3g power

[Kurt Henzler]

I just drove a 3500srw slt quad cab with 4. 1 gears. I have a 2001 2500 ho six speed that is completely stock with 50,000k. There was a noticable differerne in power with mine being much more. Do they get more power after a few miles on them? or do you thing something was wrong with this truck. I took my 60 year old dad with me to show him how nice the 3g's are and why I want a new one , and he thought I was crazy for wanting one . "your truck goes anywhere in sixth gear, why would you want one of those dogs" he said. please help me here, these truck have to run better than mine the numbers are there. more hp and more torque, Right?

 

[MidwestMotorman]

My 99 took about 60k miles to finally see the power gain level off. Power seems a lot better after the first 20k of driving. Lots of other owners will tell you more miles meant better power.

 

[DBVZ]

No location shown in your post. Are you in California? A California truck has a de-tuned SO, with 70ph less than the HO.

 

[Casey Balvert]

From personal experience I foung a BIG difference in performance between the truck fresh off the lot and now that it has 3,000 miles on it. Also fuel efficiency gets better with each tankful. Oo.



FWIW



Casey

 

[Kurt Henzler]

i am not in a restricted zone, Pittsburgh pa. i just want to he from you guys and tell me that it gets better. i want a a 3g truck so bad, but am afraid to sell or trade mine, it runs so good and pulls so strong.



How about those that are towing and had a stock 01 or 02, are the 3g's the same, better, or too early to tell?



thanks in advance.

 

[Dean Upson]

Kurt,



This may not help, but I had a stock 98. 5 w/5speed and 4. 10's. I traded to an '03 and this new truck was born to tow.



Dean

 

[kchristopher]

What gear ratio do you have in your current truck?

 

[Dean Upson]

I have the 4. 10's, the new truck is configured pretty much the same as the old one except that the 6 speed was not available when I got the '98. 5. If you pull a heavy load, the 4. 10's are rated higher.



Dean

 

[Pit Bull]

Originally posted by Kurt Henzler



i just want to hear from you guys and tell me that it gets better. i want a a 3g truck so bad,

Kurt, let me finish this for you.



and I don't want my dad calling me stupid for the next 5 years, because I traded a great truck in on



Kurt did that pretty much sum up what your really concerned about? I think you have enough posts to give you the ammo you need to go back and tell dad that your new 3g will get stronger every day and if it doesn't just don't let dad drive it :-laf

 

[Dean Upson]

I traded in a wonderful, low mileage 98. 5 and I missed it for nearly a mile .



Dean

 

[jimnance]

I wouldn't order the 4. 10's even though they give you a higher GCVWR. My rig is pretty darn heavy (over GCVWR) and the HO pulls and performs fine with the 3. 73's. The 6 speed transmission and axle are darn near indestructable, and with the low first gear I can idle from a stop even with a GCVW of 22,000K.



The RPM's unladen at 70 MPH are about 2250 with the 3. 73's. For me, that's high enough. Also, flat land towing at 65 MPH is going to be about 2050 RPM, right in the meat of the power band.



I like my 3. 73's.

 

[Dean Upson]

Jim,



I agree with you about the rpms. Here on the east coast where I do most of my driving, it is impractical to tow at 70 mph. I do most of my driving around 60 mph and about 1950 rpms. I considered the 3. 73's with my truck, but decided to stick with the 4. 10's because of the extra capacity. I had 3. 54's in my 94 and it towed the trailer I had at the time pretty well, but the 4. 10's in my 98 were a great improvent. I do think the 3. 73's are a fine ratio, but it depends on where you tow and how fast you are going to do it .



Dean

 

[yogibear]

jimnance. one of us has either a tach, or speedo off. Mine runs 2050 at 70mph. w/3:73's, and I know my speedo is right on. I was surprised, cause my 00 w/3:54's ran 2000 at 70mph, maybe my tach is off.

