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Great suggestions. Love the conversion as well! We’re headed to SLC, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone Late June-Mid July. So hoping to get everything buttoned up and ready for that trip.
I was thinking of adding an additional Aux trans cooler before the trip.
Do you think the shocks are necessary? Did it make a huge difference?
Bilstein shocks made a huge difference in the front of my 3500 short wheelbase that is often almost empty inside (just a few kids and junk in the back around town). Before them it would porpoise up and down at highway speeds with less than 30 k MI on the factory shocks. Towing you will want them at both ends as I am sure I would if the back end was ever full. Also from a friend with a 3500 that tows make sure you get a weight distribution hitch. If you don't get a trans cooler at least get an OBD2 connector and Torque app to view trans temp.
I bought a used 2014 Express 2500 passenger, standard wheelbase with 6.0 engine. It had 45,000 miles and was previously owned by the government. I bought it to tow a 7,000lb travel trailer, so this is what I did: The shocks were worn so I installed new Bilstein's, which greatly improved the ride. I added Sumo Springs to the rear to prevent sag and they also smoothed out the ride over bumps. I added the Curt Class V hitch along with a 7 pin wiring socket and an Anderson weight distribution hitch. I had a rear end specialty shop install a Detroit Tru-trac gear-type limited slip, (if I only have one drive axle, at least I want both wheels to be pushing me forward). I thought about gearing up from 3.42 to 4.10 but figured I'd try towing awhile before deciding. At some point I'll probably add a transmission cooler, the 6L90 is supposed to be a pretty robust trans, but additional cooling when towing can only help. I use a Tekonsha 90920 Prodigy iD brake controller with the main body under the steering column and only the control **** needs to be mounted in the dash. I also added a bunch of other comfort and convenience upgrades, but they don't directly contribute to towing.
I tow a Grand Design 2670MK with has an empty weight of 6,845 and a max weight of 8,495, so I'm within the weight requirements for the vehicle and trailer. I towed it up the Sunol grade where it maintained 60 all the way and will be going over a 7,000 ft pass later in the summer, so we'll see how it does in real mountains. So far I'm super pleased - even before setting up the weight distribution hitch the rear end only sagged 1/2". The ride and handling was great, and I hardly knew the trailer was even there.
I added Bilstein shocks, front and rear and with a load, it rides like a Cadillac.
11-11.5 MPG with trailer at 55-60 mph. 18-20 mpg without trailer at 65-70 mph. On SoCal freeways.
Going in for its 100K Service (currently 88k miles) before I go to Wyoming. I'll be adding a HD trans cooler at that time.
The mirrors 4500? Have a pt number or more info thanks.
Here's some ideas... I have 6 kids, so we bring a lot of stuff when we camp. Our trailer is a 35' "extreme lite" that weighs about 6500# empty, and 7600-7800 loaded (maybe a little more on longer trips).
If I was doing it again, I'd get a heavier-duty hitch for peace-of-mind. The vans are limited to 1000# of tongue weight on the hitch, and you can easily meet or exceed that with a heavier travel trailer. I had no idea I was over 1600# on the hitch until I bought a tongue scale (
). A beefier hitch doesn't change the van's limit, but there's a lot of stress happening back there. (My van never gave me any indications that I was overloading it).
Did the Mishimoto transmission oil cooler upgrade this weekend. Not thrilled about the transmission line routing I had to do so will be looking to try to swap in a hard line so it looks better once i find the right tools to make them. So far so good but another issue I found was my ODB port is not powering up my ScanGauge so no easy way to watch temp levels on the transmission - ugh.
Next will be the Bilstein shocks.
For reference - 2009 Chevy Express 3500 15 passenger van with the 6.0
Knight13, I had to request a special code from Scangauge to measure trans temp on our 2014 4500 chassis. They sent me a data logger to use and send back to them, they then sent the correct setup code. The cooler I installed made about a 20-30 degree change in temps. We weigh about 18K lbs with our Jeep in tow.
Gary
and how is your van performing, I have a 2008 6.0 bus and radiator is leaking, about to change that and looking at upgrades for the cooling system while I am in there, will be towing with it
February 19th, 2023, 9:49 AM
