5.3 to 6.0 ???

[iowaboy]

Hey guys, first post here on LS truck.

So here is the deal I have a 04 1500 4x4 CC. And i pull a fairly heavy camper (7500lbs). Looking into some more torque for pulling. I'm not really all that concerned about horsepower as the truck runs fine now. Just when I'm pulling the camper would like more power!!!

Anyway looking into performance upgrades like cold air intake, full exhaust and a tune.

Or going all out for a 6.0 swap!

My questions are:

1) What would I expect as far as power increase for pulling with the 6.0 verses just the upgrades I listed.

2) Since my truck is a daily driver what kind of mileage difference would I expect going from the 5.3 to the 6.0 verses the performace up's?

3) Will my stock tranny put up with either of these upgrades while pulling a heavy camper.

[iowaboy]

No opinions???

[rutroe]

My semi-informed opinion: (I went through a 5.3 to 6.0 swap last summer)

1) I would say somewhere on the order of 50 more hp...possibly 40 more ft-lb. Would depend on set-up...

2) My truck is a DD as well and I lost a good 1.5 mpg with the swap. Depends on driving habits though.

3) Stock tranny may survive all the towing but you would be better off going with some kind of shift kit just to be sure.

I can tell a definite "seat of the pants" difference between the two, although I don't do any towing so your experience may be different.