Hello I am wondering if anyone has a problem towing with 35 inch tires and 3:73 gears? I only tow a 26 ft travel trailer that is 4700 lbs dry and maybe 5500 loaded. My truck in sig seems to work prety hard to pull this small load. I have gone through the entire truck and can't find anything wrong with it. I know my friend had same truck as mine but a 2001 with 35 inch tires and tows a 37 ft toyhauler that is about 13000 lbs loaded. He says he can do it no problem. Just wanted some feedback from others. I see everyone on here tows much more wieght than me, how many do it with bigger tires and a lift with no problems?
Had 40's on a stock truck with 6" lift and it pulled a skidloader trailer, firewood trailer, and fifth wheel trailer with both on it no problems. The lift springs can be too soft for towing safely. If you tow heavy, often lifting is a joke. My truck is a tree chaser and is used off road so the lift was desired for ground clearance. If you really like the lift and wanna tow use airbags for capacity and give yourself plenty of time to get up to speed. Remember putting big a$$ tires on the truck reduces the overall effective gear ratio. You're basically pulling that load with 3.08's! Mash the pedal and let it pull..
it will pull fine on flat groung but up any grade out of O/D i is at 2300-2400 rpms to maintain 60 mph is this normal? We are looking in to getting a bigger trailer but am worried it won't be able to pull 12-13000 lbs. Springs are fine truck doesn't sag now. Just thought truck would pull better.
THis sounds right. Those big tires are a HUGE drag on the truck. Take that into acct when you figure your weight. Lifts and tires add quite a bit of weight to a vehicle. Also is your turbo working properly? If the turbo isnt efficient or is cavitating(surging we call it) then you arent making the power you think you are. Im gonna shut up for now..
you should pull fine i pulled a 16' homemade trailer(old house trailer frame) weighs around 1800 unloaded with 6 tons of gravel on it 40mi. (closet rock quarry) and i also pull a 20' goose horse trailer with 3 horses in it loaded down with no prob,it pulls just fine even though i have a 6spd shouldn't be much diff. just on take off:shrug:
I'd say thats about all the mpg you will get towing with those tires and 3,73's. I tow a 12+K towhauler and get 11.5 in the mtns with 3.73's & stock tires. Those tires will kill you on grades with 3.73's.
These guys are all right! If you ever change all your filters and tune-up your vehicle you notice a brief(maybe two months at most) increase in performance/mileage? Thats because fuel and air are entering cleanly and exhaust is leaving freely(you do have 4 or 5 inch exh right?). If you are going on a trip involving a tow even of that weight you should service your puller for that very reason. My 00 can go 5k miles whether its being driven empty or pulling before the service affects power or mileage. If you are w/in specs on your service then your motor needs adjustment. I get 13 in the truck in my sig if I beat the crap out of it or run bio(different thread..dont get me started). Service your vehicle and change your secondary fluids and report back. Im sure its something simple. Get fuel in one place down to the pump when you are doing your normal day to day driving and fueling.
Diesels are for people who dont mind servicing on their own and prefer an intimate relationship with the engines performance, because the cost to pay it done is HIGH and you'd have to be rich to take it on in which case you wouldnt care about economy.
Lastly, are you correct on your trailers weight? Something is amiss either in your calcs or the vehicle itself. Good luck!
The truck in my sig practically lives with q trailer behind it. My tandem axle pressure washer trailer weighs about 8k lbs and it yanks it down tge road like it's not there. Yes, anything below 2k lbs, like overdrive at 60mph doesn't do anything, but I just avoid those areas in the rpm range if I can. I also tow my 24ft enclosed car trailer which is 9 1/2 ft tall, and when it is loaded up ready for the road I'm grossing over 20k lbs. ( how far over, I will not say). It pulls this load (getting going is a litttle slow but I don't hammer on it getting going) down the road at 75,80,85 mph whatever I desire. You have to learn what your truck likes and let it be happy going down the road. I can pull goodsize rolling hills in overdrive as long as I am over 2k rpm before I hit them. And if there is a good sized long pull ahead of me, I lock out overdrive and run it up to 26-2700 rpm and I can half throttle it up the hill and not drop more than 2 mph or so 77mph at bottom and 75 cresting it. Maybe my truck runs better than it should, or maybe you've got issues elsewhere, but I don't really notice 4k lbs behind me unless it is really tall and into a headwind.
