RE: Gas tow vehicles
Either the Ford 6.8L V10 or the GM 8.1L V8 are great gassers. They are very comprable in all aspects. Their mileage loaded and unloaded is very close. They both pull equally well, and they'll both last a long time when taken care of. It will come down to personal choice.
You will have to hunt for a used 8.1L as they are no longer in production. And you will have to order a V10, as Ford has a love affair with their diesel equipped trucks. When looking for a used V10, go with the 3 valve motor, '04 and up I believe, double check that to make sure. This motor is the latest iteration, and puts out 362HP and 457ftlbs of torque. I wouldn't even compare the GM 6.2L V8 to the 6.8L V10. The V10 has a very flat torque curve that peaks at 3250rpm and remains fairly flat from there on out; no replacement for displacent applies here. Again, the 8.1L from GM is deffinately worth a look.
With my little 3770lb pop, a Gross Combined Vehicle weight of 11,820lbs I get 11.5mpg from VA to FLA and back. Unloaded to/from work I get 13.5mpg. Unloaded on the highway, 15.5mpg is a no brainer. Not bad for a brick on wheels.
As others have said, why not keep you current TV? Sounds like it's paid for and running. Only you know what will work though in your current situation.
I think there are some good answers to your questions in this thread, good luck with your decision.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Tow 9k lb mid profile 5th wheel with F-250 5.4L?
I test drove an '05 F250 set up as you described, I was not impressed with the get up and go empty. For $600 I went and ordered an '06 with the 6.8L V10. Very happy I did so. As others have asked, what is wrong with your Hemi equipped Dodge, sounds like she should do the job just fine as is?
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Enough HP to pull it? (levity w/pics)
And not a soul would stir as they rumbled into the campground at 2am!
Honestly, I'd like to be standing by the rails as those engines went by, that would be something!
Thanks for the pics, I've always had a place in my heart for trains, more so the engines.
RustyFuryIII
RE: What you should know about Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF)
Just so I have this straight...
If I don't urinate in my DEP, my SCR won't allow me to insert my DVD. My DPF will clog if I'm too short, and that in turn will open my EGR, but my PCM will record a longer burn rate and derate my CD. My closed loop will open, causing the IAC to reduce boost at the IAT lowering my ET due to hotter EGT thereby killing my MAP, and I'll get a CEL or CES featuring a Summers Eve mist display. And, I go to jail. ...got it!
Yeah, I know, a wise guy in every crowd. I loves my acronyms!!
In all seriousness though, I am looking forward to Ford coming out with a very top o the line Diesel engine. They can do it if anyone can.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: What is your TV and what do you Tow?
I'm the light weight of the group w/ my '06 F250 w/V10 pulling a 3770lb pop up. But, as they say, plenty of room to move upwards in the TT or 5th wheel dept should I ever decide to do so. Some day...
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Air Bag Ride
An airbag is nothing more than an air adjustable spring with zero rebound dampening. I've installed a set of Firestone Air Bags in the rear springs of my '96 Buick Roadmaster. Yes, just enough air in the bags levels out the TV. However, you now have a bouncy ball stuffed between the springs and this in turn removes or greatly reduces the rebound dampening that you had in your shocks. Rebound dampening is one of the sweet benefits engineered in our modern day shocks.
I too like what the air bags did for leveling my wagon when towing, however, I hate what they did to the ride quality. Others experiences may clearly vary.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Cash for Clunkers
"...83% of the trade ins have been trucks."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/04/clunkers-programs-environmental-impact-debate/
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Cash for Clunkers
I have been an admirer, buyer, and owner of some old cars. I am also a member of a local car club, and subscribe to a number of collector car and classic car magazines.
One thing many here may not know, is that there are a number of organizations out there who do not want you driving around town in your classic Impala, GTO, Bonneville, Caddilac, F150, Blazer, Jeep et al. They have, for years been trying to get these fuel guzzling, fluids leaking machines off of the road. And have gone so far as to submit legislation to have these vehicle banned outright after they've reached a certain age. And they have failed in that regard.
