There are tunes out there that will wake them up a lot... removes the dead pedal and a lot of the torque management BS. A 4500# trailer shouldn’t be an issue whatsoever, I towed plenty of heavy shit with a 2500 ‘burb with 3.73’s and it never felt taxed. We tow fucking skid steers around with 6.0 trucks, a small camper shouldn’t be an issue.
Chevy Express 3500 tuning
- Thread starter pdalach
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it's a side step.
diesel excursion would be an upgrade.
go eat something. you're hangry.
lol
Yeah...I'll talk to my mechanic about getting the 4.10. I think a transmission cooler and tune might also be in order.
Here is the question I have: As I need a van for the next 8-10 years (until my oldest leaves the nest), and say I get my current van spiffed out for towing...can it feasibly last another 10 years? I don't know the lifespan of these vehicles. We're below 80k miles on our 2006, and we put only 5-8k miles a year. But at some point, other parts are going to start rotting. Worth just getting something newer? Or can our "workhorse pig" make it?
Yeah...I'll talk to my mechanic about getting the 4.10. I think a transmission cooler and tune might also be in order.
Here is the question I have: As I need a van for the next 8-10 years (until my oldest leaves the nest), and say I get my current van spiffed out for towing...can it feasibly last another 10 years? I don't know the lifespan of these vehicles. We're below 80k miles on our 2006, and we put only 5-8k miles a year. But at some point, other parts are going to start rotting. Worth just getting something newer? Or can our "workhorse pig" make it?
k
there's like 3-4 other people in this thread alone, towing with 6.0 gassers who seem to not have issues.
v10 ferd would 100% not be a HUGE upgrade. sidestep at absolute best. as long as the truck could hopefully keep a front end under it.
but it cant
lol K.
my truck pulls my ~10kish boat all over the KY hills & mountains and back twice a year without hesitation. but you do you man. tell us more about how sweet the 6.8 v10 is in a thread where someone is trying to get help for their current vehicle.
Don’t step backwards into an older vehicle that would give you marginal gains. Your van has plenty of parts to keep it running, it’s just whether you think it’s worth to continue to put money into it. Parts for the 6.0 and trans are cheap enough, and the rest should be as cheap as trucks get. You could try and step into a newer one with the 6 speed auto, which would probably help with your towing too, even if you retained the 6.0.
Bottom line though, even in stock form, your van shouldn’t struggle, even at altitude, with a 4500-5000 pound trailer. Just because it doesn’t have many miles, doesn’t mean it can’t have issues. Not that I’m not trusting your mechanic, but there’s gotta be SOMETHING else going on here
They did make a Dmax Express too now then getting one in a passenger configuration may be a bit of a trip though. Heck getting a 3500 in a passenger configuration was probably a bit of a trip IMO. They also made some 7400/8100 vans if I remember right. Now then I wouldn't want to have the MPG conversation around that but it may be a better option. Then again for the difference in coin you may be better off just trying to shove a cam in your current engine and do cooling upgrades as mentioned. HPT/datalogger is likely the first part of the conversation. I am wondering if you're getting detuned because of temperatures somewhere especially in the transmission and a towing torque converter may be worth looking into.
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