Upgraded My Truck

[CWSWine]

We purchased a Jayco TT and have a 2012 Chevy 1500 with a 5.3L, which did fine on our first trip but it was mostly rolling hills. Our second trip was a lot of steep grades and at times I was in 2nd gear at 5200 RPM and 40 MPH and still loosing speed. I cruse those people that do 40 in 70 and I don’t want to one of them, I need to at least be able to maintain 55 or 60. Visited our neighbors Chevy dealership and ended up buying a 2013 2500HD Ext Cab (6 ½ foot bed) with a diesel engine. I think that will pull my 24 foot Jayco TT with a dry weight of 5272 and a 7000lbs full loaded. I don’t pick it up till Monday. I didn’t get the long bed because it going to double duty as daily diver also and 8 foot bed won’t fit in my garage. Also, I can see an upgrade to 5th wheel in my future…
This truck has the 20” tires and I don’t know if that is a plus or minus for towing?

[jvoelzow]

I just bought the exact same truck, except crew cab. I traded in a 1/2 ton 2010 Titan. I experienced the same situation you did with slowing down, downshifting and high rpms going up steep hills (picture I-80 between Sacramento and Reno). My trailer is a Jayco 29RLDS, so a few more pounds than yours, but not much.

I occasionally had the tranny temp on the Titan go up on uphills and had to downshift and slow down to get it back to normal. (The Titan had the full tow package, BTW.) I also, more importantly, was at the limits w/ weights and WD, and had braking issues. I experienced loud clanking noises from the front end in a hard-braking downhill sharp turn!! (At relatively slow speeds.) I also had to turn warped front rotors at only 32,000 miles!

All in all, much as I loved my Titan, the 2500HD is a real truck, and you will find that ease of towing and safety are more than worth the upgrade. The exhaust brake alone is super.

(I had 20" tires on the Titan too, and I believe it's more for mileage than anything else. Yes, they would cause a downshift on hills sooner, and you won't get out of the hole as quick, but I assume you're not drag racing. You won't notice an issue with the 2500HD, except better mileage, which I'm already getting vs. the gas Titan. (12 towing vs. about 8 w/ the Titan.)

Jim

[rightyouareken]

CWSWine wrote:
...ended up buying a 2013 2500HD Ext Cab (6 ½ foot bed) with a diesel engine. I think that will pull my 24 foot Jayco TT with a dry weight of 5272 and a 7000lbs full loaded.

Understatement of the year! 🙂 Congrats on the new truck, I'm sure you're going to be thrilled with the experience.

[JJBIRISH]

Fred

I try not to get into the brand wars but I have to assume the there is more to this than one being a GM 1500 and the other being an Eco-boost… and there had to be a better alternative on you 85 GMC…

I have no doubt you and your sister had the problems… Maybe insufficient capacity from factory or a flow restriction of some type…

I have hauled a lot of heavy loads on steep grades without even a hint of overheating at all… haven’t had cooling problems since the 50’s and some serious vapor locking with issues in a International 549in the late 60’s… if the truck is ordered as a daily driver with a single row rad, maybe there would be these kinds of problems, but I have always had the option of a high capacity or heavy duty cooling system... I have always used a external tranny cooler and engine oil cooler for towing, and never had to worry about overheating problems…


OP you should be able to climb a tree with your new truck…

[facory]

We just finished a 6700 mile trip through the plain states that involved some very steep hills around the Rocky Mountains. My 2006 F150 5.4L did not miss a beat. NEVER got beyond the midpoint on the temp gauge. It has the two package with the larger radiator and tranny cooler. It handled anything the terrain threw at it and was asking for more. Hit second gear only once. Must have been a 10 percent + grade. I LOVE MY TRUCK!!

[cbconway]

Congratulations! You are going to love the difference. 🙂

[Golden_HVAC]

Villain2000 wrote:
Wow, I have a 32 foot tt that weighs in at about 6774lbs. dry. My 5.0 f150 with 3.55 gears tows it great. I think your old Chevy might have been geared too high. You have more than enough truck with that Duramax. Overkill even. But you did say a 5th wheel was in your future, so you'll be ready when that time comes for sure.

My sister had a 1500 Chevy, and it would overheat on even small mountains, so she traded it in on a F-150 Ecoboost that tows the same toyhauler up and down the hills just fine.

I also had a 1985 GMC class C, that also overheated when driven on flat ground in 95F heat. The only solution was to install a much larger transmission cooler to pre-cool the fluid before it went into the bottom of the radiator, and also keep the transmission cooler on the outlet of the radiator, then install a water pump system to spray water onto the radiator when it was over 95F to keep the temperatures down.

I traded it for a class A Ford, and put the same transmission gauge on it, never went over 200F unless I was climbing a mountain, then would peak around 215F.

Fred.

[Villain2000]

Wow, I have a 32 foot tt that weighs in at about 6774lbs. dry. My 5.0 f150 with 3.55 gears tows it great. I think your old Chevy might have been geared too high. You have more than enough truck with that Duramax. Overkill even. But you did say a 5th wheel was in your future, so you'll be ready when that time comes for sure.

[Golden_HVAC]

For a fifth wheel, you better check the weight capacity of that truck. Probably not going to handle a 2,200 pound hitch pin weight + the 150 pound hitch, and have any capacity left over for the passengers.

You will be fine with the travel trailers though.

Fred.

[Goose2448]

Welcome to the Duramax Club! It should more than handle that little trailer. The LML are rated so much higher than older trucks. Make sure the dealer tops off the DEF for ya. There will be no comparison between towing with the half ton to the 3/4 Diesel with the exhaust brake. I don't even use my brakes now with it. Assuming you got the trailer package witch comes with the integrated trailer brake, which is pretty sweet.

[popupcamping]

CWSWine wrote:
We purchased a Jayco TT and have a 2012 Chevy 1500 with a 5.3L, which did fine on our first trip but it was mostly rolling hills. Our second trip was a lot of steep grades and at times I was in 2nd gear at 5200 RPM and 40 MPH and still loosing speed. I cruse those people that do 40 in 70 and I don’t want to one of them, I need to at least be able to maintain 55 or 60. Visited our neighbors Chevy dealership and ended up buying a 2013 2500HD Ext Cab (6 ½ foot bed) with a diesel engine. I think that will pull my 24 foot Jayco TT with a dry weight of 5272 and a 7000lbs full loaded. I don’t pick it up till Monday. I didn’t get the long bed because it going to double duty as daily diver also and 8 foot bed won’t fit in my garage. Also, I can see an upgrade to 5th wheel in my future…
This truck has the 20” tires and I don’t know if that is a plus or minus for towing?

Wow. big change. Congrats on the new truck.

had to hurt taking that much hit for the first year