RE: Avalanche/Suburban 2500 with 8.1 towing mpg
Ben, that is not true on the excursion. Pulling the "cab" off on a ford is for the diesels, not the V-10. The excursion has a removable core support and the engine can be pulled right out of the front if need be. Heads can also be removed without pulling the engine.
As for plugs, Not sure what you guys mean, The plugs are on top of the engine, a simple universal adapter and spark plug socket to break it loose works fine. Then use a piece of Rubber hose to drop down into the hole and pull the plug out. I actually had my 12 year old son do it as a lesson in mechanics. I started each plug in the hole though as I didn't want him to cross thread them.
From owning an excursion, I love it, but as a tow vehicle, I'm not sold. You do have to do upgrades. If you find one that someone already did that too, like airbags, rear sway bar or RAS then buy it. I bought mine bone stock from a first owner and man what a headache to get this thing up to par to tow right. I do feel this is where the Suburban shines. But the suburban lacks in comfort of the excursion, especially if you can find a Limited. The limited is top of the line and both front seats are 8 way power. Amazingly comfortable. My suburban, not so much.
From the Yukon compared to the Excursion on Price. Yes, they are more money for some reason. Especially the Yukon 2500 with an 8.1. Not easy to find. I bought my 2003 excursion with 130k miles V10 for 9K, mine is a 4wd Limited, The only thing it doesn't have is a sunroof because it has a DVD system. The suburbans and Yukons are not so easy to find in our neck of the woods.
FYI, on the Fords, they do tend to go through oil, about two quarts every 5k miles. So if towing, keep an extra quart with you at all times.
I go to Valvoline oil change place and they give free top offs, so no worries for me.
RE: Advice on an 04 Excursion 6.0....
On the ford 6.0, 04 up is good. 03, is only good if it wasn't modded and had the EGR cooler bypassed. Turbos could be coming into repair work, but a good maintained rig would be OK
Also, on any ford, Take the vin and go to any ford dealer and have them pull an Oasis report. This is a document that tracks all dealer and warranty repairs. It also tracks any recall repairs. If you have them pull this and is shows many recalls not performed, don't buy the vehicle. Chances are it was not maintained very well for it's life.
Also, don't be suprised if the service guys scramble when asking for this report. I had to talk to the service manager and he wouldn't print if off and give it to me, but did review it and give me his feed back on buying our excursion.
On another note. The V-10 is a monster, but does have One major draw back I hate. When towing and climbing a steep hill. When at full throttle or nearly WOT if the computer detects this, it will kick the engine out of passing gear to save it self. Or if you reach the point is shifts up, then in both cases you will lose all momentum going up hill and slow to a 40mph crawl. Until passing gear is kicked in then it will tear up the road to 60 and may shift again. Very frustrating. The guys at 5star programming though can fix this. Also gearing as well.
By the way I discussed gearing with ford as I have 3.73. They said unless I tow a majority of the time, don't change the gearing. It isn't worth it. The newer transmissions are designed to handle it, and only full timing or more than 50% of driving while towing would they recommend changing. But if you live in the rockies and will be pulling alot of hills, I know from my experience the v10 wants 2k rpm or more, once out of that, your done for.
Personally, if it was me, I would buy a 6.0L in the following cases.
1. Oasis report showed the turbo, egr, or cooling system, head bolts have already been addressed.
2. Oasis report shows all recall including cruise control fuses have been corrected or installed.
3. The vehicle does not have any type of tuner, exhaust or intake mod.
I also want to say. I own both an 2003 excursion and 2001 suburban. I love the excursion. It is a HUGE vehicle. Also, my kids love the third seat in the excursion. I too like it as it is way lighter to remove than the suburban.
The suburban does ride smoother. But the Excursion is bar none a truck and feels like a truck. Even though it is wider and longer than the suburban, I have no issues driving it, parking it or such, well except street parking, there isn't spots big enough for it or the suburban.
Things I would change on it, mod to the V/B code springs.
RE: Got the Excursion 7.3 Diesel-now need TT IDEAS??
