mijpa

Any thoughts? I do not want to kill the tranny... I can barely afford the payments now, I can't afford to do any major repairs on top of that....[/QUOTE]

I WOULD STAY AWAY FROM THE MODS,IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO REPAIR. OR EVEN WORST IF SOMETHING HAPPENS THAT VOIDS THE WARRANTY.

LEAVE IT STOCK YOU SHOULD GET A TON OF MILES OFF THIS MOTOR. UNLESS YOU HAVE THE $. IT'S A GAMBLE.

omaharam

The tranny will NOT hold an extra 100hp - more accurately the torque converter will not hold. A lot of guys say you have to do intake and exhaust before you put a box on it so that it will breath better. I agree that it will breath better with an intake and exhaust, but they don't HAVE to come first. If you want the most bang for your buck, it is in a box. To keep the tranny safe, don't go over about 60hp increase. There are adjustable boxes - like the juice I run - but you have to have the self will to not turn it up to the high settings. The other option is a downloader that is only chnaged by pluggin into the truck and loading a different program. These typically produce a little less power and might suit your wants a little better. These types of mods CAN void warranties.
If you want to be warranty safe, go with the intake and exhaust. I have never heard of a warranty issue with those. Just know that you will spend anywhere from $300 - $1000 for very minimal performance increase.

koogala

POSSIBLY a true statement. I think a whole lot will depend on how a person
USES that 100 hp. If he uses it to peel out & drag race,NO; if he uses it in normal driving & uses it w/ common sense I think they will fare pretty well.
We'll see 'cause its what I'll be runnin' on. Time will tell.

Dragginbutt

Well, I am pretty conservative with the truck. It is used in a new business venture and I do not foresee doing any drag racing while I pull my trailer around. Most of my mods will have to make sense, and have to pay for themselves in increased milage etc. I can't see spending hard earned $ if I am capable of pulling the current loads etc. Reliability is paramount, as this is a new venture, and until I start making $ like we all dream about, I am not going to jeapardize my livelyhood just to be capable of popping the hood and showing my friends the new piece of chrome I have. No offense intended to those that do... just that I am in conservation mode until things get going a little better.

I have an 06 2500 4x4 quad cab with the Automatic. I know there are differences with the various model years, and I think the tranny is the weakest link. Did they upgrade the torque converter in the past couple of years that helps with survivabilty? My dealer said they had, but not sure you can trust a dealer...

Someday may I'll sping for a host of upgrades like that, but for now, I am hoping to limp by...

Thanks guys, this is good stuff...

TexasCTD

My suggestion is to just do mods that don't effect warranty, at least for now. I have spent a ton of money on my truck trying to get it like I want it w/o really effecting the warranty. It is still a work in progress.

Performance wise, I just have a straight thru 30'' magnaflow exhaust and an AFE Stage 2 air intake.

Other stuff, like shocks, leveling kit, power wagon flares, front end replacement, winch, 5th wheel hitch, toolbox, spray liner, side steps, double deep Mag-hytec Transmission Pan, MH Rear diff cover, gauges, seat covers etc. etc.....

Still to do...are Fuel pressure upgrades, rear bumper, powdercoat the wheels black, replace my front grill with black.....

That stuff can get expensive and takes time to make decisions and put on.

As my money situation gets better........i want to upgrade my transmission with DTT. Then the real bombing can begin. By that time I will probably have been thru most of my warranty anyway. Currently im at 40k.

