So it's been a while......figured I would add a couple words about how the old girl has been doing.
I have now had a chance to use the truck in all of the various ways / conditions Ive set it up for.
The truck's main job; haul the family over to the dunes in the summer, and head up to the mountains for skiing in the winter. Hauls a slide in camper for both that's right at 2000 lb. dry.....probably add at least 500 pounds of junk that the wife and kids throw in there.
So the setup for going to the dunes; camper mounted on the truck, and a little double axle all aluminum trailer for the sand toys.
Average weights I've recorded:
Front axle:4600 lb. (which just happens to be the GVW of the older Dana 60)
Rear axle: 5500 lb.
Trailer:2000 lb. with maybe 100 pounds of tongue weight.
For a grand total of a hair over 12k pounds GCVW.
The 3.55 gears to me are just about perfect for this combination. Naturally aspirated would be a whole different story - towing that big 5er we used to have would be too.
The trailer doesn't have brakes, so those big Super duty brakes are all I have to slow down the whole 12k pound mess. And they do so quite nicely.
For the winter months, we are a skiing family, and the local hill has a row of RV hookups. So I've gotten the chance to make multiple trips with and without the camper on the truck. The road up to the mountains I take is fairly treacherous - really curvy, 6% grades, cracks/potholes everywhere, never plowed, trees falling across the road on a fairly regular basis, even had to turn back once because a whole section of the road just slid off the hill (HWY 20 headed east out of Sweethome). So it's a pretty good test of the trucks abilities.
This truck did fairly well in the snow before, and now it does even better. It was a bit unexpected, but now makes sense. The suspension before was stiff enough that the tires were getting bounced around on the uneven surfaces - especially if the road was wash-boarded out from chains. So it has better traction now that the tires are just in better contact with the ground.
So overall driving impressions after almost a year?
Well I've gotten used to it now, so it's not as noticeable as it was in the beginning, but....
Best part is still the increased turning radius. I had 35's on my truck before all of this not because I went off road, but because I was always driving over curbs, bushes, etc trying to turn the dang thing around.
2nd best is the brakes. They just work awesome. Smooth as silk even stopping 12k pounds.
And lastly the ride quality - which is probably the major reason most people would consider this swap. It still rides like a truck, just not like the old suspension. I don't feel beat up after driving it a couple hours. And with the extra weight of the camper on it, it rides like a frickin' marshmallow.
So I've been chipping away at a few of the things I mentioned earlier in the thread, but haven't done much cause, well, it just works. And quite nicely at that.
Was it worth the expense/time/hassle? Hell yes. If you would have asked me that question when I was in the middle of the swap, I probably would have said no. Same answers I would have given during the diesel conversion, or adding the turbo, or the intercooler, or.......