RE: Big 3 rear axle #'s
Who has ever burned up a 10.5" rear?
Within any of the trucks GCWR at stock tuning I doubt it matters, except for bragging rights.
RE: e350 headers
Low quality headers can leak. Good ones will hold up better than stock manifolds.
For motorhomes, I think Banks is the way to go. If you look at other brands (which are often much cheaper), be sure to compare flange thickness to the Banks headers, as well as tube thickness.
Do not put shorty headers on a motorhome. They will add some top end power, but will decrease low end torque. Long tube headers will add power across the power band.
Also, avoid header wraps, which they will encourage corrosion. If heat is a concern, look for ceramic coated headers.
RE: Anyone towing a TT with a 1 ton Van
I was wondering if you ever replaced the TH yet? I take it you got the van taken care of? found anything worthy of a replacement yet?
Nope. No replacement yet. A couple issues there: 1) Weekend warrior is no longer building trailers, and nobody else can build one that size. 2) I've decided to return to school to finish up my engineering masters, and I'd like to stay debt free.
When I do get around to replacing it, I think will probably just go with a 40' flat bed, and buy an older 22' or so TT and remove the axles and make is so I can mount and remove it from the flatbed as needed. The rear of the flatbed will have a removable vehicle lift. So in way, it will be like a stacker trailer, but more flexible. The flatbed would be ideal for running raft shuttles, since I could carry 2 more vans on the that size flatbed (shuttle drivers are usually the largest single expense on my large group trips).
Van should be going in the paintbooth this week. It will no longer be white. Then I will have to spend a few day adding 120v wiring to the interior, and adding the Recon cab and fender lights.
RE: Anyone towing a TT with a 1 ton Van
I towed the trailer below about 14,000 miles last year.
Actual length was 41'. Dry weight was 11,000 pounds. Typical load was 14,000. Max was 18,000.
Total combined weight was 24,000 for 80% of my towing last year.
On more than 1 trip, I wish the trailer was bigger, but that was the longest one Weekend Warrior could build (and it was a custom order already).
http://oregonstate.edu/~carringb/Trailer/P1010086.JPG
RE: Engine Stalled
On rare occasions, the vapor canister can cause fuel lock if the tank was over-filled. Somewhat common on Rangers, but much less common on E-series. But it can happen to any vehicle. If you were at just teh right angle while fueling, you may have gotten a little too much fuel on there, and then it can expand when you hit the road and it warms up.
RE: Which Chevy chassis do I have?
Start with an alignment. It may not have been re-aligned after the frame was stretched and body added.
P and W series are class A platforms, so check reference parts by looking up Chevy Express 3500.
RE: Tag axle vs dually in a 22' motorhome
Tags make sense on long coaches, but on a 22' it's just a bandaid for a wheelbase that's too short for the body.
RE: Can my Van pull this 35 ft Gulfstream Trailer?
The chassis on your van is up to task (payload = ~1800 pounds...more than an Excursion) as long as weight distribution and a brake controller is used. For regular towing, I suspect that is too much for the motor. But, since this sounds like a single move, if you can plan your route carefully, flat ground is doable even for a heavy trailer like that.
RE: Warranty claim Question
Any CHevy dealer can order interior trim pieces.
Now... If you ever have any true chassis issues (engine, transmission, suspension etc) then you will need to find a dealer that can work on the Chevy 3500 / Workhorse 4500 motorhome. That may be hard to find (most Chevy dealers don't work on the cutaway chassis), so you should call GMs 800 number and find out who that dealer is before you something goes wrong
RE: Warranty claim Question
RV dealer typically can't do any chassis repairs. If it's part of the Chevy cab, then that's a chassis repair which a GM dealer will have to take care of.
RE: Dodge RAM Van 3500
The Dodge ram vans have a lower GVWR than it's Ford and GM counterparts. Also they tend to have smaller motors. But if it has the 5.9L you should be fine for a trailer up to about 25'.
Due to the GVWR issue, don't plan on carrying 12 passengers while towing a travel trailer.
If you ever plan on towing really heavy, or taking it off-road, you should know it's a unibody (and a somewhat flexy one at that). It does not have a full length ladder frame like the Ford and GM vans.
Also, sit in the front seats for a while, and make sure you don't mind having the engine next to you.
You would have to add your own trailer tow wiring. They don't have it from the factory.
RE: Blue ox W/D hitch
Do you have enough tongue weight? Your trailer tongue should be at least 12% of the total trailer weight. I find 15-18% makes things even more stable if you have the available payload and hitch rating.
RE: Ford transmissions
5-speed came out on the '05 chassis (or '04 if diesel). It will shift later than your allison, but the V10 is a higher revving motor, so that should be expected. Tow haul works excellent in the hills. No reason you can't use it not towing.
