Learn me some duramax stuff. (dad bought a '12)

[Shibby50]

My dad finally broke down and traded in his 6.0 for a 2012 duramax.

Bought it as a leftover New truck. Immediately got the mod bug, but we know nothing of diesels or the drivelines.
So far he's just got the basics out of the way, tint, fitted mud flaps, rhino lined wheel wells and bed etc.

So the big question here is, is it worth voiding the warranty to do an intake/ exhaust (dpf delete) and tuner?
Do the stock drivelines hold up well to these mods for a long time? The truck will see probably less then 5k a year on it except to tow the camper down south hunting and my car to the track aside from weekend cruising. And he does not plan on lifting it or anything except maybe bigger tires. Ill try and post pics later.
Any insight/ enlightenment on this would help a lot as I'm not sure what direction to lead him in lol.

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[Yaj Yak]

me personally- i don't know much about the newer ones here... but i would get bigger tires at a minimum on it real quick. the factory tires are barely big enough to fill up a stock cherokee's wheel housing let alone that of a full size beastly truck.

and in my head...i always feel like if i am buying tires, i might as well buy wheels i like too.

does exhaust for sure void the warrantY? i'd stay away from doing an intake- from older stuff that i know it barely does anything typically.

 

[Shibby50]

me personally- i don't know much about the newer ones here... but i would get bigger tires at a minimum on it real quick. the factory tires are barely big enough to fill up a stock cherokee's wheel housing let alone that of a full size beastly truck.

and in my head...i always feel like if i am buying tires, i might as well buy wheels i like too.

does exhaust for sure void the warrantY? i'd stay away from doing an intake- from older stuff that i know it barely does anything typically.

It has the forged 20's on it so the tires dont look like the car tires that come on the 18's lol. It'll get bigger ones eventually, but these are brand new and there's just no need for it quite yet.

 

[Yaj Yak]

right on

 

[RICH17]

I"d definately look at a tuner and exhaust. But it will void your warranty. The intake could benefit froma K&N drop in I'm sure tho.

Drivetrain should hold up just fine but I would look into a trans temp gauge to monitor things while towing

 

[Shibby50]

Quick pic of it barely fitting in the garage lol

 

[Shibby50]

I"d definately look at a tuner and exhaust. But it will void your warranty. The intake could benefit froma K&N drop in I'm sure tho.

Drivetrain should hold up just fine but I would look into a trans temp gauge to monitor things while towing

The Allison's come with a built in temp gauge

We know it'll void the warranty, was just looking into how well they hold up to the basic mods like that. Trying to see if he should be worried about it really. He is 50 btw not like me where it'll get the shit beat out if it everyday.

 

[RICH17]

Does it actually read in numbers too or just hot to cold?

Brians 6.0 PSD Excusion has a factory temp gauge but reads hot to cold and I am not a fan. I'd rather have a number

 

[Shibby50]

Does it actually read in numbers too or just hot to cold?

Brians 6.0 PSD Excusion has a factory temp gauge but reads hot to cold and I am not a fan. I'd rather have a number

Cuz it's a ford lol. Just chcked to make sure, it shows actual numbers.

 

[Bru]

Even if you turn the tune back to stock, the techs will know it's been tuned. There are provisions in place to specifically catch modded tuned diesels because of the common parts failures once they're cookin with a tune. Can't remember all the specifics and couldn't verify for certain, but a GM diesel engineer told us this at a dinner when the new HDs first came out a few years ago. But it sounds like you're prepared to void the warranty anyway

 

[Shibby50]

Even if you turn the tune back to stock, the techs will know it's been tuned. There are provisions in place to specifically catch modded tuned diesels because of the common parts failures once they're cookin with a tune. Can't remember all the specifics and couldn't verify for certain, but a GM diesel engineer told us this at a dinner when the new HDs first came out a few years ago. But it sounds like you're prepared to void the warranty anyway

He's pretty torn on it. It's his first NEW truck he's ever bought but he says he's getting old and wants to enjoy it lol. We know that they can see even when it's put back to stock this was more of trying to figure out if the truck can handle the basic mods pretty easily or if they die pretty fast from just a tune and bolt ons. We have no friends with trucks so were kinda going from scratch

 

[Outlaw]

Quick pic of it barely fitting in the garage lol

Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg

 

[Outlaw]

Also, it has a factory trans temp gauge if that wasn't clarified.

 

[Shibby50]

Yeah hnggg is right. Wish I could afford it. First diesel I've ever driven

 

[Outlaw]

Diesel is my next purchase

 

[Handsome Jesus]

diesel is the best. Makes your garage smell nice too.

Nice truck dad.

exhaust, but make it not drone if you can.

 

[ktraver97ss]

Yeah Im sure he will be fine with it tuned and exhaust, only being driven that much and like you said he is not going to be launching it and doing burnouts and shit. Id get one of the bullydog deals so you can change the tune on the fly from economy to different power levels. That with a nice free flowing exhaust would make that truck fun. have him keep an eye on trans temps and get a bigger cooler if he sees any high temps after the tune or while towing. I would also level it and stuff some bigger meats in there, but thats me.

Also, I am mega-jelly, thats a sick truck.

 

[Handsome Jesus]

check if it has the towing package? usually those have bigger trans pans and external coolers.

Mine never goes over 170°F with the towing package.

 

[Shibby50]

check if it has the towing package? usually those have bigger trans pans and external coolers.

Mine never goes over 170°F with the towing package.

Yep LT with the tow package. I'm starting to think he got the right truck lol

 

[ktraver97ss]

Yes, yes he did. i gotta chubby at least.

 

[SleeperLS]

Sweet Jesus that is a nice truck. My neighbors boyfriend or something has a deep purple one. I will try to take a pic of it next time it is there. He has some wheel and tire combo that is perfect for the truck. It is safe to say your old man has good taste.

 

[6literEat'r]

word of advice, make sure the exhaust fluid is full and not run empty/low...llol im not kidding..exhaust fluid for the afterburner for emissions...it will give you headaches and youll be limping it to a dealer to have fluid put in.

 

[Shibby50]

My dad gets the fluid for free. His company work truck uses the same stuff lol. So that's always topped off. Thanks for the heads up though.

 

[Runtz52]

Quick pic of it barely fitting in the garage lol

how much shit did you guys have to move to fit it in there

 

[DEEZUZ]

Quick pic of it barely fitting in the garage lol

just quoting the picture, cause it seems to be the cool thing to do...