Prepared for trip!

[jsimpson]

Gotta put a few thousand miles on the old girl this weekend with 3500 pound Lance aboard and two horses behind, so I made her ready over the last few weeks. New tires, new Bilsteins, new Gabriel steering damper, new ball joints, new steering arm, added air bags, added Hadley Ambassadors, filled crankcase with Rotella 5-40 synthetic, filled transmission and rear with Amsoil 75-90. Put SuperSeal in AC, changed Pioneer steroe with CD changer from Avion to truck, added steering wheel remote. I think I'm ready; any further suggestions?

 

[jsimpson]

UTT

 

[jsimpson]

What about a straight through muffler and pulling the kitty? Worth the trouble?

 

[ERMiles]

Suggestion # 1

Don't for get the horses!

Seriously I hope you have checked out your trailer as well as the truck. I wouldn't recommend a straight-thru exhaust as someone said - the horses might not enjoy it, or the smoke.

I did a trip to Virginia and back with a couple of horses. Pumped my tires up to the max - 65 lbs. on the trailer, too. The Sundowner folks recommend high pressure for cooler tire temps and wall strength.

Have a safe trip.

 

[jsimpson]

Truck and trailer tires are at the max. Hmmm; hadn't thought about the noise for the horses! Maybe I'll stick with the stock exhaust. The Brenderup is REALLY quiet riding; that's why we got it. We have a REALLY high strung Arab (but hopefully not for much longer!) so we rode in each trailer we looked at. All aluminum trailers are very noisy. Steel trailers are a little quietr, and the Brenderup is super-quiet! Besides, it's designed to be pulled by low HP European cars, so it pulls perfectly behind my Dodge with 10 foot camper loaded aboard, hooked to a 42" extension bar!

 

[jsimpson]

Sure wish someone had responded to this post with the suggestion to tighten my belt tensioner mounting bolt. Would have saved me $250 and six hours of my driving time!

 

[jsimpson]

Made it back with no further problems. replacing the tensioner really sucked and cost me six hours. The engine sounds more like a V-8 than a six under heavy load. Bad injector? Pump problem? Burned valve?: Also, I got 13 mpg carrying a 3500 pound Lance camper and towing a two horse trailer and one horse. Often I had to downshift to 4th gear in the mountains of Tennessee. It's a stock 94 five speed one ton. Does that mileage sound right? My 89 with an automatic did that well!!!eek:

 

[moparguy]

jsimpson, sorry about the trouble, and I don't have any input on the sound you said the engine made under load. I 'd adjust the valves if you haven't already.



It does sound like you've put a nice package together. I considered going the same route you've taken with a cabover camper and a bumper pull trailer, however we sometimes pull 3 horses so wound up with a 8' wide aluminum slant that we ordered with a 3 foot longer shortwall and a pass thru door to the back. It's worked out so far.



On the exhaust, I would not go with streight exhaust as it gets loud when the truck is working. Just crusing, not objectable at all. If you keep HP under 300, I think a very workable system is to remove the cat, and stock muffler and add a Walker straight through 3 or 4" muffler.



Also, I just added the 3K GSK from Piers and highly suggest this low buck mod. One of the best returns on investment I've made. A #8 plate, 3K GSK, low flow air filter, BHAF of other and the above exhaust mods and you'll have a nice tight drivable rig without spending a ton of money. Oh, gauges as well.



Good Luck, Ronnie



PS your fuel mileage is of course dependant on driving style as much as anything, but 13 sounds about right considering the air your pushing with the camper and all.

 

[jsimpson]

3K GSK? 3000 rpm governor spring kit?

BHAF? Big honking air filter?

Sounds like the right way to go to me!

You've got a number 5 plate, right? Why do you suggest a number 8? If Brenderup made a 3 horse trailer, I'd have got one. But two-horse is the biggest they have. Unfortunately, the two-horse WON'T hold two Harleys!:{ But the rig pulls the two-horse Brenderup like it's not even back there. It's got to be the best hauling trailer there is; and with its integral mechanical brakes, I don't even feel it when I'm making a panic stop! Pricey, but worth every penny!!!

 

[moparguy]

3K GSK, is Piers package of four springs to replace the 6 now in the injection pump that controll fueling by the governer, below the fuel cam plate. The new springs allow the engine to make power through 3000 RPM, it pulls as hard at 3200 as it does now at 2000 RPM. Would really help with that gap between 3 and 4th.



BHAF = Big Honking Air Filter



Yes the #8 plate is a good one for a using truck (rather than a play truck). It gives a nice, very noticable HP increase without creating a lot of EGT issues that cause you to go to bigger exhaust, larger trubo or turbo housing with the possibility of increased turbo lag, and it won't overpower the stock clutch.



I've considered going back to the 8 for the reasons listed above. But it's hard to give up HP once you've gotten used to it. Guess I'm locked into going to a better exhaust and turbo.



Good luck, RJR

 

[jsimpson]

Thanx!