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Diesel swap for pure tow rig. Normal towing and best mpg options....?

90% of my towing will be sub 10k in the plains. Occasional trips to the mountains won't kill it too bad.
May not wait real long and just strengthen the 6.0 sooner than later for the ell of it. I did find a very sweet, rust free lb7 truck that I may grab yet.
Do injectors and a lift pump and be set.

Other ones I found were all lmm. Nice trucks but not sure about those.
After this thread, if I was going diesel engine, I'd rather have Cummins. But fork dodge. I've driven a few and they felt like utilitarian rattle traps with a SWEET engine to me. :dunno:

The trucks I'm looking at are all 13000 lb tow rating or nothing. I been checking their gearing and such and going to Chevy themselves (down loaded owners manuals) to get proper ratings.
If it doesn't meet the 13k I move on.
So hopefully my measly 9800lb setup will be ok lol.
 
What trucks have the 13k trailer tow rating?
 
A lot of the Silverado 2500 hd in like 2008-+. If they have the right equipment package and 4.10 gears
 
Gas. Have to zoom to read it probably (taken off a computer screen). But this is right out of the 2012 Silverado owners manual

IMG_20221216_200742281.jpg

IMG_20221216_200727950.jpg
 
Older than that it seemed all the Duramax ones mostly did too.
 
I rarely actually haul anything of any size. 99% of the time I hook up either the small or big trailer.
When I do throw something in the bed it's the snow blower, or a couple pieces of plywood or something is all.
I have a 10k# trailer, and I watch my actual load on it pretty close. so figured if I get a 13000# rated truck I'll have enough wiggle room to not be taxing it.
 
Looking at a couple LMM Trucks.
Is the dpf and egr all that goes wrong with em?
Seems like that's all I've heard mentioned.
Sounds like not letting it sit idling for long periods, and having a manual Regen controller (or just a lot of highway driving) would keep that from being an issue.
The steep gas to diesel price per gallon is still a turn off. Given that the mpg difference is probably not enough to offset that much.
And cold starts...... I have no way to plug in at work. 13hrs at a time it'd be sitting.
Any worries there...? :dunno:
 
That's what I'm not doing lol.
If Chevy had gotten the Cummins contract, Ford and dodge would have disappeared by now. But unfortunately, if I want a Chevy, guess I'm stuck with gas or dirtymax. Lol
 
The dpf on the LMM isn’t a problem if you don’t idle it for a long time or do many short trips where it can’t clean itself out. Don’t idle it or at least get it on the highway if you do a few short runs and it will clean itself.

The egr system is like any other diesel. It’s going to clog up eventually. The cooler will too. It varies from one truck to the next.

The glow plug system is pretty good on them. With good batteries that truck will start in cold weather even without plugging in. Those should be done every 100k but if it was me and you don’t know how long they have been in the truck, put a new set of acdelco units in. If one drops a tip the engine is a goner. I’ve replaced two engines in the wrecker the dealership had for that very reason. I started to replace them yearly even though they weren’t near the mileage.

One reminder on glow plugs. On a dirtymax if you take one out, DON’T put it back in. Inspect the tips on the way out and if any are missing you’ll be pulling the head to find the chunk. That material is harder than the head or the piston and will tattoo itself on both of you don’t find it.
 
Just happened to find an 08, and an 09 that are both around 150k mi give or take, and in very good shape with the LMM. Both good deals in my opinion.
Most of my driving is 15 mile's all highway each way to work and back. That should be sufficient.
So if I went that way, plan on glow plugs, and probably swap the EGR and dpf in the near future just to be done with it.
Sound reasonable?


Just test drove a '12 gasser that's in great shape. But they told me they found oil in the coolant.... I looked, and no coolant in the oil, but the coolant is chocolate milk. :doah:
They dropped 5k off the price. And I asked em to give me a quote for fixing it.
Has 35psi warm oil pressure and clean oil. I may still consider it.
 
Lol. I decided against the diesel thing.
I really liked the idea of a Cummins. But decided there wasn't enough benefit for the extra coin/work.

Although a little better mileage would be cool for sure :doah:

2016 EFI 374ci/6 speed dual over drive ..... 11.5 average for my daily driving.

1985 454 carburated, no OD.....
10.5 average.... :frown

Worth it for the 4x4 and tow rating increase.

Oh, and single rear wheels lol.
 
Keep the fluid changes up to date on that transmission. GM does some stupid stuff with the lock up converter that will cause them to fry themselves without consistent 20k mile changes.
 
I was actually getting ready to do that lol.
I don't do the full flush thing, heard to many horror stories. But I was going to drop the pan, change the filter, and refill.
 
Best thing to do is get a tuner and have them set the slippage to 0% and keep it unlocked during normal driving through 1-3. GM keeps the converter locked from 2-6 and they allow a certain amount of slippage in the clutch to smooth out the shifts.
 
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