2500hd gasser

KARNUT · March 31, 2025

1 hour ago, Lpfm1990 said:

Here’s my issue with half ton towing, power is no issue at all. I haven’t found myself going “man I wish I had more power” so I’m going to say, I’m fine in that… my issue is the otherside of the hill, I’m manually clicking the trans down low as it’ll go and it’s still not holding my trailer back at all and by the end of a mountain road my brakes are blue and smoking… and my trailer brakes are screaming hot also, the brake package on the half ton isn’t great for pulling (now I don’t do this everyday but one a year at most) and then the other issue, my trailer doesn’t completely bury my trucks suspension. But it’s bad enough, my dad’s snowmobile trailer is 30’ long and it kills my suspension to the point I had to buy airbags to replace the bump stops. Which works, but when pulling the trailers are telling my truck where it wants to go instead of me deciding where I’m going at times. And then the 24 gallon tank is beyond painful when clicking off 850 miles in a day on a trip pulling. That’s where I feel I need the 2500/3500 once again, I don’t daily the truck either, I have a Toyota I bomb around in and have winter tires for to keep the cheaper car in the trash weather and the truck out of it to keep the truck around and last

I never had a situation where my truck had to stop the trailer, with or without a load. My trailers always had brakes that could stop its load and the truck. Even my fifth wheel trailers were equipped to stop themselves without needing help from the truck. My pulling trucks had fuel tanks that were tied into the return on the truck tanks. With a manual tank switch. If you can’t get trailers for 1/2 tons that have decent brakes and depend more on the truck for stopping. I wouldn’t use a half ton for pulling in that case. I just was passing on what I heard about pulling limits regarding half tons.

Lpfm1990 · April 1, 2025

1 hour ago, KARNUT said:

I never had a situation where my truck had to stop the trailer, with or without a load. My trailers always had brakes that could stop its load and the truck. Even my fifth wheel trailers were equipped to stop themselves without needing help from the truck. My pulling trucks had fuel tanks that were tied into the return on the truck tanks. With a manual tank switch. If you can’t get trailers for 1/2 tons that have decent brakes and depend more on the truck for stopping. I wouldn’t use a half ton for pulling in that case. I just was passing on what I heard about pulling limits regarding half tons.

Two of the 3 trailers do have electric brakes, and are maintained and setup properly, I had the gain setup high as I dared go (no shortage of brake dust on the rims and tires and very hot drums showed how much brake I was using on the trailer alone, let alone my rotors being blue and smoke rolling off the brakes we I was stopped. Was super close to brake fade/failure. I’m sure by then the trailer brakes were getting to be useless from the heat alone. But I’ve pulled the same trailers thousands of miles with a Cummins and a hemi and 6.0 3500 Chevy prior, and never remotely had braking issues to that extent, the last time I had braking issues with my one trailer was when I still had a Tacoma and learned my trailer I had got that back then was too much trailer for a Tacoma classed truck. And then my dads trailers is pushing the limits of a half ton, not so much weight wise, but tongue weight, and the size of the trailer pushing the truck around (7x29 snowmobile trailer with 6’6” box height, it’s a lot for a half ton to keep stable)

picture for size reference

Lpfm1990 · April 1, 2025

And the smaller trailer. But loaded down with 3 guys in the truck, 4 motorcycles, and every other square inch full of gear and supplies for a trip 900 miles one way

KARNUT · April 1, 2025

25 minutes ago, Lpfm1990 said:

And the smaller trailer. But loaded down with 3 guys in the truck, 4 motorcycles, and every other square inch full of gear and supplies for a trip 900 miles one way

Blast from the past. Pretty close to what I pulled with. No way a truck is going to stop that without good trailer brakes.

lineman1234 · April 1, 2025

I did have an issue 2 weeks ago.

If one of the 02 sensor wires falls on the exhaust and shows as a bad one, it is drivable. If it finishes itself off and grounds itself out blowing the fuse, its game over. Dies wont run.

It did some strange things, but when they found the problem, and replaced it, cleared the codes all was back to normal.

So dont mess around if your rig tosses an 02 related code.

