Forum Discussion

kwslvdo96's avatar
kwslvdo96
Explorer
Mar 03, 2016

Towing in 3rd gear rpm high?

Hey guys new to the towing a travel trailer and I Have a 1996 Silverado extended cab 4X4 with 5.7 Vortec and factory 3.73 gears and factory size tires 265/75/16 and the truck only has 50K original miles. I'm towing a 21ft Wilderness bunkhouse camper dry weight I believe is 3850lbs (at least that's what the salesman told me) My truck loaded with firewood and all the rest of the goodies im guessing I'm towing around 4500 to 4700lbs. My truck can not tow this camper in overdrive without upshifting and downshifting so I was told to just run it in third gear which in this truck the owners manual says to do anyways to keep transmission from overheating. The problem is at 60mph in third gear I'm at 2400 to 2500rpm! The truck pulls it no problem in third gear but the rpm being so high for a long distance is bothering me. I was thinking instead of doing 4.11 gears because I still don't think I could keep it from downshifting of doing 3.42 gears and when I replace my tires to go just one size up and that would put me at 2300 to 2350rpm at 65 in third gear. What do you guys think?
  • on level ground you could use 4th.. but third is fine..

    let her spin..

    my F 250 .. 6.2L and 3:73's is pulling 10,000 an has 1,500 in the bed.. does the big WV hills fine. mostly third.. sometimes second.
  • Awesome thanks a lot for the info, I still think im going to go one size bigger in my tires to knock off a little rpm.
  • My truck has a 4:30 rear end and 6 speeds. I still typically tow in 4th which is drive. I can tow in 5th which is an overdrive gear but it downshifts more then I like and seems to be lugging. 4th gear puts me at 2900 rpm. Gas engines are made to rev.
  • 2500 rpm on the 5.7 motor is nothing to be concerned with.
  • Its fine, its a gas engine its hardly truning. Just wait till you pull a hill and it kicks down to second at 60 mph and its spins up to 5k rpm.