Jukes,
I skipped some of the posts to gleen in on your hitching question. The excursion rating is 12k on the reciever. All excursion come factory with towing because they use the reciever on the rear as a "blocker beam system". To keep hondas from going under the rear end.
Anyhow. You also will find that if you have a diesel you need to check your door sticker to see rear gearing. I'm sure yours is 3.73 rear, but some came with 3.56 and 4.33 gearing. There is a code on the door sticker. Like C0 or such. Google search it and it will tell you your gearing.
Next, towning with an Excursion of a trailer over 27' is interesting to say the least. The wheel base is shorter than an F250 and the springs are softer, meaning the excursion will wander all over the place and you will or may have trailer sway.
Before towing, make sure you have Load E range tires and set to 70-75 psi
Set trailer tires to max pressure as well
Check shocks
Check front and rear sway bar bushings. NOTE: 04-05 came factory with rear sway bars, 03 and older did not, they were an option. If yours does not have one, go to the junk yard, look for an 01 up F350. Get the Rear sway bar, axle bracket and links. Cut the links down, and re-weld them. Then buy new replaceable link bushings. Pop the old bushings out and put in new replaceable bushings. This will allow you to turn the bolt around. Total cost 75$ vs $350 for a helwig unit. NOTE F350 is big as the helwig unit.
Check Rear leaf anti-wrap leaf stopper. There is a leaf that sticks out the front of the spring pack, it should have a 3" tall rubber/foam cushion between it and the pack. If it is not there you need to go to the ford dealer and get a new one, or order from rock auto.
Even after this you may still get sway, our 30' trailer pushes us around a little but I found that moving the weight distribution around helped out. Tire pressure made the biggest diffence for us.
RE: Check Engine Light--Code Scanner Questions
Yes, that is eec-iv. You can use a paper clip. It is only jumpering the 12vdc to ground for a relay coil. That relay turns on the keep alive memory which cause the CEL "check engine light" to blink. On EEV-IV vehicles the "scanner" is a LED and Beeper it is 19.95 at the parts store.
I do use my Scan Tool to pull EEC-IV info. One thing to understand is there is a sequence of code just before the actual error codes. They are KOEO "key on engine off" Diagnostic routines that run and cause a fast set of flashes or beeps on the readers. A proper scan tool will read those as well. But a paper clip works just fine.
You will see a burst of quick flashes. Look in the repair manual and it discusses them. Say, two fast, then pause then one fast, then it repeats, as an example. This would indicate a good condition, meaning the computer sent out voltage checks to all sensors and 12vdc, 5vdc and grounds checked good. If a different code in the "fast code" was displayed, it would indicate a connection loss or voltage return signal not being met. IE connector not connected. This may not come up in the "SEL" code until the vehicle is driven 25 miles or so.
I have worked extensively on EEC-IV ford computer systems. They are very simple an primative. I also agree with the other poster that they will not point exactly to an issue, but a general area. It takes good troubleshooting skills to hone into the issue. But on EEC-IV or OBDI as it is known, even a shop with a scan tool may take a while to find the issue.
OBD-II is so much more forgiving. I can't wait to take the carb'd 1970 chevelle into mess with the guys at the shop for a tuning of the carb. They stare at it for a while usually.
between that and the 4.6L ford V8 I stuffed into a mazda pickup then would take for an oil change, the looks are peoples faces are priceless!
RE: Dodges are junk!
I'm reading some of the post about MPG's. Lets first clear the air here.
Gear Ratio
4wd/2wd
Transmission ratio
Year of vehicle/PCM
Demographical area due to fuel requirement.
A. Gearing w/drive wheels. Lets compare two vehicles I own. 2003 chevy 5.3L 2wd suburban 1500 3.73 and 2003 V10 4wd excursion 3.73 2500.
Both vehicles have 5spd transmission and driven in Oregon. GM in town, 15-17mpg/ hwy 20-22. Ford 9-10 city/ hwy 12-17. Both, if kept at 55-65 will be higher range fuel economy.
B. Transmission ratio with Rear gearing plays a huge role in fuel economy, hence why ford, gm and dodges are inching to 8 speed transmissions. Just two years ago and dodge gas or diesel were the worst gas mileage on the road.