Chuck FB · April 1, 2025

2 hours ago, Lpfm1990 said:

Here’s my issue with half ton towing, power is no issue at all. I haven’t found myself going “man I wish I had more power” so I’m going to say, I’m fine in that… my issue is the otherside of the hill, I’m manually clicking the trans down low as it’ll go and it’s still not holding my trailer back at all and by the end of a mountain road my brakes are blue and smoking… and my trailer brakes are screaming hot also, the brake package on the half ton isn’t great for pulling (now I don’t do this everyday but one a year at most) and then the other issue, my trailer doesn’t completely bury my trucks suspension. But it’s bad enough, my dad’s snowmobile trailer is 30’ long and it kills my suspension to the point I had to buy airbags to replace the bump stops. Which works, but when pulling the trailers are telling my truck where it wants to go instead of me deciding where I’m going at times. And then the 24 gallon tank is beyond painful when clicking off 850 miles in a day on a trip pulling. That’s where I feel I need the 2500/3500 once again, I don’t daily the truck either, I have a Toyota I bomb around in and have winter tires for to keep the cheaper car in the trash weather and the truck out of it to keep the truck around and last

I have zero input as to what my HD is like towing since I just bought it recently and its hardly even passed the very minimum break in period yet. However your comments about your half ton got me thinking about a friend who bought a 2023 high country with the 6.2 and its a crew cab with the standard 6'6" box which I am only guessing might give it slightly better stability due to a longer wheel base. Now he is only towing a 22 foot tandem holiday trailer and he forgot what it weighed but it could not be what your trailers weigh nor have the length that makes the tail wagging the dog all the more pronounced. He does use an equalizer hitch and with that as maybe around 1 1/2" estimated gap to the factory bump stops which in later years is at least a progressive unit vs the solid it they used to make them like. He is very happy with the power and prior pulled the trailer with a 5.3 and said its quite an improvement. Again its not some monstrosity of a trailer but his complaint is looking at the truck from a side view and its squatting on the rear of the truck and that part seems odd. He certainly would have gone up and down some typical 6 percent grades on our highways here in Alberta through the typical river crossings but nothing wild and twisty so could maintain highway speed, unlike I imagine the highway in Tennessee is along with the altitude drop. As a result I am not surprised he was not complaining about the braking. So here's the thing, I would guess the trailer may be around 5000 pounds but the truck has the so called max tow package which gives the truck a 7300 GVW and a trailer weight capacity of around 13500 pounds. How that truck could be expected to tow 13500 pounds safely, I can't even comprehend that.

That brings me to your truck, does it have the max tow package with the 3.42 gearing or does it have the standard 3.23 diff ratio ?. Your comment as you started this thread, you mentioned trying to force the transmission down into the lowest gear it would shift and that wasn't holding you on the hill, I wonder if it did get into 1st or if it said piss on you and never did shift down to the basement. If you had any recollection of a ground speed and the rpm at that speed, I should be able to figure out what gear it was actually in, I would need your factory tire size and diff ratio as well. I would have thought with that high compression ratio engine that it would have rather decent engine braking, after all its not a tiny little engine.

Of course what would really shine on those grades would be a diesel that has a decent engine brake, too bad they come with all the emissions garbage as that is the negative these days of the diesel theme.

KARNUT · April 1, 2025

It depends on preference when it comes to it. When you read a 1/2 ton is capable of handling a certain weight you should be able to count on that. There are exceptions probably on types of trailer and how much braking the trailer should provide. When I would haul my equipment I would center the load to where my truck sag was minimal. I preferred gooseneck or fifth wheel. I understand there’s special hitches for bumper pull. As far as tooling around I was 44 when I could start driving a half ton. You couldn’t pay me to drive a 3/4 ton just to tool around. In contrast my mother who’s 86 drives a one ton diesel. My brother has access to scores of used diesel trucks because of his business. No thank you. My old avalanche has the trailer package with leveling shocks. I would pull a trailer with it only if it had good brakes and the ability to center the load. I recently drove my brothers Ford Super Duty home from Dallas. It has the fuel tank, toolbox etc in the bed. It’s a fully loaded 4X4. When I got home I felt like I’ve been off roading all day. It felt fairly smooth on the freeway. The constant little quivering wore me out. I know I’m older but I couldn’t get out of it fast enough. My old Avalanche felt like a Cadillac in comparison going home. Like I said it’s about preference.

