moes04silverado

iTrader: (2)

Guys I'm posting for my uncle on this, he tows goose neck mobile trailers from Indiana to all parts of the country and he has the 8.1L w/ the 6 speed allison tans and 4.10 gears. This is his second truck the first one was the same truck with the 5 speed allison. On the first truck he mentioned he put in a KN cold air intake and it destroyed the the MAF sensor. I asked him if he installed it on the new truck and he said no b/c of that reason.

So question, what bolt ons can be done that would improve fuel economy and gain horsepower. He is thinking of upgrading the 4.10 to 4.56's.

Parke10

iTrader: (5)

Im not sure how it could have destroyed the MAF, the only thing i can think of is it was over oiled and got the MAF oily in which case you would just need to clean it.

Id say intake,exhaust and a tune.

bighoss77

4.56's will kill mileage since he pulls on the interstate. that will just bump his rpm's up and burn more gas... although it will pull better. good luck with fuel mileage and the 8.1L, especially towing. he should have gone Duramax.

Kerr

yea i wouldnt do gears.

Dry intake, if the k@N killed the mass air.. If i was a guessing man id say the mass air died and the dealer blaimed it on that.

Intake and exhaust is about all you can, Truith is they like fuel..

moes04silverado

iTrader: (2)

yeah i know they like fuel - My main plow truck is a 8.1L; shitty fuel mileage, but will push a mountian of snow!

He had a Duramax - hated it! Said it was a maintanance nightmare when your racking up 100k miles a year. I dont know, ive nevered owned or cared to own a diesel truck. Im a LS-based guy and I told him he should look at
6.0L or building a torque machine from a LS or LSX block.

As for the gears, he said the newer Allision Tranmission with the extra overdrive kills the truck on towing. He as thinking with the extra rear gear it would pull better, which is true - but the fuel mileage would decrease.

Thanks for the imput though...

Kerr

i was going to ask you about that.. ive never seen a 8.1L with the 5 or 6 speed auto... what year did they do that? Mine has the 4L80E becuase its a sububran and brads truck has a allison but its just a 4 speed i thought.. its a 01 model.. I have driven a 8.1L manual with 4:10 gears.. i guess that was built to pull a house... it sucked for driving..

Id love a 6 speed behind the 8.1L in a auto... ive been trying to research the 6L90E swap but havent had any luck...

Most of my friends have diesels and unless you do a tuner and parts they are no better than a gas motor.. Mike has a 07 F350. diesel. intake, exhaust, elbow thing...12 mpg. it went to 14 with a programmer.. i get 10 in the susbubrabn. I run regular at $2.45 a gallon he is paying $3.19..

terry had a stock 02 duramax and the 8.1L would walk him towing once up to speed... up hill down hill, flat land... the d max kidded me on take off though... hard to argue with diesel tq and a turbo..

All that said if i had unlimited funds id have 2011 denlai 2500 with a lot of parts! lol..

hog

Big gains in power/torque with PCM tuning on the 8.1.

peace
Hog

moes04silverado

iTrader: (2)

If i rememebr correctly they only put the allison in the trucks b/c of the possible heavy towing. The suburbans and avalanches i think all got the 4l80e trans. Now there are some rare execptions with the trucks, ive seen maybe two 8.1L with a 5 speed manual!

$2.45/gallon! **** i wish gas was that cheap in ohio - i might buy a tanker and come fill it up and resell it up here! right now its $3.20/gallon in Cleveland, Ohio

262_NBS

the MAF probably accumulated some dirt from the oiled filter....which can be remedied with some MAF cleaner and a few Qtips

TIM Z

iTrader: (12)

Well like said Tune, intake and exhaust. dont expect stellar mileage though.

Any gas engine that tows isnt going to get great mpg. isnt going happen.

A 6.0 will be a step backwards, dont do it.

Torque is your friend when towing.

If his current combo has the power he needs then he's just gonna have to live with poor mileage.

Towing with a Dmax is where its at. All the power you could want and better mpg than any gas engine.

Oh and for the guy with the ford who only gets 10-12 mpg, thats the norm with a POS powerstroke, they are fuel pigs among other things.

A tuned Duramax cant be beat. And maintanence is no excuse. Its not much more than a gasser in all reality when you change both motors at same intervals, only diference is a fuel and trans spin on filter every 10,000 miles.

I bet if your uncle even dropped down to 3.73's it would help a bunch, hell if he has the 6 speed ally I would.