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New Truck Yesterday, LONG Tow Tomorrow

7K views 22 replies 10 participants last post by  dspencer 
#1 ·
Sold my 2011 Chevy 2500hd diesel Tuesday night. Bought a CC bighorn diesel 1500 Wednesday (yesterday). Leave for a 3,000 mile fishing trip Friday (tomorrow) at 5am. I will be pulling our 21ft bass boat with 3 guys and a truck full of crap, including 60gal fuel tank in bed of truck. New truck will have approx 150 miles on it when I leave.

Any tips for towing with this truck? The truck seems to have decent power, I have only driven 3/4 ton diesels for the last 5 years, so my view is a bit skewed but the power meets my expectations.

The truck has tow package with trailer breaks, oil cooler and tow mirrors and whatever else that comes with, 3.55 gears

So far I have been getting about 25-27 mpg on my 65mile daily commute. Hope to be in the 14-16mpg range pulling the boat.

I will post back and update how this goes...
 
#2 ·
Don't forget tow/haul mode! The truck tows pretty nicely I towed 9100#+ people with mine and managed aaround 13mpgs..... the tow mode really likes to keep you around 2000-2100 rpm you will have no issues!

Good luck fishing!
 
#3 ·
150 miles at leaving is enough to seat things in the drivetrain. You are not really towing heavy so it will be fine. You don't need any tips other than using tow-haul mode to raise the rpm's. Just give'er heck.

I have an RDS 20 gallon tank. You got the "load". 60 gallons eh? Report on how that worked during your tow.
 
#5 ·
60gal tank is out of my last truck. It doesnt fit width wise across the bed so we had to temp mount lengthwise and improvise for this trip :rolleyes:. I don't expect the truck to pull like my dmax where I set cruise at 80 and never knew boat was there. But I do expect it to do better than my dads 5.3l chevy coughgutlesscough. Will report back in a week!
 
#4 ·
I came from a 3/4 ton also. I have only towed my 6500lb boat 10-15 miles so far. Handling /control of the trailer felt stable . The truck felt like it had plenty of power. With that said it was a noticeable difference from my duramax, Which I expected . I could barely tell it was behind the Dmax, this truck the boat feels heavy and requires a lot more pedal. Again not bashing my eco, I absolutely love it. It may be the difference between 850ft of torque to 420? Of course I use to get 16mpg average compared to 24.
 
#12 ·
I blew a tire at 75 last year. I slowed down pulled off and changed the tire. Its a dual axle trailer and the only way I knew it went was my mirrors.
 
#15 ·
Congratulations on the truck and the fuel savings! !

It might not pour out all the hp/TQ my Cummins did but mine gets better mpg pulling then any of my other trucks did by 5 - 6 mpg. Not to mention it gets 8 mpg better daily. If i didn't add lift and 35's it'd be higher.

Your boat and truck look great together congrats again.
 
#22 ·
Are you towing at 77 on 65mph trailer tires?

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