4.10 gear ratio and tow ratings

sdeeter19555 · May 24, 2016

A private individual can own a semi truck and not need a CDL.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

sdeeter19555 · May 24, 2016

I'm pretty sure you can have the weight ratings adjusted on any vehicle as long as you can prove and have certified by a mechanic the vehicle is within those limits...but at what point do you just buy a HD truck?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

calsdad · May 24, 2016

You can rate the equipment at anything you want, getting pulled over with that on the hitch is something else. CDL does not apply as long as your not commercial.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Actually I think you're wrong on that. Past a certain combined weight of truck and trailer - you're required to have a CDL.

calsdad · May 24, 2016

I'm pretty sure you can have the weight ratings adjusted on any vehicle as long as you can prove and have certified by a mechanic the vehicle is within those limits...but at what point do you just buy a HD truck?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Different argument. I don't want a pickup truck. I can only afford to have one vehicle around - and the SUV covers all of my requirements better than a pickup truck does.

sdeeter19555 · May 24, 2016

Nah, I have a CDL...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

sdeeter19555 · May 24, 2016

I wasn't saying buy a truck, just at what point do mods make it cost prohibitive? The gains are minimal...slap a burban body on a duramax 3500SRW chassis?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

sdeeter19555 · May 24, 2016

I was in your shoes, wanted the 2500 burban thinking it had similar ratings to a 2500hd truck, then found out otherwise...which is a shame because there has to be a market for that...all the big three talked about a turbo diesel SUV, and Ford was the only one that ever really followed through with the Power Stroke Excursion.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

calsdad · May 25, 2016

I wasn't saying buy a truck, just at what point do mods make it cost prohibitive? The gains are minimal...slap a burban body on a duramax 3500SRW chassis?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

I have spent a lot of time on this already.

I have looked at pretty much every option there is. Including doing extensive research into swapping a Duramax diesel into a Suburban body. The conversions are pretty well documented and there are a number of companies doing them. Ultimately if I had the cash and the time - that is what I would do. The problem is that the state I live in is an emissions state. I've gone back and forth with the state DEP on this and basically got told that it's a no go. I've also talked with people I know who run emissions stations and told that trying to go around the process is asking for trouble.

So unless I want to go with a much older truck and do serious work to it to "restore" it and do things like the diesel engine swap (which I don't really - I wanted a newer truck) I'm left with enhancing the capabilities of this truck in some manner.

Since all the Chevy/GMC literature I've looked at seem to indicate that the 2500 series Suburban/Yukon XL and the 2500HD pickup trucks are pretty much the same vehicle except for the body style - it seems on the surface that a pretty simple way to add a few thousand pounds of towing capacity to the SUV is to swap in 4.10 gears.

I just went thru a bunch of the Chevy brochures for the GMT900 2500HD and Suburban 2500's - and the listing for the 2500HD pickups show the trailer weight rating going from 9800 lb with the 6.0L engine and 3.73 gear ratio - to 13,000 lb with the 4.10

The Suburban 2500 with the 6.0L engine and the 3.73 gear ratio - is 9400 lbs. The Suburban rating is less than the Silverado because the vehicle itself is carrying more weight. You can see the same effect if you start comparing all the Silverado versions against each other. The heavier versions (crew cab - long bed - etc) have lower ratings than the less weighty versions.

I honestly don't think a gear swap or even an entire axle swap (swapping in the 1150 AAM axle from a Duramax truck is pretty straightforward) - is all that big of a deal.

sdeeter19555 · May 25, 2016

If I was to swap gears in my truck, I would probably skip 4.10s and install 4.56s because of the double OD in the 6spd. I think that it wouldn't really affect mileage. While I can't manipulate the existing numbers, there is nothing saying I can't make it tow those numbers better.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

calsdad · May 25, 2016

I was in your shoes, wanted the 2500 burban thinking it had similar ratings to a 2500hd truck, then found out otherwise...which is a shame because there has to be a market for that...all the big three talked about a turbo diesel SUV, and Ford was the only one that ever really followed through with the Power Stroke Excursion.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

I think that's my point: the 2500 SUV and the 2500 pickup truck - basically have the same tow ratings if you compare apples to apples. With the 6.0L gas engine and the 3.73 gear ratio , they're tow ratings are within a few hundred pounds of each other (SUV is lower)

And that difference is accounted for by the fact that the SUV weighs more as a vehicle.