Advice on towing with 06 3500 Duramax.

Got Smoke?

Got Smoke?

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Ok I'm a Cummins guy with little knowledge of Duramax's, so I am looking for some advice to help direct a friend of mine in the right direction.

The truck is a 2006 crew cab 4x4 3500 with stock Allison and fuel system.
Mod's are:
S&B Cold air intake
Edge Juice w/Attitude
Originally only a 4" MBRP cat-back system.
He told me today he recently had a 4" downpipe installed and the cat removed.


He came to me today asking advice on how to lower his EGT's when hauling his 5th wheel camper. He currently has a 32 ft camper, but he's looking into upgrading to a 40 ft camper/toy hauler after the first of the year. He says on a good hillclimb with his Edge on level 2 he can hit 1300 degree's.

My best educated guess was a bigger turbo since he's already done the CAI & exhaust. What do you more knowledgeable duramax guys say?

If a turbo is the only logical step it needs to be suited for towing odviously because of the camper in question, but the guy is a Irrigation and Landscape installer for a living so he tow's almost on a daily basis with the truck.
 
Twins or perhaps w/m injection?

1300 isn't going to ruin anything IMO though.
 
SmokeShow said:
Twins or perhaps w/m injection?

1300 isn't going to ruin anything IMO though.
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Twins is NOT a option. This is a WORKING truck and he only wants to fix the egt issue, not have to dump $5-6 grand into a transmission next.

He asked me to ballpark a turbo and I guessed "around" $2,000 and he seemed ok with that.
 
You could do a small set of twins, my setup on the tow rig uses a 4202 with the stock charger. Tune it to 400 RWHP and the tranny will live with the right driver. My truck makes 530 RWHP in the tow tune and it's never been over 1350 towing another Duramax in the WV and PA mountains. I've only had to grab 4th gear a couple of times to keep EGT's in check.
 
I would call Danville. I am not sure on where their pricing is, but they know what they're talking about and I'd trust my truck with them.
 
BigBlockBill said:
You could do a small set of twins, my setup on the tow rig uses a 4202 with the stock charger. Tune it to 400 RWHP and the tranny will live with the right driver. My truck makes 530 RWHP in the tow tune and it's never been over 1350 towing another Duramax in the WV and PA mountains. I've only had to grab 4th gear a couple of times to keep EGT's in check.
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This, couple friends have similar setups and they love them towing.
 
First step is throw the edge in the trash. Second step tune it with EFI Live, we have 50 horse tow tunes that will never see north of 1150 climbing a hill and still have the power you need. If he will get a good DSP-5 setup he will never want to go back to the edge.
 
I know nothing about dmax's but yeah if it was me I wouldnt have anything but EFI live on mine.
 
1300's really not too bad for a good pull. How long does it sustain 1300 ? You can get a Garrett GT4094VA for a pretty good price now and there's no core/ brand new charger.
 
JD4440 said:
1300's really not too bad for a good pull. How long does it sustain 1300 ? You can get a Garrett GT4094VA for a pretty good price now and there's no core/ brand new charger.
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Chris PM me that info please. I'm not familiar with Garrett turbo's at all.
 
Why aren't you taking the previous advise of a good tune? An edge is trash compared to EFI. I know from my duramax days. A stocker over a 472 with a solid tow tune would be tits to tow with IMO.
 
longhorn859 said:
Why aren't you taking the previous advise of a good tune? An edge is trash compared to EFI. I know from my duramax days. A stocker over a 472 with a solid tow tune would be tits to tow with IMO.
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Well first of all I missed that post Chase. Second of all we have no local dealers of efi live who actually sell AND install it. Third twins are NOT an option for the 2nd time.

I think I'll have a hard time convincing him to sell the edge and buy a set of analog gauges and go with efi, but maybe not when I show him its less than a new turbo.
 
Use the edge to monitor engine parameters, and get a pre tuned ECM with a DSP-5 switch from a reputable EFI dealer mailed to you. Rob Coddens from ATP is on here and could set you up with some great stock transmission safe tow tunes.. Or you can buy a V2 (EFI) and just have the tunes mailed to you. From the description I would not waste money on a aftermarket turbo unless it was a small tow/twin set up which I understand you/he are not interested in. Yes you can reduce some EGT's with a different turbo but since he is not looking for performance gains a aftermarket turbo is not the most cost effective way to shave a couple hundred degrees IMO.. 1300deg pulling a grade, towing is completly acceptable though. I would try the EFI route first and then if he is looking for even lower EGT's a aftermarket intercooler (Banks, BD,Spearco..) and some 3" boost tubes will drop them a little more..
 
phale said:
First step is throw the edge in the trash. Second step tune it with EFI Live, we have 50 horse tow tunes that will never see north of 1150 climbing a hill and still have the power you need. If he will get a good DSP-5 setup he will never want to go back to the edge.
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X2

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 
Got Smoke? said:
Well first of all I missed that post Chase. Second of all we have no local dealers of efi live who actually sell AND install it. Third twins are NOT an option for the 2nd time.

I think I'll have a hard time convincing him to sell the edge and buy a set of analog gauges and go with efi, but maybe not when I show him its less than a new turbo.
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Ohh but yes you do :rockwoot:
 
Turn the Egt monitor off and drive it. That would be my advice.
 
I'm with Rob, if he is that much of a rock head I say leave it as is. When the EDGE takes a dump on him, (and it will) suggest again that he might get a tuned ECM from ATP or one of the other good tuners. The stock turbo will do all he wants. If he ever actually towed with a small set of twins he'd change his mind in a hurry.
 
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