RE: Need an 8 passenger TV
BTW - the standard length E350s don't come with the HD trailer tow wiring standard like the extended XLTs do. Not the end of the world. The power distribution box is still there, but to make it just like the factory tow package, you will have to add the Ford HD trailer wiring, which is a couple hundred bucks from a dealer (but the trailer tow alternator, radiator, and coolers are all there on passenger models).
RE: Need an 8 passenger TV
Not that it will tow much, but the Dodge Sprinter van has a dually option! I've seen quite a few of them in cargo versions. Not too many passenger version of any sort tho!
Sprinter = 5k towing. But at least (like the E350) you don't have to deduct passengers and cargo from the tow rating. Most SUVs and even some pickups base the tow rating on the driver only and no options.
As for DRW... regular consumers can't get one in a passenger model. Only commercial bus operators can custom order a DRW passenger Sprinter. Plus they have the low tow rating. And the new ('07+) sprinter can only have a 5k receiver installed, unlike the previous generation which had 7500 receivers available to allow you to trade some of the available payload as extra towing capacity. With 154 hp, I'm not sure you'd want to tow more than 5k anyways.
RE: Need an 8 passenger TV
I believe your van has dual rear wheels, if I'm not mistaken. I have never seen a stock E350 conventional passenger van that was factory equipped with DRW. They all come from the factory with SRW to my knowledge.
Is your van stock?
I would think that the dually rear axle you have must also have an upgraded rear suspension, upgraded from the stock single rear wheel setup from a stock E 350 passenger van. I know you mentioned airbags, do you also have extra leafs ?
Has your dually been grafted on from a E350 Cube van or is it one of the add a wheel kits? A former colleague of mine converted his SRW pickup to dually with a kit. It worked quite well,as far as I know.
The dual wheel set-up on your E350 looks like it would be a useful modification.
As a former truck driver (did it for a living, years ago),I wonder how the weight distribution affects handling with the 2 ton load behind the axle .
I was thinking that you could get into a tail wagger, if you have to maneuver suddenly (ie; accident avoidance, etc.), while driving.
Yes, it's DRW and no it's not quite stock. Since mine came with the Dana 70 full floater, all I had to do was modify the hub offset to be able to run duals. (NOTE: many but not all of the newer vans have a Dana 60 semi-float which should not be converted to DRW).
Leafs are stock, just added an off-the-self Firestone airbag kit with onboard air and dash controls (controls and air are actually Air-Lift brand). Only other suspension mod to the rear was the addition of a large Sway bar.
Carrying that much weight behind the axle does have it's limits. I wouldn't carry pallets of concrete mix that far back on the highway since the front end becomes off-loaded, but around town I'm not going fast enough to encounter any adverse handling.
I do have just as much weight back there when towing with a full passenger load, but with weight distribution. So I still have enough weight on the front end to maintain excellent handling at all speeds.
Actually, I've never had any sensation of tail wagging. And yes, I have had to make some very evasive maneuvers. I towed the Weekend Warrior about 12,000 miles, and probably another 25,000 with my previous 30' Jayco (most of which was pre-DRW). Plus another 10k or so with flatbeds.
RE: Need an 8 passenger TV
. I only have 2k pounds of payload when I'm full and it has a Tommy gate and it really sags. I bang the Tommy Gate on it seems like everything..
This is what my van looks like with 4,000 pounds behind the rear axle (loaded near the door for easier unloading). It rides pretty level:
http://oregonstate.edu/~carringb/van/concrete1.JPG
http://oregonstate.edu/~carringb/van/concrete2.JPG
I do have airbags however.
RE: Blinking overdive light on the shifter
The wiring to the rear axle had to be extended by the MH maker when the frame was stretched. Either spice is the most likely location of your open connection.
RE: Need an 8 passenger TV
BS, the 8.1 in my Van ran cool the whole two weeks traveling in 95 deg heat fully loaded to Florida and back and Orlando traffic with the AC on. Also the suspension was better than my 6.0 PSD Excursions. It's by far the best vehicle I ever had for long trips and the kids loved the 12.1" widescreen DVD player. I had the cruise control set to 75mph in 70mph zones and I ran it at 90mph a few times and the 8.1 ran cool the whole time.
Let us know how it does with 10k behind it. No doubt it has a better suspension than the Ex.
BTW - your temp gauge has a buffer built in so it won't move until it gets really warm (same with many vehicles these days). If you decide to tow with it, you may want to hook up a ScanGauge so you can see the real story.
FWIW - with 24,000 combined on a 7% grade I hit 207F about 5 miles into the climb, and it never went higher. Usually it sits at 189-192 cruising with a trailer.
RE: Building on 2009 E-450 Chassis Yet?
2009 E-series started being built July 21st. Vans roll off the line first, but by now cutaways should have rolled doff the line too.
If you are doing a custom order, then you ay want to also consider the 195-AMP alternator and Integrated trailer brake controller and upfitter switches. Those all seem useful for motorhomes.
