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Date Posted |
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RE: Limited slip rear end Dodge 1500 Ram
I like the Powertrax Lock-Right automatic locker. It cost about $300 when I had the gears changed in my F350. Probly a little cheaper in a half-ton axle. There is a link to it in my signature below.
I would look at going deeper than 3.92 on the gear ratio. 4.10 or 4.56 work good with small block gas motors.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/20/09 09:19pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Thinking about double tow.
Best way to tow a boat is with a truck & slide-on truck-camper. The camper rides in the bed of the truck and the truck tows the boat, or whatever other trailerable toy you have, directly. Less length, easy to back up and park, safe towing combination, legal in all states. Put a light weight truck camper on your truck, hook up the boat and you're good to go. Truck campers are also alot easier to off-road with than a trailer, especially with a boat and trailer. Check them out some time. :)
Six-Pac Campers
Lance Campers
HA HA you're a funny guy!!! You know I just traded off my Dodge dually and S&S camper for this 150. Everybody has just gotta keep rubbing it in!!!! :B But it's all in fun and I enjoy it. Just wait till I get it built and go camp where you guys can only visit with your bikes and Jeeps!!! :B
:B :B
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/19/09 09:32pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: A few questions on Dualies
I bought a brand new Chev 3/4 ton truck in 1970. It wasn't a C-20 or a C-30... it was a C-21034... Longhorn. It had a 8'6" wood bed. It had a 350 cubic inch engine (and a 4 bolt main) and 4 bbl quadrajet carb. turbo hydamatic transmission...
The tires were 950- 16.5" Goodrich 8 ply. If I went to 10 ply heat caused them to fail, if I tried 6 ply our homemade campers weight blew the sides out of them.
I hauled the camper on it for 27 years.... plus just about everything else and drove it daily. 10 mpg loaded or empty high speed or slow.
I've seen a few Longhorns. It's amazing how little effort the factory put into hiding the seam six inches behind the cab. I read they were intended for campers originally, but I never understood how you were supposed to get a camper made for an 8 foot bed all the way forward in an 8.5 foot bed. Ours has the same engine and same mileage no matter what, empty or overloaded.
Ford had a similar idea with the F350 Super Camper Special, which had an 8' bed, but the rear axle was moved a few inches further back so the truck had a longer wheelbase and less rear overhang, to better handle the longer campers.
The Longhorn would be similar to putting a pickup bed on a chassis-cab truck with 60" cab to axle length, then extending the front wall of the bed forward the extra 6 inches. Most longbed pickups have a 54" cab to axle length. Chassis-cabs are standardized on 60", 84" and 120" cab to axle lengths.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/19/09 12:58am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Why the Payoad Disparity?
Chevy has softer ride and lower payload. Ford and Dodge have stronger chassis and higher payload. Only Ford and Dodge offer pickup-sized trucks with higher capacities than a one-ton dually (450/4500, 550/5500).
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/19/09 12:45am |
Truck Campers
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RE: electronic rodent repeller?
That's the problem, I can't physically stop them. It's a vehicle, not a trailer or camper. A trailer or camper can be sealed up if one really wants to seal it. A vehicle is impossible to seal, except the interior. I'm more concerned about under the hood.
Transonic 12v and a 15w panel, maybe I'll give it a try. It's the only thing I can think of to keep them out.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/19/09 12:37am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Thinking about double tow.
One more thing to add... A welded hitch to a frame can yield problems later. Welds can work harden, and then break in time. Weld a hitch together, and bolt it to the frame of the travel trailer... again, just my opinion.
I agree. That is exactly what I did to my TT. A hitch was custom made, and then I bolted it to the frame.
The problem isn't the welds hardening and cracking. The problem is the travel trailer frames are so thin and the hitch material is thicker, so the trailer frame material fails before the hitch material does. Properly welded with 7018, or other low-hydrogen electrode, the welds won't crack, even in low temperatures.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/19/09 12:27am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Thinking about double tow.
Best way to tow a boat is with a truck & slide-on truck-camper. The camper rides in the bed of the truck and the truck tows the boat, or whatever other trailerable toy you have, directly. Less length, easy to back up and park, safe towing combination, legal in all states. Put a light weight truck camper on your truck, hook up the boat and you're good to go. Truck campers are also alot easier to off-road with than a trailer, especially with a boat and trailer. Check them out some time. :)
Six-Pac Campers
Lance Campers
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/18/09 07:05pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: New RAM Van
The Transit and that Dodge version of it are a great idea for local delivery. Should be very economical and easy to park. Expect alot more small vehicles comming this way from Europe in the next few years. We need them.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/18/09 06:58pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Axle weights/tire load range
Almost all of the weight of the camper goes on the rear axle. The center of gravity of most campers isn't all that far ahead of the rear axle. If your truck is 5700 lbs empty and 8000 lbs loaded, you have a 2300 lb camper. Expect about 2000 lbs of that is on the rear axle. Your truck probly has 2700-3000 lbs empty rear axle weight, so your loaded rear axle weight is probly 4800-5200 lbs.
