Gas vs. Diesel Tow Rigs

[Domsz06]

Duramax is the ticket. May also want to consider 4x4. Lots of torque to tow that boat.

4x4 is one of those tough decisions. If you don't get it your gonna regret it, but if you do it seems you never use it. Know what I mean gman?

[G-MONEY]

4x4 is one of those tough decisions. If you don't get it your gonna regret it, but if you do it seems you never use it. Know what I mean gman?

I use it every time I pull the boat out of the water. I don't want to be that guy spinning my wheels on the ramp because the duramax has too much power.

[noworries]

I use it every time I pull the boat out of the water. I don't want to be that guy spinning my wheels on the ramp because the duramax has too much power.

You want 4x4 unless the truck is used exclusively for "over-the-road" duties. Empty trucks are very light in the rear. Aim yourself down a dirt hill and try to back up. I use 4x4 all the time out in the yard and it can be helpful on wet ramps.

[lightning59]

4x4 4 sure 4 me where I live, auto trans, you Duramax/Allison guys seem to REALLY like your setup. Are chips worth the money? I run K&N's on everything I can so that will be put on as well. Thnx for all the advice........

[noworries]

4x4 4 sure 4 me where I live, auto trans, you Duramax/Allison guys seem to REALLY like your setup. Are chips worth the money? I run K&N's on everything I can so that will be put on as well. Thnx for all the advice........

Duramax: Huh, I like my Dodge/Cummins

Chips: You play, you pay. Diesels are expensive when you break them and power adders can cause warranty voiding issues. I spend my performance dollars elsewhere and protect the 100K mile warranty.

K&Ns: I won't get drug into this religious debate other than to say that those who do engine oil analysis tend to find high silicone levels with K&N filters. This suggests poor filtration. This is not good if you want a 300K mile engine. Diesels are crazy expensive to rebuild.

[turbonine]

Chips: You play, you pay. Diesels are expensive when you break them and power adders can cause warranty voiding issues. I spend my performance dollars elsewhere and protect the 100K mile warranty.



K&Ns: I won't get drug into this religious debate other than to say that those who do engine oil analysis tend to find high silicone levels with K&N filters. This suggests poor filtration. This is not good if you want a 300K mile engine. Diesels are crazy expensive to rebuild.

Agreed. Depends on what engine and programmer also. I have a 7.3 and run the DP-Tuner and couldn't be happier. If you get a chip/programmer you should also get a set of guages, or at least an EGT monitor.

I won't get into this either. K&N does have pretty ads though and lots of them. There are much better alternatives out there.

[Fast1911]

Here are two of my Duramax stories for your consideration:

Local guy backs his CC down the ramp and it won't start. He already disconnected the strap so the boat was 1/2 way off the trailer. We had already pulled out for the day. We thought he might just need a jump. I pull my truck down the ramp and have the front tires in the water with my boat hooked up , we try jumping the boat to no avail. Back my truck right up the ramp no problem. Now, he is pulling this V drive CC with an F150 no 4x4. He has to back down further to get the boat back on the trailer. Tires spinning, he can't get up the ramp. You know what happens next, pull my truck down the ramp again to the front of his truck, hook up a strap and back my truck up the ramp with boat attached and pull his entire rig up also. That is Duramax power. Yes, my truck is 4x4.


Second story is all about me, during my Tige Rehab I took the boat out one afternoon just to run it after some of the work I had finished up. Get out to the middle of the lake and the boat dies. Bad fuel pump. A storm comes in and it starts to rain. Luckily the breeze pushes me to shore. Nowhere near the ramp though , I go get the truck and back down off the shore line, had to submerge almost the entire trailer to get the boat on. I strap up the boat, put her in 4 wheel and idled the boat out with ease. These two stories should help you decide.

[G-MONEY]

Here are two of my Duramax stories for your consideration:

Second story is all about me, during my Tige Rehab I took the boat out one afternoon just to run it after some of the work I had finished up. Get out to the middle of the lake and the boat dies. Bad fuel pump. A storm comes in and it starts to rain. Luckily the breeze pushes me to shore. Nowhere near the ramp though , I go get the truck and back down off the shore line, had to submerge almost the entire trailer to get the boat on. I strap up the boat, put her in 4 wheel and idled the boat out with ease. These two stories should help you decide.

I have to do the same thing every time I launch and retrieve our boat.


The main ramp on the weekends can take up to 2hr just to pull your boat out but there is a small dirt ramp where many people launch sea-doo's and smaller boats at. Well with the duramax I back that sucker as far as it can go water up the the doors hook up our 24v put her in 4x4 and rip her out of the water like I was on a concrete ramp.

[zad0030]

You should have just let that ford go under....

[Fast1911]

You should have just let that ford go under....

and the CC

[Domsz06]

I have never had to use 4x4 to pull out. But I also don't spin the tires. Now my friends have had to, but that's another story

[Timmy!]

If you live near the Ozarks I would assume that you would get a 4x4 for those lovely ice storms that you guys seem to get every year.

[Tanner]

Be VERY CAREFUL about putting a K&N on a duramax.... in particular the newer motors (LBZ and LMM). The Oil filters will clog your MAF sensor in no time! Stick to a dry air filter.

The K&N actually flows worse than the stock air filter anyways. Believe it or not the stock filter on the duramax's is one of the highest flowing filters on the market. There is only one that outflows it currently if you look at the bench tests. And even it only marginally outflows the stocker.... not enough for the average joe to ever notice or even take advantage of.

Only bad thing is cost on the stocker is $40 .... retails for $70+ ... I just had to buy one... I know...lol.

Chips: If you keep things reasonable you are safe. Get yourself a set of guages, in particular an EGT guage. The problem is power is addicting.... and once you try one of the upper power levels, you won't want to go back down. This is where people kill their tranny's and motors. In all honesty, your more likely to kill your tranny than your motor (as long as you keep an eye on your EGT's) A STOCK TRANNY WILL NOT HOLD 1000 ft/lb's of TQ. You can definately get good gains in both mileage and power out of a GOOD tuner though. Just be smart and do your research. If your looking at a duramax, look at PPE. It's one of the better tunes out there... we hacked one (not really, I know a few of the guys and got the unlock code) and looked at the tables on it. Joe's engineers do good work. Send me a mssg if you decide to look at some PPE stuff and I'll put you in touch with the right people to hook you up.

You usually hear alot about Banks... I won't tell you to stay away as they are a VERY SAFE tune. The problem I have with them is they don't produce the power they claim when dyno'd and you pay wayyyyyy to much for their stuff not to.

As for the Edge's and Bullydog's, etc.... The edge's you need to be careful with. They make a decent tune and the advertised power... Just make sure you get one of their products that have been out a while. They tend to release their products pretty early and their early codes sometimes have some trouble.

I won't touch a bullydog product on a duramax. I've seen to many motors puke their guts out.

[jwanck11]

We use a 6 cyl 4X4 Explorer with ~135K miles.



We also tow the boat 400 yds to and from the ramp and about 10 miles to get gas on flat roads.

[Kito]

Duramax all the way. I pull a 34 foot fifth wheel, then my 22 foot boat behind that. 12MPG in the Mountains. If you towe alot of weight or long distance you will never regret it. It's worth ever penny. The only downfall is if you really like the power as much as I do you will have to put new tires on more then a gaser.