6.0 gas 2500 HD - Montana Owners Club

bigred715 · 12-26-2005, 12:35 PM

Hello! I am new to this forum although I have read a lot on the RV Net on the 5th wheel forums. My wife and I have a 2001 Montana 2880 with 3 slides and onboard generator. We love it so far. I pulled it with a 2001 psd Ford 4x4 until it was totaled in Canada this past August in a headon collision (without trailer). This was our 2nd month into retirement. I bought a 2005 2500HD 6.0 gas for a tow vehicle bacause of the price for diesl and cost of rig. Anyone else out there pulling with this size motor? My Ford had a combined weight of 20# and the Chey only 16# (I should have checked) I'm about 1000# over on combined but under on my pin weight. Jeff&Connie

Emmel · 12-26-2005, 02:00 PM

bigred715, welcome to the forum, you will find a lot of good info here. Some you will like and some you might not find exactly what you want to hear. From my own personal experience, I pulled my 2001 Monty with a 6.0 2500HD. I had plenty of power to do this, however, I couldn't pull in OD. The tranny went in and out of OD and the book said not to use OD. Therefore, I only got 7.8 mpg while I had my Monty behind me. I now tow my 2004 Monty with a diesel and tow in od. I may be paying .35cents a gal more than reg gas, but I am now getting as much as 13mpg. I get as high as 20mpg without the 5er which is very nice too. Another facter is you have to decide how much and how far you will be towing to see if you really need to go to a diesel or not. Note, I traded a 99 on a 2002 and had to bite the bullit on the trade price, so that is also something you have to figure in the deal too.(My GCW is 22# now) Good luck with your travels.

sreigle · 12-29-2005, 05:09 PM

Welcome aboard, Jeff and Connie. I have no personal experience with the 6.0 gas engine but have to wonder if that engine can handle the weight for very long, if you are fulltiming. If you are weekending and vacationing and not trying serious mountains then it might work ok for you. Our first Montana was a 2001 2880RL. We were not fulltiming at the time. A CAT scale said loaded for a vacation with a full freshwater tank the rig weighed right around 11,500 lbs. Hitch weight was either 2300 or 2400 or thereabouts (no longer have those numbers around here). The rest of the truck should be fine.

Good luck. I hope it does the job for you.

richfaa · 12-30-2005, 02:21 AM

Bigred..we pulled a 8,500lb TT with the 5.7 Chevy motor. It did the job but on any kind of grade it began to lug and on a really steep grade we were down a couple of gears to keep moving..Just my opinion but the 6.0 is not enough motor for your camper. The truck is fine..

Illini Trekker · 12-30-2005, 01:18 PM

I also would say go easy with combination truck and trailer. I would not use over drive to help the trany out. I do not have the 6.0 but have a friend that did, he pulls 5th wheel toy hauler about 10,000 lb. When going to Florida 3 weeks back trany became hot and boiled over and lost the truck to a fire. With that said if it where my combo I'd use them but add a larger transmission cooler an after market guage and have fun with your travels. Just a note about the friend truck it did have over 100,000 mile but he only owned it 6 month and this happened to it.

richfaa · 12-30-2005, 01:45 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

Bigred..we pulled a 8,500lb TT with the 5.7 Chevy motor. It did the job but on any kind of grade it began to lug and on a really steep grade we were down a couple of gears to keep moving..Just my opinion but the 6.0 is not enough motor for your camper. The truck is fine..

We had the bigger transmittion cooler and guages and rarely used OD when towing.Tne Tv had 70,000 miles on it when we sold it and ran strong...but sort of slow..

kdeiss · 12-30-2005, 02:31 PM

You should have gone with the 8.1 with Allison.I pulled a 8,800 lb Jayco 5er with a Dodge 360 it did the job but always working hard. I get better gas mileage with the 8.1 than I did with the Dodge now pulling the larger Montana.

SAndreasen · 01-01-2006, 07:05 AM

I want with the 8.1 liter/Allison and I get better gas mileage than I did with my old TT and a 5.7 l. Can't say enough good about my current tv. Works great. Have a friend with a 6.0 l HD, get better mileage than he does and I have a lot more torque and ponies then he does. He pulls a 9500# TT. The 6.0 l is a great motor. It is the tranny that you need to worry about. KEEP it cool!!!

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