Heavy towing upgrades?

[Delta.Speed]

This is probably a fairly easy one for you lot.

I've just come up on a pretty decent gig that could make me some solid cash towing heavy, and I'm thinking of giving it a whack with my current truck and if it pays as they say it pays getting a newer truck for it in a few months.

I know it's an older truck, and working it hard comes with a lot of risk, so I wanted to get y'alls thoughts on must-have upgrades to help the truck hang in there for 3-4 months until it gets relieved by a newer unit.

Truck is a 2002 Silverado 2500HD SRW. 217k miles.

Less than 1k miles on the below:

DSP5 tuned
40% over sac injectors.
Exergy Sportsman CP3
ARP Head Studs
Michimoto thermostats
4" exhaust
Turbo elbow
Boost valve
Industrial Injection heads with screw in cups and billet injector hold downs.
Fass 150
Kryptonite control arms.
Kryptonite front wheel hubs.
PSC steering box

Cons for what I'm doing is that I recently lifted it 6" and put 35's on it, which I wouldn't have done if I knew this was gonna come up.

Any recommendations on what else I could do to give it its best shot at making it for the next 4 months?

It'll be towing up to 16k lbs on a gooseneck flatbed trailer around Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

Im currently looking for some kind of trans cooler upgrade kit to help the Ally stay cool in this scorching hear but haven't found much. Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[2004LB7]

Mile L trans cooler or equivalent as I don't know the availability of those at the moment. Others will chime in for this

L5P oil cooler

4.30 diff gears

Maybe air bags

 

[Delta.Speed]

Mile L trans cooler or equivalent as I don't know the availability of those at the moment. Others will chime in for this

L5P oil cooler

4.30 diff gears

Maybe air bags

Thanks for the input.

Reading through forums I had read about the Mike L trans cooler but I believe they are not currently available because I haven't seen them for sale anywhere.

Will an L5P oil cooler be a bolt on?

How bad do you think it'd need the regear? Would you still say it would need it if I get a set of stock wheels and tires?

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[2004LB7]

L5P pil cooler information here:

2020 oil cooler part numbers

I'm pricing a 2020 oil cooler for a guy, so I wanted to put all the part numbers together in one post that a person would need to do the swap. Here they are: Cooler: 12701592 Elbow: 12675428 Cooler to elbow gasket: 12676826 Elbow to block gasket: 97192667 Coolant pipe to cooler o-ring...

www.duramaxdiesels.com

If you put the stock tires or close to it then you can stay with the 3.73 gears. You should decrank the torsion bars until you are at least level on the CV axles. Then put smaller blocks in the rear to make it so you can get the truck under the gooseneck properly. I'd go no bigger then a 285/75r16. 265/75r16 would be better but would look funny with the lift. Remove the lift and you will be in a much better position for towing heavy. It cam be done with the lift but it's not optimal

 

[Chevy1925]

Ditch those mishimotor t-stats for oem ones, they will fail on you and hopefully it’s open, not closed.

 

[1FastBrick]

Evan @ Englewood Transmission is using the mishimoto trans coolers' as a replacement.

They have more surface area than the setrab units that mike was using. They also cost less. Don't quote me but I think they are around $450???

You can still get the cooler. How ever you will be over $500 for just the cooler. Mike had the brackets custom made. They are not available from any one.

 

[wydopenLb7]

I’m using the Sterab trans cooler and tow heavier than you will be over big mountains frequently and have zero trans temp problems.

Airbags will definitely help and make sure one of your tunes is safe enough to tow with. Make sure you have an egt gauge and watch it closely. My truck was stock turbo until last weekend and my limiting factor was egt’s. I would basically watch it constantly and drive accordingly.

 

[Ron Nielson]

Which Setrab model cooler do you have? One of Mike's or DIY?

 

[Delta.Speed]

L5P pil cooler information here:

2020 oil cooler part numbers

I'm pricing a 2020 oil cooler for a guy, so I wanted to put all the part numbers together in one post that a person would need to do the swap. Here they are: Cooler: 12701592 Elbow: 12675428 Cooler to elbow gasket: 12676826 Elbow to block gasket: 97192667 Coolant pipe to cooler o-ring...

www.duramaxdiesels.com

If you put the stock tires or close to it then you can stay with the 3.73 gears. You should decrank the torsion bars until you are at least level on the CV axles. Then put smaller blocks in the rear to make it so you can get the truck under the gooseneck properly. I'd go no bigger then a 285/75r16. 265/75r16 would be better but would look funny with the lift. Remove the lift and you will be in a much better position for towing heavy. It cam be done with the lift but it's not optimal

Should I decrank torsion bars even if they are on the stock position?

I have a torsion bar drop member, and when I installed the lift, the instructions said to crank them back to the factory position, so that's where they are at. Not cranked in beyond that. The angles all look pretty good on the front, too.

