Jump to content

First Tow With Truck


Recommended Posts

Posted

Pulled my fathers boat out of the lake to fill with gas last week. Gas on the lake is $1.50 more a gallon so it pays to drive it down the street when you have a 75 gallon tank. Its really the first thing I ever towed and it was no problem. Only went like 15 miles. Wish I would have seen the pin for the trailer brakes. It was left in so the trailer brakes were not working. Made a big difference when i pulled it to tow the trailer back home.

post-19335-1282047347_thumb.jpg

post-19335-1282047347_thumb.jpg

post-19335-1282047347_thumb.jpg

post-19335-1282047347_thumb.jpg

Posted

Nice Truck and Boat you got there. Looks like the truck is handling the load pretty good too from the picture.

Posted

I did my first pull from Dallas to Glacier National Park (1755 miles one way) earlier this month. Pulling a 6350# travel trailer. The 6.2L was awesome!! Nothing else to say about it. The 6 speed tranny operating in tow/haul mode with its extremely intelligent shift algorithms made the tow a very pleasant experience compared with my old F150 5.4L 4 speed tranny. The integrated brake controller adds to the safety and comfort when pulling. All in all the truck exceeded all of my expectations!!

 

This is the quietest and most comfortable truck I have ever been in, hands down!!

 

The On-star navigation, phone, and satellite radio were killer when in the remote locations of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana :thumbs:

 

post-77936-1282172259_thumb.jpg

post-77936-1282172259_thumb.jpg

post-77936-1282172259_thumb.jpg

post-77936-1282172259_thumb.jpg

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • New member here, very long time occasional guest. Saw this thread, thought it would be a good time to contribute someting. It is only my experience and not a claim that everyone will have the same.   I bought my '20 3500 L5P new and have put 99.9% (literally) of it's current ~400k miles on it myself, with over 50% of that towing loads between 4k to 15k, and to me this truck has been nothing short of amazing. For the first 235k I had zero issues, and from there until 321k I replaced a NOx sensor, two failing glow plugs, and three of the notorious injector connectors. I believe this truck is in part, a testament to good luck, but also good care and following a decent maintenance schedule (I also keep meticulous records.) As a result, it looks as good as a well cared for 70k rig, up and down, inside and out.   At some point before that 321k mile mark I began to get a little spooked about the 10L1000, especially the valve body. Word of mouth about potential issues prompted me to jump on the net to sift through all the noise and determine what all the fuss was about. I routinely take long trips, coast-to-coast and points in between, so roadside breakdowns can be '...a thousand miles from nowhere' and a bit of a challenge, and though I had no issues, my guard was up and activated.   And then I stumbled across a chance to salvage some parts off a new 2025 that had been wrecked in transport. I grabbed a few wear items (alternator, pulleys, etc.) and on a whim asked what the ten speeder would cost me. It was cheap...really cheap. I knew some changes had been made in the '24+ version 10L and were supposedly not compatible, but I called service/parts at my local Chevy dealer and asked why and they didn't know. A call to a well known aftermarket transmission outfit revealed it was very likely it would be fine, but to them not 100% sure.   Because it was cheap (really cheap) and I was spooked, I took the chance. Had it installed by a local shop and it worked like a champ, shifted just like the original. At it's first service at 37k, I had the shop put in a Next Gen valve body kit, which after some initial hiccups and rough shifts, smoothed out though with somewhat firmer shifting.   All that said, I have a very serious concern about my newer transmission as just two weeks ago it suddenly began to exhibit a strong reluctance to engage forward or reverse. It was a bit past due anyway so I took it in for service. The reason it was sticking was due to 'glitter' in the fluid clogging the filter...not good folks, often indicates a converter giving out. We ended up going ahead with the new filter and fluid, first to see if it would move and shift, and then if so buy me a little time. It did, and I've driven it over a thousand miles and it is shifting smooth, no noises or slipping. Regardless, it looks like a third gearbox is in my future so I can resume taking long trips with some confidence. In the very short term, my curiosity will have me examining the fluid to check how much glitter has reappeared.   An earlier poster had alleged, in the context of 10L100 failures, that it is another example of how we seasoned citizens somehow descend into hysteria, lose control of our senses, and react irrationally after brief encounters with the idiocy of the internet infosphere. Let me say (and I have used and abused said internet since it's infancy) there is no segment of the populace that has a corner on over-reaction to digital garbage. Just as my offering of experience in this arena is purely anecdotal and should not be considered gospel or all-encompassing, I believe it is still worthwhile information to consider, along with other relevant anecdotal experiences about things like complex transmissions, especially when balanced with other sources.   So to answer the original question, yes I got high miles out of my first 10L, trouble free for 321,000. Now I really wonder how much longer it would have went. Did I 'overreact' to the internet ghouls by replacing a 'good' one with a 'bad' one? Maybe. Who knows, the thing might have taken a puke a 100 miles later. So I'll just fix it again, then move on and start thinking about all the other stuff that will eventually wear out. It still has the original brakes (they're at ~60%), original injectors/pump, turbo, water pump, etc....pretty much original everything. Knock on wood.
    • At peak temperature.  They get to cool down and warm up more, especially those with the external cooler.  I have three GMT900s and one of them has over 225K on its original transmission.  Fluid gets changed about every 36K miles, all of it.     It's not the bean counters, it was the government.  They had to meet CAFE standards and other government requirements.   To get around that, we tune them and modify them to our liking.
    • Our customers' safety isn't something we take lightly. To ensure you get the proper assistance for your truck's repairs, please fill out the form at https://s.chevy.com/support-request with all pertinent details including your username.
    • We appreciate you sharing your experience with your truck. To ensure we get you the proper assistance, please fill out the form at https://s.chevy.com/support-request with all pertinent details including your username.
    • PCM?  These don't have a "PCM".  Powertrain Control Module.  They have an ECM (Engine Control Module) and TCM (Transmission Control Module).   Do you mean update the radio?     You can check what version you have in the settings page.  Should be Y181 but there might be a newer build they can update it to.  
  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...