Edited April 1, 2025 by KARNUT

customboss · April 1, 2025

On 3/30/2025 at 10:41 PM, Lpfm1990 said:

Have some questions, and just curious to others “feelings” on the 6.6 gasser and the so called “Allison” (but it’s not) 10 speed trucks. How bad are the trans in these with the gassers? I see the diesels are having massive valve body issues, but is it really just in the diesels? And how are the motors really holding up? Any other issues? I’m wanting to go back to an HD class truck as I made a mistake in 2021 and bought a half ton and have hated my life since when pulling my trailers. And my truck keeps throwing no-comm issues with my ecm and now tcm that have damn near left me stuck and then cleared themselves on their own (6.2/10L80) and ontop of hearing and seeing all the 6.2’s chucking rods and my faith is all but gone in my truck with a whole 22000 miles on it, nicest truck I’ve ever owned and regret buying it at this point (I don’t daily the truck, drive too much for work to pile 30k a year on a truck here in the salt belt ontop of it)

so debating between a LT trimmed 2500 in a trailboss or an F350 for the 7.3 and 10r140 trans (would say f250 but ford downgraded the 7.3 to the 10r100 this year in the f250). Now I know this being a gm forum, the Chevy will be god and the ford will be trash, so you can save that bashing lol

but thoughts and insight on the Chevy would be appreciated.

Also I don’t tow extremely heavy (my one trailer is around 7k fully loaded, and the other is similar but 30’ long) and my truck did fine power/pulling wise, but suspension was burried to the bump stops and had to get air bags to even be able to fold the trailer jack up, let alone the brakes are pretty much a sad joke in the hills on my 1500 (blue’d the rotors and had them smoking by the end of the cherohala pulling a utility trailer with one motorcycle on it after saving a friends bike when they wrecked out, yes I was manually downshifted far as the ecm/tcm would let it go and it wasn’t slowing the truck nearly enough at 35-45 mph)

Wouldn’t it be nice to have this as an option for towing?

Lpfm1990 · April 1, 2025

15 hours ago, Chuck FB said:

I have zero input as to what my HD is like towing since I just bought it recently and its hardly even passed the very minimum break in period yet. However your comments about your half ton got me thinking about a friend who bought a 2023 high country with the 6.2 and its a crew cab with the standard 6'6" box which I am only guessing might give it slightly better stability due to a longer wheel base. Now he is only towing a 22 foot tandem holiday trailer and he forgot what it weighed but it could not be what your trailers weigh nor have the length that makes the tail wagging the dog all the more pronounced. He does use an equalizer hitch and with that as maybe around 1 1/2" estimated gap to the factory bump stops which in later years is at least a progressive unit vs the solid it they used to make them like. He is very happy with the power and prior pulled the trailer with a 5.3 and said its quite an improvement. Again its not some monstrosity of a trailer but his complaint is looking at the truck from a side view and its squatting on the rear of the truck and that part seems odd. He certainly would have gone up and down some typical 6 percent grades on our highways here in Alberta through the typical river crossings but nothing wild and twisty so could maintain highway speed, unlike I imagine the highway in Tennessee is along with the altitude drop. As a result I am not surprised he was not complaining about the braking. So here's the thing, I would guess the trailer may be around 5000 pounds but the truck has the so called max tow package which gives the truck a 7300 GVW and a trailer weight capacity of around 13500 pounds. How that truck could be expected to tow 13500 pounds safely, I can't even comprehend that.

That brings me to your truck, does it have the max tow package with the 3.42 gearing or does it have the standard 3.23 diff ratio ?. Your comment as you started this thread, you mentioned trying to force the transmission down into the lowest gear it would shift and that wasn't holding you on the hill, I wonder if it did get into 1st or if it said piss on you and never did shift down to the basement. If you had any recollection of a ground speed and the rpm at that speed, I should be able to figure out what gear it was actually in, I would need your factory tire size and diff ratio as well. I would have thought with that high compression ratio engine that it would have rather decent engine braking, after all its not a tiny little engine.

