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GMC 3500 HD 6.0L performance,can it perform?

anteater

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anteater Enthusiast

anteater

Posted
Posted

is there a way to wake these motors up and bypass all the garbage I presume GM has holding them back? you get into a mud puddle and as soon as the tires start spinning the motors seem to cut out,and all the trucks we have do it,I mean come on these trucks won't even spin there tires and they are all around gutless,can a person buy a programmer to bypass all this crap?we recently added a new ram 2500 HD to the fleet with the 5.7 hemi because after test driving it I realized it will spin circles around our 6.0 gms all day.

454ss Enthusiast

454ss

Posted
Posted

you need a tune such as blackbear to remove torque management. the stock programming has made gm trucks gutless for years. sad to say but both dodge and ford are much strunger feeling the way they get the power to the wheels, pretty pathetic when the competition can lay posi rubber 10 feet and the gms wont even spin a tire with or without traction control. hell bone stock old v10 dodge 1-tons can smoke the tires just punching it but try that in a gm with anything up to the 8.1 and you will do nothing but embarrass yourself. im die hard gm but ill never buy another new one.

anteater Enthusiast

anteater

Posted
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I am from Canada so not sure about you US guys but up here there is no traction control button on our 6.0L HDs.. I agree with you 100% 454ss

becker87 Senior Enthusiast

becker87

Posted
Posted

I have two 07 1 tons for work trucks, both 6.0Ls and duallies. Both do the job just fine, don't recommend them for highway use while towing heavy. As anteater said, they do not have a TC button to turn off, but from the few times I have spun the tires in the snow it does not seem to bog down like it had Traction control hindering it. I do wish they sat a bit higher for more ground clearence though.

therink Enthusiast

therink

Posted
Posted

My 6.0 3500HD does just fine. At the cost of tires, I prefer not to spin mine so I leave traction control on. I tow a 12k lb fifth wheel rv and it handles it just fine (at 8 mpg that is). I just returned from 300 mile trip with the RV through the Adirondack Mts in NY and will say there was no grade that the 6.0 couldn't handle. I to keep it cranking at 4500 rpm consistently on larger hills but that is where the torque is on these engines. Overall, I was impressed.

Once I rack some more miles on the odometer, I may get a custom tune. I tuned my last 6.0 in my 08 2500HD and it made a difference.

 

Steve

Prokopchuk_9 Senior Enthusiast

Prokopchuk_9

Posted
Posted
I am from Canada so not sure about you US guys but up here there is no traction control button on our 6.0L HDs.. I agree with you 100% 454ss

 

Where you from? If your from Alberta I could direct you to a very good reputable tuner outside of Edmonton. I have a lq4 6.0L with the tall geared 4l80e and my truck walks all over any hemi of the same generation/crew cab. I raced a brand new megacab 2500 hemi too, was dead even till about 40 mph it slowly got smaller in the mirror. With a good tune, CAI 6 liters can get up and go. My truck will beat any comparable truck in size aroun the same years. Except a diesel with the fuel turned up Lol...

454ss Enthusiast

454ss

Posted
Posted

its great you got yours running good, point being made is after spending so much on it initialy we shouldnt have to be spending on top of that just to get them to run like they should off the lot. its like buying a new 1-ton and having to buy new springs just to be able to tow 10,000lbs, thats the reason i bought the truck instead of a half ton, it should be ready to perform off the lot. there has always been performance left on the table to get but the amount left out there now with the electronics is unacceptable.

anteater Enthusiast

anteater

Posted
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and its not about spinning the tires its about the truck being able to perform the task its intended for..while trying to pull my trencher on its trailer behind my 3500hd across a farmers field I came upon a soft spot so when I get into the gas to try to gain speed and power through the soft spot the dam thing just shuts down..so now its stuck and someone has to tow it out.nothing more embarassing than a work truck that can't work.especially when the ford/chev/dodge truck battle is always going on.dam embarassing gettng towed out by a ford then having to hear about..lol.anyway my current work truck i jumped into the dodge but still have 2 6.0L hds in the fleet and as much as I love my gms I am having a hard time buying anymore..one guy in the shop wants a ford next!!makes me sick in the stomach just thinking about it..

Prokopchuk_9 Senior Enthusiast

Prokopchuk_9

Posted
Posted
and its not about spinning the tires its about the truck being able to perform the task its intended for..while trying to pull my trencher on its trailer behind my 3500hd across a farmers field I came upon a soft spot so when I get into the gas to try to gain speed and power through the soft spot the dam thing just shuts down..so now its stuck and someone has to tow it out.nothing more embarassing than a work truck that can't work.especially when the ford/chev/dodge truck battle is always going on.dam embarassing gettng towed out by a ford then having to hear about..lol.anyway my current work truck i jumped into the dodge but still have 2 6.0L hds in the fleet and as much as I love my gms I am having a hard time buying anymore..one guy in the shop wants a ford next!!makes me sick in the stomach just thinking about it..

