Ok so I just got back from an off road show and wheeling trip in Grand Junction CO. We towed this load up over the rockies in 80*+ weather and the truck did great!!!

The truck handled the weight great but I have to say with the my bully dog power pup set on the 50hp setting I was fighting egt's up all the big passes. I had to manually drop it into 2nd to pull the big passes and the egts were right around 1150-1250 at 2600rpm's going 40mph. I wasnt floored, just limited by the egt's. Tranny temps were anywhere from 150-195 at the hottest. only hit 195 on my way out of town through traffic.

All in all, I am happy with the performance and I think 40mph up vail pass is pretty dang good!!

I am in hopes of ditching the bully dog in favor of some PHP tunes.

 

'Dem's sure a LOTTA' tires, there!

Pop

 

Looks like the custom tuner will prob do ya some good! Sweet toys too BTW!

 

Any idea what that weighed in at? Doesn't look like a very light load

 

Sean, put it back to stock and you can pull that trailer 10 mph faster up that pass because you can floor the throttle without worrying about EGT.
Been there done that with a Diablo Predator.
Or you can just get a Power Hungry Performance chip that does a lot better and had good EGT control to boot.

 

Marv, I count 18, but i didn't count the spares......it's nice to see a couple of Chebbies getting towed along by a PSD...i have owned 3 Blazers, and 6 S-10's...i am curious why the OP chooses to go wheelin with a limited slip, mediocre at best, 4x4 system...unless they've been swapped out, mine would get stuck on a 5 foot incline...

 

Nice pulling performance. You may want to invest in some Firestone Bags. You are sagging in the rear.

 

How much weight is that? 14,000 - 16,000 pounds? What grade were you pulling?

If it was a Chevy, it would be frame on axle. LOL.

 

Vail Pass is about a 6-7% grade over 7 miles of climbing to the top but that's the "little hill." - elevation is 10,660. Going over the Continental Divide through the Eisenhower /Johnston Tunnels - the "big hill" - you climb 6-7% grades over 16 miles (westbound coming from Denver) and going from 5280 ft. elevation to nearly 11,100 ft. Lot's of steady grades, thin air and at times, stop and go traffic on busy weekends. It's quite a workout for any car or truck let alone towing a heavy load. Yes, custom tunes help a whole bunch in keeping the EGT's down and the power up.

 

Thanks guys for the info.

I have firestone airbags on the truck, but I think I have a slow leak cause it sat level when I left.

As for weight, I'm guessing around 22k gross?? I dont know how much my PS weighs, maybe 7500-8000lbs. GN=4500-5000lbs, Crawlers= 9-10000lbs

The S-10's are far from stock. I own an off road fabrication shop and we build custom rock crawlers. I have replaced the lame IFS with straight axle Dana 44's.

 

Great lookin' rig!

Regarding the Walker BTM, is that on the stock exhaust? or do you have a full 4" exhaust? If not, I'd be doing that first before getting new tunes.

And then a set of tow mirrors would be nice!

Glad you're happy with it, even with the bully dog. You get custom tunes from PHP, you'll be giggling the whole way up the pass!!

 

Stock size exhaust with the the BTM. I was told this setup will flow more than enough up to 500hp.

Tow mirrors are on the list after the PHP tuner, and modded 17* HPOP.

 

It "could" flow 500hp, but things get hot, quickly! The stock exhaust has a 3" down pipe to 3.5" pipe to the tailpipe.

You could drop your EGT's 100-200* with a full 4" exhaust. You want the truck to breath, and you already have the 6637, so a bigger exhaust be a nice compliment to where you're trying to go, especially when getting custom tunes! It'll allow you to run it a little harder and stay into it a little longer. Another step would be a bigger IC. I haven't gotten there yet, but hope to get one soon.

You'll like the two mirrors when you get them! A huge improvement over the "sport" mirrors. I started out with those and hated them.

After you get your custom tunes, find someone with an AE and do some data logging on your HPOP. You may not need to spend the money (even though it isn't much to mod it). I bought a 17* from a junk yard for my e99 and I can hold 2500-2800psi pretty easy.

 

Couple of things:

I think with PHP Tunes, you'd be fine with the Walker setup you currently have. I run their tunes and can manage my EGT's fairly well and shhh, don't tell anyone but my exhaust is completely stock. Now, I'm not pulling the altitudes and grades you are, but I would go with the PHP chip first, then upgrade exhaust later if you have to, not the other way around.

Second, those are some nice crawlers - sounds like you have my dream job! I was just curious why you chose to go with S-10s to modify?

 

I won't say a word... I was planning on leaving my exhaust the way it is and get the modded 17* HPOP and then PHP tunes. Then later down the road I will upgrade to 4" exhaust.

Thanks. I build the S-10's because no one else is. I have had a ton of positive feed back on them including an article in Petersens off road and JP magazine this month!!! The s-10's have a great engine and tranny and with my help are kick *** little crawlers.