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Old 04-09-2013, 10:50 PM   #41
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I've got the same truck and pull a Kodiak 263rls. Explain the bags to me. Getting ready to do North Carolina Coast from Colorado. Thanks
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Old 04-09-2013, 11:13 PM   #42
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I've got the same truck and pull a Kodiak 263rls. Explain the bags to me. Getting ready to do North Carolina Coast from Colorado. Thanks
Air bags give you additional suspension in the rear. Some people will use overload springs.

I installed them on my truck to give me more stability when towing my 5th wheel. I put 70lbs air pressure in the air bags and it keeps the my truck level when towing my unit. When you go over bridges it takes bottoming out and chucking that you would normally get.

I installed Firestone 5000's. I'd recommend installing air bags, anytime.
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Old 04-10-2013, 01:07 AM   #43
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I purchased my Firestone air bags from these folks
...http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/suspen...e-air-bag-kits.

Work well, good price ..people say its a do it yourself job.

Hope this helps
Coops
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Old 04-10-2013, 01:10 AM   #44
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I'm towing with a 2008 GMC 3500 Dually Duramax all stock. My trailer is about to be a 2014 Voltage 3905. It's at the dealer waiting for me to pick it up after I ordered it back in Feb. I was towing a Raptor 300M (36ft) toyhauler before. The D-Max is a awesome engine. Now that I'm going to add about 4k to the dry weight of the trailer I wonder if I should put an Edge tuner on it with custom tunes from Duramaxtuner.com. I have talked with them about getting the tuner, exhaust, and some egr plate already. I'm going to see how my truck does when I pick it up in a few weeks. I'll have about a 150 mile trip back from the dealer to check it out.
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Old 04-10-2013, 02:15 PM   #45
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In my opinion. 4 inch straight pipe. EFI live for tuning the truck. A set if A pillar gauges or use the edge CTS just for the gauges.
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Old 04-10-2013, 02:44 PM   #46
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thanks for the info.
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Old 04-10-2013, 03:07 PM   #47
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thanks again for the info Cooper and Dave. Just purchased online. Hope the installation is as easy as the online purchase. bob
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Old 04-10-2013, 05:20 PM   #48
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awsbob- Running pretty much the same truck as you, both LMM motors. See post #32 of this thread for a list of my mods. only thing I missed was the B D left exaust manifold. (I think I have a pic somewhere of the difference. Running a Banks tuner adjustable on the fly. Towing a 3905 also. I find that if I run the tuner any hotter that the #2 Econo setting it's pretty easy to get the EGT's to high and need to shift down to get the R's up or back out of the throttle. So I normally tow on setting #2 and a long upgrade will bring the EGT up to about 1200 Degrees. I try not to let it go over 1250 for more than a few seconds. I am not familiar with the edge tune but my guess you will want to keep the tune pretty mild. Running the Banks IQ so is easy to monitor about anything on the engine you would like. Have my GPS mounted beside it and under the fuel gauge for the 80gal tank in the bed.

I have air bags also. My truck, if you settle the back down anymore than about 1 1/2 inches I get a grub and vibration in the drive-line at about 60mph. Had this since the truck was new. Took in to the dealer and they checked it out and said there was nothing wrong. (I think my Chevy Dealer and my Dutchman Dealer must be owned by the same people). 40+ years in the industry working with heavy trucks tell me that when the back settles the u-joint angles are going out of alinement. Anyway to cure the grub I installed a pair of Firestone bags, (Yes, they are an easy DIY project). With the 3905 on the back I run about 10 lbs of air in them and it keeps the grub away.