The front diff was also dropped, so the CV axle angles also look pretty good. The truck is up on jacks right now, but I can drop it back down and take some photos of how it sits to get y'alls thoughts on the angles.

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[Delta.Speed]

Evan @ Englewood Transmission is using the mishimoto trans coolers' as a replacement.

They have more surface area than the setrab units that mike was using. They also cost less. Don't quote me but I think they are around $450???

You can still get the cooler. How ever you will be over $500 for just the cooler. Mike had the brackets custom made. They are not available from any one.

I've gotten mixed reviews on the Mishimoto stuff.

Great example above of a member recommending I get rid of my brand new mishimoto thermostats.

I was considering getting the Mishimoto aluminum radiator, intercooler, and trans cooler. But then started looking into them and wasnt so sure.

Itd be great to hear more feedback on their stuff.

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[2004LB7]

Should I decrank torsion bars even if they are on the stock position?

I have a torsion bar drop member, and when I installed the lift, the instructions said to crank them back to the factory position, so that's where they are at. Not cranked in beyond that. The angles all look pretty good on the front, too.

The front diff was also dropped, so the CV axle angles also look pretty good. The truck is up on jacks right now, but I can drop it back down and take some photos of how it sits to get y'alls thoughts on the angles.

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Set them so the CV's are level

 

[Delta.Speed]

Set them so the CV's are level

Copy that. Thanks.

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[Bdsankey]

Mishimoto trans cooler
Run it on a low HP setting (tune 3 on yours is the tow file)
Make sure the cooling stack is clean
Add airbags if it squats too much, this is vehicle/spring pack dependent
L5P oil cooler in either 17-19 or 20+ flavor (17-19 works well, no trimming, same filters 01-19)

DO NOT use Mishimoto radiators, they're not great products.

As for intercooler I would stick with Banks or Northern Radiator/BD (if you can find a BD) as they're an extruded microfin/hybrid technology core whereas most others are bar and plate. Bar and plate is extremely rhobust but doesn't carry the same thermal efficiency as an extruded microfin/hybrid core. Personally I wouldn't touch the intercooler unless yours is leaking/damaged.

 

[wydopenLb7]

Which Setrab model cooler do you have? One of Mike's or DIY?

Previous owner installed it. I will post a pic while my grill is off.

 

[1FastBrick]

I've gotten mixed reviews on the Mishimoto stuff.

Great example above of a member recommending I get rid of my brand new mishimoto thermostats.

I was considering getting the Mishimoto aluminum radiator, intercooler, and trans cooler. But then started looking into them and wasnt so sure.

Itd be great to hear more feedback on their stuff.

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I think Brad aka Bdsankey pretty much covered it.

There radiators are junk. I think there intercoolers are junk as well.

Only there trans coolers seem to be ok. I know some one with one in a 7.3 and it seems to be working as well as a few Duramax guy's running them. I am just not a fan of the hook up points.

I am convinced they are using an off the shelf cooler from another manufacture.

 

[1FastBrick]

Which Setrab model cooler do you have? One of Mike's or DIY?

For you and anyone else looking for the Setrab Mike L. Version trans cooler.

The part number is 52-09759-04 It is only available from Setrab USA and it is only the cooler. The brackets were made by some one else.

That is the part number listed on my invoice. I know he has a pallet load of them in stock. He was reluctant to even sell me one at first.

I believe they may have originally been a Mike L special Item that was only sold to him.

And just to prepare you, I paid just over $550 for the one I ordered at the end of last year...

I was able to get a set of brackets from Evan.

 

[Bdsankey]

I think Brad aka Bdsankey pretty much covered it.

There radiators are junk. I think there intercoolers are junk as well.

Only there trans coolers seem to be ok. I know some one with one in a 7.3 and it seems to be working as well as a few Duramax guy's running them. I am just not a fan of the hook up points.

I am convinced they are using an off the shelf cooler from another manufacture.

Their trans coolers, at the moment, are the best cooling OEM location cooler on the market that I have seen. Their connections are stupid but the darn thing flat out works.

 

[Chevy1925]

Imho, the Dmax store arctic trans coolers are better than mishimoto. The mishi trans coolers hold up and work but that’s about all they got going for them.

 

[1FastBrick]

Imho, the Dmax store arctic trans coolers are better than mishimoto. The mishi trans coolers hold up and work but that’s about all they got going for them.

Are you talking about that really large one they sell that is almost like 2 coolers put together?

I was curious about that one but couldn't find any feedback on it.

 

[1FastBrick]

This is the one. The sub zero cooler.
I believe the arctic cooler is the same generic cooler from china that PPE sells. https://dmaxstore.com/products/?route=product/product&product_id=5303