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'04 LB7 DMax - Need Advice Please

Racer220

Racer220

Well-known member
Lifetime Membership
Just bought an 04 Dmax LB7 completely stock. After talking to a friend who used to own one I have set my sights on a few different mods. Thinking about going Edge w/Juice controller, AFE intake, 5" turbo-back Magnaflow single exhaust, and some air bags in back. I have a 15' Haulmark v-nose and will be pulling a 43' gooseneck sled hauler next season for racing. My dad says it only weighs around 4800 lbs, but it's steel frame makes me think maybe a few more than that. That is pretty much it for hauling except the occasional camping trip (29' Dutchmen tag). Also read that the B/W gooseneck is the way to go for hide-a-ball systems. Any thoughts or testimonials on if that's a good way to go? Anyone have anything else that worked well? I don't really care about racing or smokin, just need a reliable setup for hauling sleds. Thanks

07
 
Are you looking for LOTS of power out of your D-max or just a mild boost? The Edge will give a nice increase, but if you want the most power you should have someone tune it with EFI Live. I have a buddy in Idaho Falls that is a pro at it, if you are interested.

The B&W is a great setup. Best one I have seen. It is what we use in all our trucks.
 
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I used to have an 04 lb7. I have had an edge juice with attitude in it and I have also had a hypertech III. I liked the edge because it was adjustable and had different setting to monitor alot of things. I did notice better mileage with the hypertech though, I had mine set on stage 3 most of the time. I pull a 28' race trailer and with the hypertech it did pretty good. I also had a magnaflow 4" kit that I really liked. B&W turnover is the way to go for your hitch. For an intake I had a trueflow, you use your stock airbox, it comes with a different filter, and a different tube, which is less restrictive. I do have my trueflow for sale, PM me for more information on the exhaust, I know where you could get one for a good price. Unloaded I usually got 17-19 hand calculated driving 75, with bigger tires.
Hope this helps.
Trent
 
PM'd you o8p.

Thanks BigAir and ndKK. I need to focus on funding the next race season or I would probably go for big power. Really just want to hook up the trailer, get out and set the cruise for most trips. Got sick and tired of leg cramps pushing my stupid gasser everywhere we went, especially with a headwind. My main goal even in the long run is have a little extra power, sweet sounding exhaust, and not worry about anything going down in the middle of nowhere.

07
 
I agree with the one guy, I have a 2003 I had a juice w/attitude, banks exhust, afe intake air bags in the back.

I then took it to a local guy that programs it him self with efi live and wow what a diffrence! much better all around and no black smoke, more power and better fuel economy. The advantage to custom programming is if the guy is good he will have his own tranny programs aswell which I think make the huge diffrence.
 
The juice w/ attitude is a great setup. Had a friend w/ it and pulling his 32ft triple slide camper he was averaging 15mpg at 75mph. Ive had banks and bully dog also. For the cost and power, if you can spend around 1600 bucks, id go with the bully dog triple dog w/ outlook monitor, bully dog high flow intake, and bully dog tuned 5" exhaust. I had this on my 05 dmax pulling my 27' haulmark and averaged 14-16 loaded and 19-21 w/o the trailer!!!! B&W is the only way to go, ive put it in every dmax ive owned so far!!!!!!!!
 
i rode in a lb7 with the edge/attitude and it was a pretty stout truck. cant say nothin about the economy of it though as i didnt know the guy, he was a freind of a freind and just took us for a ride. as for the exhaust i'd say check ebay, you can find some pretty decent deals on there. a few months ago a buddy of mine was lookin for one and there was a set of stainless 4" duals on there for around $300 but they werent name brand if that matters. as for the intake if it was me i'd stick to a true cold air intake like the banks or even the trueflow setup like mentioned before where it still has to suck fresh cold air from outside instead of the hot under hood air like most of them. my buddy bought an 04 lb7 a few months ago and he is slowly workin on upgrading it as funds allow, so far its stock with a 5" exhaust but he's planning probably the banks intake and six gun chip as he likes the idea of little to no smoke.
 
