3.73's

i dont get it either

wondering if i should take it into ford

Sounds like it....My buddys 8.1 4.10 gear Burb is getting better than you !!! & he runs hard

I am still reading this thread and want to thank you all for the information.

If you tow with the 6.0 gas/4.10 gear and have anything to add please do so.

The 10,000 lbs that I am using is for boat & trailer combined. It is a steel tri-axle with electric brakes.

This truck will be my daily driver other then the times in the summer when I ride my Harley.

Towing will generally be highway flat land and the lake is only about an hour away. I may occasionally go some farther distances but nothing like towing across the country.

Thanks,
Cordell

I have decided that the 6.0 just would not be the right motor after reading the information.

Started looking at some 8.1 Allison Combinations along with the Duramax. Going to have to give up some of the "Bling" to keep the payments where I want to be but at least I know the engine will pull it with no problem.

I have been doing a lot of reading on the various websites and in the brochures and am getting quite an education on what is required to safely tow heavier loads.
I started a thread that talks about weight distributing hitches and was surprised to learn that for the most part anything over 5000 lbs should have one of these.

Cordell

I have a brand new crew cab 2500HD with a 4:10 and 6.0 motor. I tow 7500 lbs with no problems at all. Up or down hills. I had a 5.3 prior to the new truck and I wondered if I was going to make it up the hills from the Ohio river. I think if I had to tow 10,000 lbs I would go with either the 8.1 or the diesel. So far I am getting 14 mpg out of my 6.0.

You must drive like a granny... 17.8 mpg on a PSD? A 28 Skater w/ twin OB's weighs about half what a Cig Top Gun weighs so your towing mileage is better than most on this board.

The pay off on a diesel is about 80,000 miles when you take everything into account.

Most of the diesels get 15-16 unloaded according to the people I talk too.

Besides, they sound like Broken,Broken,Broken at idle.





Wannabe

Duramax is a $5,300 upgrade and using the info from post #31 of this thread, it would actually take more than 150,000 miles (closer to 158K actually) to make up the difference between gas and diesel by comparing just fuel prices. I would guess that routine maintenance would probably be about the same. If you plan on keeping your truck that long or driving LOTS of mileage, you won't see a cost recovery over the diesel until that point. Of course this is assuming that the MPG figures of 12.5 and 15.5 would be constant for both the gas and diesel respectively. That's alot of miles in order to reach the break-even point. I haven't kept a truck long enough in the past 8 years to even come close to justifying the difference.

I'm not saying that diesel isn't the way to go as it has it's obvious advantages. I'm just putting the numbers together

After doing some checking the differance between the 8.1 and the duramax is $3360.

$5310 Duramax Diesel
$2295 Allison Transmission
$ 295 Heavy duty locking rear differential

$7900 total
- $1000 for a powerpackage discount = $6900

$950 8.1 Gas upgrade
$2295 Allison Trans.
$295 Rear Diff.
total of $3540

$6900 - $3540 = $3360

Cordell

Ok,
Just to let you know I was not messing around here is a pic of my new tow vehicle. 2004 Chevrolet 2500HD. I weighed out all of the options and ended up with the 8.1/Allison combo that I think will suit my needs.
Thanks for all the input.
Cordell