My point is, if you have other stuff you want to do the truck anyway....just do it now.....see how the warranty related stuff will do.......then bombs away after you are confident in the truck components and have the money to repair or bomb it.

koogala

Smart Move!....... Limp by?..... ... Man, You've got a horse strainin'@ the reins! Just cause you havn't modded doesn't mean you're limpin!
I came here just to get in touch w/ a little performance. I really don't belong
in Perf. section but thats where those in the know about modules/intakes/exhaust go. Good luck on the venture

omaharam

I don't exactly baby my truck, but I also don't beat on it all the time. I can't say I've never left a stop light hard, but I've only done about 1/2 dozen hard launches. My truck has 31000 on it and about 22000 since the edge box. I have a torque converter and valve body sitting in the garage (still trying to find time to install) because my truck DOES SLIP. Even if you baby it all the time, but try to pull even a 7000lb load on a setting higher than 50 or 60 hp, I believe it will slip over time. and once it slips the first time, there is no turning back. Since I have been through all this, I would never add that kind of power again without doing a converter first. But, hind sight is 20/20 and once I upgrade the tranny, I'm adding a water/meth injection too.

03qclb5spd

Guys I see all this warranty voided stuff in this thread here. Putting a chip on your truck doesn't void it's warranty....how the heck can the trucks warranty which includes things like your radio, or door locks be voided because you put a programmer or something on it?? Also your warranty can only be voided on a part or parts that failed only if the dealer can proove that the mod you put on your truck caused the failure. If they cannot proove it, then you still have a warranty. There are laws that exist that protect us from the big bad dealer. The only thing an intake or exhaust kit will do is void the factory warranty on your exhaust or intake......since it's not there after a new kit anyway then who cares? I'm not a fan of the high flow intakes anyway. Look at it this way, the only two ways to get more air are to either enlarge the holes for filtration or to increase surface area. There's too many "high flow" intakes out there that guys are putting on their rigs letting all kinds of crap through for the sake of being faster. That's fine if your truck is built pretty much for the strip and occaisional cruises, but for an everyday driver something with higher filtration is better. All those little particles passing through manage to "sandblast" in a way at your cylinder walls from the higher compression of the diesel engines. Just something to think about....
Maybe take a look at this:
http://home.usadatanet.net/~jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm

TexasCTD

Welcome to DTR! Interesting article about the duramax filter tests.

My experience is that the silicon levels in my oil samples (Blackstone Laboratories) went down from the stock filter when I put on my AFE Stage 2 Pro-Guard 7 w/outerwear. And it flows a whole lot more air, which helped reduce my Exhaust Gas Temps and spools the turbo quicker. Sound is awesome. I have no regets making that change. My 2 cents.

koogala

I havn't towed yet but will be pretty soon. I have a 29' tt @ 4800#. I plan on towing it on 30 or 60.....We'll see how things sound & act ......When I drive on the 100 setting I lockout the tc w/tow/haul and do THAT shift manually,taking my foot off the gas and EASE into OD. First time I got on it
in 100 setting I left it in drive & heard the slip when it shifted to OD. If it starts being a problem I'll just have to spring for the $$$ and do the TC & VB.
Not planning on it any time soon though. If this happens to us I'm sure it happens to all the stocker cowboys here who regularly pull up to 36' goosenecks w/cattle onboard. A lot of those guys have modules, also. They were the first folks to get'em around here.

Czapla44

I run the same quad box that you do koogala and i pull a 40 ft mini float that weights 7600 lbs empty and i run it on 60 all the time and some times the 100 hole having gauges are a must for the 100 hole

koogala

You've got a six speed, I'm 48re auto. Whole different ballgame...

Torque converter is weak on the autos. I think if a person is careful they'll be
OK w/100 hp. Not everyone agrees with that, & thats fine w/me.....I guess if I make it w/ what I've got, thats all that counts. I WIN! I'll be the guinea pig! I'm not running anything other than whats in my sig. I'm bone stock from the flywheel back. Camping season is coming on & I'll be towing my camper 4-6 times this year The folks @ Quadzilla told me they did most of thier testing w/ stock equipment without totally blowing anything up. I think that is a testament to the folks at Quadzilla. They have built thier stuff w/parameters in mind. And to save some smarta** the trouble, yes,they have much more experience
than me.

Czapla44

my bad i thought you had a 6sp lol didnt quite read all the way