I just thought I would throw this out there. I know alot of guys question the ability to tow AND pull good numbers. As everyone has heard, yes it can be done IF your truck is set up right. Well, I hooked the 06 up to my 5th wheel (2002 Carriage F27RKS) and drove from Sacramento, CA to Roseburg, OR, then on to Richland, WA this week. How did it perform? Towed better than I ever expected. Here's the set up -
2006 4x4 QC Long bed
BD Twins
TST
Smarty
100hp injectors
II Stage 2 CP3
FASS 150/200 45psi
Suncoast Race trans (#5, waiting for #6, I'll explain in a minute)
Truck - wieghs 7300 with 1/4 tank of fuel, no spare tire, and nothing in the cab but me. Loaded down the tool box with enough tools to drop the rear suspension an inch! I would guess truck was in the 9k range. ALso riding on 315's with 3. 73 gears.
Trailer - 28ft Carriage Cameo with 2 slides, loaded with full load of water, stuff for work, food for a month, and everything the Diesel dog needs to hang with his daddy, weighs just over 13k, and is 12'6" tall!
Power Settings -
Smarty - SW#4 - 90hp without timing
TST - 2/3
Remember this truck has 100hp injectors!
On 5-7% grades going up north of Redding into Oregon and into Roseburg, in OD I saw a high temp of 1200-1220* on the TST gauge @ about 24psi of boost. I did have some smoke trailing off, but at those EGT's it sure wasn't a concern. This is with the cruise set at 65, and I NEVER scrubbed any speed. RPMS where right in the 1600 range. Just lugged all the way up the hills, never got over 200* on coolant. These grades can last as long as 7 miles! Just for grins, I decided to pull it out of OD on a hill and see how it did. RPMs came up to about 2400, boost went to 30psi, and EGTs went to 950*!! Zero smoke under throttle.
Only problem on the road was the Transmission. So, going up the Dunsmur grade, the front clutches slip and weld up. Truck has no Nuetral or reverse (great for parking 5th wheels!). I did manage to continue the trip all the way to Richland, and the transmission did not hinder performance at all. Just had to plan ahead to stay out of situations where I would have to back up. We have been fighting a front clutch issue for some time now. They just won't stay together. So, under warranty, with a bit of persuasion on my end, Suncoast is shipping me a WHOLE NEW unit. They finally agree with me that there is something up with this one, and the front clutches are bleeding off pressure. We'll see how that works out in about a week or so.
Bottom line here - the twins and the right progams on the boxes make it very possible to tow pretty heavy wieghts with quite a lot of power. Mileage was reasonable I think for the driving I was doing. Between Corning, CA and Coburg, OR, where the majority of the big hills were, I averaged 11. 3 mpg, keeping the speedo set at 63-65mph most of the time, only slowing when some dingleberry was drivng to slow and I couldn't pass em.
I have been saying for ever that BD has put together a DARNED nice set of turbos, and I think this is a great way to show what they are capable of. Look at my mods, and you'll see there is some power there. If you want to truely use you truck for both worlds, twins are the only option, unless someone can provide some input on comperable performance with a single?
Anbody have something to add? Questions?