I need 3 rows of seats and more towing power....

Find yourself a nice clean low mileage Ford Excursion diesel. :)

old thread i know but there is a lot of good info on here for people looking to buy a good towing suv. Just clocked in about 600 miles of towing on the same trip that broke my denali. It was a night and day difference. Even with oversize tires 2x too big and a full fresh water tank (30 gallons and another 30 in the other tanks) 15-20mph head wind, it pulled great. There were zero complaints on the truck. I love that i can stay in 4th gear most of the time with the rpm's under 2k. Heck I even used cruise control when I got in the smaller hills. Hardest part was keeping it under 75mph because thats what the tires are rated for. I love this truck so far. Best decision i ever made for our family.

Grit dog wrote:


General experience is the engine should handle the extra power if you keep it sane. Pump gas 100-150hp max. LS motors crank out that power in many applications, would think the L motors would be ok too.
Transmission is another story. I'd research that. Wouldn't bet the trans will like processing all that power under full load for a long time without mods.

Right you are, engine is not the issue. The 6L90 trans is rated to just over 500 lb-ft, and 450hp.

Keeping it sane is the watchword. Seems to be a popular add with the HD truck crowd and durability seems to be excellent.

Thanks for the words.

Bionic Man wrote:

anw7405 wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:
The 6.2/6 speed tranny in my Yukon Denali offers significantly better performance than the 8.1/4speed in my old 03 2500 Burb.

If your new rig performs better than your old one, is say something was definitely wrong with what you had before.

Stability might be a different story, but that isn't what this thread was originally about.

Either way, I hope you are happy with what you now have.

That is suprising that you like the 6.2 better for towing than the 8.1. Comfort 6.2 all day long but the 8.1 is soo much better for towing. 6th gear in that denali was worthless unless you were on flat ground towing or not. It would not stay in 6th with the cruise on going up and down very very mild hills. I drove it through the rockies to trade it in for the 8.1 and it was searching for a gear the whole time.....no cruise and towing nothing but me. The 8.1 i set on cruise at 75mph and it kicked down a gear one time. By the way i did put a trans cooler on the denali and it helped the trans temp. However the engine still overheated some. Its just not a motor built to tow.....its for speed.

You are right, the Denali rarely stays in 6th when towing. Usually in 5th, sometimes in 4th, I think it goes all the way down to 2nd through the Rockies.

But I am not like some who cringe when a powertrain runs RPMs to keep in the power band. That is what they are designed to do.

And it really wasn't any different with the 8.1. Using speed control, driving 65-70 MPH in Eastern Colorado, the 8.1 wanted to stay in 3rd (which seemed like more RPMs than the Denali in 4th).

Up the Colorado passes, the 6.2 combo is a stronger engine - easily more speed going up than the 8.1. All while returning better MPG.

My 6.2 doesn't get much worse MPG towing my boat than the 8.1 did running solo.

As far as temps, I mentioned earlier that I think you are worrying too much about them. I really don't think the temps you were mentioning are outside of the operating range of the combo. I have seen 240* trans temp (pulling over Monarch Pass as well as Eisenhower), but they go back down when it isn't working as hard. And from speaking with GM techs, those temps, seen in spikes, are acceptable.

Not trying to argue (although it sure seems that way), but I am of the opinion that the 6.2/6 speed is a very good combo. Stability wise, your new rig will win hands down.

I'm not trying to argue either. I guess to each their own. For me it was a very unpleasant situation to be 100's of miles away with a hot tranny and engine. I think its working too hard and will not last long term. 4 little kiddos and a mad wife on the side of the road is not what I want.

By the way I just drove through monarch pass and eisenhower tunnel for the first time, beautiful country!

anw7405 wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:
The 6.2/6 speed tranny in my Yukon Denali offers significantly better performance than the 8.1/4speed in my old 03 2500 Burb.

If your new rig performs better than your old one, is say something was definitely wrong with what you had before.

Stability might be a different story, but that isn't what this thread was originally about.

Either way, I hope you are happy with what you now have.

That is suprising that you like the 6.2 better for towing than the 8.1. Comfort 6.2 all day long but the 8.1 is soo much better for towing. 6th gear in that denali was worthless unless you were on flat ground towing or not. It would not stay in 6th with the cruise on going up and down very very mild hills. I drove it through the rockies to trade it in for the 8.1 and it was searching for a gear the whole time.....no cruise and towing nothing but me. The 8.1 i set on cruise at 75mph and it kicked down a gear one time. By the way i did put a trans cooler on the denali and it helped the trans temp. However the engine still overheated some. Its just not a motor built to tow.....its for speed.

You are right, the Denali rarely stays in 6th when towing. Usually in 5th, sometimes in 4th, I think it goes all the way down to 2nd through the Rockies.

But I am not like some who cringe when a powertrain runs RPMs to keep in the power band. That is what they are designed to do.