 

Dodge and ford both have traction control buddy, learn how the electronics work in your vehicle and maybe it won't "shut down"...you can shut the traction control off. I'm sorry but I know that a 1ton gmc can do what it was made to do man. Just like any other brand...did they make them to tow heavy shit across soft fields?? Not exactly. You come on here asking about how you can make your vehicle perform better we told you. Get a tune...it will blow away any gasser ford or hemi for $350. If you are in Alberta like I asked, look up Peynton performance out of drayton valley. Excellent tuner.

anteater Enthusiast

anteater

Posted
  • Author
Posted
and its not about spinning the tires its about the truck being able to perform the task its intended for..while trying to pull my trencher on its trailer behind my 3500hd across a farmers field I came upon a soft spot so when I get into the gas to try to gain speed and power through the soft spot the dam thing just shuts down..so now its stuck and someone has to tow it out.nothing more embarassing than a work truck that can't work.especially when the ford/chev/dodge truck battle is always going on.dam embarassing gettng towed out by a ford then having to hear about..lol.anyway my current work truck i jumped into the dodge but still have 2 6.0L hds in the fleet and as much as I love my gms I am having a hard time buying anymore..one guy in the shop wants a ford next!!makes me sick in the stomach just thinking about it..

 

Dodge and ford both have traction control buddy, learn how the electronics work in your vehicle and maybe it won't "shut down"...you can shut the traction control off. I'm sorry but I know that a 1ton gmc can do what it was made to do man. Just like any other brand...did they make them to tow heavy shit across soft fields?? Not exactly. You come on here asking about how you can make your vehicle perform better we told you. Get a tune...it will blow away any gasser ford or hemi for $350. If you are in Alberta like I asked, look up Peynton performance out of drayton valley. Excellent tuner.

 

 

 

thanks for the help and no I am not in Alberta...

Sierra6.0 Enthusiast

Sierra6.0

Posted
Posted

I dunno, the HD pickup was designed to haul loads, spinning tires is for the CTS-V and Camaro.

 

My truck feels and handles much better than it's weak 9400 tow rating (thanks to the silly 3.73s) would have you believe.

 

My only complaint with the 6.0 is NOT that it won't burn my expensive E-rate rubber on every tap of the throttle, but that it is the WEASKEST rated HD pickup on the market, surpassed by many half-ton max-tow packages.

 

Seriously, couldn't GM work out at least a 10k rating with 3.73s? But I digress.

 

There is a reason the 6.0 is in the HDs and not, say the 6.2 (yet).

 

The reason is that HD pickups are for work and reliability. Spinning wheels and high end HP is not for them. This is even more apperent when you look at the 3500HD's rating which lists the peak torque value instead of peak HP, despite having the exact same engine as the 2500HD.

 

You are gaining a tried and true work-horse of a motor, as well as transmission and throttle response calibrated for towing and reliability. Despite my annoyance with a sub-par tow rating, I'm actually quite pleased with the drive train and one of the selling points was that it was optimized for reliability rather than HP tire-shredding marketing.

Prokopchuk_9 Senior Enthusiast

Prokopchuk_9

Posted
Posted
I dunno, the HD pickup was designed to haul loads, spinning tires is for the CTS-V and Camaro.

 

My truck feels and handles much better than it's weak 9400 tow rating (thanks to the silly 3.73s) would have you believe.

 

My only complaint with the 6.0 is NOT that it won't burn my expensive E-rate rubber on every tap of the throttle, but that it is the WEASKEST rated HD pickup on the market, surpassed by many half-ton max-tow packages.

 

Seriously, couldn't GM work out at least a 10k rating with 3.73s? But I digress.

 

There is a reason the 6.0 is in the HDs and not, say the 6.2 (yet).

 

The reason is that HD pickups are for work and reliability. Spinning wheels and high end HP is not for them. This is even more apperent when you look at the 3500HD's rating which lists the peak torque value instead of peak HP, despite having the exact same engine as the 2500HD.

 

You are gaining a tried and true work-horse of a motor, as well as transmission and throttle response calibrated for towing and reliability. Despite my annoyance with a sub-par tow rating, I'm actually quite pleased with the drive train and one of the selling points was that it was optimized for reliability rather than HP tire-shredding marketing.

 

Not really man, if you have a good tuner. Someone who knows what they are doing with EFI live, you can have both. Your mistaking a tune with a full out blown alcohol dragster. A tune in most cases is better on your tranny and engine. The gassers you have a choice for 4:10's or 3:73s don't you?? The gas trucks you have the option, only duramax comes with 3:73's. And I don't care what anybody says, the gms out perform hemi's towing. After 100k kms hemi's rev out like a loose POS. I've use all 3 brands towing, diesels too. For work trucks in some of the toughest environments any normal guy would never do to his pickup truck. Fords are hands down, THE toughest 1 ton available. Until the last couple years they just didn't have any power. But they do now, that new 6.2 has some balls. So does the new 6.7, my dad bought one. The gms perform well too but they just don't have the ground clearance...and the torsion front end doesnt compete with solid front axle IMO. Dodge truck front end don't last, really hard on uppers and lowers. GM trucks are awesome with a good tune, by far the most comfortable riding 3/4 ton truck out there. Perfect for me...fords just ride like shit. And I dot like the look of them...they have power just don't like the way the tranny acts. The other manufacturers say you can tow 10k...ever tried it???? Without a duallie it SUCKS. I do agree tho, GM needs to keep up with the HP race....a $350 tune will do you fine. And you can still keep the factory tow haul mode...

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