However, they were able to get something out there that makes it enticing to salvage yards to get rid of all of their 10yr old model year car and truck inventory. This in effect limits the number of used parts available to those who decide to keep their older cars and or collect old cars. These people want everything off of the road that is not up to date with current fuel mpg, and EPA emissions standards. They aren't as loud as the anti gunners, but they're out there and active. They don't care that you love your 4.0, or your 396, or your 426 hemi, or your 429CJ. They want them off of the road period.
With cash for clunkers in gear, these folks are elated and I'm certain, had something to do with the framework of this program.
It sucks but was inevetable with the huge downturn in the car market.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Cash for Clunkers
OK, so far on the internet I've read where "they'll pour molten glass into the engine." Now I've read "drain the crankcase and pour in a sand mixture, and run 'till it siezes."
If any of that is true, that's absolutely insane. First of all, this is supposed to be a means by which to bring otherwise cash strapped or reluctant car buyers back into the show room to purchase cars from dealers who are floundering in this recession. Second it was supposed to be about recycling.
In other words the metal from the car would be melted down to make something else. Plastic and other parts, if they met insurance grade specs, would be put back into the system to be used by other cars still on the road. And the rest, off to the crusher, melted down what ever.
But pouring a sand mixture or molten glass into the engine seems to fly in the face of common sense. So much more money and time is going to be spent doing this. Then when it comes time to melt down the block, how does that work with glass and or sand in it? I'm not up on smelting, melting/seperating molten metal from molten glass. So who knows, maybe it's not a big deal.
This "cash for clunkers" thing is a joke, a huge waste of our tax dollars. And all to help prop up the auto industry. What's next, cash for pizza crust? Yeah, cuz you know the restaurant biz is in a downturn too right!?!?
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Ford V10 owners
Hi Jeff,
The 6.8L, 413cid V10 is a good, reliable engine offering up more hp and torque than the 5.4L V8. It certainly has its place between that and the 6.4L diesel offered up by FoMoCo.
I love mine for what I use it for and that is hauling lots and lots of green oak firewood to my home. That and towing my 3770lb Fleetwood Niagara pop up. Certainly not what others are towing as I consider what I'm towing to be on the lighter side. Fully loaded with the Pop Up I've tipped the scales at 11,820lbs GCVW
In my opinion the F250/F350 is a great truck; matched up with the V10 it is a stout workhorse.
My mileage is very similar to what others have reported, and as such I view that as more than acceptable for a gasoline powered truck.
Properly taken care of it should provide you with years of dependable service.
Let us know how your test drive went.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: 1992 Roadmaster Wagon
rdmoore62,
Where to begin...
Be prepared for possible dissapointment. But I'll share with you my experiences with this car. See my sig for description of wagon.
DO NOT forget to pull the fuse for the auto leveling rear suspension. Read your glove box manual concerning towing with this car. It will tell you where the fuse is. DO NOT tow anything with the auto leveling suspension active. You will quickly ruin the pump. Also, tow only in 3rd, do not tow with this car in OD, you will quickly ruin the transmission. When you install your aftermarket trans cooler, make certain that as much of it as possible is directly behind the grill taking in the oncoming air flow. Try to keep as little of the trans cooler hidden by the front bumper as you can. Purchase the largest trans cooler you can find. B&M makes a nice stacked plate cooler, avoid the tube and fin design.
I purchased my car 4yrs ago with the intention of pulling a 3770lb Fleetwood Niagara pop up camper. Since the car had the factory 5000lb towing package, it came with a slightly larger radiator (not that much larger), the trans cooler, engine oil cooler built into the radiator and slightly stiffer springs. Even with the stiffer springs, I needed to install Firestone airbags in the rear springs. DO NOT forget to install the heat shields provided with the air bags. Don't ask me how I know! DO NOT "T" off the air bags to a single air line. You want seperate air lines to seperate schrader valves. With my pop up attached I needed about 21psi in each airbag to keep the rear end from squating.
