18 months with a $500 payment. Past 18 months, I am back in the good. Truck and body is in great shape with about 225k miles on it.

After owning it for 60,000 miles over the past 4 years I can certainly say that it is way more expensive to maintain. Hell, even an oil change is expensive! Not loaded I will get about 18 mpg, BUT, with diesel being a third more in cost than gas, that would be equal to 12 mpg in a gasser.

I like my Excursion allot, so I am going to do it, but damn it hurts!

Engine rebuild costs are super stupid these days. Thank god it is not a marine engine in there !

I went through the same thing. My 2015 Yukon Denali had a lifter failure so I did the whole AFM delete. I had SmittysEngTrans do the work, best decision ever. They did an amazing job rebuilt the entire valvetrain and took care of a lot other details. Best part is I get better gas mileage since the AFM delete. I got 26.9mpg best segment so far and was averaging over 23MPG at 75mph on the Ohio turnpike. I still have more tuning to do but I'm pretty confident I can do better. Not bad for a V8 making 450HP and almost 500ftlbs. It's amazing what a few upgrades and tuning can do. I especially love the fact that with 33's it still gets rubber in second. Like you said, I had it done for less than 5 payments so I am way ahead.

if the airbags fail, give Timbrens a try. I've been running them for years and love them. They make a night and day difference especially when paired up with Bilsteins.

GM truck, 2500 HD with the 8.1( they come with the a1000 allison tranny. 01-04 or 05 has 5 speed. 2006 maybe 05 has 6 speed). Mine is a 2001 and only use it to tow with. I run the dog **** out of mine in the summer and have no over heating issues. 95 degrees, high humidity and AC cranked. Pulling a 380 Avenger on a tipple axle steel trailer. I'd est 14.5k - 15k Lbs full of fuel.

Runnin 75-80 mph she is in the 5.5 MPG range. Stay about 65 and picks up to about 6.5 mpg. Some days a touch over 7.

Dose it drink the gasoline? Yes it dose. How ever it is a fraction of the cost on maintenance,repairs and purchase price vs a diesel and will still pull a house down. Literally you can probably fix the entire truck in the parking lot of a parts store with a hammer LOL. Injector chits it's pants on a Damx. You are looking at what, a $4-5k repair bill? Maybe look for a 8.1 (2001-2006) and use it to tow only. Keep your 1500 for daily driver .

I found the Excursion to be the worst tow vehicle Ive ever had , after an hour towing I felt exhausted. Short wheelbase and the loose steering , it was a lot of work to keep in a lane. The 7.3l was a good engine and I loved the rest of the truck but what a difference once I got a longer wheel base vehicle.
Hopefully yours is better, the Baja was 12k #

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...b15d05539d.jpg

My magnetic struts went and I replaced the whole system with the Arnott/Bilstein setup, what a difference. Auto leveling works perfect and ride is so much smoother and it has built in resistors to fool the computer. Best part is lifetime warranty. You get the best of both worlds.

I was just talking with a customer of mine yesteray and he said the same thing about the Timbrens! I have a feeling the longevity on the airbags is limited, but maybe i'll be proven wrong.

Thanks

Airbags made a huge difference in towing.

I would checkout Kill Devil Diesel .

https://killdevildiesel.com/collecti...ngine-packages


I have my 7.3l there in line to be re built. They do a lot of 6.0 and may have 6.0 long blocks in stock if the 6.0 ARP rod bolt backorder has been resolved .

I’ve had air bags on my 150 over 10yrs. No problems.

That is one that I am considering. Will be calling them tomorrow.

If you are concerned about durability, don't do that! The engineers that designed your engine spent a lot of time testing the powertrain under a variety of conditions, including towing. The engineers put more strain on your engine during testing than you are likely to do while towing. Modding the engine puts stress on the engine beyond what it was designed and tested for. I would leave it alone, and just drive it.

Whomever did the testing on my 2015 Yukon Denali was and absolute moron. I've spent countless hours fixing gross software issues that any first year programmer should have caught. What I also find interesting is that my AFM system crapped out and I had the entire valvetrain upgraded to non-AFM. I get better gas mileage now than I did with AFM. My last trip down the Ohio turnpike, I was getting over 23mpg at 75mph. My best segment so far is 26.9mpg and I have a leveling kit and 33" tires. I still have to remove the programmed torque convertor slippage which will give me better mpg and increase the life of the torque convertor. When I showed the data logging and event alarming capabilities I had on my Yukon to a GM engineer friend, he asked me to come work at the tech center. I told him I couldn't afford the cut in pay. I'm sorry, but I worked at the Tech Center for a number of years and couldn't believe what went on there. I'm sure there are some really talented people in development, but a lot is lost in production.