Saw a LOT of Duramaxes this weekend!

[SoCalDMAX]

I went out to Gordon's Well (between El Centro and Yuma next to Hwy 8) this weekend and immediately got buried up to the axles in the soft sand in the dark. With the 25ft trailer attached. (I could get a Humvee stuck on pavement. ;) )

I walked over to the nearest camp and asked to borrow a shovel, and the guy I was talking to said, "Naw, we'll just pull you out." He backed his 2500HD 4x4, CC, SB with 6.0, 6" RCD lift and 35" tires up and pulled me right out, trailer and all. He towed me over to their camp and I spent the weekend riding with them. I was looking around at the vehicles in camp and saw a beautiful black lifted Dmax CC SB with 285s. They came over and asked me a few questions about mine and one guy said he had one as well. When I mentioned looking at the black one, he said no, he drove the motorhome, that was his buddy's Dmax.

Of the trucks there, there was a mid 90's CC Ford with a big block that told me he was only getting 4-5mpg with his toybox trailer at 70-75mph. There were 2 Dmaxes and the 2500HD with the 6.0. Over the course of the weekend, I saw a lot of trucks, probably 60-70% were 2500HDs or 3500s and over half of them had the Duramax emblem. I saw some gorgeous 3500 Dmaxes hooked to 40' 5th wheel toyboxes parked way out in the soft stuff.

On my way out, there was a white CC Dmax airing his tires back up and I asked if he could spare some air (he was using a gen. and a 115V compressor). As we were inflating tires, we compared notes and I mentioned I had a performance module on the engine. He was shocked! "Good God, why on earth would you want more power? I use mine to haul a double axle trailer totalling 10,000lbs between SoCal and TX, and I can't keep tires on the trailer! The truck wants to run 65-70mph, and at that speed I get 500-600mi before the trailer tires shred! So now I run 55 mph and get fairly normal life out of the trailer tires."

We agreed there must be something fishy with the trailer axles or something, because he was properly inflated and not over weight.

At any rate, in my neighborhood, I'm outnumbered by PSDs, probably 7:1 at least. It's nice to know out in the dunes, when you see a top of the line 25-40' toybox with some serious toys in it, there's a better than even chance there's a Dmax up front hauling it!

Regards, Steve

PS: I'm seriously thinking about getting 285s with 16x8 rims for the sand season, getting buried is normally not a lot of fun... ;)

[sdaver]

hey ole buddie just put some 305's on what you got an air down to 15 ps1 in the sand... :D dave

[Toddster]

Sdaver, do you have your 305's on your stock wheels ? How do they look........any pics ?

[TN farmer]

Toddster, I have 305/70/16 tires on my stock wheels and they look good. I have 15,000 mi on this set and have not noticed the centers wearing out or any thing funny. My next set will be 295/75/16 to keep my same heigth but should fit the rims better.

[Oongawah]

TN Farmer,

How well does the Hot Juice run with that tall of tire? Is the drivetrain stock? Also, did you lift the truck at all, or do those size tires fit stock height? I'd ask more questions but can't think of anymore(hehe). Chuck.

[mackin]

I've have been seeing a lot of Duramax's every where.....Today I seen my first lifted 2500 HD 4x4 with Chrome stacks......No smoke.... :( I should have chased him down but I was at light ,buy the time it turned he was long gone......


Socal that could have resulted in a pull out and more re accruing redundant web PIC posting.....Do us a favor stay on the black top ...... :D :D


MAC

[ 12-18-2002: Message edited by: mackin ]</p>

[TN farmer]

Chuck,

I love the hot juice and never had the normal juice to compare it to. My drivetrain is stock and have never experienced the limp from the allison. I gave the tranny two weeks to get adjusted to the new power before I ran level 4, I guess this helped? I do not have a lift on my truck, I just leveled it with the torsion bars. After leveling it the tires only rubbed the driverside fenderwell in the rear, I zip tied this to the parking brake cable and have never had a problem.

