Horsepower has almost nothing to do with towing, things like suspension, axle ratio and most important brakes and transmissions do. The fact he deleted emissions and "boosted" items I would walk from that truck fast.
So I've been running, lifting, upgrading diesels for 20 years, and I used to have 3, now I have 1, why? Because they are expensive and the fuel that used to be cheaper is currently 70 to 90 cents more per gallon. I keep my 5500 for heavy towing as I own heavy equipment, but my other trucks have been sold, because unless your towing over 10k pounds on an almost daily basis you are throwing your money away...period, and these half ton diesels are a joke for towing, they are a Niche market.
A new truck with a diesel is 10k more then a gas motor, for the extra 10k in savings I'd would take a 3/4 gasser or a half ton gasser with the tow max package plus the fuel savings isnt there anymore, plus most guys and gals tow a camper a handful of times a year and the rest of the time daily driving a diesel is expensive. Your better off w a gas truck and buying a fuel efficient run a round car w the left over 10k.
Most of my buddies that bought into the diesel craze have gone back to gas, except my one friend who just bought a diesel but has nothing to to tow, he said yeah but they last 400k miles, my reply was " yeah so did my dads 6.0 gas Chevy and we live in the north so that diesel engine doesn't make it rust out by slower hahaha.
I seriously flipped the keys to my 3/4 ton diesels for a new vette, best thing I ever did, I use the 5500 daily, and our camper is about 12k loaded so i use it for that too, plus it's a crew cab dump so atv and such fit in the bed, then the vette for fun and it gets 28-32 mpg, if you keep your foot out of it.
For a 7k trailer towed occasionally, get a half ton gas truck w tow max package, add some air bags for good measure, much better all around.
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