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Anyone towing with a 2012 Suburban 2500 6.0?

Estray70
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Estray70 New Member

Estray70

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Recently Bought a 2500 Suburban 6.0 with 130,000 miles for towing a 8000lb travel trailer. Upgraded the stock intake to a spectre cold air intake and installed a bullydog gt tuner. Im not real impressed with the upgrades, to be honest im not sure i can even tell the difference. In fact it seems to be getting worse mileage with the tuner. Getting about 17 on the highway with no tune and 15 with. The towing mileage is horrendous. Lucky to get 7mgp. Is this right? I pulled this trailer around with my ‘13 silverado ltz 5.3 for about a month and that truck had way more power than this Suburban and i was getting 10-12mpg towing. The only reason i sold it was because the trailer was just to big for a 1/2 ton. Even with a weight distribution hitch, it was a white knuckle ride with all the sway. The 2500 Suburban fixed that but very disappointed in the power and fuel economy. Has this been anyone else’s experience with the 3/4 ton 6.0? Thanks

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swathdiver Senior Enthusiast

swathdiver

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2 hours ago, Estray70 said:

Recently Bought a 2500 Suburban 6.0 with 130,000 miles for towing a 8000lb travel trailer. Upgraded the stock intake to a spectre cold air intake and installed a bullydog gt tuner. Im not real impressed with the upgrades, to be honest im not sure i can even tell the difference. In fact it seems to be getting worse mileage with the tuner. Getting about 17 on the highway with no tune and 15 with. The towing mileage is horrendous. Lucky to get 7mgp. Is this right? I pulled this trailer around with my ‘13 silverado ltz 5.3 for about a month and that truck had way more power than this Suburban and i was getting 10-12mpg towing. The only reason i sold it was because the trailer was just to big for a 1/2 ton. Even with a weight distribution hitch, it was a white knuckle ride with all the sway. The 2500 Suburban fixed that but very disappointed in the power and fuel economy. Has this been anyone else’s experience with the 3/4 ton 6.0? Thanks

Put the stock air box back on it and dump the canned tune as well.  The stock airbox flows plenty of air, even if you supercharged the motor.  If you want more power from the tune, contact BlackBear Performance.  What they do to the transmission's performance will amaze you.  Talk to Bill, InTheBurbs, on this forum or over at the TahoeYukon forum.  He's been towing with a 2500 Suburban for years.  They're great trucks!

CamGTP Senior Enthusiast

CamGTP

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Most 6.0's get 9-10mpg towing something that heavy. If you drive over 65mph, it will tank even more.

Estray70 New Member

Estray70

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11 hours ago, swathdiver said:

Put the stock air box back on it and dump the canned tune as well.  The stock airbox flows plenty of air, even if you supercharged the motor.  If you want more power from the tune, contact BlackBear Performance.  What they do to the transmission's performance will amaze you.  Talk to Bill, InTheBurbs, on this forum or over at the TahoeYukon forum.  He's been towing with a 2500 Suburban for years.  They're great trucks!

It really goes down the road great. Solid as a rock, zero sway. Put the power is ******. If i get into any kind of headwind, im struggling to maintain 60mph and getting 6mpg if im lucky. Im not impressed at all. I guess ill put everything back to stock and see if theres any improvement. But at this point this is going to be my wife’s vehicle next summer and im buying a 1ton diesel. We want to travel and its no fun when your vehicle is barely enough for the load and its getting single digit mileage. 

swathdiver Senior Enthusiast

swathdiver

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5 hours ago, Estray70 said:

It really goes down the road great. Solid as a rock, zero sway. Put the power is ******. If i get into any kind of headwind, im struggling to maintain 60mph and getting 6mpg if im lucky. Im not impressed at all. I guess ill put everything back to stock and see if theres any improvement. But at this point this is going to be my wife’s vehicle next summer and im buying a 1ton diesel. We want to travel and its no fun when your vehicle is barely enough for the load and its getting single digit mileage. 

 

Well, something doesn't seem right, so my suggestion is to return it to stock.  A stock truck is a towing beast.  Whatever the mileage is towing, It will sure be a lot less expensive than buying a diesel powered truck and its increased maintenance.  Did you reach out to Bill?  @intheburbs

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