Towing with gas engines?
 

I bought a '07 3500 Classic for a work truck with the 6.0 gas and 4:10 rear end. This thing doesn't pull for chit:( Now I am wishing I would have sprung for the diesel.

Is anyone else having problems or is it just me?

Me and Tanner "TONTO" have the same boats and same dually's mines the Duramax and his is the 8.0, he helped me pickup my boat a couple of years ago, and he did some of the driving back to his place and said he would get a Duramax next time. We took the same roads he always does from Miami, so he could compare each hill and how the truck handled with the same loads. Duramax's are awsome for towing, I love mine it's my second Duramax.

Warparty36, hate to say so, but there have been plenty threads on here explaining the 6.0 is not good for towing more than a couple of jet-skis.

duramax!
 

I love my duramax 3500 dually...I pull a 386 sonic w/it and no problem...I had a 6.0 in my last truck(hd 2500)and pulled a 31 sonic w/no problem either...surprised to hear the complaints of the 6liter... maybe the 2500 - 3500 makes a difference...a friend pulls his 40' fountain with a 6 liter 2500 and has no problem...guess we just got good ones:rolleyes:

I bought this as a work truck for in town delivery, and sometimes to pull a small gooseneck. I will never have my boat behind it.

tts has a programmer for that motor some diferent rocker arms exhaust and intake kit will help a bit.

I owned 0ne GM 6.0 and never understood why it burned so much fuel . No power for towing . Got rid of it after 40k (kms).
I only wish I dumped it sooner for a Diesel . See if you can give it back quick .

I towed a 28' Nordic Heat with my 2500HD with the 6.0 and hated it. 7 MPG and no torque whatsoever.

This time, I went with dually diesel so I never have to worry about it again...

I have a gas 8.1 in a 2001 GMC, it has 173K miles on it, and has pulled many boats 38 ft to 40ft with no problem. It was a left over, and was wondering if i made a mistake. but it has served me wel so far, got have new brakes put on, other than that it has run flawless. If i ever buy a new big tow vehicle again it will be the duramax! one of our work trucks is a F-450 with a diesel 6.0 and it is a POS, and its for sale as well. They just bought a 07 with a duramax.

I had a 2000 GMC 6.0 and it sucked for mileage, so I went to a 2002 crew cab Duramax and then a 2004 crew cab dually for my customers boats and my 41 Apache.

test drove a new 6 liter gas HD once. Found it to be gutless just on an empty test-drive.
Three HD's, one 8.1 and two DMax's all 3.73 axles

The price to be paid for the 8.1 was about $600 up front and from all reports about 2 mpg worse than the 6.0 all the time. Though I thought the 8.1 did a helluva job with 10-12K in tow for a gasser.

DMax and couldn't go back.

I have the 8.1 Bubba, it tows fine I can kkep up with the diesal guys, just have to fill up more often. I keep looking at diesal truck, but I just love mine, I wont get rid of it until I have too. I'm actually thinking of doing a raylar towing upgrade and of course the speed wont hurt..I've been clocked at 127 in it.

Problem with the 6.0 is ya have to spoon it up.

Does the classic still have the 4L80 instead of the new 6spds? that would be one of the problems right there.
I'd say throw one of these on www.ststurbo.com Some have said it actually improves mpg while empty and makes it feel like the 8.1 when pulling.
Otherwise, a good intake and long tubed headers would be about the best/easiest bolt-ons.

I agree, I had an 8.1L and it did great, but this thing sucks. Chevy should have stuck with the 8.1L.

put in a 502 mpi.........

Check into a Gear Vendors overdrive unit. http://www.gearvendors.com/

I've run them in a few trucks and cars and they really make a big difference. You can go to a lower rear end gear and the GV OD splits the gears, giving you a lot more torque.

I need another truck with diesel but for now this Ram pulls the 42 ok. Had to rebuild rears 2 yrs ago, Dana 60 8 lug... 4.10....360 gas.

Once I'm on the freeway, it goes ok. Elect/Hyd brakes are the cats a$$.

I have a 2006 F250 3v V10 4.10 gears 4x4 crew cab pulls my 29 outlaw really well.. it weighs boat and trailer weigh about 9000 lbs., but you are towing alot more boat....

Towing
 

Warparty; With the 4.10 it should not be that bad. Try a Volant intake and a Hypertech tuner. That should help the torque curve and give you 20 ft. lb across the board, (I would tune for premium at first). If you bought the 2007 "classic" why not just buy a 2006 Duramax? There are some leftover units around I think.

Wannabe

I had a 2003 Duramax crew cab dually last summer. In the hills, it had to work hard to keep the speed up even if it was only a 29 Fever. Will these engines last long when they are run on WOT for longer periods? If it was a 47, I would not think it would be very fast. What about those guys who pump out 500 hps on them? Will they last? I guess it is a big differece wether you haul on a flat area or in steep hils.

Call bryan at www.pcmforless.com. You have a 4l80 in that truck so go ahead and get a reprogramed pcm with zero torque managment in it. The LQ4 motor you have in there has another (real) 50 horse in it with only a pcm tune. Dont buy any other computer stuff. That will wake it up for real.

No kidding....typical E docker...buy it for looks:evilb:

You can run them wide open for long times to keep a gear hot...I think it is better to scream the diesels than let them start to bog and get out of there torque curve....it is not like there turning alot of rpms....yes they are lasting with 500 hp tuned to them....the trans need upgrades on gms more than 40 to 60 hp tunes..there is much more management needed than just slapping a box tune to these trucks....as people are finding out .

I was starting to wonder about my 6.0 gaser myself on the 07 2500HD I just bought. Seemed dogish but now that I have a 1ooo miles on it it's really seemed to wake up and run!

Probably a stupid question but do they use the computer to de-tune em or something for a few hundred miles during break in when they are new???

Been gone awhile
 

I haven't been on offshore only for a couple of years, but good to see some things never change, Gas vs Diesel. I used to to have an '89 3500 7.4 dually, that was built to tow, 9 mpg empty, 6 mpg pulling a 40 ' performer. But it had power lots, used to like passing the rver's going up hill, but anyway, Now I have a 93 3500 dually 6.5 td, I know its old but, it has a rebuilt 6.5, 4 " exhaust, 3" tube air intake, cowl hood, rear air ride, getting intercooler next week, and that thing pulls. 15 mpg towing empty trailer(4500 lbs) and 9-10 towing loaded (16,000 lbs) It might be old it's awsome. I would never go back to gas. I can't wait to be able to get a D- MAX, that's next for the little truck anyway.
Thanks
www.offshoregoup.net

I got a hopped up 6.5 in my 94 3/4 ton Sub.......whose intercooler are you getting??......kennedys??

I am looking at 2 different ones on e bay, I have to go back to www.thedieselpage.com to see wich size fits best. We were hoping to do some other mods this year, but we are running out of time. It's going to be boat moving season soon. Oh, we are putting the dual thermostats and water pump also.
Thanks

Herman

www.offshoregroup.net