And it really wasn't any different with the 8.1. Using speed control, driving 65-70 MPH in Eastern Colorado, the 8.1 wanted to stay in 3rd (which seemed like more RPMs than the Denali in 4th).

Up the Colorado passes, the 6.2 combo is a stronger engine - easily more speed going up than the 8.1. All while returning better MPG.

My 6.2 doesn't get much worse MPG towing my boat than the 8.1 did running solo.

As far as temps, I mentioned earlier that I think you are worrying too much about them. I really don't think the temps you were mentioning are outside of the operating range of the combo. I have seen 240* trans temp (pulling over Monarch Pass as well as Eisenhower), but they go back down when it isn't working as hard. And from speaking with GM techs, those temps, seen in spikes, are acceptable.

Not trying to argue (although it sure seems that way), but I am of the opinion that the 6.2/6 speed is a very good combo. Stability wise, your new rig will win hands down.

PDX.Zs wrote:
I have a 6.0 2500 Burb. Love it. On the flats. It makes it up all the hills, but with more drama than should be needed.

We are camping right now. I am now surfing for a supercharger as the answer to all my problems as we speak.

Keep you all posted. Whipple seems to be the goto. Would like to hear any experience. It seems to be about an 8k bill for the deal. But should be able to push 100-200 more hp.

General experience is the engine should handle the extra power if you keep it sane. Pump gas 100-150hp max. LS motors crank out that power in many applications, would think the L motors would be ok too.
Transmission is another story. I'd research that. Wouldn't bet the trans will like processing all that power under full load for a long time without mods.

Grit dog wrote:
Yup that'll tow better.
I still maintain, if just one of the big 3 put a 3/4 ton SUV with a big gasser and a diesel option back on the market they would sell OUT!
Newest 3/4 ton big block Burbs are what 12 years old now? Newest 6 liter 2500burbs are 7 years old and rare. Excursions are all getting beat into the ground and the diesel versions were outfitted with the worst motor of the last 20 years and Dodge never even tried.

Huge gap in this cheap fuel/good economy market.
I don't understand.

I agree. The problem with the newer ones (07+) is they are all plastic. My list goes on and on with all the plastic that broke on mine. It sounded like it was going to fall apart, then we hook up the TT and it was even worse. I am so glad I got rid of that denali.

APT wrote:
Ahh, too bad. I bet you just needed a larger trans cooler. That 6.2L should have yanked 6000 pound TT around easily. Tow/haul mode, M5, and let it spin. Still, the 8.1L is a beast. Enjoy!

It had 2 trans coolers. That helped the trans temp but the engine tranny combo still sucked for towing. 5th gear was out of the question unless going down hill with the wind. 4th gear is where it had to stay to maintain 65-70. 3rd gear sometimes when pulling a hill.

just curious is your 6.2 awd or 2wd? I think the awd power is lost in the drive train maybe??

Bionic Man wrote:
The 6.2/6 speed tranny in my Yukon Denali offers significantly better performance than the 8.1/4speed in my old 03 2500 Burb.

If your new rig performs better than your old one, is say something was definitely wrong with what you had before.

Stability might be a different story, but that isn't what this thread was originally about.

Either way, I hope you are happy with what you now have.

That is suprising that you like the 6.2 better for towing than the 8.1. Comfort 6.2 all day long but the 8.1 is soo much better for towing. 6th gear in that denali was worthless unless you were on flat ground towing or not. It would not stay in 6th with the cruise on going up and down very very mild hills. I drove it through the rockies to trade it in for the 8.1 and it was searching for a gear the whole time.....no cruise and towing nothing but me. The 8.1 i set on cruise at 75mph and it kicked down a gear one time. By the way i did put a trans cooler on the denali and it helped the trans temp. However the engine still overheated some. Its just not a motor built to tow.....its for speed.

tatest wrote:

Go Dogs wrote:
One ton passenger van.

With the 6.0 gas engine, they are about $3000 cheaper, and have much lower mileage, but you will have the same issues with the 6.0 in a van as you do in the SUV, it is necessary to run at high RPM to make the power you want to fly through the mountains.

Why is running at a high RPM an "issue"? That is what the gen IV GM 6.0 is designed for and there are a multitude of reasons why GM still considers it their heavy duty gas engine, as opposed to the gen V Ecotec 6.2. Mainly the bottom end and cast iron block. No direct injection, no cylinder deactivation, an engine not buried under 150lbs of emissions and other garbage that you can still see when you pop up the hood, and get to all the major components easily.

You can wind the 6.0 up into 5K+ RPM territory as much as you want to, for as long as you want to, and it will still be running strong past 200K miles.

Pull off the OEM muffler that's the size of a 35 gallon oil drum, and replace with a couple of flowmasters. The 6.0 sounds really sweet when flying through the mountains that way at 5K RPM.