Kurt, if your only going to run 55 to 65mph, get the 4:10's, if you want to make some time going down the rd. , get the 3:73's, they will pull anything you want to. I've got 31K+ miles now, and coming home from Tampa, Fl. last week,1683mi. , I averaged 20. 8 mpg, running 65 to 75mph, and a few times 80 while passing. That is pencil(cal. ) figures, comp. showed 20. 1 mpg. I del. a 38' 5er in Tampa, avg. 9. 9mpg going down, pulling the same speed. I started up Eagle mt. at 60mph, topped it at 62mph in 5th, if I would have had a little help, might have topped it in 6th.

Hope this helps.



Larry

 

[D808]

The higher power is definitely noticeable with the 3G HO's. However, because of the different reving characteristics of the new common-rail system, the additional power doesn't seem that noticeable until fifth and sixth gears are attained. For me, the newly-found grunt seems to really show it's stuff when I get to fifth and sixth gears! I believe the new HO has the additional horsepower and torque as advertised, but it's just harder to realize in the lower gears because the engines rev slower than the previous ones. This is just my theory. What do the rest of you guys think????

 

[yogibear]

Federalman, I really think they rev just as fast, but the slow drop off bet. gears makes it seem that way. I don't like that, but have to get used to it. The low end on mine is a lot better than my 00, in 4th or 5th, empty, I can drop to 1400rpm, and it comes on a lot stronger, but I'm sure the 70hp more helps make it that way. My 00 didn't come on til 1600- 1700rpm. I could live with the stock power, but another 50-60hp would help getting over some of those big "hills" without dropping to 5th. JMHO, I just hope it doesn't mess up my mileage. Now I don't get that good of mileage all the time, the conditions were just right, temps. , wind etc. Bucking a strong head wind, and cold temps will drop it to 17. 5 - 19mpg.

Got to hit the rd. , be back in a couple of days.



Larry

 

[Steve M]

We just returned from a first trip down the interstate and accross the Sunshine Skyway Bridge with our '03 towing. Our high profile 5th wheel weighs 10,400 lbs. There's a 15-20mph wind from the north today to add to the challenge. With our '01. 5 auto/3. 54 we used to lose speed on every hill or overpass. Our '03 auto/4. 10 SO maintains speed easily up the hills and overpasses even with a strong headwind. Going up the . 5 mile 3. 5% grade of the Skyway bridge, I was able to maintain 65mph in O/D. I slowed to 58mph and downshifted to 3rd and the new Cummins is still very quiet at 2700-2900rpm. We stopped at the rest area and took some pictures before heading back to the house. The truck has 750miles on it. I'm very happy with the power of our new '03.

Our '98 12v 5spd/4. 10 was also a great puller but 2500rpm all day long was very tiring with the noise competing with any conversation or the stereo.

The differences in speed and rpm could be the difference in tire sizes with the dually and SRW. Also the auto has a 69% O/D, 5pd O/D is 75%, and the 6spd is 73%. 5spd O/D adds about 200rpm at 70mph compared to my auto with 4. 10.

 

[jimnance]

The comparison of an older HO to the '03 HO reminds me when Cummins first came out with the 855 engine nicknamed the fuel squeezer. I had lots of torque, but RPM's didn't build as quick as with the old engine, nor did they drop as rapidly.



Once you got used to the engine you realized it had plenty of power, but compared to earlier engines it just didn't feel like it.



If someone else is getting 70 MPH at 2000 RPM I either have 4. 10's or the speedo is off. Guess I'd better check both.

 

[kchristopher]

Originally posted by jimnance

If someone else is getting 70 MPH at 2000 RPM I either have 4. 10's or the speedo is off. Guess I'd better check both.

Perhaps they have an auto? I know it took a move to 255/85-16s (about 33") to get 2000 rpm at 70. NV4500/3. 54s.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Mine also does about 2250 at 70.

 

[Dean Upson]

Someone posted this link some time back. It will calculate your rpm's at a given speed. http://www.f-body.org/gears/



Dean