2005 or better pulling a 5er. Questions

[brad03ca]

Alright Richard. Thanks. Will try this and let you know how I make out. There is a lot to learn, especially for someone TOTALLY "green" with diesels.

[450Donn]

Pick a truck after you settle on a trailer. Remember one thing. All 3/4 ton trucks with diesel motors will be very close to the manufacturers gross vehicle rating. What that means in real world is that a 3/4 ton truck will have a net cargo carrying capacity of around 1800 to 2000 pounds. So you must be very careful that your intended load does not over load a 3/4 ton truck. Also please bear in mind that a fifth wheel trailer when loaded and ready to camp will have a pin weight of right at 20% of the trailers GVWR. You will get a lot of " aw this 3/4 ton diesel can pull anything" to "you really need a dually for any fiver" Neither is accurate. The old saying 'you can never have too much truck" is more true in fifth wheel pulling.
To those that have not had their LLY over heat, thank your lucky stars or what ever you believe in. There are a lot of us that did have problems with our LLY motors. Personally I would shy away from any LLY equipped truck in favor of the later versions. Again this will depend on your budget. GM does not equip their diesels with an exhaust brake. Check with a dealer about warranty if one were added. They rely on the function of the Allison automatic transmission to do the job. And quite frankly it does a good job of holding speed on the down hill. Numerous times I was able to go down a 6% grade fully loaded at 22,000 pounds and not use the service brakes except when I came to some one who was in total panic mode and ridding their brakes down the hill.

[brad03ca]

Richard...It works just as you said. Again thanks for the help. Incidently, that 6.6 LBZ with 6 speed/Allison has awesome power.

[Larry Barnhart]

We have the 3500 2wd CC duramax dually and tow a combined weight of 22920 lbs. We had the TD-EOC installed oct 07. We just drove 1484 miles up to 7500 ft and head winds for 2 days of the trip. no fan at anytime so the mileage suffered because of driving faster than normal just to test the TD-EOC. Very happy with the truck. chevman

[Sundance]

I have an 04.5 D/A CCLB 3500 and I tow a 37' Alfa with it. I also have EFI Live 5dps with one of the setting using the VVT as an exhaust brake and it works fine without a heating issue. Here is a link to a forum that is anything you want to know about diesels. The diesel place

[Larry Barnhart]

Forget my message above because this is the new story. The truck is even better than in April. I had killerbee install the Induction Overhaul Kit this month of October 08. Can't wait to tow north next april. This truck will be a keeper for awhile. chevman

[Lindaxtwo]

We have a 2006 5500 Topkick and we love it. Really love the exhaust brake. We tow a 36' Excel, with motorycle lift on the back which is heavy so we love the exhaust brake coming down the mountains...don't even have to touch the brakes. Mileage wise we get 9-10 m.p.g. pulling...17 without the rig. Good Luck in your search

[Diesel Guy]

Hello Banks just came out with a electronic exhaust for the Duramax called a speed brake no exhaust piping to modifie uses the turbo vanes locks the torque convertor & trans.