More pulling power from my K2500

[Hipster]

It would be awesome.

BluePrint Engines Featured On Hot Rod Network: What Makes the 598 Great?

BluePrint’s 598ci big-block Chevy was recently featured in a piece by David Freiburger on Hot Rod Network where he explores using our 598 in an unconventional way. Freiburger hosts the show “Engine Masters” where he, Steve Brulé, and Steve Dulcich play around with engines, bust motor myths, and...

blueprintengines.com

It would be a detonating ticking time bomb. lol

 

[LC2NLS6]

It would be a detonating ticking time bomb. lol

Well sure if you cranked the timing to 45 deg adv or something. Compression ratio doesn't equal detonation. Lighting off the spark plug too soon would. These guys ran it to 850 hp on pump 91 california gas. My turbo car runs about 9.5:1 and I have thrown 9 sec boost at it, with a bit of 100% meth spraying it on pump 93. 20 years ago my stock LS6 vette was 10.5:1 and ran on pump 93 gas, I even bumped the timing up 2* in HPTuners back in the day on 93E10 gas and it was fine.

Intake Shootout! What to Use on a 598ci Big-Block: Engine Masters Preview

Freiburger and the Steves are back for a big-block Chevy intake manifold shootout and the results shocked everyone. Watch it right now on MotorTrend!

www.motortrend.com

 

[Supercharged111]

It would be a detonating ticking time bomb. lol

Not if you tune for it. Both of my trucks are supercharged and I tow all the time with them.

 

[DonYukon]

Ok so back on topic we are beating the same path with LS vs the world.

To OP, Honestly have you considered upgrading the truck ? what's the weight of the 22 foot trailer? Defintly not the cheapest option but a good upgrade in truck might be the best option unless funds are stopping you. I love my OBS trucks but when I was looking for a tow pig last fall to tow my trail rig the 454 vortec gas dually I was set up to buy from a friend just wasn't enough to pull it in the grades. I drove my brothers 2017 2500 single wheel gas and it was much better (minus a little more sway because of the single wheel)

So last fall I bought the 2020 HD with the new 6.6 gas and its a monster by comparison in my past trips even the 2017 had to down shift more often to get it up a few grades my new truck downshifted 2-3 times the whole trip. Also the Grade braking is amazing. down some of the hills Unloaded I dont even have to touch the brakes or manual downshift when doing down the truck holds its speed and only upshifted once and I believe that grade was around 7% (not sure thats 100% true but what I remember )

 

[Supercharged111]

Ok so back on topic we are beating the same path with LS vs the world.

To OP, Honestly have you considered upgrading the truck ? what's the weight of the 22 foot trailer? Defintly not the cheapest option but a good upgrade in truck might be the best option unless funds are stopping you. I love my OBS trucks but when I was looking for a tow pig last fall to tow my trail rig the 454 vortec gas dually I was set up to buy from a friend just wasn't enough to pull it in the grades. I drove my brothers 2017 2500 single wheel gas and it was much better (minus a little more sway because of the single wheel)

So last fall I bought the 2020 HD with the new 6.6 gas and its a monster by comparison in my past trips even the 2017 had to down shift more often to get it up a few grades my new truck downshifted 2-3 times the whole trip. Also the Grade braking is amazing. down some of the hills Unloaded I dont even have to touch the brakes or manual downshift when doing down the truck holds its speed and only upshifted once and I believe that grade was around 7% (not sure thats 100% true but what I remember )

New trucks are great and all, but I don't feel like paying house money for a vehicle.

 

[Schurkey]

...and the newer the vehicle, the more spyware is loaded into the computer system.

 

[alpinecrick]

Thanks for all the info and opinions. My truck is a 1995 with 265/75-16 tires a couple size bigger than stock witch is not helping my situation. I have been going back and forth between 3:73 and 4:10 and have decided on 4:10. This truck is not my daily driver. I pull a 22' camper a few times a year and a boat that weighs about 4000 LBS. Pulling around town is not bad but, going up grades on the interstate I have to really work it to keep the speed up. If I let the rpm's drop below 2500 it wont keep up. The truck is geared too high and the fuel mileage is not good either. I am looking for a junkyard front differential and just do a gear swap in the rear. With the TBI 5.7 it stops pulling a little over 3000 rpm's. I had considered a 5.3 swap but,when I tow with my 04 suburban and start up a grade it really starts pulling hard above 3000 rpm's 4500 to 5000 when it down shifts at 65 mph I am not real fond of that either. I like the low rpm torque of the 5.7 so I am not ready to move away from that yet. I have briefly looked into a cam swap but, I need to do more research for the best option as I don't want to move the power band up the rpm range very much.

Sounds as though your truck has had a fair amount of modifications to no avail. I'd do what Shurkey recommended with heads, and find an original manifold to reinstall.

The 7200 GVW trucks are 1/2 tons with the 3/4 ton, 14 bolt rear axle, and it's own spring pack. Might be wrong but I'm pretty sure those truck never came with the NV4500, so somebody has swapped one in. I wonder what the gearing is on those transmissions?

Having owned a 91 Light Duty K2500 that I bought slightly used in 92 (it was the dealers personal truck), and pulled several trailers with it in the Rockies, there is not a lot one can do with the TBI that is going to make it significantly better at towing without getting somewhat radical. The "swirl port" heads plumb run out of breath above 3200-3500 RPMs. They are excellent for what they were designed and the HP of the TBI's, and very long lived motors.

4.10 gears would most likely help things though, and probably the most cost effective option.

 

[alpinecrick]

...and the newer the vehicle, the more spyware is loaded into the computer system.

AMEN!!!!!

 

[alpinecrick]

Having pulled the same 18 1/2 TT all over the Rockies at altitude for the past 25 years, with GM trucks ranging from a 76 K10 with factory 400 SB, to my 06 TD, the TBI had very good torque off idle, but much over 3200 RPM's while climbing the pass it wouldn't go any faster. I could turn more RPM's, but it didn't go any faster regardless of what gear I chose.

I own a 01 Sierra 1500 4wd 4L60E/3.73's with the 5.3 (and it currently has 96k on it), and it does not pull the trailer up the pass quite as easily as my Vortec 5.7/4L60E/3.73's K1500s. The 5.7's have a wider power band, and as far as I can tell the torque rating of the 5.3 is a bit optimistic.

When I went from the factory P245's to LT265's on the 01 Sierra, it slowed acceleration down quite a bit. When empty, even with the LT265's, the 5.3 will beat my 5.7's stoplight to stoplight. But when it comes to pulling the pass the 5.7's do better, and the trans doesn't hunt and peck through the gears as much, and they do it with 600-800 lower RPM's.

I also owned a 2017 Silverado 4wd CCSB with the 5.3. Nice truck, drove it for several months and flipped it for a profit. This truck is a LOT heavier than my GMT400 ECSBs. But even that doesn't account for how it didn't go up the pass as well as I expected. I'm a bit skeptical of GM's HP and torque rating of those current 5.3 motors.

 

[GMCTruck]

The 7200 GVW trucks are 1/2 tons with the 3/4 ton, 14 bolt rear axle, and it's own spring pack. Might be wrong but I'm pretty sure those truck never came with the NV4500, so somebody has swapped one in. I wonder what the gearing is on those transmissions?

The light duty 3/4 ton could be ordered from the factory with the heavy duty manual transmission (with bull low gear). I test drove one in 1995.