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15K lbs toy hauler

They use to say 10,000lbs was the max for the 6.5.

Did you already pick one up?
 
I would say you would be skating on thin ice. If you were to drop in a new optimizer block, proper tune, ATT, and other supporting mods and it will do it. The real question will be will it be happy doing it, and I would venture to say not very happy.
 
well I didnt think it would be a question stock. Im thinking, PMD relocate, Heath 4" exhaust, Heath turbomaster, heath cooling kit, heath chip, upgraded fuel delivery (like walbro and tank sump), turbo upgrade, gauges and maybe heath towing cam. You think then it will make enought to pull 15K and be happy? I got most of this already and am contemplating the rest in this list.
 
We have had dad's 92 north of 30K locally and 20K for 1,000 miles bone stock, and two of mine at 18K total weight bone stock, travelling at least 1,000 miles with each load. one of mine is the 93 at 255K miles, and they all handled it.

if your motor and truck is in good shape, I wouldnt see why you couldnt at least handle the task with some upgrades. just dont be appalled with disbelief if she does stuff a rod on you. :) put the amount of money you would otherwise spend on a newer truck payment into a repair fund, and maybe have a built optimizer ready to drop in? I at least try to at least do the first step, not so much the second. :)

dont be discouraged by the miles, my best truck mechanically is my 255K 93 K2500HD, worst is my 95 C2500HD at 130K. its all about care.
 
OK so decent chance of the engine performing with upgrades. How about suspension. I think the fifth wheel applies about 4500 of tongue weight on the truck. I know that is going to make the truck squat like crazy and that I could install airbags to lift it back up but what about the driveline? The airbags relieve the leaf springs but that much weight is still on the axle. Going to be OK?
 
In all honesty all around you would be pushing it. not quite sure how happy the 10.5 would be with that kind of weight on it as that would put you close to 9000-10000 on just your rear wheels. Also keep in mind with a toy hauler you have ALOT of wind drag. You might as well be pulling a barn down the road with the height and frontal area. Your pushing yourself up into the territory of a new 2011+ truck with a toy hauler of that size because for a dually you probably have a 7500 pound truck or so with 15K of trailer for a GCVW of 22500 or even higher loaded down. I personally wouldn't want to go beyond 12,000 trailer weight myself as these trucks are pushing it for brakes stock, and our frames just are not that stout compared to newer trucks meant to haul that kind of trailer. Can you do it, sure. But is it worth the pucker factor, or being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a nice viewing porthole in the side of your block?
 
I would not.

Allow me to elaborate: I have everything in your planned modifications as well as the optimizer 6500 (new, not rebuilt) plus quite a few things you haven't thought of.

I pull a 9000 lb (scaled, not from the brochure) travel trailer on a 2" receiver and a Husky equalizer hitch. It's 35 feet long, about 8 feet wide and 9 feet high.

My truck pulls it but I would say it only has JUST enough poop for me. I can climb places like vantage highway and lookout pass at 55 while holding 200-210 F (depends on ambient conditions as much as anything), 1050F egt and pulling 10-11 lb of boost with AC on. Faster is possible for me, but I start getting outside of my comfort zone for a long happy life for my very expensive (relatively) drivetrain.

I wouldn't tax it with any more weight and/or wind load or speed will start dropping, EGT and ECT would start climbing, brakes would start to be marginal and suspension would be taxed. My knuckles would start to whiten and my pucker would be going tight.

You want to throw another couple more feet of height on it and a full 6,000 lbs more of dead weight. Let's not forget loading the family and assorted bits in as well. Not good. I haven't even asked if 16,000 is your planned loaded weight or if it's the "brochured" trailer weight.

Pulling a travel trailer or 5th wheel is nothing like pulling a gooseneck with a 16,000 lb bobcat on it. Much harder.

Sure, you can get it rolling. You can get anything rolling. Given enough run you can get anything up to speed. That's only the tiniest bit of towing and just because you can does not mean by any stretch of the imagination you, your family and everyone else around you is safe.


Again, I wouldn't.

Get a better tow vehicle......that's what I would do.

Cheers
 
Cali6.5 said:
Can I get my 94 6.5 to pull a 15K toy hauler reliably and safely?
Click to expand...

NO!!! :mad2:

The highest these trucks are rated, 1993 at Camping Life Magazine, is 10,000 LBS with a GN or 5er hitch and 454 gas engine. The diesel is only 1000 LBS less likely due to the extra weight of the diesel engine.

It isn't all about the engine's power. Brakes, that were marginal to begin with, frame strength, wheel bearing rating, lug/stud strength, tire rating.

I have seen the carnage and near death experience of my friend with his 1995 454 dually and hauling 3 cars with the tongue weight overloaded on the GN. (He needed to turn around the first car to make the weights proper.) He watched the rear wheels on the passenger side depart through the fender after the studs broke off. He was doing 55 MPH on a straight stretch of the grapevine. Anywhere else esp on any grades he (and others that may have gotten wadded up) wouldn't be with us today. He was lucky only to have to replace the fender, brake drum, underwear, shampoo of the seat, and studs on both sides. He was able to find his tires! His transmission later burned up and he got a Kodiak.

Myself I have overloaded the rear hitch tongue weight by unloading the trailer from the back to front as I made tire and part deliveries. The hitch was bent 2" away from the bumper when I got home. It bent the 'frame extender', hitch, and rear of the factory frame. I only had 2 stops and ran across town in the overloaded condition, but, not overloaded by total weight.

