Do I have have enough Truck?

I went from a my 96 3500 Dually to my single wheel Dodge 2500 Cummins, and their was a big difference . Cummins could pull the hitch off my 5er, but the GM Dually could handle all the rough roads like nothing, never white knuckled like the 2500 which was rated about 4k higher for towing. Then I made the mistake of putting all terrain tires on my 2500, then it was down right scary at times in wind on the highway. Best thing would be a Cummins in a 3500 Dually.

I like the blower because it makes boost even down at 1500 RPM. My truck definitely punches above its clas, but so does my 1500. Plenty of 2500 goodness fitted to that as well. It has a blower too. Both only make 4psi here which becomes 6-7 in MI.

Grit dog wrote:

Supercharged111 wrote:


I'd have to agree with every word here, I have a lot of time invested in some very nitpicky things on a lot of my cars that the average guy would never entertain. I also didn't realized OP had dipped out. Cummins swaps on these trucks are not for the faint of heart. Same goes for a Duramax swap. I figure I can buy a lot of gasoline for the cost of the swap.

I’ve been intrigued by your truck for a while. Don’t have any real experience supercharging engines. But you must…to have a reliable heavy hauler at those weights in Colorado!

This is a perfect example of why I repeatedly stated that if I was to boost the new 7.3 godzilla, I'd put on a supercharger instead of a turbo. They work.

Are they as efficient as turbos? No. But I don't care about parasitic loss if the HP and torque still goes up, with a less complicated system and at a lower cost.

Supercharged111 wrote:


I'd have to agree with every word here, I have a lot of time invested in some very nitpicky things on a lot of my cars that the average guy would never entertain. I also didn't realized OP had dipped out. Cummins swaps on these trucks are not for the faint of heart. Same goes for a Duramax swap. I figure I can buy a lot of gasoline for the cost of the swap.

I’ve been intrigued by your truck for a while. Don’t have any real experience supercharging engines. But you must…to have a reliable heavy hauler at those weights in Colorado!

If you uprate the brakes you might want to look at 18" wheels / 3900lbs each single load rated tires which would work nice with a 5.9 & Allison. Larger diameter tires reduce braking effectiveness. If you have done these swaps before you know using a torque converter spec'd in a more MD commercial truck might work better than the GM pickup spec converter. You can also add a Pacbrake or BD exhaust brake.

A couple local young fellas that swapped 5.9's into older GMC's found a body lift fixes a lot of fitment challenges.

Grit dog wrote:
^And you’re the perfect example of what “can” be done with a GMT 400 to make it as capable as possible. And you, presumably, have far greater than average skills and experience with automobiles and trucks.
OP has dropped us like a bad habit, so guessing he’s either got bolts and parts laying everywhere now, or has decided his eyes were bigger than his tummy.
Valhalla is right, although current market for vehicles is definitely skewed from what we’re used to. Speaking for the average person who isn’t super keen and motivated with vehicle projects, the money is generally best spent on something that is capable and not almost a classic vehicle to have a good towing and life experience.

I'd have to agree with every word here, I have a lot of time invested in some very nitpicky things on a lot of my cars that the average guy would never entertain. I also didn't realized OP had dipped out. Cummins swaps on these trucks are not for the faint of heart. Same goes for a Duramax swap. I figure I can buy a lot of gasoline for the cost of the swap.

^And you’re the perfect example of what “can” be done with a GMT 400 to make it as capable as possible. And you, presumably, have far greater than average skills and experience with automobiles and trucks.
OP has dropped us like a bad habit, so guessing he’s either got bolts and parts laying everywhere now, or has decided his eyes were bigger than his tummy.
Valhalla is right, although current market for vehicles is definitely skewed from what we’re used to. Speaking for the average person who isn’t super keen and motivated with vehicle projects, the money is generally best spent on something that is capable and not almost a classic vehicle to have a good towing and life experience.

valhalla360 wrote:
Is there something sentimental about this truck or do you happen to have a diesel and tranny sitting around and you just like projects?

It would certainly be a lot cheaper and easier to just sell the truck and buy one that is already rated for what you need.

LMAO! You haven't priced out trucks lately have you?

OP I haul heavy with a 97 GMC K3500 crew cab. The dually trucks got an upper overload spring, when that engages stuff gets serious. 2500# is well within the realm of what that truck can take on its backbone. Dually brakes are a great upgrade, don't forget the rear wheel cylinders. Duallies got their own as well. My truck is supercharged and it gets the job done locked in OD somewhere in the 20k GCW range.



Here I'd just added a 2nd upper overload and was monkeying with hitch height. This is with the bags empty FYI. I don't have any braking complaints on either of my 400 trucks as both are hydro posted. Before I HB swapped the 1500 it sucked even with upgraded pads, rear axle, different master, etc. Speaking of brakes, Powerstop makes a bonded semi metallic rear shoe set that really kicks ass. Raybestos has a GG front pad pretty cheap as well. I have the shoes on the dually and empty the rear lets go quick but **** does it stop.

Is there something sentimental about this truck or do you happen to have a diesel and tranny sitting around and you just like projects?

It would certainly be a lot cheaper and easier to just sell the truck and buy one that is already rated for what you need.

And I apologize for the "off topic" response. Short answer is the chassis of your truck, assuming fully functional to original off the assembly line standards will handle the 5ver you propose. Suspension and everything, except, I'd strongly consider upgrading brakes.

But then again, you'll have an exhaust brake (presumably), so you could get by, carefully with stock brakes I'd think. Depends if you're chasing Dorothy and Toto across KS or plan on heading to the mountains.