Of course what would really shine on those grades would be a diesel that has a decent engine brake, too bad they come with all the emissions garbage as that is the negative these days of the diesel theme.

I have the trailboss with the 275/65r18 and the 3.23 rear end (max tow wasn’t an option in the trailboss package) it would let me get down into 2nd gear, and I was working it between 2nd and 3rd majority of the road. Ground speed 40-50mph most of the way, which 50 is getting uncomfortable on that road with a trailer, the brakes would still slow the truck but was just on them soo much (one section is marked 13% grade) I had the tach well up at 5500 more then once as it was gaining speed while still working the brakes without riding them for a mile on end, mines supposedly “ok” to pull 9200lb, not a snowballs chance in hell I’d want to pull that much with any half ton.

i think some of my feelings also stem back to having had HD trucks for many years prior to having this half ton, I thought I could get away with a half ton and reality is, snowmobile trailers weight distribution sucks for tongue weight, and my black cargo trailer that I also use for sleds and motorcycle hauling, just is working it too much in the down hill areas. Let alone missing the stability of the heavier truck in the wind and adverse conditions

Lpfm1990 · April 1, 2025

Where the trans wouldn’t let me down into 2nd was if I was up at 50? Then it would hold dropping the gear till my speed dropped to a point it felt it was safe for the motor to accept the revs

BuckWallace · April 1, 2025

The masses read "can tow xxxxx lbs", then think that's what they safely can tow. I kind of feel like manufacturers need to similarly advertise payload, because that's where people run into trouble. Most half-tons can easily tow around 9-13k lbs based on configuration, but the max payload on anything other than a bare bones work truck is maybe 1,200-1,500 lbs. A 13k lbs travel trailer is going to have a tongue weight well over 1k lbs, so you can load yourself and a sandwich before you're over payload.

Chuck FB · April 1, 2025

28 minutes ago, Lpfm1990 said:

I have the trailboss with the 275/65r18 and the 3.23 rear end (max tow wasn’t an option in the trailboss package) it would let me get down into 2nd gear, and I was working it between 2nd and 3rd majority of the road. Ground speed 40-50mph most of the way, which 50 is getting uncomfortable on that road with a trailer, the brakes would still slow the truck but was just on them soo much (one section is marked 13% grade) I had the tach well up at 5500 more then once as it was gaining speed while still working the brakes without riding them for a mile on end, mines supposedly “ok” to pull 9200lb, not a snowballs chance in hell I’d want to pull that much with any half ton.

i think some of my feelings also stem back to having had HD trucks for many years prior to having this half ton, I thought I could get away with a half ton and reality is, snowmobile trailers weight distribution sucks for tongue weight, and my black cargo trailer that I also use for sleds and motorcycle hauling, just is working it too much in the down hill areas. Let alone missing the stability of the heavier truck in the wind and adverse conditions

If I use the 5500 as the rpm and under the assumption the torque converter locks up, that would equate to 35 mph in 1st, 54 mph in 2nd, 76 mph in 3rd. There is a big jump between 1st and 2nd, and for that matter 3rd as well. I am taking a guess based off of vehicles I have messed with to see when they will drop into 1st when demanding it to shift to first, and its typically pretty darned slow and probably programmed that way to try and prevent driveline damage has been my thinking. So in a bad situation like you were in, yes you would have been in everyones way as the turtle on the road but there may have been sections like that 13 % ( and that is crazy steep compared to that 6 to 7 % which is plenty in itself when towing ) to crawl down in 1st with the flashers on and have a few people swear at you, probably better than dying LOL. I've had to do that pulling farm equipment that never is equipped with brakes on it and to avoid even touching the brakes on the pickup much at all, set myself up before the decline was very steep into 1st as I knew otherwise with weight exceeding the weight of the pickup, that puts quite the push on and no trailer brakes to make use of.

From what I have been told the Ford F150 isn't ideal either when dealing with weird type trailer balance weights that don't put enough weight on the hitch as the all aluminum body is just that much lighter and ends up being too light on the rear in a situation like that. Its not hard to find videos on youtube of lighter shorter wheel base vehlcles pulling a trailer that is too large, crappy load balance and all that side wall of a long trailer and driving in a side wind and the resulting holyshit moment !.

