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So I took a little road trip to the Redneck Games in Athens, Texas, about 500 miles round trip for me. Pulled my buddy's 32' 26K gooseneck loaded with a Kawasaki Mule and three four wheelers (three other four wheelers backed out, so I had room to spare).

I'm guessing the trailer weight empty is about 7K lbs (how far off am I?) and the Mule with the four wheelers couldn't be more than 3,500 lbs. That makes 10,500.

Now, my truck isn't exactly set up for pulling heavy loads, 35" tires, 5" lift, 3.73 rear end. While on the way to Athens it was mostly slight down hill grades and I had no problems at 70-72. There were a couple of times I would hit a grade and see the engine temp start to rise, but by then I was at the top of the hill and I could just back off a touch to get it right back down.

On the way back, however it was a different story. I had trouble holding speed on the inclines, and eventually the engine temp gauge would rise and I'd have to back out of the throttle. My exhaust temps never got over 800 (post turbo)the entire trip, but it cooled the engine temp down when I took it out of overdrive as well as the exhaust.

After approaching the hot mark about a dozen times, I ended up in the right lane at 55-60 mph with the overdrive off turning 2300-2500 rpm. It had no problem with any high temps at this speed, but I'm not used to my RPM's over 2,000-2,200 while on the highway.

By the way, it seems like the truck pulls best at about 2K RPM, which puts me at about 74 mph, fine when I'm towing my 18' bumper-pull, but a little fast for this set-up.

Does this seem normal? Am I expecting too much out of my old truck? I've got 250,000 trouble-free miles on her now and I'm not even close to getting a newer truck. I'll take the pulling less weight route since it's cheaper! I'm also wondering if my chip has much to do with it. It's about an 85 horse chip, and I have a K&N and 4" turbo-back exhaust.

What are y'all's thoughts? This isn't a huge problem since I normally use this trailer around town, but I think I found my truck's limit this weekend and want to get some opinions. Thanks!!