The B&W is a great hitch setup, they also make a adapter that will move the ball back about 4 inches if you are putting it in a shortbox. I did a goosneck conversion on my camper and loved it. My advise on the dmax, great truck, great engine, but leave it stock. They will make BIG POWER modified, but if you should have any problems that 100,000 mile engine warranty is out the window if you have modified it at all. I am service manager at a chevy store and right now GM is putting warranty block on any Dmax's with any mods, exahust, intake, they require us to check programming numbers and take a snapshot. On a few claims they have wanted pics of the intake and ex to verify its still stock.
If its a early 04 with the LB7 engine they have a 10 year 200,000 mile warranty on the injectors, but if you mod, its about a $3,000 repair, if they haven't been replaced they will need to be at some point.
Good luck.
 
my vote goes for efi live it is awsome, the possibilties are endless ya it takes time to figure out and never ending learning with it but you can do so much with it. but if that don't sound like what you want i would go with ppe hands down. i run a mbrb 5in exaust and really like it. And also air bags in the back are really nice to have.
 
How much power?

Hey there!
I run the BullyDog Triple Dog with Outlook monitor in my 03 and 06.
Depends on what you want to do to the tranny will tell you how much power to go with. You are safe to run this model and I have seen 2-4 mpg increase depending on my driving habits.
There is no question that you need to go to the 4" exhaust and an intake due to the needed air flow improvement and egt tempurature.
DON'T install any chip without a pyrometer if you are pulling! You will cook everything immediately.
The LB7 is by far the best Duramax series for tuning up but comes with a headache of injector problems early on. Check with your local dealer to see if it has had the injector update done. They will replace them up to 200,000 miles.
My vote also goes with EFI Live, but you need a tune to go with the software and Idaho Rob can sell you the software and tune.
 
Thanks for the info. Definitely torn between whether to choose a PPE or Edge. I will get the injector thing checked for sure. I guess I have things in my favor since I just broke 40k miles this weekend. Still a pretty fresh motor. EFI Live would be great if I had the money to dump into all the other areas of the truck for some real power.

I am just looking for a little extra kick with a good sounding exhaust, easily adjustable power with reliability. Every other penny I got is going into racing sleds, which on my salary is a bad combo. Just glad I finally got to join the diesel relm and kiss the leg cramps away from holding the peddle down on that stupid gasser 1/2 ton. Thanks again......

07
 
04's run really good with edge and attitude. You can set your egt's and tranny slippage up for safe towing, which is a nice if you want to have a reliable truck that tow's noticabley better than stock. I have an 05 with edge, attitude, tru-flow intake and bully dog 4 inch. Most grades pulling a four place open are overdrive with the cruise on. I would really recommend the tru flo intake, keeps the hot air out better than a lot of the other intakes out there. Made the truck growl a lot more too, great turbo sound.

Good luck!
 
I have a D-Max LLY and I pull a 44ft. gooseneck with it. I run a PPE on level 2 with basically a free flow exhaust and an EGT gauge from PPE. I was running an Edge but I had a few problems with the Edge and then switched to PPE. Best move I could have made. EFI is a great product but it's more complex than plug in and drive. My advice is don't go over level 2 while towing or you will be buying a new tranny in a while.
 
Sno Ghost, what problems were you having with the Edge? My brother does his own tuning with EFILive and he has a license that I could use so it would essentially be free for me to try, but I like having the option of dialing down power if EGTs are running a little hot. I suppose I could buy the box but I'm thinking it is a few hundred bucks and I could just as well get a different tuner that will back off if EGTs or tranny slippage climbs.
 
edge programer

Edge is dirty nasty fueling, they produce alot of soot and rattle the crap out of the motor. I wouldnt recomend them to anyone.
I have a LMM and have tried, the Edge att, edge evolution, bully dog, and Preditor, have to say the preditor had the best fueling and milage of them all with considerably less egt temps and soot build ups.
But none have compaired to a good efi live program.
I pull a 40ft quad slide toy hauler thats 18,000LBS, Have 30k miles on my truck and this is the setup that has worked best for me.
Transgo JR shift kit, efi live, replaced the stock alum drive shaft.
I get 17.4mph highway, 14.2 was stock, and 14.8 city stock was 12.3

I still run the DPF system. I dont like the smell of diesel. or washing off the black grub from the front of my trailer.
 
our 04 with the bully dog gets 21 at 75 with your foot out of it and average 19.8 doing 80 and stomping on it at the stop lights.
 
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