C. Vehicle and PCM. This goes back to as drivetrain changes so does the programming, sensor inputs and outputs as well as optimization of air/fuel over economy programming of shift and slip points. Ignition timing ect. Noted, for a vehicle to pass emmisions it must be timed to a specific point, or adjust timing under throttle and MAP. But a vehicle out of time, may lack performance and not pass smog check, yet yield a higher burn rate and fuel economy. Much like older cars.
D. Fuel and areas of the country, US and Canada. Both diesel and gas engines are subject to fuel blending issues. Gas is very regulated in states that require winter blends or like California has high ethanol fuel. The issue with ethanol is it requires a higher combustion rate to burn efficiently. Yet that same higher combustion with 100% gasoline can cause issues with emmision requirements. So Car companies who build "flexfuel" vehicles optimize burn ratios by computer control, unfortunately this kills the MPG rating of a vehicle. In diesels, it's much the same, poor blends will knock down the mpg ratings as well.
I generally will ignor most responses to MPG ratings unless I know where someone is from. It's not that I don't believe them, there are just too many factors out there. On my ford excursion I also found that the modular motors do not like "regular unleaded" fuel. They need premium under towing conditions. As I found, our excursion when towing with regular will get 7.5mpg with detonation on several cylinders. But with Premium I will pull 9-9.5mpg with no detonation. The mpg over cost is a wash. At the pump it looks like I spend more, but I don't use as much fuel. So when calculated with GPS tracking and lie-ometer on the overhead. It didn't lie much at all. I also found on fords you need to be moving to reset the meter to read correctly. Hence why I prefer the scan gauge over that.
RE: Travel Trailer Utility Hookups - Please Advise
I will give a little more information but combine what was already posted.
Electrical: Look at your Home circuit breaker panel. If it has space, and you won't need to be removing it during the remodel, I would recommend installing a dedicated 30amp breaker and no less then 10ga conductor wire to run from the breaker to where the outlet needs to be. Note. Home depot and lowes both sell an RV out let box that mounts on the side of the house or post. Home depot was cheaper if I remember correctly. By the time I bought the wire, box, and breaker it was right at $105.00. In our city, I am allowed to run electrical, but I had to have a "self installed permit and city inspection" cost was very minimal. In some localities, they may allow or may not allow. best to check as on a home remodel, you can lump all electrical into the same permit. Meaning, If you are getting a "self installed permit" to rewire the entire house, the RV outlet would be included and not seperate. So the permit is good for all wiring and inspections.
Water. We just tap the RV hose off the house spicket outside. We Do NOT EVER fill the tanks. We keep them winterized until camping season. In your case, I 100% agree with the other poster. If you plan on being gone for a couple days, and don't want to risk freezing your pipes, then simply, disconnect the hose and blow out the lines. Pour RV antifreeze in the P-traps. Good to go.
Sewer. This is a touchy subject to some, but in our state it is 100% legal to dump down the House Cleanout. It goes right to the sewer. Some will argue that you can't, but considering it is your house sewer, not sure what the problem is. To each thier own in thinking I guess. Our own water district has also confirmed that it is OK to dump RV waste down the clean out as long as we then rinse the clean out. A macerator works great for this but is not required. Just nice.
RE: Illegal or not?
Illinois Vehicle code for Hitch IS NOT IN THE CODE SEE HERE>>>
http://www.ilga.gov/reports/static/96thStatus%20of%20Bills-Cumulative.pdf
Scroll down to page 87, HSB 03669 dead bill...
Here is further proof.
Proposed House bill in 2009. NOTE Code 625, Section 5/12 614 is an added ammendment. http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/96/HB/09600HB3669.htm
HOWEVER
Current Illinois Vechicle code, Scroll down to 625 section 5/12 613. Notice it stops and skips from 613 to 701. So no hitch law or "ball mount"
Hit CNTL F at the same time on your key board to do a search on that entire page. No mention what so ever in current illinois vehicle code about a hitch or ball mount. http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=062500050HCh%2E+12&ActID=1815&ChapterID=49&SeqStart=127100000&SeqEnd=138300000
Copy and paste both to see. So this confirms, the hitch law in Illinois out side of a city ordinance is bogus and BS. Anyone who says otherwise, have them quote the exact vehicle code to you.