I also needed a single, 400lb weight distribution bar to take weight off of the rear axle of the wagon and share it more with the front end of the car and the axle of the pop up. That and a friction sway bar kept the whole driving experience just a hair better than miserable while towing.
With my wife, two kids and a weeks worth of camping gear, no water in the pup, I was always 100lbs over the rated load for the rear axle; and was 40lbs shy of going over the axle rating of the pop up.
The 5.7L in my '96 is the 260hp, 330lb ft variant, with the 4L60e, 4 speed electronic automatic transmission, and a 2.93 rear. I believe your engine has 180hp and 295lb ft of torque, and a 3.08 rear end. If, as you say, it does not have the tow package, it's likely you could have the 2.56 rear end. Great for highway cruising and good mpg, but neither of these three rear ends are good for towing. But hey, that's what GM decided on. What I'm getting at here is that with my light, low profile pop up, and engine with just a bit more hp and torque, she worked hard to get up to 65mph while towing with the family.
I learned that while towing with that wagon, 55mph was the most comfortable speed to tow at. Hit 65mph or say 70mph and hang on when a tractor trailer sped by. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. And that was after all of the aftermarket stuff was put on. I drove her that way for 1yr, after the transmission died I bought the F250. (I know, not in the cards for you at the moment to upgrade TVs)
I would also surmise that perhaps you have the Dynaride suspension. Mine has the Gran Touring suspension. The Dynaride offers up a pillow soft ride while being very mushy in the turns. Whereas the Gran Touring suspension still offers up a classic GM big car ride, it is very well behaved in the turns at speed. Even so, it was still a handful thru the turns with the camper hooked up, I had to take it slow thru the turns with the camper hooked up. Still lots of body roll.
You will also want to get rid of the passenger car tires found on these cars and get a set of quality SUV tires. I say this because the passenger car tires have a lot to do with the body roll/lean thru the turns. The soft sidewalls of the passenger tires are very noticable while towing thru the turns. You will really notice a difference with a quality set of SUV load range C tires under that chassis. Specify to the tire guy you want to tow with these tires and aren't looking for off road tires. It'll take some looking, but a quiet set of SUV tires for towing are out there w/o the blocky tread pattern.
I love the '91 thru '96 Buick Roadmaster and Caprice wagons. They are a classic car even today. This car was at its pinacle of GMs B body cars when they discontinued it in '96. They had every refinement offered up thru the 30 plus years of its life. This applied to the engine, suspension, transmission, aerodynamics and yes luxury; I would never sell mine. But towing at or above its rated 5000lb towing capacity is/was not fun.
I wish you the best with your car and trailer. Keep us posted on how it goes. Congratulations on finding a Roadie in such excellent condition. They're getting harder and harder to find in good shape, not many were made either. Less than 5000 for your year.
Mine is but one towing experience with this great road car. Others have had excellent experiences while towing various trailers and campers behind it.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: chevy 8.1L
Engineer9860,
I too have the ZF-S6, only it's buried in a Ford wrapper! Yup, backing up my 413cid SB V10 is the tried and true ZF-S6 manual transmission.
I dug up some info on this transmission in December of '06, thought I'd share it with you....
ZF stands for Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen
A quote from www.garbee.net/~cabell/transmission.htm
ZF S650: An extremely heavy-duty unit with 6 forward speeds. All gears are synchronized. This unit has an aluminum case with integral bell housing, a center support, and rear case. This unit is built in both 2 and 4WD versions. The S650 is found behind diesel engines of the 1998 and up Ford Super Duty, and stripped chassis up to a gross combined weight of 26,000lbs. The unit weighs in at 230lbs. A unique feature of this unit is an internal oil pump driven off the front of the countershaft that circulates the lube to a Transmission cooler. An easy way to identify this unit is by the cooling lines mounted to the case as found in automatic transmissions. Id tags are mounted on the left side of the main case. Only has a PTO port on the (passenger side).