Back to the exhaust Manifold, I think you can see in the pic that the B D manifold reduces the flow restriction on the front three cylinders and is also pre-tapped for the priometer to read exhaust gas temps.
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Old 04-10-2013, 10:19 PM   #49
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Kinda.........wish I was a gadget guy. I wouldn't even know how to read the guages let alone install something to tweek my motor. The most tweeking I've done to my tow vehicle was to add the air bags. Oh.......ya, and added an auxiliary tank because I'm too lazy to fuel up all the time. Can be alot of stops for fuel during trips from Maine to Florida and back again.
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Old 04-10-2013, 10:47 PM   #50
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Hey aronious. Did you notice any egt drop when you changed out your manifold?
I was thinking of doing this. I like how it is already tapped for a egt probe
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Old 04-10-2013, 11:23 PM   #51
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D-Maxx - Sorry, the manifold was one of the first things I did and I had no way of monitoring egt's before that. I worked on improving the air flow,(air intake, turbopipe, cooler, manifold, exhaust), before I installed the tuner and IQ as those mods were recommended to help keep the egt's down.
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Old 04-11-2013, 01:40 AM   #52
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I bought a set of the firestone airbags, tried to install them but it looks like I have to remove the bolt that goes through my frame for the hitch rail mounting bracket. Not sure if they will fit and may have to get a longer bolt that will give enough room to bolt down the mounting bracket for the hitch and mounting plate for the upper air bag bracket. I hate re torqueing and messing with the hitch.
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Old 04-11-2013, 02:13 AM   #53
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In my opinion. 4 inch straight pipe. EFI live for tuning the truck. A set if A pillar gauges or use the edge CTS just for the gauges.
Thanks D-Maxx. After reading what I wrote it is a EFI live that I was looking at from them. Do you have the 4 inch pipe on yours? I don't mind a little more sound but I don't want a loud truck.
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Old 04-11-2013, 02:47 AM   #54
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ewittersheim - I have a dpf (Diesel Particulate Filter) back 4"inch on my 09 and I don't notice any difference in the exhaust other than a little deeper maybe. It is a little louder when the dpf is regenerating but when I hear it tuning up I turn the radio up just a tad and the little woman doesn't even look up from her book! If it was loud I'm sure I'd be putting the stock one back on!
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Old 04-11-2013, 02:57 AM   #55
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72mach - The Ford bags must mount a little different than the Chevy 3500HD's. I just had to pull the two bolts out of the rebound bumper on the bottom of the frame, (saved them in case I ever want to remove the bags), and bolt the bag top mount on in its place. The bottom was a u-bolt that slid thru under the spring and a flat u-band that went under the axle. Then it was run an air line from each bag to the fill valves, (that required drilling a hole for each one.) I think I was done with the whole job in under 2 hours including beverage breaks.
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Old 04-11-2013, 12:38 PM   #56
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ewittersheim - I have a dpf (Diesel Particulate Filter) back 4"inch on my 09 and I don't notice any difference in the exhaust other than a little deeper maybe. It is a little louder when the dpf is regenerating but when I hear it tuning up I turn the radio up just a tad and the little woman doesn't even look up from her book! If it was loud I'm sure I'd be putting the stock one back on!
Thanks Aronious! Although I wouldn't mind it being a bit louder, the wife wouldn't like it at all. That is what I needed to hear. I like the fact that you can hear a difference when it is going through regen. How does your 09 pull the 3905? I'll be throwing a Rzr and a 2up Sportsman in and maybe my Outlaw. That'll be about 2500lbs with all three. I see that you have to Harleys, those gotta be about 2k.
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Old 04-11-2013, 02:20 PM   #57
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ewittersheim I have a 4 inch straight pipe right from the turbo no DPF no cat no muffler
It's not too bad I can hear the turbo pretty good it has a good sound it's deep I love it . Also my egt stay pretty mild I can climb a good hill crusing about 60 and only see around 1250 degrees. These trucks were ment to pull around that temp all day long.
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Old 04-11-2013, 09:15 PM   #58
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Thanks Aronious! Although I wouldn't mind it being a bit louder, the wife wouldn't like it at all. That is what I needed to hear. I like the fact that you can hear a difference when it is going through regen. How does your 09 pull the 3905? I'll be throwing a Rzr and a 2up Sportsman in and maybe my Outlaw. That'll be about 2500lbs with all three. I see that you have to Harleys, those gotta be about 2k.
We pack the two Harleys, Golf clubs, a couple folding tables, 2 sets of 4 chairs, Gas Grill, 3 carpets, a heavy tool box, riding gear, god knows what else in the back. I set the garage up to tie down 3 Harleys and have done so several times. Coming back from Florida a couple of weeks ago also had a two person corner sauna packed in three big boxes that we got a good deal on at the strawberry festival and an antique oak pub table that we found at a consignment store. Those two items probably added another 7-8 hundred pounds on the back end. I was concerned about tail wag on the way home,------- all for naught! Pulled straight as an arrow. I pull 65 and 70 most of the time. Engine is great. Great lug on her only a few hills that suck her down. Yes you can run egt's at about 1250 and maybe up to 1300 for a short time but I don't. (Attched PDF is some thoughts on EGT's from dieselhub.com) I'f I dig a little I can show you some pictures of a few Duramax pistons that have been run for an extend time above 1250, they have this nice hole in the top that totally kills the compression on that cyl. Luckily their not from any of my engines. I can't fault the pull'en side of this truck but the stop'en side is another story, the stopping power of a Kodiak C4500 would be a lot better. The factory brake controler could put a lot more current back to the trailer brakes, my guess it would work a lot better with a tandem axle setup rather than the triples on the 3905's. The truck does a lot of the work with the brakes even though the Allison is great at applying engine drag much like a Jake Brake on a semi. Brakes are very easy to overheat and the stock rotors warp when they get hot. Does not like city stop and go at slower speeds for extended periods where the Allison is not as effective. 84,357miles on mine and that's an upcoming project to replace pads and rotors.
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Old 04-12-2013, 02:17 PM   #59
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Let me rephrase what I ment about pulling at 1250 deg - yes you can melt pistons if you hold high egt for an extended perioud of time running a tuner don't help considering more fuel = more heat. What I meant was that I have only seen a high of 1250 with my pulling set up getting in the throttle climbing up hills but I only keep that for a short perioud of time. try to keep it around 1000-1150 is where I feel comfortable. Slow and steady wins the race !!!
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Old 04-12-2013, 07:43 PM   #60
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D-Maxx - I see your running an EFI-Live, Watching the forums it seems a lot of people like and use the EFI-Live tuner. I have not personally been a round or know anyone who is using one. I was looking to increase economy and tugg'en torque and after a lot of hemm'en and haw'en went with the full-on Banks systems. Not sure it was the right choice. I don't want to knock Banks systems but a lot of bucks for not a lot of gain in what I was looking for. The Banks tuner is suppose to back out the fuel when the EGT's get above maybe 1200 degrees and seems to do so but then backing out the fuel drops the boost and under load it doesn't seem to drop the EGT's any.
Does the EFI-Live system monitor and adjust for exhaust temps also? Is it adjustable on the fly or is it one tune for all occasions? Do you run it more for the performance side or the added towing ability?
This is the first truck that I strictly built up for added towing/mileage improvements. The earlier ones I built were more performance oriented and gassers. The other two diesels I've had were 7.3 Navistars and pretty much stock.

The Banks is fun running empty with the stop and go crowd in the city when it's turned up but seems like it builds heat fast when towing in other than the Eco setting. There are two hills in my run from Michigan to Florida on I75 that cause me to take manual action, South from Cincinnati up out of the river valley, and again South from Jellico up to the highpoint over the hump.

Your picture looks like you may have installed larger diameter tires than stock, how has that effected your towing? The tires on my Ford's had always stood taller and had thought about up'en the size on this Chevy.
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