3/4 suburban

andy k

andy k

Active Member
Feb 7, 2009
505
Lake Erie
Boat Info
40.3
Engines
Yanmar
We are getting a new boat in a few years. we are considering a 2003 300 sundancer, 2000 310 sundancer, 2004 320 sundancer. I was planning buying a new suburban and I noticed that you can no longer get the 8.1 V8 in the 3/4 suburban they only offer the 6.0. I would only be towing about 500 miles a year on flat roads. The only hill I will go up is the bridge going over the river. The suburbans that used to have the 8.1 had a 12,000 lb towing capacity, I would tow 18,000 lbs behind these trucks with no problem. The issue I have is not with the engine size, but the cooling system, differentials, and the transmission. does anyone here tow with the 6.0 and does anyone know how the cooling system is on this truck. I wish you could get the suburbans with a diesel engine.
 
andy k said:
We are getting a new boat in a few years. we are considering a 2003 300 sundancer, 2000 310 sundancer, 2004 320 sundancer. I was planning buying a new suburban and I noticed that you can no longer get the 8.1 V8 in the 3/4 suburban they only offer the 6.0. I would only be towing about 500 miles a year on flat roads. The only hill I will go up is the bridge going over the river. The suburbans that used to have the 8.1 had a 12,000 lb towing capacity, I would tow 18,000 lbs behind these trucks with no problem. The issue I have is not with the engine size, but the cooling system, differentials, and the transmission. does anyone here tow with the 6.0 and does anyone know how the cooling system is on this truck. I wish you could get the suburbans with a diesel engine.
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Ask and you shall receive...http://www.youtube.com/user/DuraBurbinc .. Eric is a friend of mine and builds an awesome burb with a DMax/Allison!
 
andy k said:
do you know about how much it costs? that is very cool!
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Andy, just a tip- you may want to look in to actual real-world weight of some of these boats you are talking about. Many people have found their cruisers weighed more than Sea Ray's listed "Dry Weight" once put on scales; in some cases by a great margin. I think once the trailer weight is factored in with real-world weight plus fuel, etc, you are pushing it by considering a 3/4 ton 2500 to tow a 300 and 310, more so with the 320.
 
There used to be a company in Colorado that performed these conversions. Maybe it's the same one? The cost of a NEW 2500 Burb plus the conversion put them in around $90,000!! They had to raise the whole body up one inch to allow the Allison to fit underneath. Some big changes in the motor mounts too. It would have been a GREAT vehicle, but I'd rather have a small house at those prices! That or just get an old 99 3/4 ton that HAD the diesel motor in it!
 
I like that......do you know the cost???
 
Guys, I would rather not comment about price. If you get a chance, follow some of his "builds" on DieselPlace.com If you join over there you will find why my username is what it is...lol Much easier to keep the same name on many forums...IMHO. He does wonders and makes the burbs "factory like" with absolutely zero "hack" work! this quadrasteer is awesome http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=395860 If you keep watching for "Duraburb" on Ebay it will blow you away at how cheap some of these go!
 

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BTW..all that smoke is because of the programming in the ecm. He has it turned up pretty "hot" to make that shot. It doesn't look like that on a daily driver...unless of course you like out running most corvettes and ricers and keep it turned up..lol I have a switch on mine giving me 5 different stages that I (along with the assistance of Nick @duramaxtuner.com) have optimized for towing this heavy "barge" with very aggressive turbo exhaust brake all the way to 500hp/950torque to the ground for the trips to the track...lol
 
Man, I'd love to have one of those also. I love my Burb 2500 with the 8.1, but it REALLY sucks down the gas. I always hear from my friends with diesel pickups that they get close to 20 mpg non-towing on the highway.

FWIW, there's no way I would tow a 320DA with ANY Suburban 2500. The Suburban is just too short. I really think a 320DA needs a 1-ton Crew Cab Dually Diesel pickup.
 
Where are you going to trailer a 310 or 320DA? You do know the beam is over 11' correct? My boat probably weighs in at 15,000 lbs or more as it sits.
 
2K WINGIN' IT said:
Where are you going to trailer a 310 or 320DA? You do know the beam is over 11' correct? My boat probably weighs in at 15,000 lbs or more as it sits.
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well; we tow ours between lake mead and lake powell.

gerry bought a "10" dura max 2500 HD to do the job. so far its working fine. gets 8 mpg. we have a custom 4 axle 20,000# trailer with ele over hyd disck brakes
we're at 11' 3" so we don't have to have a pilot car. all we need are sign, flag, and over width permits.
 
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EricW said:
Wow, 4 axles! I wouldn't mind seeing a pic of that boat/trailer combo.
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i wish i had a pix of it. the only pix i took was at the mussel decontamination point at mead and port of entry at st gorge ut. i have no idea how but i managed to erase the memory card before i got the pix off of it.
realy it looks a lot like the chevy truck commercial that was out a while back.

others have contentmented about the trailer. its up in dry storage. i should be able to get a pix of it through the fence in the next day or to. its a little over 10' wide by its self, it's just another boat trailer and pretty standard fare for this part of the country
 
If I was towing anything that big this is the only vehicle I would even consider. I think our friend from Alaska would agree. He has even "field tested" it in a cross country run. :thumbsup:
2010-Ford-F-250350450-Super-Duty1.jpg
 
we tried them all. for what we needed this was hands down the best for gerry and i.

 
not the best pix. couldn't edit another pix into last post. any way this is the trailer

 
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