Do not down grade to C-load range tires. Your E-load range tires have stiffer sidewalls and are made to carry the camper load you have. C tires are mushy with a load on.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/18/09 06:47pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: A few questions on Dualies
Those big old campers were light by comparison to today's campers. I had a '78 Vacationeer about 11' long that was only about 3000 lbs. Today, an 11' camper weighs over 4000 lbs.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/17/09 10:01pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Chevy 2500HD FORGED wheels
Yep, Alcoas are forged. American Racing also makes some forged wheels. I have set of Outlaw II's in 16.5.
Also nothing wrong with using steel wheels.
Southwest Wheel
Stockton Wheel
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/17/09 06:03pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Suburban 1500
5.3L and 3.73 gears is going to make for slow going up the hills. 4.10 gears are much better.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/17/09 06:00pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Building a basement?
You probably couldn't use it except with a shorter camper most of the time because campers with overhangs often have tanks dropped down behind the trucks bumper.
True, it would have to be with a camper that comes to the end of the bed, like my last camper, which was an 8.5' SixPac in an 8' bed. It came just even with the tail lights and nothing hung down in the rear.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/17/09 05:54pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Building a basement?
Under-floor storage is a great thing to have. :)
I really like the drawer... a truck camper is usually supported around the perimeter of the bottom. The drawer would be strong enough.
I wonder what it would cost?
I'm not sure how much the drawers cost seperately, but they do sell them seperately. The seperate drawer unit is approximately 4'w x 8'l x 8"h and comes with it's own steel enclosure and will support 2000 lbs on top of the enclosure, good enough for some small 8' campers or pop-ups.
A perimeter frame of steel tube, channel or angle could be built around it to support heavier campers on top of the drawer.
www.FleetWest.net.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/17/09 02:42pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: 99 F 250 Recall
It's free, so why not do it?
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/16/09 07:28pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Building a basement?
Under-floor storage is a great thing to have. :)
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/desertrider33/0306081118a.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/desertrider33/0306081119.jpg
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/16/09 07:06pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: GM 2500 hitch flex?
I did not read his profile. Most folks list their truck in their signature.
His truck's hitch should be fine since it is an '09 model.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/15/09 09:29pm |
Towing
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RE: Gear Vendors
The Gear Vendor's overdrive, together with an axle gearing change to a lower ratio gear (higher number) makes sense, as the axle gearing change gives you the additional torque multiplication and engine rpm increase to increase towing power and the overdrive gear gives you back your high speed low rpm cruising gear. The overdrive unit by itself without an axle gear change, however, doesn't make much sense for towing power.
I have 4.56 gears in my truck for increased towing power and they work great. I gave up my high speed highway cruising gear with the lower ratio axle gearing though. I would love to have a Gear Vendors overdrive in my truck to restore the high speed freeway cruising ratio I had before, since my transmission doesn't have an overdrive gear. Also, since my my transmission is only a 3 speed, it would be nice to have the extra gear between 2nd and 3rd, as well as the overdrive gear above 3rd.
Without the axle gear change, a Gear Vendors overdrive would be completely useless in my truck, since the truck was already geared plenty high with the stock 3.55 gears. The OD ratio would never get used without lowering the axle gearing. The extra gear between 2nd and 3rd would still be nice though.
The Gear Vendors is quite expensive for the unit and the driveline modification to install it. The cost would approach about half the market value of my truck, so financially, it doesn't make sense for me. Operationally, it would be very nice. I make due with driving slower on the freeway and that works fine for me.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/15/09 09:13pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Suspension advice
Ok you KYB fans (namely DMaxLover), next time I replace shocks on the F350 I will go with MonoMax's and see how they are. :)
I've had KYB Gas-A-Just's on 2 vehicles in the past and they are quite stiff.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/15/09 01:05pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: towing multi objects
I would like to tow my jeep and a small trailer behind the jeep, and was wondering if this is legal. Ive seen it done before just wondering if it's legal? I have 5,000lb capacity and would be close to my limit, any help would be appreciated thanks.It would be easier/simpler for 49-state towing to put the Jeep on a 16 to 20 foot flatbed trailer and put whatever items you were going to put in the little trailer on the flatbed too, instead of doing the double-tow. The other benefit is you don't wear out the Jeeps off road tires and brakes and if your Jeep is damaged on the trail, you can still bring it home even if there is a problem with an axle, steering, brakes, tires, etc. A flatbed tandem axle car hauler trailer can be had for a similar amount of money as a tow bar, braking system and small utility trailer that you would need for the double tow.
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SoCalDesertRider
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11/15/09 11:46am |
Towing
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