question on towing weight of boat

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gpnhunt

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Hello
I have a 1999 2500 5.9 Diesel I live in Colorado at 9500 ft elevation looking to tow a boat and trailer with a combined weight of 15,000 lbs. Im just wondering what type of mods i have to do to the truck,the boat trailer will have trailer brakes I really want to keep it as stock as I can.
Thanks for any info
 

dudeman2009

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Since you have the diesel, you will be fine on power as long as you haven't put radically larger tires with no change in differential gearing.

At that much weight you should be using a proper hitch, not bumper pulling. If you have trailer brakes, make sure the brake controller is properly setup. Just give your hitch a good once over to make sure everything looks solid and not weakened due to rust.

If you have a manual, pull in 4th gear to minimize wear on the transmission, though some people say pulling in 5th is fine, it will put a bit of extra wear on transmission components.

If you have an automatic, make sure you have an additional transmission cooler installed. If once you get up to cruising speed (I drive 60 normally, but I wouldn't tow anything more than 2Klbs faster than that anyway) if it shifts in and out of overdrive more than once every 5-10 minutes, just turn off the overdrive. Otherwise added wear and premature failure will result.

Make sure the safety chains are free from major rust and are of a consistent thickness, you should adjust the ball receiver so it fits snugly on the ball, but should it come off, you need those chains to hold in order to prevent an accident or death behind you.

All lighting should be tested. All major components should be looked over, including the backside of tires on both the trailer and tow vehicle. Proper inflation on the trailer is critical, too low and the tire may overheat and blow out. Too high and the tire may fail due to heating and overpressure due to said heating. (follow the cold inflation pressure on the sidewall)

Make sure you are alert and aware of your surroundings while towing. In my experience, boats have a habit of rocking and swaying under hard braking, just give yourself some extra space.

Most everything is standard practice, you should be just fine. I only list everything because the one thing you forget, will be the one thing that goes wrong.

Good luck!
 

Gr8bawana

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Everything dudeman said is right on. With your diesel you have enough power to go as fast as you want but as he also said 60 to 65 mph tops safetywise.
Last weekend we were driving on I 10 near Phoenix and a guy in a diesel pulling a toyhauler about 35 feet long passed me doing around at least 80, the speed limit was 75. If something happened in front of him on the packed freeway there is no way he could have stopped fast enough. If he had a blowout he would wipe out a lot of other cars around him.
 

dapepper9

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As far as mods to help and make it easier/better, load adjusting rear shocks/helper springs/bags will help the ride.

Pulling with an auto, definitely plus 1 to the cooler. In fact, should have that regardless. Also, i would not even allow overdrive to engage until you are up to speed on the highway and turn it back off on hills. Overdrive engages about 15mph too early on these trucks anyways. If your truck is a manual, disregard all that.

Small things to increase tq will also help
 
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