If it's a 97 as stated, then doing the 97 cooling mods wouldnt be necessary. I have the same truck, I pull an 11,000 pound travel trailer through the White Mountains (dinky little East Coast stuff). The only thing that slows me down is the real long hills, but I can still come over the top at 50-55. I hate to think what my intake temp is at that point. If I did more of it I would definitely be doing an intercooler, but I dont get much time to go camping. I put a Banks Stinger kit on which consists of a 3.5 exhaust, big downpipe, K&N filter and gauges. That really woke the truck up, especially since the factory cat was plugged up bad. I also put on a Heath Turbo Master mechanical wastegate control. It smoothed out the erratic boost, but it also makes the ECM set over boost codes a lot, even though I'm only running about 9 lbs at 70 mph. I don't know as I'm real happy with the turbo master. I just added a PS 2000 propane injection kit, got a slight increase in mileage and a decent increase in power. I haven't pulled the camper yet with the propane, but that was one of the reasons I wanted it, to try and keep more momentum up on the hills. So, the first thing he needs to do is the exhaust and gauges, then go from there. I was going to do an ECM upgrade, but somebody told me that if you have the heavy duty engine programming (VIN code F) it won't make much difference. I'm sure he probably does because its a DRW 3500. Tell him not to listen to all the crap from people who say you gotta have a PSD or a Cummins to pull big. He already has a nice truck that will get the job done in comfort.
on a beer run last month... 
