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First towing trip W/ new motor

Twisted Steel Performance

Twisted Steel Performance

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
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Location
Pauline, SC
Hello all, We just got back from a weeks camping trip. We took almost everything but the kitchen sink,, LOL.... Pulled about 500 round trip miles and the land is all rolling hills, not any large grades this time.

The truck would hold a cruising speed of 65-70 with the cruse control without any struggle at all, most of the pulls it didn't need full boost or fuel, at the most I was able to use half the throttle, very easy to drive and hold road speed, I love the new motor..... I had the boost set at 20psi for now, I only have 4000 miles on it now. Water temp NEVER went above 200, oil temp not over 190*, outside temp was 50* while driving.

I think after I get the CAC & WMI installed this will let me use more go peddle, I only needed half of the go peddle on the pulls and stayed in 5th gear.

Here are some specs for the trip.

Weeks worth of fire wood
Food and stuff, the wife packs a lot......
2 heavy horses & tack
1 dog
1 pot belly pig, the wife loves him.....( he weights 160lbs and is a house pet )
Hay , feed
And lots of camping stuff, Y'all know how it is......

Gross weight - 19,350 :eek:

MPG - 12 round trip

Not too bad for the first real trip pulling, I love the way this motor breathes, it is so smooth and the power is there anytime I needed it, I think with the other things to be done by the time the summer gets here, I will be very happy with this set up.....

Here are a few pics for you to laugh at..........:thumbsup:

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Looks like you are loving the different turbo!
 
Congrats on the trip! It is a great feeling to repower, and be happy with your blood, sweat, and tears. I am interested in your turbo set up. I dont want to derail your post, but if you would be willing to PM me some details about it, I would really appreciate it. I am currently running the stock GM turbo, and I feel like I am lacking air volume......
 
Great Job! :thumbsup:

And even better 12 mpg including hills :hihi:

For the temps, let us know if the engine stays at / under 200 after this summer's hazy / hots arrive.
 
Great to hear the results. So where did you tow? Were you on the interstate? I have driven I-26 Greenville to Columbia a fair bit and its a rolling hill speed yo-yo trip for me towing anything much especially around Clinton , Newberry, and Little Mountain until you get to Chapin. Heck its pretty hilly til below St Mathews below Columbia on the way to Charleston. No not mountainous but several short fairly steep rolling hills. There are a few little short steep hills that if you held speed with cruise that is pretty dang respectable IMO. Not bad if you ran up them a little with a little extra peddle at the bottom. I have (while empty or in a car) had to go around some big RV 5'ers being pulled by much stronger newer trucks that slowed on the short steep hills when they get caught in traffic and have to slow a bit. I have also pulled US 76 towards Anderson and around Clinton there was a little grade that I couldn't get over 45 MPH towing 14-15K gross (but I am stock tune 3.73 gears with a tired IP).

WW just meant with a better turbo than GM-X stocker.
 
schiker said:
Great to hear the results. So where did you tow? Were you on the interstate? I have driven I-26 Greenville to Columbia a fair bit and its a rolling hill speed yo-yo trip for me towing anything much especially around Clinton , Newberry, and Little Mountain until you get to Chapin. Heck its pretty hilly til below St Mathews below Columbia on the way to Charleston. No not mountainous but several short fairly steep rolling hills. There are a few little short steep hills that if you held speed with cruise that is pretty dang respectable IMO. Not bad if you ran up them a little with a little extra peddle at the bottom. I have (while empty or in a car) had to go around some big RV 5'ers being pulled by much stronger newer trucks that slowed on the short steep hills when they get caught in traffic and have to slow a bit. I have also pulled US 76 towards Anderson and around Clinton there was a little grade that I couldn't get over 45 MPH towing 14-15K gross (but I am stock tune 3.73 gears with a tired IP).

WW just meant with a better turbo than GM-X stocker.
Click to expand...

I went from Spartanburg to Lee State park @ ex 123 on I-20 - Bishopville,SC.... Yea, lots of hills on I-26, and It would hold 70mph on cruse the whole way, it felt good, next we go up the mountains, we will see how it does on Saluda grade, 7%, 4 miles long......
 
Wow. That is great! Glad to hear that the new engine worked well. Good luck with it! That type of fuel mileage is right up there with us Duramax guys. :thumbsup: :D
 
That is great. I-20 just west of Camden, SC there is a pretty decent grade coming out of the Wateree river valley. I had a friend who tows with stock dodge k2500 that told me the grade made his truck grunt. He said his truck down shifted and he couldnt accelerate pulling a tag along rv. Not sure his year truck somewhere around 2003 ish. I'll try and get some info and post his specifics just for reference.

Again I don't think Chris nor I are claiming any of this terrain is terribly tough, steep, or hard but it definitely has some respectable little rolling hills. I won't try to pull much on that stretch of interstate because my speed yo-yo's. Not that it drags down everyone but I have passed many people slowing down some going uphill.
 
Just for some reference I emailed my friend and he responded ....

" Mine is a ‘03 Ram 2500 with out the HO engine or any chips. I am pulling a 31’ camper that runs about 8000 pounds. I run about 75 mph on flats with very little peddle left and do have trouble with hills. On big hills I drop to about 55-60 and to about 30 mph on Saluda grade. "
 
I wasn't sure about Saluda Grade but thought I knew what ya'll were talking about. My friend clarified the Saluda grade is near NC line on I-26. Its been a while since I went that way but remember its a long steep grade. I usually travel up US-25 and it too has a long steep grade above Travelers Rest to I-26 below Hendersonville.

Anyway these are pretty good grades for us around here and so far sounds like you have a very respectful tow rig IMO. Good luck on the Saluda grade and report back.

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I asked my friend to clarify what I-26 was like for him above Columbia to Spartanburg and he said ...

" I don’t use cruise control however the 55-60 is for the steeper hills between Columbia to Spartanburg. Just depends on how good of a running start I can get and maintain. If I am in heavy traffic it is hard to maintain any speed on the hills. I am always amazed when I see trucks pulling these triple axel 5th wheels 70 mph up hills"
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schiker said:
Just for some reference I emailed my friend and he responded ....

" Mine is a ‘03 Ram 2500 with out the HO engine or any chips. I am pulling a 31’ camper that runs about 8000 pounds. I run about 75 mph on flats with very little peddle left and do have trouble with hills. On big hills I drop to about 55-60 and to about 30 mph on Saluda grade. "
Click to expand...


So is his truck gas or diesel?
 
Diesel about 140K miles and stock. I don't know much about it or 2003 5.9's. I am sure he could make it perform much better but not really intersted in spending money on it. Its his daily driver and only tows occasionally.

Just trying to give some reference for the terrain. I don't think it means much if I can't hold speed towing. My friends 2003 Dodge might not be a great reference either since his truck is not the HO 5.9 but have seen many vehicles towing slowing down going up some of the bigger rolling hills. I have seen some nice tow rigs eating up the hills towing pretty big. Again I am not saying its killer hills but very respectful if he can hold cruise control on that stretch of road IMO. I'd be happy with a truck that could do that.
 
I thought they had more power than that stock. I have always heard that the 6.5L with all the mods is about the power of a stock later model diesel, so I was just thinking his Dodge should do better than that. But, I just looked it up and in 2003 Dodge was 235 HP(CA model) 250HP(49 state model), and both were rated at 460 ft.-lbs. torque. The HO is 305 HP and 555 ft.-lbs.
 
The non how 5.9 probably has around 300hp stock so if a underdog diesel like ours can do just as good or better then that's saying something.
 
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