Speaking of Tennessee, years ago I had gone over the pass from Gatlinburg into North Carolina during the middle of winter but with a pickup not towing and yes that road climbs up in the same elevation but I assume its an easy road ( don't recall it being anything wild ) compared to that snaking road you had all your fun on. I've also been in Colorado and following at a distance behind someone who was towing and trailing smoke down a mountain grade and I wondered at what point I would see the unit in a wreck, somehow they made it but to not only smell but see the smoke in the air, that's something.

Capt Bob · April 1, 2025

Well I’m late to this dance so I won’t repeat what has already been posted. I do like my truck a lot. I do tow both a small travel trailer (7K) and a 4.5K boat. You can’t compare the diesel to the gas when it comes to engine braking and that, in my opinion is the best case for a Duramax, if you tow in the mountains. Otherwise, I love pouring in regular fuel but wished I had gone with the LTZ to get LED head lighting. I’m old and my eyes don’t like the dark, unless they are closed. I’m looking to spend some coin on a system that will fit the LT grill, which is again, another like for me compared to the LTZ unit.

Good luck.

Lpfm1990 · April 1, 2025

1 hour ago, Capt Bob said:

Well I’m late to this dance so I won’t repeat what has already been posted. I do like my truck a lot. I do tow both a small travel trailer (7K) and a 4.5K boat. You can’t compare the diesel to the gas when it comes to engine braking and that, in my opinion is the best case for a Duramax, if you tow in the mountains. Otherwise, I love pouring in regular fuel but wished I had gone with the LTZ to get LED head lighting. I’m old and my eyes don’t like the dark, unless they are closed. I’m looking to spend some coin on a system that will fit the LT grill, which is again, another like for me compared to the LTZ unit.

Good luck.

The trailboss in the lt trim gets the led headlights, which is nice for sure, the diesel is for sure the best for the hills, minus the $10k price bump and emissions junk they all have now.

Lpfm1990 · April 1, 2025

1 hour ago, Chuck FB said:

If I use the 5500 as the rpm and under the assumption the torque converter locks up, that would equate to 35 mph in 1st, 54 mph in 2nd, 76 mph in 3rd. There is a big jump between 1st and 2nd, and for that matter 3rd as well. I am taking a guess based off of vehicles I have messed with to see when they will drop into 1st when demanding it to shift to first, and its typically pretty darned slow and probably programmed that way to try and prevent driveline damage has been my thinking. So in a bad situation like you were in, yes you would have been in everyones way as the turtle on the road but there may have been sections like that 13 % ( and that is crazy steep compared to that 6 to 7 % which is plenty in itself when towing ) to crawl down in 1st with the flashers on and have a few people swear at you, probably better than dying LOL. I've had to do that pulling farm equipment that never is equipped with brakes on it and to avoid even touching the brakes on the pickup much at all, set myself up before the decline was very steep into 1st as I knew otherwise with weight exceeding the weight of the pickup, that puts quite the push on and no trailer brakes to make use of.

From what I have been told the Ford F150 isn't ideal either when dealing with weird type trailer balance weights that don't put enough weight on the hitch as the all aluminum body is just that much lighter and ends up being too light on the rear in a situation like that. Its not hard to find videos on youtube of lighter shorter wheel base vehlcles pulling a trailer that is too large, crappy load balance and all that side wall of a long trailer and driving in a side wind and the resulting holyshit moment !.

Speaking of Tennessee, years ago I had gone over the pass from Gatlinburg into North Carolina during the middle of winter but with a pickup not towing and yes that road climbs up in the same elevation but I assume its an easy road ( don't recall it being anything wild ) compared to that snaking road you had all your fun on. I've also been in Colorado and following at a distance behind someone who was towing and trailing smoke down a mountain grade and I wondered at what point I would see the unit in a wreck, somehow they made it but to not only smell but see the smoke in the air, that's something.

Sounds either like you were on 441? Or the foothills parkway? Both of them are child’s play compared to some of the grades on the cherohala, it’s a beautiful road, and on my bikes it’s not even a crazy road (tail of the dragon or Devil’s Triangle), and I’ve seen similar when I following a dodge Dakota that was riding his brakes that you could visibility see the smoke as we followed behind.