RE: Driving thru montreal
I just realized I gave the instructions backwards! I read heading east as from the east... Oh well.
It's even easier heading east from Ontario towards the Maritimes. All you do is head in towards Montreal on AR20, around KM 25 there is a new interchange and you take the exit for AR30 Est (east). Pay the toll, and enjoy the ride. Take the exit to Quebec on AR20 at around KM 95.
Brian
RE: Driving thru montreal
The AR30 bypass is open and great, I've been using it since December. Take AR20 towards Montreal as normal, at KM 98 take the AR30 west (ouest) exit towards Châteauguay. Watch carefully, the sign for the exit is right before the off-ramp and quite hidden by an overpass. Just stay on AR30 and it takes you right onto AR20 about 25KM from the Ontario border. There is a toll for the new bridge and tunnels across the river, which you can bypass by taking the last exit before the toll towards Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. You then have about a 12 km drive through town to the old bridge and onto the AR20 towards Ontario. There is basically no fuel along that whole AR30 route that is RV friendly, so fill up before you get off AR20 onto AR30, or wait till you get to Ontario. Fuel is cheaper in Ontario than around Montreal by a significant margin.
I'm not saying that there is no traffic on this route, it only takes one accident to cause a massive traffic jam with the volume of traffic Montreal has, but I have been through there going both ways at rush hour (8 AM on a Monday once) and not had to slow below 90 KMH. You do want to watch at the exits for trucks slowing to get off, just ride in the left hand lane for a while, particularly when coming uo to the AR10/15 exit to get into Montreal.
Brian
RE: 1T Pickup special rules and regulations?
If the restriction is based on GVW, that means the gross vehicle weight of the vehicle as loaded at the time. That means that if your truck is loaded over 9K, you can't drive on that road, but if it's loaded under 9K you can. As noted, if the restriction includes a pass for RV's you can weigh anything you want as long as you tow the RV. GVW is different from GVWR - one is actual, the other is a rating not to be exceeded.
Brian
RE: 1T Pickup special rules and regulations?
Many States have regulations where any vehicle or combination with a GVWR over 10K must stop at weigh stations, commercial or not, including RV's. Here is a list: http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/laws/weigh-stations/
Some are Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota. Michigan has a rule that any vehicle over 10K GVWR with dual rear wheels must stop, to the original point about DRW trucks, but they are the only ones. So the sage advice about non-commercial get a pass is an old wives tale, and not so true after all...
Brian
RE: Ford F250 Tire Upgrade
That is about an 8% increase in rolling circumference, which is a lot. If you have a gasser and tow 9500, you will definitely notice it. If you have a diesel, particularly a 6.7, not so much. You will probably need a 2" minimum lift to fit them on the front. 295-65/R20 is a 35" tire.
Brian
RE: Anybody here got a 2011-2013 2wd F250?
It's probably caster angle at the low side of spec. I've had new trucks do what yours is doing, took installing a caster adjuster to fix, mine wasn't adjustable stock, maybe the F250 is. (mine was a chev)
RE: I'm a retired salesman
I made my living selling telecom hardware and services for 25 years, so I know how to sell and when someone knows their stuff. I bought a tow dolly from a trailer/RV place. Salesman was the son of the owner, basically grew up on the lot. Tow dolly had "Dexter" axles and he made a big production of that, said the "Dexter" rubber torsion spring axles were the best. Arguably true, but this tow dolly had a plain dropped axle, not a torsion spring axle, and we were standing there looking at it. I pointed this out, got attitude back so I asked if having the "torsion spring axle" made it more expensive than a plain dropped axle, he said "nope, that's the way they come". So I bought it and got out of there before I lost it. He set the tire pressures "right" for me, as soon as I got off the lot and around the corner I dropped them from 50 psi down to 30 psi, which is what the big label on the tongue said they should be at...
Brian
RE: anyone towing 12000 lb 5th wheel with 3/4 ton pick up
The previous owner of my F250 diesel towed a 14K loaded fifth-wheel to Florida and back (to Nova Scotia) every winter. Way over the rated load capacity on pin weight, but he loved it, thought it did great. For me, around 9K - 10K is where there is a dividing line between gasser and diesel. Above 9K my Dodge 2500 with Hemi and 3.73 gears kind of gives up - can barely maintain highway speed in 4th gear on easy hills, slow in third gear on harder hills, and 7.5 mpg. The Ford is in fifth gear 90% of the time, down-shifts to 4th once in a while on a hill and gets 11 mpg with the same load on the same road.
RE: Truly retiring?s
Everyone is different. When my Dad was 73 he was in the early stages of Lewy Body dementia, which has a large physical component to it. He needed to stop driving, had a hard time walking, started to be forgetful, and all the rest. The number on the age has nothing to do with it, neither does the boastful words of the 80 year old who is still running marathons, it's what matters to you that counts.
Brian
RE: Can a quadriplegic driver handle braking-Class A gas/Class C
Totally impossible to tell. In most cases a motorhome has no greater physical requirement than any other vehicle. The steering is as light, the brakes are similar as well. What I think is different is the need to move the head quite a lot to gain the required view out of the windows, the mirrors, and so on, to tell what is going on around the vehicle. You can't "add" air brakes, the vehicle either has them or doesn't. But they don't require a significantly different effort than any other brakes.
