Chevy has been having issues with the new 6.6 gas.

The only ways to go gas on HD/SD trucks are the 6.2 and 7.3 ford motors. Both are tops in reliability, responsiveness, and towing capability.

Diesel is still the ticket in HD/SD. I think the duramax is probably the best motor of the big 3 but I just traded my issue-ridden 2019 duramax for a 2020 f-250 powerstroke and it's a beast of a truck. None of the issues my duramax had and also faster, smoother, better looking, and gets better mpg.

Towing as much as mentioned here and to run 80mph on top of that, which I get; jimo the gas motor of any brand and size is totally out of its element. 21' bassboat has a tandem Axle and at 80 mph that gas motor is not only tapped out the fuel its going to use and beating the pistons out of it, your better off either slow way down and still suffer fuel mileage or step up and buy the diesel powered truck.

After all the diesel was made for towing and better mileage doing so. What you are asking for here is an early death sentence for a 1/2 ton truck towing 80mph 5-7 hours. You want to run that speed and still be in full control towing you need the big truck and the big diesel.

You have a tall order here your asking for lol. Your in a hurry and like to crowd things this tight, you need the extra weight of the big truck and big diesel to control your tow. You ever tow with a diesel and work the big truck together with even as small a load as a 21' bassboat, you will immediately see the difference and never willingly want to move back to a gas motor or even a 1/2 ton truck.

Now to one up this, the 1 ton dually is made for this period. Yes not all of us want/need a dually, but this sort of towing with this speed and to keep things in check, the dually is crazy. I never wanted one but was the guy that spec out the trucks I ordered time after time 1 ton but single rear wheel.

Then I really fell into the crowd and bought my first dually, it was so much better for this task, it was like a slap in the face literally. Yes these dually trucks are a pita when parking in these ever increasingly smaller parking lots. Two extra tires and an even bigger running gear though, makes a huge difference doing said above.

Then there is the backing of the towed trailer, there is nothing going to compare to trying to back anything into a really difficult place than a dually. I would have never believed this either, but your backing abilities just increases ten fold once in the dually. More money, yes this sort of truck is not the bargain to pay for up front. You make your own choices and compromises here.

Cool story bro

Buying a modern 1 ton DRW to tow a bass boat would be idiotic. If people would quit expecting to tow at the same rpm they drive empty a lot of the “performance” problems would go by by. Put the truck in tow haul and drive it, it’s made so even people who don’t know what they are doing have success.

Personally I’d wake up a half hour earlier and slow down 10 mph. Diesels may get better mileage than gas trucks towing, but if your going to tow going 80 not much is going to do worth a carp.

Chevy is not having issues with the new 6.6 Liter Gas Engine. It it the 6.2 Liter / lifter issues.

Turn off the DOD.

Displacement On Demand.


When the ECU deactivates cylinders. It beats the hell out the motor.


Lifter issue solved.

Yukon has a 5.3 and pulls my bass boat ok, my Chevy p.u. has the 6.2 and pulls it great, also pulls a 30 foot 5th wheel. Regular unleaded in the 6.2 unless i'm pulling the camper. I've had GM trucks and SUV's for 45 years and the only major issues was a steering box on one truck $900 dollars and a fuel pump on a Tahoe $500, oh and yes I'm old. To answer your question just go with the 6.2 and I think it's $1800 more and now they offer them in the cheaper trim's.

I agree with you guys, my cousin has a Chevy with the 5.3 and he tows fine with his, gets ok mileage also. But he doesn't tow 80mph, that is the request of the OP. There lays the big quest.

You want to tow 80mph, heck I can even set the cruise on my dually and let it run the throttle and it runs up Ranger hill on I-20 going west and the truck doesn't come off the set speed more than 2mph, will not downshift and towing heavy. My bassboat, heck it would even know it's back there, matter of fact I don't tow my bassboat with my dually... If I was in a hurry, absolutely I would.

I have hauled stuff down south into the badlands of Texas, this would be heavy haul 35k and once south of I-20, I set the cruise well above 80mph and it was there for hours, only to stop to make road changes or slow through towns. Yes I was in a hurry. Heck I even have more than enough throttle left to make a pass of trucks and then the cruise resume the set speed.

Diesel dually will afford you this and can do this for 100's of thousands of miles. If you tow a lot the diesel dually is not only the way to go it's just down right a pleasure to do so in these trucks. As mentioned above though, slow down 10mph and these gas motors are going to be fine. Don't expect to pass everything on the 2 lane road with on coming traffic and your hair on fire lol.

Heck I don't let myself get in any hurry any longer, I tow my bassboat with my Toyota Tacoma 4.0, yes it's out of over drive and I just go fishing. It's jimo all this truck needs to tow, it gets pretty short you expect to run over 70mph, and doesn't fuel mileage good over 70mph lol. My little Tacoma is a great truck, I just don't expect it to do things it was not intended for. You need to recognize your abilities as well as the ability of your equipment.

There are some guys, that if they came over and got my dually and took off to the lake with boat in tow, they have no business towing 80mph, even with my dually. No I don't loan out my truck or my boat for that matter, just making my point of view here lol. We have to pick our own poison here fellows, and the OP here made a very specific request and to do so jimo, is going to need way more truck than the two choices he tacked up there.

Is any gas motor? I have thought about running premium in my Tundra when towing but I rarely run my tank below 1/4 so I would just be mixing with 87. Unless I am going to Buchanan my typical tow is 30 minutes to Tawakoni or Lavon. Next time I go to Buchanan I might try running premium. I ran a tank in my Tacoma pulling the boat home from LaFayette and did get better gas mileage but no noticeable increase in power.

The exact same thing happened to me about six months after I bought my truck in 15 on a vacation to Colorado. Left me stranded there for an extra week.

I love my dually, long bed, 2012 Ram and when I park it on a store lot. I park further out on the lot and take up 4 spaces. But diesel is the way I go. Had 5 Rams in 23 years. 1990, 1994, 1998, 2003, 2012. Had very few issues at all.

I've got a '18 Silv w/5.3 in it, and I tow a '78 Sea Ray 21'er with v8 and mercruise i/o (it's a lot of boat for its size) without any trouble. Put it in tow/haul, manual, hold it in 5th gear and drive on. It might struggle up a big hill, but generally it does just fine. With my 18' Xpress tin boat I forget it's back there. With the rig in question you'll have to find some common ground but it's doable. As said above, it's not going to tow anything significant just like it drives while empty.

It's amazing how anyone ever went fishing or towed anything before diesel pickups became mainstream.

I have the same truck Chevy 2018 5.3.. Why do you keep it in 5th gear when towing? Oh I also bought the range technology afm disabler and keep in in V8 mode when pulling my boat.

Can’t be done on the ‘22 refresh and up. Existing controllers on the market won’t work with them

No ‘22 refresh has DFM…and they even paid me $50 for the “inconvenience”