Diesel tow vehicle-tips?

[maxandgeorgia]

After hunting for a stronger tow vehicle for our 30' '95 Classic Limited, we have found an '04 Silverado Crew Cab Duramax 2500HD standard bed truck. We'll miss our Toyota Land Cruiser and its comfort/reliability ratings, and this truck is probably over kill. We haven't driven diesel since an early 80's Suburban and swore after that experience that we'd never again. Life happens, however, and after reading posts of this Forum, learning about changes in newer diesels, searching towing weights, and insisting on the margin of error that would make us feel safer in mountain driving, we settled on this truck. So. . .what tips do we need to know to drive this new truck well for both towing and solo driving? What do we need to know about practical differences between this and a gas powered vehicle? What in your experience, do we need to do to maintain it for longest and best life? I trust your input. I know we will have a manual, but you all have the experience! I hope I hear from a lot of you. Already we have learned so much from the Forum, and this vehicle change is intimidating to us to say the least! Now, picture this grey-haired, almost retired, English teacher pulling into the parking lot at her middle school Thursday morning in this dark red monster diesel truck. Do you think I'll give the message, "Kids, get ready for heavy duty learning today!"?