How do you like the way your JK exhaust sounds and have you heard Banks or Bully Dog. I have only heard clips on the net never an actuall truck.

[DMax_Doug]

SoCal,
I've also seen plenty of HD's out at Gordon's Well and also at Ocotillo. At Gordon's with all the powdered sand, you need a lot of rubber to float our heavy trucks. My old F350 struggled in deep sand w/BFG 295's aired down - I wouldn't get far off the hardpack with my Dmax (as you've demonstrated) without 285's or better.

You're running Dunlop Radial Rover AT's right? I have the RV's, and though they are much better than the stock 245's, my opinion is our trucks are just too heavy to plod around in the deep stuff.

[Oongawah]

TN Farmer,

I like the exhaust. It cooled the EGT's about 200 degrees, and it seems to have more torque. So much so that I got totally sideways making a left turn on dry pavement I make often, and it came by suprise. It sounds like a truck at Idle, but when you tromp on it at highway speeds you don't notice a whole lot unless you're next to something(like a car, or wall) that rebounds the sound back to you. At that point it sounds a lot like I've heard mentioned here before----A Cement Truck----Power Baby! Definately not a gasser sound. It raised my boost pressure about ten percent. No, haven't heard any other exhausts on a Dmax. The JK has a straight through design, and that's what I was looking for. Hope this info helps. I'm thinking on going with the larger tires on the next round, I was just concerned about too much pressure on the drivetrain. I do haul a 5er once in a while. I've talked to people who twisted the yokes off their driveshafts on the 01's. I didn't want to replicate the problem on my 02. Seems as though it's working for you. Thanks for your input, Chuck.

[Oongawah]

TN Farmer,

P.S. when you leveled the torsion bars, do you still have a lot of suspension travel? Do you feel the shocks top out at times? Did it take it way out of alignment?

[TN farmer]

Chuck, thanks for the help with the exhaust I will be purchasing one soon and just wanted to get some input.

As far as stress on the drivetrain I tested it by entering in a truck pull. I had the 305 tires on but the truck was completely stock.

The shocks do not top out I am guessing I went between 4 & 5 turns on the torsion bars.

The alignment was off and it took the shop two hours to get it right. This may have firmed the ride a little but it is so much better than the cummins I had I don't mind.

Did you try a replacement filter before you got the aFe stage II? If so how do they compare as far as boost and egt?

Thanks Robert

[BowTieDmax]

I've got 305's on my stock wheels and there is a little bit more wear in the centers (about 36,000 miles on the tires). But I realize that with this hot juice and my driving style. I'll never get to many miles out of a set of tires. So for the huge differance in the way the truck looks with the 305's I'll be replacing them soon with the same. I usally keep the tires around 35 psi. And that seems to help with the crowning of the tires. 5 turns on the bars.

[Oongawah]

Thanks Robert, and BowTieDmax,

I will use that info on the 5 turns. How tall are those tires in inches? As far as AFE Stage II, I didn't have guages when I made the switch. I had a K&N replacement before and didn't see any difference. As soon as I put on the AFE the first thing I noticed is the WOT actually works. Before the AFE when I would mash on the throttle it wouldn't matter if I had it all the way down or 85%, the result was the same if not worse at WOT. Now WOT is smooth. You can hear the turbo more which is cool. The exhaust from JK requires no welding except for that Big Ol' Chrome Tip. I haven't installed the tip yet, but still get comments on that huge pipe. I can't believe how much air comes out of that thing even at idle.
As far as the suspension question I had, how much upward travel do you guys have? If you put a jack under the frame in the front and lift the truck, how much more travel do you get before the wheels come off the ground? I had a Toyota many years ago that I cranked the torsion bars on and that lil' guy would leave the earth every time I encountered a dip at highway speeds. I want to avoid that. Thanks again for the input, Chuck.