Anyone pull a 14k 5er with a gas engine

I have a '88 Chevrolet R30 Crew Cab 2wd tonner with a 454 4 bbl and average 10 mpg pulling a 15000 5er. I have never had any issues pulling anything. Including a semi that broke down and needed a pull off the highway. Would rather have a diesel but need to find an old bus so I can get everything needed to keep a auto transmission so wife can drive also when needed.

I do it. My trailer is around 13500. It does o.k. I would not want to go across country with it. I get 10 1/2 solo and 7.9 towing. The hills are the demons on the gas engine.2nd gear and 4000 rpm's will keep me at 50 mph.6 or 7 percent grades are slower but I get there. I only do weekends and a few 1 week trips. I got a great deal 12 years ago and she only has 36000 miles on it right now and can't afford a high priced diesel so I will have to keep her for a long time.If you can afford a diesel then go for it.

The last time I pulled 14,000 with my '05 Duramax it wasn't enough truck. But, I also had 2,000 pounds in the truck bed, I was going up a mountain with the AC on, and the air temp outside was in the upper 90's. The most I could do up the mountain was 30 MPH and the truck got really hot doing that.

I'm at 11K and it does good not great. 14K is doable but you'd need some pretty tall gears at the rear end and get ready to hear some RPMs roar. It's certainly possible with the right setup. There are 38' gasser RVs with a tow vehicle behind pulling mountain passes everyday.

JnJnKatiebug wrote:
If so what are your thoughts? Do you wish you had a diesel? What is your average towing MPG?

Yes have when we bought the chev 8.1 liter gas with the Allison. 2wd dually and 4>10 rear gear. Nothing wrong with how it towed but the 05 duramax is better with better mileage. we only traded because we could plus wanted an inbed fuel tank.

chevman

It can certainly be done. 6-8mpg. Slow. Not many gasoline transmissions are gonna love it either. Some newer ones will do ok. I'd rather have a diesel with 14lbs in the back, let alone 14k.

I've known a few who used a Dodge 8.0L V10 3500 to do so. They said no problem, plenty of power to spare, as strong as the diesel in those years (1994-2002). What they didn't like was the 10mpg when not towing and 6-8mpg towing.

A Ram 3500 CC LB 4x4 6.4 4.10 has the CCC and the tow rating. I wouldn't want to though. I suppose in TX or FL or any other flat state. Out here in the wild wild west it would be working hard.

Our old ford F700 had a GVW of about 24,000 and it had a 302 cid gas engine. When we got the first box trailer we upgraded to a 352 gas engine and ran between 16 and 20 ton a few times a week. They still make good engines that run on gas so that shouldn't be the question. What size truck do you want to use.

My 5th wheel loaded (Scaled weight---13,873#) has a pin weight of 3070#

I tow with a diesel.....not sure I would enjoy doing so with a gasser regardless of engine/gearing