How much torque or the better transfer their of, will a converter and/or a mild kit produce?

I'm simply trying to get my rig nicely set-up for pulling cross country with a 12-13K trailer. Building for HP is not me, I want crisp no-nonsense driveability. I dont even want to run a programmer if I dont need to.

Well, HP and torque are the same thing - both regulated around rpm. The experience of most people towing with tunes and boxes is that a moderate tune (40 to 70 HP) will give the additional torque to allow running in overdrive without high egts in most towing situations. I don't tow too heavy (small box trailer mostly - 3 to 6K load) and don't tow in big mountain country (been through the Smokies and Appalachians) and I find that my Edge Attitude works great with my loads on level 2.

IMO, if you are running a mild tune or no tune, DO NOT modify the Ally. It is not necessary.

A mild tune will allow you to go up hills without downshifting as much, so I would recommend running one. Personal favorite for LLY with a "stock everything" truck is the TTS Tow, it makes the truck a better tow vehicle IMO.

My personal opinion is installing a Transgo shift kit and a single plate converter if you are stock. That should be good for 250,000 miles.
mike

The reason why I say the stock works for towing with a small tune is because I hauled a combined weight of >17,000lb, over 5000 miles at high speed last summer. The trans never got hot or misbehaved.

Pat
Not every Duramax was that fortunate. I have seen a lot of things in my business and offer my opinion based on that.

Thanks gentlemen, I'm slowly trying to gather enough info to make an educated priortization of funds. It was relayed to me from a respectable source basically what Mike L. has said.

What kind of manners can I expect from the Transgo kit? any reason not to believe a new Allison would readily handle the kit as far as clutches?

The transgo kit will not hardly be noticable under most circumstances. The converter lockup area leaves much to be desired in stock form, hence the aftermarket unit recommended. Your stock clutches will be more then enough when coupled with the Transgo kit

I know this is very subjective, but I have a very good opinion of Mobil 1 fluid, any reason I should not continue using it?