RE: Illegal or not?
FYI,
According to Dave Woodward, Seargent of Ontario Provincial Police, that information is false and it is considered part of the vehicle. It does not need to be removed. As for why you were stopped, they have no answer. Having relatives who are in law enforcement it would be called an excuse. FYI,
In the states, it is possible for a local "city" code to have a hitch removal law, yet I can't find one single place that has one, "yet". Usually with officers a vehicle code infraction of that nature is ignored as they can easily see you are not from around there by the plate or registration pull on the computer. Just so you know, if your name or vehicle has ever been pulled over for speeding, Suspicion of DUI/DUII, or any other infraction, you may be stopped for bogus claims. It's not uncommon.
As for Illinois, there was house bill 3669 which was introduced by Representative Elaine Nekritz. It died prior to the Judiciary commitee. I can't find any where it was ammended at this point, but I'm not digging deep either.
Also, just to confirm, I looked up Ontario and Alberta vehicle codes. It does specifically state that a ball or hitch can not block the plate numbers. That is all it says about hitches/drawbars. Nothing about removing it.
RE: over 30ft too long?
I've never pulled a 5er but it seems they are easier to manipulate into spots over my bumper pull. My Kodiak is a "31'" bunk, but it is 37 feet toungue to tail and 13' wide when both kitchen and bunk/living slides are out. We have a hard time fitting in many places due to width. We have had to park our truck in a seperate lot on two occasions. We learned after the first trip to bring a hand saw for tree branches. What we have noticed, is older camp grounds are the smallest, the newer state campgrounds here in Oregon and Washington have not issues fitting larger rigs. We really like Washington state, their campgrounds have Road view pictures with Measurements. Wish Oregon would catch up to that. I'm planning hitting washington more this year for that very reason.
RE: A ? on Gas Grills
Bob to clarify what the other two posters are saying.
Your trailer has the regulator at the bottle.
So on your BBQ you can remove your regulator and put a quick disconnect fitting on it "male", for LP gas.
On your trailer, you can run a line and put the "female" quick disconnect. Then you can plug in your BBQ right onto that line.
RE: New to TT and need advice
Forgive me original poster, but I started reading the other comments and decided to skip them as my time is limited.
We own a kodiak and an excursion as you will see in my sig picture below.
Anyhow, we have four kids, ranging from 15 to 11. So not far off from what you are.
To answer your question first. As the other poster mentioned about the door stickers. Fords are great for this.
FYI, we bought our 2003 excursion with 130k miles for 9000. The van idea is good if you are ok with 2wd. plus they can be had for cheap.
As far as towing with a 1/2 ton, I don't think I would, but you can. My 300bhsl would be too heavy for a 1/2ton. But the 28 kodiak would be ok for the chevy.
If you have any questions about the kodiak feel free to ask.
RE: Andersen No Sway Hitch
Ok, I like the fact this comes up, I for one have tried this hitch setup as well as the E2 and our current Reese SC.
Please keep in mind that truck and trailer are very crucial to my statements and opinion. But as I was able to spend the money to test them you can at least get an idea.
First you will see the rig I drive and pull. An excursion pulling a 37' tail to tongue Kodiak.
Anderson hitch. Didn't fair to well. Adjusted it multiple times as well as changed the ball height. Got it to a point where it seemed to be towing good until a side wind came up. It didn't do to well in our case
E2. Ugh, this thing was loud and I would get stares pulling into a parking lot, as it sounded like I was dragging the trailer without wheels. It performed OK but we did have a bar fall off, lucky for us it held onto the hitch.
Reese SC. Next best thing to the dual cam and can be upgrade to them. I love this set up, it has brake pads for the sway control and it works very well, and not a peep from it unless I'm backing and turning very hard. I may get a slight creek out of it.
