Towing question

[cwarner]

Lately I've been towing quite a bit, kind of a new side job since I will be loosing my job at the end of the month.



Most of the loads I've been towing are between 7000# -10000#'s



The questions I have are:



1) a couple of times I've had to take it out of overdrive going up a steep grade and I had the RPM's around 2400-2500. Is this too much ?



2) I normally tow around 2000-2100 rpms in OD (70-75mph), is this overly abusing the truck ?



I love this truck and plan on keeping it a LONG time but due to job circumstances I have to take some of these side jobs but in the same turn I don't want to abuse the hell out of it either.

Any recommendations for towing these kind of loads ?

 

[Koa Man]

If you are towing 7-10K with the factory hitch, I would change it to a class V, if you have not already done so. The rpms you are running will not hurt the engine at all. You can run all day at those rpms. You CAN hurt the transmission real easy by excess temps. I would put in an EGT and trans temp gauge at the least.

 

[cwarner]

Koa man,

Yes, I've already upgraded the hitch.



I'm reluctant to add gauges but probably will , at least a trans temp.

This is my thinking (I could be wrong and probably am) , the factory puts out a truck , so in theory if the truck remains stock I should have no problems with EGT's , right ? Now if I add an Edge EZ or something then I will get an EGT gauge.



At 2500rpm's that thing sounds like it's going to jump right thru the hood !!!

 

[SOOT]

With my 4. 10 gears I turn 2500 RPM's at 70 MPH the speed limit here on the interstate is 75MPH. I usually set cruise at about 77MPH. Plays heck with fuel milage running the R's that high, over 140,000 miles and no problemsOo.



It will run at 3000 all day long with out hurting it. Diesel's run best at just under redline.

 

[sbiel]

towing help

I'd look into the Maghytek (sp) transmission and differential coolers, with a high quality synthetic gear lube / trans fluid. Got mine from Geno's and am very happy with them !!!



steve

 

[K_Arts]

Originally posted by cwarner

This is my thinking (I could be wrong and probably am) , the factory puts out a truck , so in theory if the truck remains stock I should have no problems with EGT's , right ? Now if I add an Edge EZ or something then I will get an EGT gauge.



At 2500rpm's that thing sounds like it's going to jump right thru the hood !!!

To answer your question above about having no EGT probs. My wifes truck is a STOCK... truck except she has my HX-35 turbo to replace her HY-35 turbo (pre 2001 auto's came with hx-35 turbo's anyways... ).



When I jump on the throttle I can see 1300 degrees preturbo before I back out. Honestly I would bet I could get her truck around 1350 if not 1400 degrees... again this a totally stock auto truck. After I saw how hot her truck runs I will never own another diesel without an EGT gauge. The information that you gain by having one of these gauges well over rides the cost of the gauge.



Also to add to this discussion, I have towed our 3500lb boat several times with the wifes truck and I will NEVER put her truck into OD while towing. After getting the DTT mods, I realized how poorly designed the stock transmission is and the last thing I need on my mind is getting stuck somewhere due to the transmission falling apart on me.



Kev

 

[98rammer]

just push the OD button and leave your foot about 3/4 of the way up. let the tc lock up in 3rd to help keep the temps down. besides the syn fluids and mag pan, that's about all you can do without modding the transmission and motor.