Duramax Performance Blog

2011 LML Duramax with 500 Horsepower

H&S Performance pushing the LML for over 140 hp and 337 foot pounds over stock. All with just their custom tuning and  a downpipe back exhaust system. Check out www.hsperformance.com  for all the dyno graphs with the different power setting and the results.

Pick Up Truck Towing Challenge

Yesterday’s post , Duramax vs Powerstroke-Who’s the towing champ, was actually the second round of the two big diesels facing off. Pickuptrucks.com actually did a hill climbing test of the big 3’s gas and diesel trucks running the quarter mile up a 16 percent grade. You can see the video recap below, and the original write up and test results of the
2010 HD 16 Percent Hill Climb Test.

The original test concluded that the Duramax was the chosen winner as well, but the Pickuptrucks.com readers raised some important points about the Ford Powerstroke that was used for the test.

The first point was that we didn’t test Ford’s “Job 2″ engine calibrations for the all-new 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8. The free powertrain software update for 2011 diesel Super Dutys boosts the ratings from 390 horsepower and 735 pounds-feet of torque to an astonishing 400 hp and 800 pounds-feet, eclipsing GM’s 6.6-liter Duramax V-8 rating of 397 hp and 765 pounds-feet. We didn’t test the re-rated Ford trucks because they weren’t available at test time.

The second concern was about the quarter-mile and hill-climb acceleration tests, where we measured performance over relatively short distances pulling 10,000-pound and 12,000-pound trailers. The tests were enough to provide consistent evidence of the strength of GM’s powertrain, but some thought Ford’s diesel and new six-speed would have beaten the Chevy and GMC if the distances were greater.

So off they went to test out that re-tuned Powerstroke against the Duramax in a real world towing test. Pretty impressive numbers by the Chevy, really pulling away quite quickly. The Fords quarter-mile time was about 31 seconds at 45 mph, and the Duramax ran it in just under 29 seconds at 50 mph. But the zero to 50 mph times are totally lopsided. The Powerstroke took 42.02 seconds, and the Duramax only took 28.56. The Duramax really pulled away in the long run, probably not the numbers the Ford fans where looking for.

Check out the original article here, and the follow up with the re-tuned Powerstroke here.
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