Towing Improvements

[Burritoboi5]

Curious as to everyone's opinion here. I have a 93 w350 with a 6in lift, springs front blocks in the rear. Running an NV4500 with full discs, and hydroboost. But now that I'm starting to tow more (specifically 10-14k equipment trailers I am starting to want more low end grunt. Not sure on gearing yet, I need to count tomorrow but my tires are 35s.

I wanted to get rid of almost all of my lift but I have crossover and the box mounted in the 2wd position so I need some lift to clear the crossover setup. Currently I have 3.5 inches of clearance between pitman arm/leaf spring in the front.

So the question is... do I drop down to 33s and run 4 inches of lift, or regear to 4.56?

[RCCUMMINS89]

What gearing do you have now? Stock, most have 3.54s

I run 4.10s on 37s and it works out great (don't tow a lot of heavy weight though).

Also....what turbo are you running? Injectors? Injection pump mods?

Different tuning might get you there as well.

[Burritoboi5]

I went and counted rotations. I have 4.10s right now.

As far as tuning, I have a 12cm exhaust housing on a stock compressor with the fuel screw turned up. I had a ground pin in there and the smoke screw turned a few but had to back her off after getting close to overheating while towing a small boat 4-5k lbs through upstate NY. So now the pump is stock with the exception of the fuel screw and I likely will put my ground pin back in because I went from peaking at 27lbs of boost to about 20 now.

So I guess I'm leaning towards selling my tires, and running 33s with a 4 inch lift since I already have 4.10s and I need to rebush my front springs anyways. I know plenty of people do tow heavy with tall tires and similiar gearing to mine, I just want the most reliable setup that still keeps the truck looking aggressive.

[ellis93]

You need air. At very least a compressor upgrade. The gds I'm running keeps my truck cool while grossing 20k,with mods in my sig.

I will say that while there are better turbos,this hybrid does really well at 1/2 the price of most and 1/4 of the majority. I honestly thought about replacing mine but since I'm lowering my power this one stays.

[RCCUMMINS89]

More air flow..... also, timing would help as well.

[cmann250]

More air flow..... also, timing would help as well.

Isn't it true that bumping timing up lowers cylinder EGT, but sacrifices a bit of low end grunt? With a hand shaker and 4.10s it may not be bad, but I just wondered.

[RCCUMMINS89]

All depends.

Bumping up the timing from bone stock can and will usually increase spool ability. It is when one starts advancing a decent amount (1/4" or more) that one noticed a low end "drop out"

[JimmieD]

Sounds like some good ideas you have.

I don't see mention of an I/C?

Was the overheat in the coolant system or shown on the pyro? Of course when towing [or tweaking the screws] one of the most important gauges is a pyro.

[Burritoboi5]

First off thank all of you for your input, I do appreciate it all.

My truck is intercooled, and as far as the overheating it was the coolant system rather than the pyro. I can keep the EGTs below 900-1000 but the water temp still went up above normal. I've also got a new water pump as well as thermostat to put in just to be certain that neither of those are the culprits.

I will add a 60cm compressor wheel to the list or I could yank the hx35 off of my 4bt and put that on this truck. Then the plan will still be to downsize in tires and see if I can shave an inch or two out of the ride height.

-Steve

[Black93]

You might need to check your fan clutch also. My coolant temp would start climbing, even on a small grade pulling a empty 25' gooseneck. A new fan clutch fixed that, it doesn't go past the second mark now.

[Remps]

I like the Hyper lube super coolant additive. Works better than red line's Water Wetter additive. Heater works better, runs cooler, fan clutch hardly ever kicks in after adding it.

[Burritoboi5]

Adding a fan clutch to the list and I'm going to see what the parts store has for coolanct additives when I do the thermostat/water pump.

[Remps]

I used two bottles.