Gear ratios...
L = 5.79:1
1st = 3.31:1
2nd = 2.10:1
3rd = 1.31:1
4th = 1.00:1
5th = 0.76:1
Reverse = 5.23:1
The companies site www.zf.com states...
2nd and 3rd gear feature dual-Cone Synchronizers.
TheDieselPage.com - ZF S6-650 Six-Speed Manual Transmissions says...
Key Features:
- Designed specifically for high torque pickup trucks.
- Synchronized in all gears.
- Dual-cone synchronizer in 2nd and 3rd gears.
- High helix angle gearsets provide high contact ratio and quiet operation.
- Lower shift forces w/ tight shift pattern.
- Lightweight integrated aluminum housing (front, center & rear)
- Center bearing suport for improved durability.
- Reverse & 1st gear location improve maneuvering ease.
- Overdrive 6th gear shift lever position located forward and away for improved passenger comfort.
- Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating up to 26,000lbs.
- Left & right ISO/SAE 6-bolt Power Take-Off ports.
and from the ZF Freidrichshafen AG - AZ North America website...
ZF 6-speed manual transmissions are designed for Ford and GM truck drivers who place a high premium on performance with flexibility, and responsiveness with control. With simple H-pattern shifting allowing for 3-up seating and easy "toggling" between 1st and reverse for increased maneuverability. ZF transmissions are easy and more comfortable to operate. With lightweight aluminum housings, they provide improved fuel efficiency with lower maintenance and repair costs while delivering a increased torque capacity for today's high powered pickup trucks.
ZF transmissions are true workhorses, designed and built for optimal flexibility during repetitive heavy-duty tasks and ideally suited for the harshest environments, while at the same time offering a rather engaging driving experience.
ZF 6-speed manual transmissions are available standard on GM trucks with 6600 Duramax, and 8100 Vortec engines, and Ford trucks with 5.4L V8, 6.8L V10 and PowerStroke 6.0L engines.
They are also available behind Ford's new 6.4L Diesel.
Now you know!
RustyFuryIII
RE: Toyota Tundra Owners
Hannibal,
With regard to your 10:24am post, thank you, I couldn't have said it better.
To the OP, hitch up what you've mentioned to the Tundra and don't look back. It will easily handle what you're talking about.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Hauling a 1 ton load with a 1/2 ton truck
SkiDood,
I do remember the Green Machine! Sadly tho I never knew of anyone who owned one. I'd like to have given her a spin!!
Wes,
At the moment it's a 2006, Sterling, Vintner's Collection Shiraz. Tomorrow it's looking like a 2006, Deen De Bortoli, VAT4, Petit Verdot. Can't wait!
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Hauling a 1 ton load with a 1/2 ton truck
Long time ago, in years gone past, I lowered my-sef down onto a '76 Matel Big-Wheel. Yup, you 'member um. Redish orange plastic tri-frame, sportin twin fat slicks out back, and a semi knobby skinny drive wheel up front.
Whal, I drug this ol heavy hauler up inside a 8' diameter concrete culvert that emptied out into a runoff ditch at the base of our neighborhood. Took her all the way to the top of the drainage system.
It was thar that ah settled down into that meaty support structure. It was also thar that ah realeyezed weight needed to be shed. So off went the seat back. She leveled off some after that, not so much strain on the gooseneck. However, ah could see more weight needs to go so off went the tassles. Now we're talkin, just a tad o flex in the spension.
So here ah wuz at the top of a hill, in a 8' diameter pipe, several feet underground, about 300 yards from the opening which emptied into a mud'n gravel stream bed!
With a ferm grip on the tried and true single action friction handbrake, a fermer grip on the steerin linkage, and an even lesser understanding of stupidity, off we went.
