So I took a little road trip to the Redneck Games in Athens, Texas, about 500 miles round trip for me. Pulled my buddy's 32' 26K gooseneck loaded with a Kawasaki Mule and three four wheelers (three other four wheelers backed out, so I had room to spare).
I'm guessing the trailer weight empty is about 7K lbs (how far off am I?) and the Mule with the four wheelers couldn't be more than 3,500 lbs. That makes 10,500.
Now, my truck isn't exactly set up for pulling heavy loads, 35" tires, 5" lift, 3.73 rear end. While on the way to Athens it was mostly slight down hill grades and I had no problems at 70-72. There were a couple of times I would hit a grade and see the engine temp start to rise, but by then I was at the top of the hill and I could just back off a touch to get it right back down.
On the way back, however it was a different story. I had trouble holding speed on the inclines, and eventually the engine temp gauge would rise and I'd have to back out of the throttle. My exhaust temps never got over 800 (post turbo)the entire trip, but it cooled the engine temp down when I took it out of overdrive as well as the exhaust.
After approaching the hot mark about a dozen times, I ended up in the right lane at 55-60 mph with the overdrive off turning 2300-2500 rpm. It had no problem with any high temps at this speed, but I'm not used to my RPM's over 2,000-2,200 while on the highway.
By the way, it seems like the truck pulls best at about 2K RPM, which puts me at about 74 mph, fine when I'm towing my 18' bumper-pull, but a little fast for this set-up.
Does this seem normal? Am I expecting too much out of my old truck? I've got 250,000 trouble-free miles on her now and I'm not even close to getting a newer truck. I'll take the pulling less weight route since it's cheaper! I'm also wondering if my chip has much to do with it. It's about an 85 horse chip, and I have a K&N and 4" turbo-back exhaust.
What are y'all's thoughts? This isn't a huge problem since I normally use this trailer around town, but I think I found my truck's limit this weekend and want to get some opinions. Thanks!!
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'99 F250 PSD 4wd CC LWB, 262K Hard Miles!!!
Never been in the shop in it's life!!!
I changed out the belt, hoses and t-stat when I did the water pump at 100K miles, so it's definitely time to do that again. That will be an easy way to eliminate that possibility.
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'99 F250 PSD 4wd CC LWB, 262K Hard Miles!!!
Never been in the shop in it's life!!!
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1996 F-250 extended cab long box five speed. Home made Tymar, 203 Stat, 60 gal in bed fuel cell, 315/75's, no muffler, ebpv welded open 3" to 3" DP, Babies. 290K, still chugging, and still smoking when cold.
UPDATED 8/1/08 Replace so far. 1 LUK flywheel+clutch, 2 thermostats, 2 set of brakes, 1 set of calipers, 5 CPS, 3 sets of tires, 2 Transfer pumps, 1 Injector modual, 1 Computer, 2 Alt, 2 sets of batteries, 1 Water pump, 6 Belts, 1 PS hose, 2 Sets ball joints, 2 set u-joints, 2 carrier bearing, 2 Speed sensors, 1 oil pres sender, 1 temp sender, 4 sets of e-break cables, 1 front fuel tank, 2 rear fuel tanks, 2 set of glow plugs, 6 Glow plug relays, Oil galley o-rings, Turbo pedistal o-rings, EBPV o-rings, 3 sets of Injector O-rings, 1 Vac-pump, 1 new carpet.Total $$$ in repairs v/s miles driven = 3.0 cents per mile. Add fuel to that it jumps to 14.8 cents per mile over the life of the truck.
First the larger tires/lift are costing you towing ability/mpg,etc. Did you get OD/mph corrected for larger tires?
Check your radiator. I was running warm to point I had to turn off AC and turn on heat to maintain speed on interstate. I removed radiator shroud and blew out radiator from fan side. That REALLY made a difference. (I had already called to set up time a week later to have shop check fan clutch/pressure of cap,etc.
I had similar issues with my older 98 PSD van...heat gauge rising during towing, temps would rise going up hill and drop going down hill...level ground was normal ...had a lot of miles on it at the time and thru a lot of parts at it that needed to be replaced anyway but no real improvement... thermostat, water pump, pulleys, belts etc...
culprit was a partially clogged radiator...had about 30% of the tubes clogged...replaced and no issues
I use a winter grill guard/cover that has a summer screen. Had to be installed with snaps drilled/screwed into plastic/chrome grill.
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Two ideas when combined together will always make a third better idea!
I don't have to be wrong for you to be right.
Kent
@235K miles @ 071127
>202K miles @ 070828
2001 F350 7.3 PSD SD CC DRW Lariat, 4R100 (replaced at 41k w/rebuilt by dealer), 3.73, FX4 ESOF, Long Box - 3rd CPS. CPS in Glove Box MOD. K&N Filter. 6.0 OTA Cooler. Green to Red Coolant. Water filter. 203º T-stat. Fumoto Valve. Monroe Gasmatic Shocks.
Basically it is just window screening, sometimes available as a kit at auto parts, but last time I just bought it by the yard at a mom and pop hardware store, cut to fit, put behind grill and in front of condenser/radiator. Attach with either twine or nylon cable ties.
Hit it with a hose occasionally to wash accumulated bugs and crud down to the ground.
A nice alternative to the screen is a summer front fron Lund. I run a winter front for winter, and a summer front in the summer to keep the bugs/rocks/animals out of my rad. Each setup was about 75 bux Canadian and they look great. I got them both in black. They're easy to remove when changing out, and there's no way they're coming out at speed.
Last time I bought a truck from texas, I had to replace the AC condenser because of all the big bugs that bent the coils over. While doing that, I noticed that big bugs and birds got between the radiator and condenser and died. This really gave me trouble.
I also found a bad fan clutch - after fishing all those, I was hard pressed to make it voerheat.
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2006 GMC K3500 CC DRW 4x4
1994 F-350 DRW PS w/ zf5
1996 Town Car
Your 35 inch tires are causing your engine to turn about 10 percent slower than stock in any given gear.That affects your max turbo output,your water pump speed and your fan speed.I think you are correct about reaching the limit of reserve torque..unless you re-gear
or re-tire.
Forgot I asked this question...thought I'd update y'all. I decided to pop out the radiator and get it cleaned/rodded. They found that the top tank had a crack in it. That made me realize that once in a blue moon I'd have to top the coolant off and I thought that was odd.
Haven't had problems since. Thanks everybody!
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'99 F250 PSD 4wd CC LWB, 262K Hard Miles!!!
Never been in the shop in it's life!!!
Linear Mode
