[james schaechter]

I can't speak for the v10, but I have used tuners on diesel pick ups that I have owned and currently own. When it comes to towing, I found it easy to put simple things like a k and n filter and a tuner with a very moderate tune and pick up power and a couple mpg for towing our 24 ft trailer. If it was me, I would try the tuner first if you can and add others as needed. I would expect that between a tuner and gear swap, you would be much happier on hills.

We used to pull with gasser Chevy 350 stickshifts like late 90s model vortec engines with 3.73s and would pull in fourth of below 65mph and fifth if above. Mostly fourth gear. We would shift at 3000 rpm and it liked to be over 2500 at speed. The diesels (stick and auto) both seemed to like shifting at 2000 and to hang around 2000 rpm at speed.