Gear change for towing Colorado Mountains

jj2tuff · April 1, 2016

2009 crew cab 1500

6.0 l76

3.42 gear, air bags in the rear

Diablew tune

Tru cool trans cooler

6l80e six speed tranny

Max tow package

I want to change gears for towing my travel trailer 9000lbs loaded. I'm going from 3.42 to either 3.73 or 4.10. Towing Colorado mountains she screams more than my liking. It is my daily driver with 60 miles highway traveling each day at 65mph. I feel 3.73 is a happy medium. Your thoughts?

efritz · April 2, 2016

Don't change a thing... you will not see a huge difference towing in the mountains. it will still scream like crazy when towing 9000lbs. Unless you have to use 1st gear on the steeper grades the difference will be minor, so you will have spent thousands on nothing (assuming you have someone else do the set up). I have towed with both gears and the difference once you pass 30mph is very minor. The 6.0 can bounce off the rev limiter for hours so that will not hurt it a bit... What you need is a diesel.

bgbdwlf2500 · April 2, 2016

If you really wanted to do it I'd go 4.10 maybe even 4.56 with that much weight. It will always tach higher at the same speeds but it will make more power and keep you out of the lower gears which sounds like what it's doing. My truck has the 3.08 and I wouldn't even hook it to 1000 pounds with lack of.power. it's awesome on the highway though 80 mph at 1600 rpm