The art of towing

[KCPowerStroker]

Hi all,

I'm curious to know how you tow. By that I mean how do you hard/easy are you on the truck. Do you push your truck to the max at all times, full throttle up hill and high speeds or try and maintain a steady speed. What speed do you pull, etc.

I'm fairly new to driving a diesel and am interested to know your thoughts. I bumper pull a 34ft travel trailer when fully loaded and gear weigh around 10k. However, the thing is like a gigantic windsock so i often wonder how others approach how hard they tow with similar setup.

I just got rid of my failing egr cooler and have new oil cooler so truck should be in tip top shape this year.

Happy new year.

Eric




Sent from my Autoguide iPad app

[huhner5]

I tow a 40ft Goose neck enclosed Snowmobile trailer a couple times a year. Empty it ways about 8500lbs.. We put 7 sleds, 75gals of race gas, full set of tools, gear, etc.... Loaded its about 16k.... I try to speed up going down hills and maintain speed so it never has to down shift up hills.. It gets pulled from southern MN to western wyo. or Montana twice a year... I dont tow with milage in mind.. Just try to make the best time possible without it to the floor all the time

[SickStroke6.0]

Well I pull a 35' Sundowner 3 Horse Gooseneck, weighs about 13,000 pounds when loaded.

I have a custom written tune from Eric at Innovative. It is an 80HP Aggressive Tow Tune with a Jake Brake. I pull on the freeways mostly. I haul at about 80 MPH, and I don't set the cruise. I use the Tow/Haul mode at all times. When merging on the freeway, I push it to about 2,600 RPM's, 3,000 RPM's if its an uphill on-ramp. It will get up to speed in no time. I hold it at about 80MPH, and it will stay in overdrive unless I start losing speed up a large grade. I will see about 27-28 PSI of boost with my tune, as I have it tuned for stock head bolts, just to be extra safe while towing. The jake brake is very useful, it will slowdown my rig just by letting off the accelerator, even when traveling downhill. It is very useful, especially when I see a trooper hiding in the median. It will slow it down back to 70 MPH in a heartbeat.

With stock tuning and these driving habits, I average about 10 MPG, hand calculated. With Eric's tow tune, I net about 12.7 MPG, hand calculated. Needless to say, I can't stand towing in stock form. It feels like I'm driving a Oldsmobile with 13,000 pounds behind it compared to when it's tuned.

[7.34ever]

Your truck should pull that setup however you wanna do it.

My 02 w/ 7.3 drags my 40ft 5er as fast as I wanna go(as long as I'm not going up hill). It weighs 17k+ fully loaded so I have to drive hard sometimes but obviously common sense is very important. Alot of the time it depends on the kind of road i.e., hiway, freeway, county rd, etc.

[Evil Eye]

I tow a 33' fifth wheel toy hauler, which is about 12k lbs when loaded up. (pic of my setup is below.) Truck pulls it great and I use Matt's 8k tow tune, which is the equivalent of the IDP Aggressive Tow tune. Since you have a bumper pull, you might consider getting a stabilizer to prevent the wind from pushing you all over the place. When I had a bumper pull, I had the Equal-izer hitch and it was rock solid.

[letitsno]

As the saying goes "USE IT DON'T ABUSE IT". Common sense is the key & good maintance.

[westcoaststrokin]

I have a 35" bumper pull. I use weight distribution and it tows in the wind fine.

I drive more off of the EGT gauge than the speedo. Out here we have a lot of hills so speed is what I am worried about. If it is flat a drive it like I am trying to rip the pumper off. I am also using Eric's tow tune and use the tow haul all the time.

[WD40]

I drive my truck pulling my 16,500 LB fifthwheel like I love it, and the ones riding
with me. I drive the speed limit or under. I speed up a little going down a hill if I see
a big hill on the other side. I don't keep it on the floor when pulling a big hill, because it
will run your ET's and transmission temperature up to high to fast, just back off of it and it will help your truck a lot.
By all means get a Equal-izer hitch and Sway Bar for your 30 footer.
Doug
The reason I drive slower is because 14 ply tires cost to much and do to much damage when they blow out. LOL

[KCPowerStroker]

Originally Posted by westcoaststrokin

I have a 35" bumper pull. I use weight distribution and it tows in the wind fine.

I drive more off of the EGT gauge than the speedo. Out here we have a lot of hills so speed is what I am worried about. If it is flat a drive it like I am trying to rip the pumper off. I am also using Eric's tow tune and use the tow haul all the time.

All great info! What egt's are you typically seeing or watching for? Im using a distributing hitch with sway control and Matt's 8k tow tune right now and I'm not studded.

I was dealing with a failing egr cooler and oil cooler causing high coolant pressure and a 12-15 degree Delta EOT/ECT this past fall which I just fixed so now I'm ready to TOW!

Thanks!
Eric

[westcoaststrokin]

I won't go over 1200* pulling a hill. I don't care if that means I am going 35. Just cruising on flat ground it isn't that much higher than unloaded, 850-900*.