Dad's truck, tows an almost 12,000lb toy hauler up and over to the coast and to the desert often. Sees 230º coolant temp on inclines in 2nd gear wide open. 100% stock other than an aftermarket muffler. He's debating trading it in for a $47k duramax but wanted to know if a supercharger or bolt ons would make a significant difference for him and pulling without affecting emissions (crappy CA) or driveability.

Thanks in advance fellas!

 

If you plan on towing do it right and get the Dmax!

 

Yes modding the vmax will help. Supercharger, Turbo, heads, cam, headers, Tune, Gears all will do wonders.

Imo, even with a tvs supercharger I dont think its even going to be close to what a stock dmax puts down torque wise. It can be done but $$$$. Diesels are where its at if you want to haul stuff and get halfway decent mileage doing it. Just my 2 cents.

 

Dmax for sure. He will like the mileage better + the hd rear end & break system.

 

Dmax with a tune all he would need.

 

dmax with that much weight no question.

 

bunch of diesel huffing boys here. lol. gears first, and positive displacement supercharger like magnacharger, tvs, whipple... will do wonders for a fraction of the cost of a duramax

 

That's just too much weight to haul around with a half ton. If ur not a diesel guy , look into a 07+ 3/4 ton 6.0. They have the upgraded bakes, 6l90e, beefy rear axle, and the rear suspension to hold like 15k.
But diesel still gets my vote.

 

there's alot more needed to tow that kind of weight besides power, like brakes, frame strength, and weight. not to mention a diesel will get way better mpg then a gas, supercharged or not.

 

Having owned or driven both vehicles I can say without a doubt my tow tuned dmax on 35" mud tires would leave a radix fed 6.0 in the dust without even having my foot ot the floor. Here shortly I know just how bad the deficite is on my own truck once I throw the radix on my LQ4 but I know it wont compare to my old dmax.