I have also had rear leaf springs re-arched under GM warranty on a Sonoma pickup from overloading. There is a reason I drive a 3/4 ton truck. :rolleyes5:

I suggest you find a lighter trailer, bigger truck, or get a serious modern truck to haul it. For example a used Kodiak or a smaller used Freightliner can keep your cost and emissions junk to a minimum. Do you really need a trailer that heavy to drag around at 9 MPG? If so you need a bigger truck...
 
WarWagon said:
NO!!! :mad2:

The highest these trucks are rated, 1993 at Camping Life Magazine, is 10,000 LBS with a GN or 5er hitch and 454 gas engine. The diesel is only 1000 LBS less likely due to the extra weight of the diesel engine.

It isn't all about the engine's power. Brakes, that were marginal to begin with, frame strength, wheel bearing rating, lug/stud strength, tire rating.

I have seen the carnage and near death experience of my friend with his 1995 454 dually and hauling 3 cars with the tongue weight overloaded on the GN. (He needed to turn around the first car to make the weights proper.) He watched the rear wheels on the passenger side depart through the fender after the studs broke off. He was doing 55 MPH on a straight stretch of the grapevine. Anywhere else esp on any grades he (and others that may have gotten wadded up) wouldn't be with us today. He was lucky only to have to replace the fender, brake drum, underwear, shampoo of the seat, and studs on both sides. He was able to find his tires! His transmission later burned up and he got a Kodiak.

Myself I have overloaded the rear hitch tongue weight by unloading the trailer from the back to front as I made tire and part deliveries. The hitch was bent 2" away from the bumper when I got home. It bent the 'frame extender', hitch, and rear of the factory frame. I only had 2 stops and ran across town in the overloaded condition, but, not overloaded by total weight.

I have also had rear leaf springs re-arched under GM warranty on a Sonoma pickup from overloading. There is a reason I drive a 3/4 ton truck. :rolleyes5:

I suggest you find a lighter trailer, bigger truck, or get a serious modern truck to haul it. For example a used Kodiak or a smaller used Freightliner can keep your cost and emissions junk to a minimum. Do you really need a trailer that heavy to drag around at 9 MPG? If so you need a bigger truck...
Click to expand...

SRW or DRW?

Customer has a 98 4 door, dually, 4x4, tows a 12K 5th wheel, I keep it in tip top shape, 200KM's, heath chip, 4" ex, turbomaster, stock cooling system and its fine. He knows how to drive and just drove from here to Winnipeg and back. I am sure the trailer weigh's more with all the gear but he's not in a rush and drives sanely.
 
DRW. lots of heath stuff done and lots more planned to get everything I can out of it until I got the response in this thread (which I appreciate the honesty). I recently took a bit of a hiatus from the forum as life had me going in other directions and I thought I remembered previously seeing threads where people were talking about pulling 20K with their 6.5 (I thought that 15K was out there yet alone 20K). But I thought I should get my own consensus and I got it. So I will probalby let the old girl go and look for a duramax. Thanks for the info everyone.
 
Pulling that much weight is one thing, pulling that much weight with that kind of frontal area is a whole nother battle all together. 15K pounds of open trailer and tractor wouldn't worry me, but pulling a tall high wind drag trailer will be a load for even a DURAMAX powered truck.
 
Just because a truck physically CAN haul a weight, doesn't mean it SHOULD. 15k really ought to have modern Duramax/Cummins pulling it...
 
I pulled it home with F350 powersmoke and it did great. I didnt have to go over the grapevine but I would guess it would do it at 30-35mph like the big rigs, just get in line. No? Well the duramax is going to be better than the 6.5.
 
Yeah, the issue is like said before, the marginal brakes, chassis, not to mention the power (or lack thereof). I've pulled 15k+ with our 2500HD Duramax, it's much more enjoyable than with other pickups.
 
Cali6.5 said:
I pulled it home with F350 powersmoke and it did great. I didnt have to go over the grapevine but I would guess it would do it at 30-35mph like the big rigs, just get in line. No? Well the duramax is going to be better than the 6.5.
Click to expand...

The 2008 Duramax we had was SRW to keep tire costs down. Going over the grapevine at or slightly over the rating was possible at the speed limit easy. The brakes are the weak area starting to make noise when they get hot. Known issue to the Chevy dealer. I recommend a turbo brake in your tune if you have to deal with the Grapevine.
 
Forgot to mention it in my last post but if your shearing off lug nuts on a dually, even just slightly overloaded, then someone didn't tighten up the wheels properly. I work around lots of shops that deal with trucks and honestly, in 20+ years, I've only seen it happen due to neglect or human error.

Cali6.5 said:
DRW. lots of heath stuff done and lots more planned to get everything I can out of it until I got the response in this thread (which I appreciate the honesty). I recently took a bit of a hiatus from the forum as life had me going in other directions and I thought I remembered previously seeing threads where people were talking about pulling 20K with their 6.5 (I thought that 15K was out there yet alone 20K). But I thought I should get my own consensus and I got it. So I will probalby let the old girl go and look for a duramax. Thanks for the info everyone.
Click to expand...

There are threads of people pulling 15-20K with their 6.2's, I think mostly on the other site though.
 
WarWagon said:
The 2008 Duramax we had was SRW to keep tire costs down. Going over the grapevine at or slightly over the rating was possible at the speed limit easy. The brakes are the weak area starting to make noise when they get hot. Known issue to the Chevy dealer. I recommend a turbo brake in your tune if you have to deal with the Grapevine.
Click to expand...

What about the trailer brakes. Shouldnt the trailer brakes take care of the trailer weight and then the truck only has to deal with it's own weight? I really liked the engine brake on the powerstroke. Tapped the brake and it maintained that speed all the way down. When did chevy make that stock and what years do you have to tune it for an engine brake?
 
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