Towing 6000#'s
Thread Starter
|
Member
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 82
Likes: 0
From: PA
Towing 6000#'s
Does anyone have any problems towing around 5500 to 6000#'s with 3.55's? When I boght my truck they said it had 3.73's and now I found out it has 3.55's so needless to say I'm not to happy. Is there a big difference between the two ratios? Oh I do have the new 5.4 3 valve!
Member
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 54
Likes: 0
From: Florida
I had absolutely not problem towing 6K lbs with the 3.55, 5.4 through Florida in overdrive, when we got to the hills in Greorgia I took it out of OD and had no problems. When we got to the mountains we went very slow in second gear but I think that would be expected. The only problem with the 3.55 is that the engine turns pretty slow in OD, you are down a bit on the torque curve.
Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 79
Likes: 0
I think that you should be fine, but you will have to shut od off quite a bit. I have a 2000 with the same set up and pull a 16' stock trailer with a couple horses that puts me right around 6K, but it catches a ton of wind. On semi flat roads with little or no head winds I can pretty easily run in od but you have to keep it going 72-75 and not use the cruise(that seems to be the sweet spot). When I get into hills or headwinds I just kick off od and set the cruise at about 70, running bout 2700 rpm. Running either of these ways I get about 9.5 mpg. If you like to drive slower they pull great with od off about 60-65.
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 132
Likes: 0
From: San Diego, CA
Hello Thumper38,
I have a much older truck with less hp (before mods) and was very unhappy with 3.55 gears. I wanted to tow horses into the mountains where the best trails are so I got the gears I needed to get me the most power possible. That meant 4.56's and they are great. I bought the truck used in 99 and the gears were my first mod in 00 and turned out to be the single most dramatic improvement in power of all. My truck with gooseneck trailer and horses and gear weighed 12,400lbs GCVW on a truck scale. I'm getting 10-11mpg towing and 14-15mpg city daily driver. You have a stronger truck so 4.10's might be enough and you will need to buy a Superchips tuner (or similar) to fix the speedo error. You must fix the speedo error or the PCM will make the engine run poorly and the tranny will shift way too soon. 4.10's are good but if you want a real towing monster get the 4.56's.
I have a much older truck with less hp (before mods) and was very unhappy with 3.55 gears. I wanted to tow horses into the mountains where the best trails are so I got the gears I needed to get me the most power possible. That meant 4.56's and they are great. I bought the truck used in 99 and the gears were my first mod in 00 and turned out to be the single most dramatic improvement in power of all. My truck with gooseneck trailer and horses and gear weighed 12,400lbs GCVW on a truck scale. I'm getting 10-11mpg towing and 14-15mpg city daily driver. You have a stronger truck so 4.10's might be enough and you will need to buy a Superchips tuner (or similar) to fix the speedo error. You must fix the speedo error or the PCM will make the engine run poorly and the tranny will shift way too soon. 4.10's are good but if you want a real towing monster get the 4.56's.