GM 6 liter vortec what are you towing with it?

[Whangler]

What are you towing with your 6 liter 2500hd or 3500hd?
What’s the gvwr of your trailer and how’s the towing experience?
I tow an Arctic Fox 25r with my 2015 2500hd 6 liter vortec. Trailer weighs about 9,000 lbs loaded. I’m happy with it’s performance and reliability for the most part. Throughout the mountain west, It’s averaging 8 mpg per 400 miles. It goes over Donner Summit in CA at 60mph towing. Handles comfortably while towing. But………
I’m considering a 30’ 5th wheel that weighs about 12,000 lbs. No doubt a diesel would handle it better. Would I be miserable towing a 12k 5’er with my 6 liter gasser?

[ls1mike]

FishOnOne wrote:

Whangler wrote:
What are you towing with your 6 liter 2500hd or 3500hd?
What’s the gvwr of your trailer and how’s the towing experience?
I tow an Arctic Fox 25r with my 2015 2500hd 6 liter vortec. Trailer weighs about 9,000 lbs loaded. I’m happy with it’s performance and reliability for the most part. Throughout the mountain west, It’s averaging 8 mpg per 400 miles. It goes over Donner Summit in CA at 60mph towing. Handles comfortably while towing. But………
I’m considering a 30’ 5th wheel that weighs about 12,000 lbs. No doubt a diesel would handle it better. Would I be miserable towing a 12k 5’er with my 6 liter gasser?

At one time both my parents and my wife and I had similar 30 ft 5th wheel campers and we pulled our campers to Pigeon Forge on a trip we took together. My parents had a 01 2500 6.0 and we had a Super Duty Power Stroke diesel. Long story short about a month later my dad purchased his first diesel powered truck.

Until that trip he was good with the performance of his 6.0 gas engine, but he simply didn't know how much better a diesel performed for both fuel economy and towing performance.

I had an 02 2500HD and now have a 2017 3500HD, both 6.0 gas 4.10 trucks. Your parents was like my 02, the OPs truck is like my 17. There is no comparison. The 2017 tows circles around the 02. You can't use the 01 to compare it to the OPs 2015.

Having said that, it will do 12,000. I think it is rated at 13,7000.

I tow a 32 foot 8000lbs loaded trailer with my 17 3500HD gasser and it does fine keeping the speed limit all over the passes out west, but I think if I were regularly towing 12,000lbs I would look hard at a diesel and decide what your are willing to spend.

[deltabravo]

Whangler wrote:
Would I be miserable towing a 12k 5’er with my 6 liter gasser?

Yes.

[Curly2001]

I have had a few 6.0 Chevy gas trucks. Looked hard at a diesel and in fact passed on the new 6.6 gas until they had a few more miles on them. Stayed with the old tried and true 6.0 and have been happy. I would not go much over 10,000lbs payload but up to that I would not have a problem. You learn with the power curve is for the grades you are climbing and let it go. On the 2019, it gets better mileage and has more power than the '07 so I am very pleased. Life is full of trade offs......
Curly

[Grit_dog]

mkirsch wrote:

Lwiddis wrote:
I wouldn’t try 12,000 pounds of trailer with my 6.2.

Not even relevant to the discussion. The 6.0 and 6.2 are two completely different engines. The only things they share are the number of cylinders and the first digit in their displacement.

Oh c’mon man…let’s not let irrelevant postings get in the way of throwing a discussion off topic as fast as possible….lol

[Grit_dog]

IdaD wrote:
Some people would be miserable with that setup, others wouldn't mind it. Smart thing to do is upgrade the trailer and see how the setup works. If you're fine with it, cool. If not, pick your favorite diesel and enjoy - if we're talking new model diesels, I'd personally pick a Ram or GM.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

[Lwiddis]

"your measly widdle 1500" I am crushed, Mr. Moderator! lol

[ksss]

I have had several 6.0 HD's. I had an '11 and a '15. The '15 had 4.10's, the other was 3.73's. I routinely weighed 31K combined with the '15 moving equipment. There of course is little wind resistance verse pulling an RV. The truck though would pull up passes up to 8K, slow and it would rev, but I thought it did very well. I would not have taken it up Teton Pass that heavy but short of that I felt comfortable pulling it at that weight. The diesels are better without question, but the 6.0 is very capable gas engine.