The first 50 yards or so was fun, well, sort of. Speed bilt reel quick like and that was the fun part. As we went thru the first man hole there was a slight leveling off and then a steep drop into the next tube. Getting airborne didn't bother me, but being seperated from the vehicle left me with an odd feeling in muh stomuch. When we landed, we connected again. That was good! The water that lubricated the friction stopping mechanizim wasn't so good. There was so much more of this tunnel to see and we wuz movin.
The tri frame was flexin like is shud, least that's what ah thought at the time. The drive wheel up front now acted more like a blender on puree settin what with the orange thrusters spinning so fast and all. Shoot, nobody cud keep up with them they wuz movin so fast. My feets and leggs were now spred out to miss from gettin tangled up in em. Mama'd be upset if I soiled my socks.
We rounded a small bend in the tunnel, and off into another manhole we went. We leveled, I applied right friction brake, no response, we dropped, and seperated a gin. Only now I was worried. With the mud flung up in my face from the drive wheel, visability wasn't much better than total darkness, which we wuz in anyway. I abandoned the brake and briefly remonised how smart I was for ditching the seat back. And how that would've kept my butt from sliding off the back of the tri frame and into all that muk that lined the bottom of the tunnel. Pullin on the steerin aparatus to get back on was a dilly. Mud and pebbles went where they shouldn't ever be.
By now, light ahead, and one more drop, off we go. Funny how when you're in the air it's almost like you're flying but not really cuz you're really falling and who knows how that'll turn out. Well, after that brief connection with the tri frame upon impact, the gooseneck cracked. Do you know how well this acted like a shovel and a brake? In so many seconds we were outside, thigh deep in the muk and a frog in my shorts, least that's what it felt like. My trusty steed was a meer shadow of its former self what with steam rising up from the friction mechanicals and all. So yeah, I did haul more than the rated load in a vehicle. But I digress, it was fun!
Then there was that time in my '93 F150XL with the 300 cid I6 and Mazda 5 speed manual transmi......
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: What happened to the Tundra post?
Thank God that post got deleted. The OPs point was lost pages/days ago. And... who cares anyway? It's his truck, his coin.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: MPG V10
The '06 in my sig gets 13mpg when driving unloaded, city/hwy combined. Highway only, unloaded @ 65mph, 14.5mpg is a no brainer.
With the pop up hitched, fully loaded, the rig weighs in at 11,820lbs and I get 11 to 12mpg depending on terrain.
I read on the ole trusty internet that the '08s and '09s are heavier and thus mileage is somewhat less than the previous years.
Ye old dealer who told you to expect somewhere around 19mpg hwy is smoking some good stuff!
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Has anyone changed exhaust on a Ford 6.8l V10
JHUCK,
The earlier V10s responded quite well to some exhaust mods. I would suggest wandering over to www.ford-trucks.com click on "FORUMS" and scroll down near the bottom of the list to the V10 forum. There is a lot of information including sound clips of peoples modded exhaust systems. They will also give you a better idea of what to expect from any exhaust mods you may be contemplating.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
RE: Here In San Jose, CA Seeing A Lot Of New Gasser 3/4-1 T's
To the OP, still lots and lots of diesel powered Fords, GMs and Mopars around here. Good luck locating a V10 powered F250 in this neck of the woods. There is a guy in town who ordered a tow truck with the V10 though. And last night I did see an SRT10 Dodge 2500. Real nice looking truck too! However, it's the first one I've seen in many many months.
Other than that, there are and always have been a fair amount of Hemi powered 2500s and a hand full of V8 powered F250s and a good smattering of V8 powered GMs. But by and large, the people who run a business here in town and use their 250/2500 or 350/3500 to haul and tow heavy consistantly over the long term, still seem to be buying the diesel equipped trucks. That, and there don't seem to be too many new purchases. Still lots of people hanging on to what they've got, and they're diesels. I know I'll be holding on to my truck for some time to come barring any unforseen circumstances.
Enjoy,
RustyFuryIII
