Towing Problems

[chevyave]

I have a 2002 1500 Silverado with the 5.3 motor and recently installed 4.10 gears for improved towing capability. Recently I took a trip from Dallas to St.Louis while towing my open car hauler (total tow weigh about 6500 lbs) and noticed two things. First the tow/haul mode no longer engages since installing the new gears and reprogramming with my Hypertech programmer. Second, while towing in drive and under full load (climbing hills) there was a strong differential fluid smell. The smell would disappear once the drivetrain was under normal load. My first thought was the rear end had a leak but I could not find anything upon inspection. My next thought was the transmission was slipping and the clutch disks were causing the smell, but the trans. temp never exceeded 190 degrees and I pulled the dipstick during fill-ups and there were not any burning odors or any other indicator that the transmission was being overworked. Further, the transmission never hunted gears while towing and easily maintained a 75 mph cruising speed. Both issues are concerning so let me know if anyone else has experienced either issue.

[C & A s Dad]

I wish I could offer some advice on your issues but I have no idea, especially on the gear oil smell.

 

However, I will offer some other advice. 6500 lbs + 1500 series truck + 75 MPH = a "call Mabel wreck". In fact, this is too fast with any truck towing this load.

[chevyave]

I appreciate your comments. However, how come everone on this forum thinks the only way to tow is with a 2500 or 3500 series truck with a duramax? I have been towing vehicles for ten years with a 1500 series truck without any problems. My vehicle has an external transmission cooler, aluminum differential cover, rear air suspension, SSBC upgraded braking system and both axels on the trailer have electronic brakes just to ensure the truck is safe at highway speeds. My vehicle had no problem towing the load and by the way got almost 13 mpg during the almost 1200 mile trip. Compare that to any duramax that my fellow car show participants used that were lucky to get 10 mpg and were paying $4.75 a gallon. Towing safety is based on your vehicle the trailer and driver experience not that you went down to your local Chevy dealer and bought a 50K truck.

[asilverblazer]

75 is too fast with a 3500 d-max too. Anyways, if the rear end was overfilled, as it heated it could have barfed fluid out the vent. I think it is unlikley you would smell it though, perhaps front diff if its a 4x4?

[Nick The Great]

75 is too fast with a 3500 d-max too. Anyways, if the rear end was overfilled, as it heated it could have barfed fluid out the vent. I think it is unlikley you would smell it though, perhaps front diff if its a 4x4?

 

 

You've been towing for 10yrs driving 75?? That's faster than a lot of states will let big rigs go! (Not that I agree with that)

[alaska511]

Hello, I am apparently a member of "everone on this forum thinks the only way to tow is with a 2500 or 3500 series truck with a duramax"...not

 

I tow that weight...not at 75 (my choice), but I tow it through some challenging terrain.

 

Anyhow, I suspect your diff may be experiencing a heat issue. I have seen this with remanufactured 3rd members and new gear sets. If you had a shop do the install, you may want to check with them.

 

I had a Hypertech handheld (made that mistake twice) and it will render T/H mode useless as you have discovered. Apparently it does not do this to every vehicle, depending on the programmer model, but it did on both of the rigs I bought it for.

[98silvz71]

If you tow occasionally than a 1500 is fine as long as you don't overload them, but sounds like you have a good setup for towing. I had a 98 350 that I towed with alot and it was a dog. I couldn't get it to do what I wanted and I tow quite a bit so I stepped up to the Dmax. While towing a 5500 pound load, stock, my truck got 15 mpg down from 17 it gets unloaded on the highway. They only time I have seen 10mpg was in my gf's dad's 05 Dmax with a 9,000+ (dry weight) pound camper in the hills of Missouri.

 

I also am future proofing myself because I would like to get a nice camper here in a couple of years and I would like to get a nice 5th wheel one instead of getting one of the featherlites.

 

Sorry but had to clear up some of the things about your statement. As for the smell, that 98 of mine did that too. You are sure that you aren't leaking anything out anywhere on either front or rear? Mine used to heat up pretty good and then the smell would come out of the vent in the axles. Same thing goes with our tractor, when the trans and diff heat up the vent releases the hot diff/trans fluid smell.

[chevyave]

I have looked at the differential several times and the only fluid loss is coming from the bottom drain hole of the custom aluminum cover (very slight). I need to mention that this is only a 2wd truck and the 4.10 gears have only been in the truck for about three thousand miles. Further, the truck currently has 66K miles and at 60K GM installed a new transmission under warranty due to failure. Over the weekend I intend on checking the fluid level just to make sure the shop that installed the gears did not under fill the differential.

[Starrman]

put some teflon thread sealer paste on the drain plug threads next time you're changing the fluid and have that drain plug out.

 

Is there any unusual whining or humming noise that you've noticed since the gear install?

[chevyave]

There is not any whine or other noises coming from the gears. The only thing that is different since the installation is that at about 70 mph during hard acceleration there is a small vibration that appears to be coming from the driveshaft.