[mkirsch]

Lwiddis wrote:
I wouldn’t try 12,000 pounds of trailer with my 6.2.

Not even relevant to the discussion. The 6.0 and 6.2 are two completely different engines. The only things they share are the number of cylinders and the first digit in their displacement.

[MFL]

A 12K FW will not feel much different than towing a 9K TT. In my experience, not much difference in mpg either. The truck blocking more of the frontal area of the FW makes up the difference.

Jerry

[BurbMan]

Whangler wrote:
Would I be miserable towing a 12k 5’er with my 6 liter gasser?

"Miserable" is such a subjective word...no question a diesel would do a better job, but in today's market a lot depends on how much you're willing to spend to upgrade.

[FishOnOne]

Whangler wrote:
What are you towing with your 6 liter 2500hd or 3500hd?
What’s the gvwr of your trailer and how’s the towing experience?
I tow an Arctic Fox 25r with my 2015 2500hd 6 liter vortec. Trailer weighs about 9,000 lbs loaded. I’m happy with it’s performance and reliability for the most part. Throughout the mountain west, It’s averaging 8 mpg per 400 miles. It goes over Donner Summit in CA at 60mph towing. Handles comfortably while towing. But………
I’m considering a 30’ 5th wheel that weighs about 12,000 lbs. No doubt a diesel would handle it better. Would I be miserable towing a 12k 5’er with my 6 liter gasser?

At one time both my parents and my wife and I had similar 30 ft 5th wheel campers and we pulled our campers to Pigeon Forge on a trip we took together. My parents had a 01 2500 6.0 and we had a Super Duty Power Stroke diesel. Long story short about a month later my dad purchased his first diesel powered truck.

Until that trip he was good with the performance of his 6.0 gas engine, but he simply didn't know how much better a diesel performed for both fuel economy and towing performance.

[blt2ski]

Lwiddis wrote:
I wouldn’t try 12,000 pounds of trailer with my 6.2.

Assuming 20-25% hw for a 5w as the OP is asking about, your measly widdle 1500, or my 1500, could not handle the potential 2400-3000 lbs of hitch wieght! Plus occupants etc.
Power wise, your drivetrain will shrug off that 12000 lb trailer no problem if you keep the truck with in it's payload specs. This is per a few folks that I know pulling 10-12k boats. Granted easier to pull thana boxy RV trailer....my little V6 pulls upwards of 8500 lbs with out speed issues too! Granted my trailers aren't boxy......but wieght is not going to be the issue for OP.
I realized I forgot the "non bedroom slide" part of 5W aero dynamic part of the equation for best mpg. About .5-1 mpg more than a bedroom slide, add another drop of that for an aluminum TT. Note, not talking airstream TT. Those do slightly better than the non slide 5W rigs. Titanium 5W if still made are one of the best trailers from an mpg standpoint. Again, assume similar length and wieght of trailers.

Marty

[Nodaker]

2009 Silverado LS, 6.0l, 6sp, 4x4, extended cab, 8' box. I towed a Jayco 321RSTS which had a GVW of 12,500 (we usually towed lighter but were probably close on a 3 month Alaska trip). Max tow rating for the Chevy was 12,300. It was the work truck model which meant more payload capacity that loaded models.

It towed the Jayco very well. As others have said, when climbing you have to just let the 6.0 liter rev.

Towed through MT & ID which has some long interstate climbs and all the way up the Alcan & Back the Cassiar with no problems. The Chev 6.0 handled it well.

[Lwiddis]

I wouldn’t try 12,000 pounds of trailer with my 6.2.