Towing with a 06 3500 4.8 experience?
Super Moderator
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 9,175
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the racers in the stock classes found out...running premium slows you down. If the engine is not a high compression engine...even with knock sensors and computer adjusted ignition timing, they went slower. something with vvt, boosted or high compression...yep, it makes a difference.
space wise....worst vehicle to work on ...g van with a duramax
space wise....worst vehicle to work on ...g van with a duramax
CF Monarch
Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 4,605
Likes: 269
From: USA
Didn't we all at some point tow with a 1981 suburban with a crappy 195 hp 350 and 3 spd auto no overdrive. At least I remember my parents had one and it towed the boat and hauled all 6 of us for 6 hours to the lake....no problem.
Our dependence on 300 plus hp has spoiled us.
Our dependence on 300 plus hp has spoiled us.
Truckers and freight companies, from the age before the 1980's, often used engines with less then 300 HP. If they could pull 80,000 pounds with a 260 HP motor, its a breeze in a light truck with a 300 + HP mill. Of course lots of rigs used twin stick, twin transmissions, which were a pretty hard learning curve. Nowadays many of the large intercontinental carriers use auto-shift transmissions with 450 + HP motors.
CF Monarch
Joined: Oct 2017
Posts: 4,605
Likes: 269
From: USA
the racers in the stock classes found out...running premium slows you down. If the engine is not a high compression engine...even with knock sensors and computer adjusted ignition timing, they went slower. something with vvt, boosted or high compression...yep, it makes a difference.
space wise....worst vehicle to work on ...g van with a duramax
space wise....worst vehicle to work on ...g van with a duramax
Thats good to know, Tech2. Yeah, when I was in fuel sales and distribution, lots of our customers would waste money on premium gasoline, in low compression motors.
No matter what we told them, they thought that premium was "better" the regular. Sure, it was better in a 426 Hemi Mopar, or a 427 Chevy Vette' but for an 8.5 to 1 ratio motor? What a waste of money. Hell even my old mans C-60 with a 366 mill at 10.5 to one ratio ran fine on regular grade gasoline, premium didn't make it any better.
I got more power and MPG by reworking the ignition system to aftermarket electronic, with vacuum advance, changing out the carburetor and finally dumping that awful AIR pump, which was not required for SMOG in a 2.5 ton medium duty truck.
CF Active Member
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 120
Likes: 1
Good luck with it. Had 4.8 in 2007 NBS truck with 3.08 gear. It couldn't hold 70 mph with 2k trailer in tow. Had to keep it out of overdrive. Look in your owners manual or at bottom of drivers door as it will tell you how much cargo you can haul which includes passengers, gas, cargo, hitch weight. Hopefully you have a lower gear such as 3.42.
Ken
Ken
Thread Starter
CF Beginner
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
Little bit of an update. We decided to take the Land Cruiser to our new home in Oregon. So I won’t have to tow the pig... looks like I’ll be towing the Jetta TDI on a car trailer. That should be more manageable. Thanks for all the feed back. My 172k work truck is a horse. I found out my gears are 3.73 too.
Last edited by smileyboy; Aug 29, 2018 at 11:11 PM.
