I posted here a few months back about towing a camper. Well we bought one. I brought it home back in January and this past weekend we finally got to take it out. We only went about 50 miles out of town, just to get the feel for it. Good thing too, we forgot a few things <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="gr_sad.gif" /> . Oh well, on to my questions.

The truck did OK, not impressive though. The camper is 30' long and weighs in at 5103 lbs. , empty. Loaded I figure about 200 more pounds, then 3 more people in the truck, so it is a pretty good load. The rruck just seemed to have to work a little too hard.

I have the 4.8 with 3.42 gears. I am going to change to 3.73's. How much of a difference is this going to make? I also want to be sure that the speedo is correct. I know of the HyperTech and have heard of the Predetor. Has anyone used the Predetor and do you like it?

I am wondering if this is just too much to expect out of this truck and may have to look into getting something a little more powerful for towing.

I will also be adding a transmission cooler before the next trip so that will help too. The weather has not heated up real goo yet so I was no too worried about overheating this past weekend.

 

The 4.8 is a pretty good motor, but its weak on the low end. Well, most of these motors are weak on the low end, but the 4.8 is the weakest. Whatever... WIth a heavy load, the 4.8 will struggle at low rpms. Gears will help. A larger displacement motor would be another route, but its hard to think about swapping motors in a 2002 vehicle.

 

Though I am not familiar with the power of a 4.8, I tow about the same weight as you with the truck in my sig. My biggest complaint is starting off on an uphill grade. It works the sh#t out of the engine and transmission doing that. My other problem is it downshifting to often at highway speeds on a slight grade.

I'll be swapping to 4.10's when I finish my jeep project. I don't know that 3.73's would make enough difference to justify to cost of the swap, even though I'll be setting the gears myself. With 4.10's and a 29" tall tire, I'll go from 1900 rpms at 70 mph to around 2300 rpms. With 3.73's I would only be turning around 2100 rpms, which isn't close enough to the torque that I'm looking for. It will also help me get it rolling off the line without relying on that torque converter and clutches so much.

So make a long story short, I'd go with 4.10's IMO. That is if you don't mind spinning that kind of RPM's on the highway or loosing around 2mpg when not towing.

Oh yeah, and a tranny cooler is definately a wise investment! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />