6 liter Silverado wants more power for towing
 

Hey there, I'm looking to boost my trailer towing power with bolt on components and reworking the ECM. Has anyone found a good combination of headers / cats / exhaust coupled with throttle body and programming along with cold air intake? I have an '05 K3500 single rear wheel extended cab with 8 foot box that handles my holiday trailer ok but would like to have a bit more jam out of it.

I got decent results from a Black Bear Tune. I had a flowmaster 70 series towing muffler (deep tone but not loud), a CAI and it hauled my 16 foot enclosed trailer and 22' pontoon very easily. Be careful towing with a real free flowing exhaust - you will lose some backpressure/torque and in my opinion the higher RPM's you turn while towing get real annoying with a loud exhaust. My truck had some LOUD mufflers when I bought it and they came off after the first trip with the boat. Maybe I am getting old, but I don't want to have to yell at my passengers because my exhaust is too loud.

Thanks Mr. Shamrock, but not sure what a black bear tune is or a CAI? I agree, loud exhaust when on the road for hours can get a bit annoying. When the wife is in the cab, that's enough noise on long trips! ;)

Black Bear is a company that tunes the GM computers. The owners name is Justin and he is awesome with these things. His website is www.blackbearperformance.com. A CAI is a Cold Air Intake and there are a bunch of different brands out there.
You must have a wife like mine - YAP YAP YAP YAP - but we love it.

Ok, yes there are several tuning programs / programmers like Superchips, Bullydog etc etc. I had priced out a CAI from K&N and GM performance. I'm thinking that I'll do the CAI along with a programmed tune, perhaps a set of headers, new cats and either some bolt on dynaflow exhaust for starters. I found out in August that dragging the 27 foot holiday trailer to head out on the road of adventure over the Rockies was all the stock 6 liter wanted to do. I have an exhaust leak on driver's side manifold to repair anyway (friggin' small bolts break!!) Perhaps over the winter, get this stuff ordered up and installed and then be a weekend warrior again next year :cool:

I forgot to mention that yes we do love the constant nattering. Too fast, are you sure there isn't anyone in the other lane, I gotta stop for the washroom, aren't you going to ask for directions? Ha Ha Ha :D

Maybe a common sense question, but are you pulling your trailer in overdrive or 3rd? I am from Florida where it is of course flat and used to tow in overdrive and continued to do so when I moved here 4 years ago. I started towing in 3rd and the truck does A LOT better and the gas mileage was not affected (or at least not enough to notice). Again, this may be a common sense thing, but I apparently was lacking that when it came to towing in Carolina.

The truck is equipped with Tow/Haul switch so I'm leaving it in OD when pulling. It hangs on to shift points and very limited slippage between gears. It will get into top gear and convertor lock up when on the flat but when pulling any hill it unlocks, drops a gear and relocks. Fuel mileage sucks no matter which gear. I miss my diesel :(

Try it in 3rd when pulling something heavy. I bet the difference will surprise you. Still use the tow/haul button though. It won't search for the right gear like in OD. Mine would go from a high rev (passing gear) to overdrive back and forth at every little incline and it was very annoying. It won't do that in 3rd unless it is a very steep upgrade. I think that is what makes the gas consumption so equal, but the ride will be so much more enjoyable. Just my experience - let me know next time you tow if it works for you.

I'll give it a whirl. Up here we have a long weekend coming up and we plan to head out west with the trailer. I have to fix some broken exhaust bolts into cylinder head and replace the gasket before we go though. For now just sticking with stock exhaust components. The performance upgrades have to wait until next year for now.