In our case Anderson took the hitch back without incident. After some discussion it is noted that for a 30+ foot trailer it may not be ideal, however I had also learned that the excursion isn't a great towing platform either. Please note,
Yes, I had already added the rear sway bar, new shocks and verified tires were above 70psi on the truck. In our case it didn't work out, but, I think a trailer under 27' maybe ok.
If it was me, I'd go to the RV dealer and look at Used WD systems, they always have them and 40-50% cheaper than new. We ended up spending about $150 more on our hitch but it was worth our safety.
RE: Jensen AWM970
Just to confirm. You were able to leave the speaker in the mounted location, and at the back of the stereo swithed the output wires of the head unit so the "c" selection was now powering your inside set of speakers, such as set "a" which then gave you the proper "left right" output IE 2 of the 4 inside speakers playing?
If I am understanding you correctly then you are stating that either left or right of say output channel "a" is not functioning but "b" is?
If that is the case, you could tie all 4 inside speakers to selection switch "b". This would drop the impedance of that channel, but as long as all are wired in parallel there won't be any long term harm to the radio as long as you keep the volume at an acceptable level. Which most people don't crank up a stereo in a TT anyhow.
My advice, connect all inside speakers to outputs "b" then our outsides back onto C as previously wired.
FYI, if you are wanting a very good deal on a new rv stereo then I would try these guys. I have bought many many things from them. They buy all New Factory Left overs from Keystone and forest river here in Oregon.
Affordable RVing Showroom Located At:
15555 SE McLoughlin Blvd
Milwaukie Oregon
Store hours: Tuesday - Friday 10 am - 6 pm
Saturday 10 am - 4 pm
Phone: 503-659-3610
RE: Passport 3220bh versus a Bullet 31bhpr?
A couple of other points. This is a 2013 of my trailer, notice Kodiak uses frameless windows and tan exterior. That color scheme is very nice in the sun, white will blind you when you walk up to it. Tan won't.
Also look at the storage difference of this type of trailer compared to what Keystone is currently doing. You can see the available space. HOWEVER the downside of this trailer is no outside door to bathroom. Kind of a pain when traveling as you have to move the living room slide out about 1-2 feet if you pull over to use it. Also, if you live in a place where you can only park on the street to load your rig, any rig with a slide can make this a complicated task. Keep that in mind.
http://www.hrvc.com/rv/dutchmen/traveltrailer/448/Dutchmen__
RE: Passport 3220bh versus a Bullet 31bhpr?
Both of those trailers are nice rigs, and both also have nearly the same floor plan, both built by keystone.
I am assuming you like the second door that goes into the bathroom hence why you are looking at this floor plan?
The main thing is recheck the exact model number, BHPR is the permier line, IE it is a lot more trailer than a regular passport. It would be worth more in the long run if in deed it is a premier model. That is the difference between buying a chevy tahoe and a cadillac escalade. Same rig, same floor plan, but way more luxury inside and out.
Is this what it looks like? http://www.rvguide.com/specs/keystone/travel-trailer/2010/bullet-premier-ultra-light/31bhpr.html
If it looks more like the passport then it is a regular bhs bullet or grand touring like this?
http://www.rvguide.com/specs/keystone/travel-trailer/2012/passport-ultra-lite-grand-touring/3220bh.html
If grand touring then they are nearly the same trailer. But I'm a little confused as that 2013 is listing at 32K or so, minus say 20% you would be in the 25k Range or so, meaning the 2010 is in the 19-23k range?
Hmm, seems about right.
Anyhow check the two links above, then find the correct trailer, at least you can review the specs.
Some things to keep in mind. How much storage does this trailer have, does it have a silverware drawer? Does it have a place to store pots and pans? What about kitchen prep space?
I only say this because we searched for a year, wanted the same setup that you are looking at, but found that storage for the kitchen was lacking as well as food storage space, towel storage ect. We actually stumbled across the dutchem kodiak only because of the fact another manufacture who doesn't make bunk houses showed us it at the RV show. We fell in love with it, but it is about 5k above your current price range at around 30-32k. They have also made a few tweeks between 2012 and 2013 on our trailer. So if you are looking at a passport look at several 2012 and 2013 models. Think about where you will put silverware and such.
As an example of why we bought the kodiak over the keystones.
