Towing For The First Time

1643 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Btravelen, Jul 4, 2007

gridcowboy

Discussion Starter · Jul 2, 2007

I finally picked up my 5th wheel last week. I bought this diesel knowing I would be buying my uncle’s toy hauler when he got his new unit. I’m absolutely thrilled with driving & towing with this truck. The toy hauler is 34’ & I haven’t weighed it yet, but uncle said it was a little over 9,000 empty. The only issue I have, & I hear I’m not alone, is the fan clutch “hooks” in & out while simply cruising down the highway. I don’t get the fan “hooking” up while running down the highway @ 60+. What I’ve never experienced before is the fan continuously coming in & out on flat ground, is this normal? I understand it’s hot coming across the desert in July, but I thought when your rolling down the road all the air you need is coming across the motor. I don’t feel the fan taking as much power away from this motor as with my gassers, but I would think it takes away from my mileage. Even when not towing I’ve noticed my fan running allot after it hits 95 here, that should have my fan roaring eh… about 6 months out of the year. Should I talk to my local Diesel Tech.? Will I get a strange look asking about my fan running when the forecast for July 4th is 121 degrees, (in the shade). Yea, but it’s a dry heat.
(Footnote: I’m not running hot, nor blowing coolant.)

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lari2001

· #3 · Jul 2, 2007

I've towed much more weight in about the same heat and it doesn't come on that often, maybe when I'm going uphill but it really doesn't take any power away that I can feel and it doesn't stay on that long. Back a few years ago, Truck trend magazine did a head to head to head with ford chevy and dodge, the dodge and chevy wouldn't accelerate at all when the fan came on while climbing a 7% grade, the Fords fan waited much longer to come on and when it did come on the ford kept accelerating "LIKE A LOCOMOTIVE".
9000lbs really isn't that heave, although, some of those fivers have a huge bulkhead wall that towers over the cab and has a lot of wind resistance, much more than my gooseneck so the engine might be working harder to pull half the weight.

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lari2001

· #11 · Jul 4, 2007

[ QUOTE ]
I understand the fan engaging in traffic, & maybe pulling a steep grade, but mine is like I said constantly coming in & out the whole trip, it's actually annoying. Is it necessary for the fan clutch to engage at highway speeds?

[/ QUOTE ]

My fan used to come on all the time while pulling my gooseneck (not a brickwall fiver) and had coolant loss too, finally my headgaskets went, after Ford replaced the gaskets and headbolts, my 6.0 has held it's coolant and the fan only comes on when I'm really getting on it (climbing long grades or getting up to speed to merge into interstate traffic) with 16000+lbs on the gooseneck. I would think your 6.0 is working harder with half the weight just because the wind resistence that the trailer causes. Our company has a 98 Dodge 3500 cummins that had descent power with a regular dually bed, but when we put the contractors bed on it that has a roof that towers over the cab, it has dropped from 16 mpg to 10 and can't get 75 mph, it stinks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

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