I am presently sitting in Las Vegas, NV in attendance at the SEMA Show 2003. I towed my travel trailer to Las Vegas from Martinsville for the show. The route is I-70 to I-15...some very mountainous terrain.
Thanks to information gleaned from this resource and products from Kennedy Diesel, my Suburban is finally a respectable towing machine...and I sense there is more in there. Having traveled the exact same route (and farther) in June with the family on vacation, I have a good comparison test established. At the time of the summer trip, I had Kennedy's TD Max chip, the HO water pump and dual t-stats, the K&N air filter and Banks exhaust installed. I suffered from overheating problems and low power in western Colorado and Utah.
This trip, I have the Kennedy intercooler, Kennedy fan clutch and 9-blade steel fan. From Indiana through Kansas I set the cruise on 70 mph and drove...the most speed loss was 5 mph on some grades in Missouri. In the summer I had to down shift on most any grade to keep from losing more than 5 mph.
In Colorado, I set the cruise on 75 mph (speed limit) and just drove. It was amazing. Previously, I could not sustain 75 mph on level ground...I could only do that on down grades.
Late Monday night as I was approaching Denver, I lost boost. Turns out, the waste gate actuator failed...the rod broke where it connects to the piston in the canister. I lost two thirds of a day while rounding up the part in Denver, replaced it in a K-Mart parking lot, then moved on.
Climbing out of Denver on I-70 up to the Eisenhower Tunnel under the Great Divide was my first real test. Last summer, I struggled with overheating (had to stop twice to cool down) and low power (it was hot). I actually dropped into first gear at less than 35 mph when approaching the tunnel at 11,000+ elevation. This time, I hit the tunnel at 50 mph and only briefly dropped into second gear. At no other time on the east side of the divide did I drop below 55 mph.
The down grades were managed much more easily with the TorqLoc engaged. The rig felt much more secure and it was much easier to maintain safe speeds.
Last summer, the tow through Utah was a struggle. At several spots, I had to crawl in first gear at about 25-30 mph. This time, I never dropped below 50 mph and only used second gear a couple of times. I actually got into a bit of a contest with a Dodge Cummins 3500 dually towing a 5th-wheel. He could pull me slightly on some of the grades...Then he decided to really out run me. I fell in behind and stayed with him (the draft helped). We ran at over 80 mph for several miles, then I got a good jump on an upgrade, passed him and went on. Cool
This truck really has me excited now. Overheating seems to be a thing of the past. Now I am just beginning to tap the real power potential.
I now have the return trip to do, starting tomorrow and hope to be home by Saturday night. As for the water mist injection issue, I can't see how it would provide the performance that the intercooler did for that sustained effort. Running 70 - 75 mph towing the trailer requires sustained boost levels of 10-13 psi...that's over 1800 miles at high boost levels. In the systems I've seen described here, the water would be on all the time and I don't see how I could keep the tank full. Just my opinion.
So far, the intercooler and the fan clutch are the two most significant changes that I have made...but they all work together.
What fun! [img]smile.gif[/img]
[ 06-25-2004, 07:37 AM: Message edited by: ronniejoe ]