gross combined weight

[AHuber]

I have a 2001 ,2500 two wheel drive quad cab auto 4 speed long bed with the 3. 54 axle. TSB #18-015-00 reflash by the dealer. The truck is 100% stock . The book say's my gross combined weight is 16,000 lbs. With my trailer hooked up and truck loaded I weigh 15,300 lbs. How many of you are pulling more weight with stock and are you able to use the cruise control in overdrive ? Can you give me a preformance report ?

Thanks

Al

 

[Goddard]

i know my truck is differant but here it is. with the 5ver i am about 23000 give or take. yes i use cruise in od or sixth gear. seems to work quite well on the highway and not in the hills of course. see sig for truck

 

[dsnook]

Al,

I can use cruise when pulling my 5th, at least on the freeway, and other fairly flat terrain. I have a 24' Nash, that when loaded for camping weighs 6500lbs, for a GCW of 13,700lbs. Performance is good, passing other rigs is no sweat. I average about 12 mpg when towing, but I only have 7200 miles on the truck. This truck tows so much better than my gasser, or my other previous diesels, that there really isn't any comparision.



I thought that the GCRW of the Cummins powered 2500s was somewhere around 20,000lbs.



Dennis

 

[Ray Torresdal]

cruise

Grossing 25,500 I use the cruise - its the only way to keep the speed down to where the troopers and tires don't complain. See signiture for bombs. Ray

 

[WMeyers]

Al,



I've got exactly the same truck as you except it's a 2000 (2 wheel drive, quad cab, auto, 3. 5 rear end, stock) and my combined weight is 13, 925. With that rear end ratio I find that my speed has to be close to 65 mph in overdrive to have the rpm's stay above the 1500 or 1600 minimum that I think DTT and others recommend to keep the pressure up for the stock transmission when towing. What that means for me is that I'm able to use OD sometimes on the interstate but rarely elsewhere. If I knew then what I think I know now, I would have gotten the 4. 1 rear end.



Wayne

 

[klenger]

Here's my take on it. If you are are close to your GCWR, ...



3. 54 = No OD while towing, except at speeds too high to be safe.



4. 10 = OD works great at speeds over 55 MPH. RPM's are about 2200.

 

[BLee]

My truck sounds identical to yours, except mine is short bed to fit the garage. I'm stock, too. My trailer is a triple slide with 2 a/c's. It weighs 12,500 without fluids, and that's the only way I tow it. You do the math for GCWR. The truck has 20M miles on it, about 5M of that towing. Because of the weight towed, I tow only in direct drive at 60 mph, 2300 rpm. A little slow perhaps, but I always get there eventually, and I can stop it all if I have to. I'm looking very seriously at an ATS T/C and V/B upgrade now before I tear anything up. My truck really doesn't get into it's power band in OD unless I want to break all the speed laws here in Oklahoma, so direct drive makes sense to me. Then when I'm not towing, which is most of the time, that 3. 54 diff gives me excellent mileage. Bottom line is I tow in third gear locked up. I'll add an Edge EZ soon, but I doubt that I'll speed up much even if OD becomes easier to use.

 

[kprice]

towing

My rig is the same as yours only 4 wheel drive which does not change the GCVW. As you can see by my sig I changed to the DTT transmission now but heres the feed back

I tow a boat and the GCVW is at 15750. Last year I towed this rig about 5000 miles and used the OD when vehicle speeds above 55 were reached. . Never had problem. When the transmission was disassembled for the upgrade it looked fine no burn marks etc. The guys at DTT agreed with the way I run but having said all that I like the upgrade. Power to the ground is noticeablely better but the biggest thing is peace of mind. In hind sight I would do everything the same except the injectors. Just dont need the II's. Edge was enough.

 

[jbone]

First CTD was 98. 5 2500 2-wheel drive... . could use the cruise, but only on wide open Interstate (65-70 mph)... see signature... this truck with the training wheels sure feels better... and the 4. 10 allows me to use cruise at lower speeds..... if your going to have the auto vs the stick, you just have to drive differently... . I think the EZ was best thing I did (air cleaner lessest)... . you will have to modify the transmission if you want exhaust brake (period). You can get away with changes for awhile, but I'm saving now for up-grade to transmission... ... ... ... ... . R, J. B.