Sarge you have witnessed, by the seat of the pants, the evolution of trucks, 1/2 ton specifically - ain't it great!
The 5.7 will be considerably stouter than the 5.4 was then the 3.92 and 8 speed really pick it up. I'm glad you got the 8 speed, the old 6 speed had too many holes in the shift points and was aggravating to me. Don't worry about not going into 8th gear when towing, I'm not surprised. T/H is doing its job. If it didn't you would wear that tranny out by the constant up/down shifting when towing the trailer. Put it in T/H then Drive and go. Listen to the engine and let it tell you where it likes to be power wise. Watch the terrain ahead and help it with grades etc. and you won't be bouncing from 1800 rpm to 4000 every hill you get to. Congrats on the truck. It's plenty of truck for that trailer so go have some fun...