Brian
RE: Hellwig front antisway bar installed...
Good for you to realize you need to keep a balance front to rear. What you should expect, particularly unloaded without the camper, is very reduced traction in corners which will be most noticeable in wet road conditions. You can expect more understeer at slower speeds and the tail will be more prone to losing traction in corners as well. What the anti-sway bars do in corners is transfer weight to the outside tire, which tends to both over-load it and under-load the inside tire.
Brian
RE: Weight capacity ...need some help.
In my experience the Ford door stickers are pretty accurate for that particular truck, so you can certainly start from there. Max trailer weight is usually decreased by truck loads, so figure what you normally carry and deduct that. Next, figure tongue weight or pin weight. Usually a half-ton class truck will not have sufficient load capacity for much of a fifth wheel, where your rule of thumb is 20 - 25% of gross trailer weight will be pin weight. With tongue weight I normally figure 10 - 12% of gross trailer weight.
With your example, what I would come up with is rated trailer weight of 11,300 minus 300 for passenger and in-cab luggage = 11,000 gross trailer weight. Tongue weight no more than 1200 lbs (which is the rated max of your factory hitch, I do believe) leaves 1897-1200-300=397 lbs room in payload.
I would look for a trailer with a GVWR of 10,000 - 10,500 lbs just to give me a little head-room.
Brian
RE: Towing Advice
Never back up. Always drive forwards with a flat-towed car. A trailer you can back up all day long, a car on a dolly you can get maybe 10 feet, a flat towed car will bind the front wheels in 2 feet.
Brian
RE: Question on Michelin LTX M/S2
I have the LTX MS-2 Michelins on my F250, stock size and rating. I had balance problems too, in that they would balance fine with normal number of weights, I would drive for two weeks and then they would be out of balance. Get them balanced again, drive for a month, out of balance again. They finally stayed balanced after about 10K miles, my tire guy was getting quite fed up with me but every time they spun them to check they were quite out of balance. I also find they transfer road ripple quite badly, that little bit of road surface harshness that mimic's an unbalanced tire. I have one that pulls a fair bit whenever it is on the front during the rotation schedule. All in all not my favorite tires.
RE: semi full time no generator
You need power to run a propane furnace or most any other space heater, unless you go to wood-fired heating or something like that. Most propane furnaces will run down a typical Class C battery bank over one night, certainly will not do two without recharging. Most Class C alternators can't fully recharge a battery bank without running for 4 - 6 hours. I don't understand no generator, but you will either need more solar than will probably fit on top of your MH or a certain 4 - 6 hours a day on a pole somewhere. If you have no dump stations you have to either not use water inside the MH or create a dump station.
Does not sound like a plan to me.
Brian
RE: Ram Hemi fuel mileage
I have a 2003 2500 Hemi with a 5 speed manual, 2WD quad-cab. Towing a car hauler box trailer I get 7.5 to 9.5 regardless of weight between 4500 and 8500. Never really measured empty but I think it's around 15. 3.73 differential. My truck is real light, only around 5900 empty. I didn't buy it for gas mileage, I bought it to haul stuff around, and it did that fine. It's now semi-retired and I have the F250 PSD, which hauls way more stuff and does get way better mileage.
Brian
RE: Siping tires
Sipes allow the tread blocks to move easier, and lets water clear faster. It can be a marginal help in wet weather. Probably has a marginal effect on wear, but who really wears out motorhome tires? Many manufacturers put sipes in tires OEM, our tires are really truck tires, so toughness and longevity trump a marginal improvement in wet traction. My tires are siped, they came that way, and I don't really care one way or the other.
RE: Old Man's 1996 F250 460
If you can do this and end up with no debt, then it could be a good move. If you can sell your truck, pay off the note and buy your Dad's truck and a little car with left-over cash from the truck, then it may be a great move. Using a commuter car to commute, well, it just makes sense. Using a truck to commute makes no sense at all. Depends a lot on your situation and what you use a truck for.
RE: Opinions on towing f150 crew cab on trailer
Damon made over ten different Ultrasport models in 1995 and around half came on Chevy chassis with 454 engines, so it's kind of hard to tell. You are probably rated to max tow weight of 5K lbs, which you will be at least 50% over, maybe a lot more, with your pickup on a trailer. I personally would not do it.
Brian
RE: 3 month trip to the Maritime Provinces
Our trucks are the same as your trucks, and the new ones use DEF so no worries. I'd do the tax rebate, we do it all the time when we are in other countries so why not you do it in Canada? If you decide to come in or out via the St Stephens border crossing in New Brunswick, make sure you have the GPS working in Bangor when you are looking for how to get between the interstate and Highway 9, and be aware that highway 9 has some steep grades - 12% or so - but fairly short. There is no fuel on Highway 9, but there are gas stations at both the Bangor and the St Stephen's ends. But it's a lovely two lane highway drive.
Brian