Island kitchen. This means there is a large counter space next to the stove/oven. Has microwave as well as oven.
Has huge pantry in kitchen. Has three full drawers. Has storage under island sink as well as end of island flips out. Has towel storage closet across from bathroom. Has storage above couch. Has storage under the fold out couch. Has storage under the dinette in main room. Has storage under dinette in bunk room, has storage under bunk. Has storage under and around master bed room. Has full passthrough storage. Has full lockable doors on both bunk and master bedroom. Has walk through from master to bath with a pocket door.
We were also looking at the crossroads zinger, and other dutchmen products but settle on the kodiak.
I equate the kodiak to the BHSPR, it is a high end travel trailer for only a few thousand more than a base model trailer.
I'm not trying to sway you to a kodiak by anymeans. I am only saying, we looked for over a year and storage of even silverware became very apparent. Don't get excited about buying a trailer, research them slowly and go look at them. It's like buying a house, you have to live with it for some time, so find the one that best fits your needs and your family.
Besides ammenities, look for other things you might need, enclosed underbelly, ac ect. I see you are in florida, make sure it has at minimum a 13K A/C unit, two would be even better in your case. A 30' trailer doesn't cool that well.
In our case camping in 105 degree weather with NO humidity the AC just keeps up with the trailer at about 75 degrees. If there was humidity, eesh, I think I would add another AC unit.
RE: 4 WD Van
I have word of advice. I just happened to be driving through Portland Oregon last week and stumbled across a Van only dealer. They had several ford and GM 4X4 vans. I had never heard of the dealer but they have been there for a while.
Also, I know in Sacramento there was a Van only dealer who buys all of the government vans from the state and many federal agencies to resell them. Most of them have diesels. I have never seen a duramax 15 passenger van until I went to that lot. Not many dealers order the GMC or Chevy with the Duramax to my knowledge.
FYI, Ford is killing off the E-series van.
RE: 2013 Kodiak 284BHSL
HUH?
APT, why would you ask that, I guess you are refering to the fact you have a 6.0L with 3.73 rear end as well?
What is the point of that question? Considering Kevin lives in Bend Oregon, he shouldn't have an issue with his combination. Are you putting down his vehicle of choice or ???
Considering you have the same vehicle dynamics, except a 6.0L, then you of all people should be the last person to knock on someone, unless you are making a statement in a positive way, which does not seem to be the case.
Kevin,
With your combination, you will find your kodiak will tow great. Many people use airbags to assist in increasing load capacity of the truck. It is the same theory at installing overloads or arching springs for more capacity.
If you do install bags, start at about 5psi of pressure and test the rig out. Add air until it feels right. You will also notice that depending on how much you load the trailer or bed of your truck. You will need to adjust the bag pressure as well at WD hitch.
Many people on here tow fine with the 5.3L and have no complaints. Including the fact that you have the tow/haul mode feature on the chevy truck, this helps by changing the shift points in the transmission.
Because the kodiak has the spread axles you will also find that the trailer tracks pretty well.
The only issues I've had towing mine, which is the larger model, is two slides on one side makes the trailer not want to turn easily on that side. With your trailer of choice, you shouldn't have that issue.
RE: Do RV dealers winterize every unit on there lot?
When we looked at our kodiak the dealer didn't even have a chance to put it through service before they put it on the lot. It came from dutchmen with AF in the lines.
The dealer then tested the system and flushed most of it out. But we still had to sanitize the system when we got it home.
FYI,
Camping world and most RV dealers sell the chuck that attaches to your fresh water connection to blow out the system. Don't put more than 30psi in it when blowing it out.
You can Youtube a full video on how to winterize your trailer. It only takes about an hour and is very, very easy.
RE: How accurate is your DIC (driver information center) ?
I've heard them referred to as "lie o-meters" But I've tracked mine by GPS against pen and paper when filling up, both towing and empty. It was spot on. So I know I can trust it.
I'm not sure if people have issues with tuners causing them to freak out, or if some people are bad at math. In my case, no issues in any of the three vehicles.
VW, Ford or Lexus all are spot on for MPG calculation, distance to empty.