I have changed every fluid in the truck since I bought it in July 09 exept the diff fliud. Just last week new oil and filter, fuel filter, and coolant flush. This has me confused, everyone it pulling more than my with no problems. I am only pulling 5500 lbs and I would think I could get more than 8.5 MPG. I can only get 13 MPG unloaded. My 2007 expidition with a gas motor gets better MPG towing the same trailer.
How do your EGT's behave? Are they easy to get to 1250? Im suspecting boost leaks, or the up pipe donuts have finally warped beyond use. Take your hand and wipe it up on the firewall directly behind the up-pipes, look for your hand to come back out black(mine got so bad it covered underneath the truck as well) I tow larger loads than I should 26-30+K 200 miles to Greeley, Co and get about 8mpg doin it rolling hills and all, and around 14 unloaded, w/17 no trailer. I tow things i would NEVER ask a gasser to do, Oh and a 5K trailer..i dont call it a trailer, i call it an appendage ya shouldnt EVER be able to feel 5K behind ya unless its 14' tall driving into a bad headwind.
Yes my EGT's can go 1100-1250+ very easy. Up pipes have no no soot just put the WW in and tightened down everything good, I can get 26 lbs of boost no problem. Will check this week just to make sure it is not a boost leak. Something is not right and I need to figue it out. I would like to upgrade to a 5th wheel but need to find out what is going on.
MY truck has regularly pulled 15k-24k (trailer/load only)loads through the mountains up and down I-75. It's been grossly overloaded and it has always towed the fifth wheel trailer (59' tri axel) in overdrive at 70mph no problem. It also avg. 12.5-14mpg.
same here, i pull 24ft flatbed g/n with two 8k skid loaders w/ attachments stuffed between them, last time i had it weighed it was like 23k, standard hills, some a mile or so long, 6% grade, and i get round 12.5 loaded, 16 empty, no trailer. had lots of motor, suspension didnt like it much, but lots of motor
i just did a hot shot for moore20017.3 from cedar rapids, IA to chesapeake, OH and kept track of the numbers just for you
truck weight 7280
trailer weight 12880
miles there 854, mpg avg 9.96
miles back 701 mpg avg 17.5
75 mph there
75 mph on way bak
trailer was a gooseneck
hills on 75 werent bad, but 64 east just plain ***** sucked
i think i coulda been up around 11 avg on way there if it werent for that last 125 miles on 64 east
12K+, pull this on 9 miles of 6% in 100 degree temps. egt's around 1350*.
On a recent one way 236 mile trip with several of these grades I got 11.5 mpg with 3.73's & stock tires. I'm telling you it's those tires. I have some friends with 4x4's with 33" tires and they suffer the same problem in the mtns here in Az.
Or, you can pull 7k lbs., more than that, up 6% grades, at 75mph, which is 20mph faster than you have stated that you pull that load up. I'm just saying
Don't piss off that TBOLT guy he has been rumored to out run unloaded cheby's up hills..
OP, if it were me I would take it to a trusted mechanic that specializes in diesels and have them check it over just to be safe.
I have 4.30 gears and stock 245/75/17 tires and get 8 or so pulling my toyhauler (35Ft Weekend Warrior) through the mountains. With only 5500 lbs. you should be getting better MPG than you are. My 7.3 got 19 unloaded on the freeway once and 15 or so in town, but this 6.0 will only get 13 in town and I don't think I've ever driven it for any length on the freeway unloaded...
Rumored, That's the key. I don't remember seeing that chevy. You know the witnesses, they wouldn't stretch it a little would they?
I wonder what the real final ratio is with tires that size with 3.73's? I'm not smart enough to figure that out but it would be pretty tall I would think.
one of our trucks has 3.73 and 265/75 tires and with the big horse trailer 14k it puts the rpm just a bit below the sweet spot in the rpm to hold speed well. the other truck has 4.10 and 285 and it tows better than the other truck. with 35 tires i would defiantely want 4.10s or lower over 10k
So I did the ccv mod and pulled the IC out to clean it and found a small pin hole in it. Had it welded and installed it back in the truck. Truck pulled much better. Still seems like I have to be going 65+mph to be in OD or it lugs and EGTS rise. Not sure if I should replace all my boots with 107000 miles. Thanks for everyones help.
back to the beginning, i think your truck should be able to pull a lot more than it is. something isn't right. as to what is wrong i'd like to know too, my 05 doesn't have half the power of the 03 on a good day but yet they say everything is ok. doesn't seem like anyone here has a guess either what would make it perform so poorly
Pick a gear that keeps it spinning. I like to keep mine about 2500 or so on the hills.
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