I used to tow a 20 ft 4000 pound camper with stock rad, ls1 fans, stock thermo and a pcmofnc trans cooler. never overheated. just tow in 3rd so you don't blow your trans and you'll be fine


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thanks for the feedback. im still on the fence about this.

 

Really the stock radiator is just fine, especially if you keep the mechanical fan. If you'd like to go to e-fans you may want to get the spal set up.

BUT I'd be more worried about trans temps. Get an auxiliary trans cooler from PCMofNC and you'll be fine.


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The stock cooling system is more than adequate for pretty much everything you can throw at it. Try to keep the converter locked at cruise and trans temps will be just fine as well. This is a truck built to tow 5000-8000 lbs after all...

 

Fair enough, I will keep the stock setup and test it out this summer. I am going to pull the radiator and clean it and the condenser, there is a lot of bugs and road grime built up on both.

 

Towing in 3 all the time would be awful. I'd only worry about doing that if it's constantly changing gears while you're cruising or the converter isn't staying locked.


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agreed. I try and run in OD whenever i can as long as the load isnt toooooo heavy. But sometimes load and terrain dont permit it.

 

When I was bone stock I towed a buddies s10 xtreme on a full car carrier with 4 passengers and gear and drove it in 3rd from Dallas to Houston in 105* Texas heat. Of course I was only doing 50-55 mph because I was worried that I was beyond the 6000lb trailer limit. It did fine with no hiccups. Would I do that again, no. But just saying its possible. I wish I had my Torque app to monitor trans temps back then to see how bad they were.

 

That makes me feel better.

I think i am going to clean the radiator and condenser fins real good then run it as is for this summer.

 

at wat RPM does the stock converter lock?

 

Need more info.

 

Depends on more variables than just RPM. Ground speed, engine load, throttle %, etc.

 

It's harder to feel with a stock converter but lock up almost feels like an additional gear that drops the engine speed a little and makes it feel a little more firm - as if it's a manual transmission. Like I said its harder to tell the difference with a stock converter because it has such a low stall speed.

With your load, any converter should not have an problem locking up and unless there is an issue with your truck I'm sure it's locking up just fine.

 

here is an hptuners table of lockup speeds.

 

truck did great on small trip today.

 

so i towed the quad a little over two hours from home. truck did great. it was 50ish*F outside and coolant temps were rocksolid at 190* on the highway and the trans temps were 160-170.

towed the load real nice, had plenty of power and did exactly what i needed it too.

 

Bringing this back up...

the TB is all stock 63k miles and im going to be towing a 3k+lbs load (give or take) about an hour through country roads in this stupid a** Texas heat...

do I still leave it in third? I have a aeroforce gauge to watch trans temps and coolant temps...

Im a greenhorn when it comes to towing, so any info/suggestions would be appricated

 

i have been hauling the boat and quad around a lot this summer.

my boat is light maybe 2500 pounds with the trailer and its fine leaving it in 4th on the highway, i drop to 3rd if i see the hills coming.

temps have been marginal with the stock radiator and spal fans. i think i am going to do a larger radiator just for peace of mind.

 

bumping this back to the top. After picking up a side by side, all my tow vehicles struggle. this thing is like a giant sail behind the truck and provides some serious drag, it got even worse after i added the windshield to the SXS. couple that with all the gear we typically drag along it strains the cooling system. it wasnt uncommon to see 220* water temps even with cool ambient temps.

i picked up and FSR radiator, 160* thermostat and added the pusher fan to my PCM of nc trans cooler.

still need to install the radiator and the stat. but my cooling should be fine after all these goodies go in.

 

SxS are heavy! I bet a dual axle trailer setup level to spread the weight on the axles and relieve the weight on the tongue would help a little.

 

the 160* stat isn't going to make much difference. The problem is in the computer's cooling parameters. You can't make the fans come on before ~190* (I don't remember exactly, but I have a 160 & it runs around 210 all the time.)

 

I would like to jump in here and ask a question as well. I have a 4x8 enclosed trailer that I use for motorcycles and other stuff. I am supposed to go about 3 hrs one way in a couple of weeks to get a bunch of trophies for my daughters gymnastics team and I am wondering if I can use the TBSS to do it. I have an LS3 with 160 stat, e-fans, an RPM LVL6 trans with a Vigilante 3200 stall, a PCMofNC duct mount cooler as well as the PCMof NC TCM mod and full tune. Opinions?

 

I have been towing my 4500 lb trailer every weekend in for the last 5 years and no problems. I run a trans cooler and efans. Even in this Texas summer heat zero problems.
Trans is moderately built and has 3200 stall from Phoenix Transmission.
For what you are wanting to do, you shouldn't have any problems at all.

 

Tow


Thanks for the info.

 

I've noticed about a 10 degree drop in coolant temps just by turning the heater on FYI.

 

What's a heater??? We have never heard of that in FL. LOL

 

You know.. When it gets below 70 degrees and you turn the knob from blue to red lol

 

I tried it once but only got half way and hurried back to the cold. I'll never try that again