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GM 6 liter vortec what are you towing with it?

Whangler
Explorer II
Explorer II
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?
19 REPLIES 19

ls1mike
Explorer II
Explorer II
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.
Mike
2024 Chevy 2500HD 6.6 gas/Allison
2012 Passport 3220 BHWE
Me, the Wife, two little ones and two dogs.

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


Yes.
2009 Silverado 3500HD Dually, D/A, CCLB 4x4 (bought new 8/30/09)
2018 Arctic Fox 992 with an Onan 2500i "quiet" model generator

Curly2001
Explorer II
Explorer II
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
2019 Chev. Double cab 2500HD, 6.0, 4:10 diffs, six speed auto
2013 Heartland Sundance XLT 265RK

Grit_dog
Navigator
Navigator
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
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold

Grit_dog
Navigator
Navigator
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.
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold

Lwiddis
Explorer II
Explorer II
"your measly widdle 1500" I am crushed, Mr. Moderator! lol
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

ksss
Explorer
Explorer
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.
2020 Chevy 3500 CC 4X4 DRW D/A
2013 Fuzion 342
2011 RZR Desert Tan
2012 Sea Doo GTX 155
2018 Chevy 3500HD CC LB SRW 4X4 D/A
2015 Chevy Camaro ZL1

mkirsch
Nomad II
Nomad II
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.

Putting 10-ply tires on half ton trucks since aught-four.

MFL
Nomad II
Nomad II
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
Explorer II
Explorer II
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
Nomad
Nomad
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.
'12 Ford Super Duty FX4 ELD CC 6.7 PSD 400HP 800ft/lbs "270k Miles"
'16 Sprinter 319MKS "Wide Body"

blt2ski
Moderator
Moderator
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
92 Navistar dump truck, 7.3L 7 sp, 4.33 gears with a Detroit no spin
2014 Chevy 1500 Dual cab 4x4
92 Red-e-haul 12K equipment trailer

Nodaker
Explorer
Explorer
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.
Nodaker
2017 Newmar Bay Star 3113
2011 Chev Colorado dinghy

Lwiddis
Explorer II
Explorer II
I wouldn’t try 12,000 pounds of trailer with my 6.2.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad