Monteagle MTN Grade I-24

civicmindedex79 · May 31, 2018

BUG-E J said:
There is a 3500 dodge on here for sail that needs an engine. Price the job and see if its worth buying. I suggest looking into seat covers and an air freshner if you go that direction

The Luke · May 31, 2018

I don't know that seat covers will be enough.. I feel like the damage needs to be burned out with fire. Lots and lots of fire.

Kubotaorange76 · May 31, 2018

Here you go, got a spool in rear, stout 400m c/6, $500 its yours. garage kept, never driven in the rain only to church on sundays :flipoff1:

1tfrot · May 31, 2018

not sure what grade that section is, but vail, Eisenhower area in CO are 6-7% grades. those are big boy pulls and the newer diesels have no issues with those. my previous d-max had a tow tune that was about 100 over stock and my previous setup weighed about 15,000#. with the tow rig I was 23K. let'r eat in 4th gear and never had issues on those grades.

honestly, you just need more truck. imo, plan B would be the best option if you're happy with your current truck as a DD. if not, then plan C.

and definitely trailer brakes

my current setup is a 2016 d-max (stock) and a 24' enclosed. total is about 17K loaded for a trip.

poolman · May 31, 2018

Kubotaorange76 said:
Here you go, got a spool in rear, stout 400m c/6, $500 its yours. garage kept, never driven in the rain only to church on sundays

That's gotta be Kel!!!! :****:

1tfrot · May 31, 2018

1tfrot said:
not sure what grade that section is, but vail, Eisenhower area in CO are 6-7% grades. those are big boy pulls and the newer diesels have no issues with those. my previous d-max had a tow tune that was about 100 over stock and my previous setup weighed about 15,000#. with the tow rig I was 23K. let'r eat in 4th gear and never had issues on those grades.

honestly, you just need more truck. imo, plan B would be the best option if you're happy with your current truck as a DD. if not, then plan C.

and definitely trailer brakes

my current setup is a 2016 d-max (stock) and a 24' enclosed. total is about 17K loaded for a trip.

quick search shows Monteagle being close to 6% as well. looks like Eisenhower pass is just longer being about 7 miles of 7%ish. at 10,000ft!

The Luke · May 31, 2018

Correct. Monteagle is about 6% at 6 miles. 4.5 at 5% going down hill. Fun fact, two years ago I lost brakes in the tow rig (jeep in tow) while coming up on the last exit before going down the mtn. Hit the exit ramp doing about 60mph. Luckily I got it slowed down enough to hit the gravel parking lot across the street from the exit and got it to a stop. That was fun. :****: :driving:

jeeptj99 · May 31, 2018

Mont Eagle is a fun tow i think. I like seeing how much i can accelerate going up the hill. I also typically tow somewhere in the 80 mph range though.

Kubotaorange76 · May 31, 2018

poolman said:
That's gotta be Kel!!!! :****:

I could never fill those shoes. Might be a part or two on there from him.

TacomaJD · May 31, 2018

Re: Re: Monteagle MTN Grade I-24

TBItoy said:
220 and 220 ain€™t overheated.

Light up that little wagon and let er eat.

Big grades like that will slow down and add heat to pretty much anything short of a hot rod older diesel or newer diesel.

I pulled a 1500lb boat with my 1500 (5.3 with 3.42 gears) and I wanted to pull my hair out. It felt weaker than my old Duramax with a 34€™ trailer, 2 rigs, 3 passengers, and a weeks worth of camping gear... of course it has 1/3 the torque.

I'm pretty sure mine has 3.42's in it bc it pisses me off pulling a 12' single axle lawn mower trailer, especially with those bigger tires on it. Sure do miss them 4.10's in my old 3/4 ton gasser.

Luke, if you can deal with the fuel mileage bringing the suck, the 3/4 ton gm gassers will be a significant improvement over what you have and nowhere near as expensive as a diesel. My trailer wasnt as heavy as yours, it was an 18' all steel dovetail dual 3500 lb axle bumper pull trailer and my full bodied rig with full cage wasn't exactly light weight. I always figured the trailer and rig weighing total somewhere around 7-7500 lbs or so.

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TBItoy · May 31, 2018

TacomaJD said:
I'm pretty sure mine has 3.42's in it bc it pisses me off pulling a 12' single axle lawn mower trailer, especially with those bigger tires on it. Sure do miss them 4.10's in my old 3/4 ton gasser.

Luke, if you can deal with the fuel mileage bringing the suck, the 3/4 ton gm gassers will be a significant improvement over what you have and nowhere near as expensive as a diesel. My trailer wasnt as heavy as yours, it was an 18' all steel dovetail dual 3500 lb axle bumper pull trailer and my full bodied rig with full cage wasn't exactly light weight. I always figured the trailer and rig weighing total somewhere around 7-7500 lbs or so.

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I'm casually looking for a 4.10 9.5" 6 lug rear end and a 4.10 ifs center section for my truck.

I like the gear ratios of the 4l60 better than the 4l80

As long as it will tow 5-6000# reliably I'll be happy

Zjman · May 31, 2018

Kubotaorange76 said:
Here you go, got a spool in rear, stout 400m c/6, $500 its yours. garage kept, never driven in the rain only to church on sundays

if you were only closer I'd be all over that

onepieceatatime · May 31, 2018

Re: Re: Re: Monteagle MTN Grade I-24

TacomaJD said:
I'm pretty sure mine has 3.42's in it bc it pisses me off pulling a 12' single axle lawn mower trailer, especially with those bigger tires on it. Sure do miss them 4.10's in my old 3/4 ton gasser.

Luke, if you can deal with the fuel mileage bringing the suck, the 3/4 ton gm gassers will be a significant improvement over what you have and nowhere near as expensive as a diesel. My trailer wasnt as heavy as yours, it was an 18' all steel dovetail dual 3500 lb axle bumper pull trailer and my full bodied rig with full cage wasn't exactly light weight. I always figured the trailer and rig weighing total somewhere around 7-7500 lbs or so.

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My old Chevy 1/2 ton had 3.42s and it pulled like a champ. Wife's Tahoe has 3.73s and I'm not sure if it's the difference between the 5.3HO that my truck had and her standard 5.3 but I swear my old truck pulled a lot better than her Tahoe. I know that may not make sense but I almost wonder if at highway speeds that the 3.42s put my old truck right in its sweet spot at 70 mph and it seems the seet spot for her truck is to just stick it at 65. I also try to consider that maybe the big block is just spoiling me.

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onepieceatatime · May 31, 2018

Re: Re: Monteagle MTN Grade I-24

Zjman said:
if you were only closer I€™d be all over that

Your 7.3 gets the mileage of a Prius! Go pick it up it's only time! :flipoff:

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TBItoy · May 31, 2018

onepieceatatime said:
My old Chevy 1/2 ton had 3.42s and it pulled like a champ. Wife's Tahoe has 3.73s and I'm not sure if it's the difference between the 5.3HO that my truck had and her standard 5.3 but I swear my old truck pulled a lot better than her Tahoe. I know that may not make sense but I almost wonder if at highway speeds that the 3.42s put my old truck right in its sweet spot at 70 mph and it seems the seet spot for her truck is to just stick it at 65. I also try to consider that maybe the big block is just spoiling me.

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Actually that makes sense mathmatically, if you are in tow haul mode and the 3.42s keep you in 3rd gear @ 70 vs the lower gears jumping you up to 4th (or the dreaded 3rd/4th shuffle)

I had a 1500 reg cab short bed 5.3 with 4.10s and it was pretty peppy

TacomaJD · Jun 1, 2018

Re:

I'm just noticing a huge dip in power/power range after putting the new wheels and tires on. Was fine before, now it seems to drag more. And mine is the 5.3HO! Looks like I'm getting about 14 mpgs now vs 17 before. I sure do like the way it looks but the damn driveability went downhill.

And a lot of my comparison is based off of pulling with that 6.0 gasser. It wasn't a stump pulling torque monster, but it spoiled me a bit compared to current truck. Current truck even has 10 more hp over the 6.0 in my old truck, but the old 6.0 had much better torque numbers and was paired with 4.10's.

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blacksheep10 · Jun 1, 2018

I've had 3 6.0 gassers. All 4.10/auto/ran well. The one that had 33's and aftermarket wheels sucked pulling my gooseneck with. More downshifts on hills, wore milage, worse stopping. It makes a difference that can be felt by something with limited power IMO

The Luke · Jun 1, 2018

blacksheep10 said:
I've had 3 6.0 gassers. All 4.10/auto/ran well. The one that had 33's and aftermarket wheels sucked pulling my gooseneck with. More downshifts on hills, wore milage, worse stopping. It makes a difference that can be felt by something with limited power IMO

My truck came with 33's and a 2" leveling kit on it. So i don't know any different. I wonder if that's a large part of my issue.

Bebop · Jun 1, 2018

I've got a 1500 5.3 work truck (4.10 gears).

It does fine pulling around 7k if I lock it in 3rd.
Trailer brakes are a must, it's night and day difference.
Same for a big trans cooler, it helps a lot.
Kevin McMinn gave me (thanks Kev !) a set of helper springs which helped with the suspension squatting.
Distribution hitch is nice too.

I know a diesel is 100000000x times better, but it's out of my budget.
And since my current truck is dead reliable and worth no money in case I wanted to sell it, I plan on running it 'till it dies.

Rear axle got rebuilt when I bought the truck, so the trans is probably what will die next.

Last year Marvin and I pulled a 7500lbs loaded trailer to Moab and back with a 200k miles half-ton Suburban. The engine didn't mind it at all, but the trans saw temps as high as 240 in Colorado. we pulled over many times to let it cool down. For un related reasons the engine was changed later, but the trans in it is still the same, got a flush at the end of the trip and it's still working fine. For what it's worth...

TacomaJD · Jun 1, 2018

Re:

I used to pull my old Tacoma and 18' steel trailer with an 02 4wd Yukon 5.3L. It stayed in 3rd a lot, Im sure bigger wheels and tires made it worse too. Towed with it for around 6 or 8 months then switched to that 2006 2500HD 6.0 gasser. World of difference. Did the Yukon pull it? Yep....but the 2500HD 6.0 was wayyyy better, and it stopped better and handled the load way better. Cant even hardly tell a load like that is behind a crew cab 2500 in terms of road manners, unlike with the Yukon. Had to throw a bike pic in for nostalgic purposes since I dug up 10 yr old pictures in my Photobucket.

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