Well I'm here in Singapore. It's Saturday and I'm in the office so I don't mind spending a little time surfing.
Markbuck, thanks for the offer. Why do they close for lack of rain, fire danger? The article was in Truck Trend of a few months back, maybe it's still on their web site. They went through an old town with a one-room school house that is being turned into a historical site. Then on to a little visited town near the North Rim. I can't remember any of the names. The road was dirt and got a little hairy on the side of some hills because they went when there was still snow/ice on the ground. I don't know if it would be reasonable to take a 9.5' hardside camper on that trek, I rather doubt it. Do you know what area I'm referring to? What do you think about a top-heavy camper on those trails? I'm tempted to buy a popup for trips like this. I would do it if I had place to store it but I would still keep the big one for road trips and it already fills my driveway.
Rick, glad all worked out on your trip. I used to have a non-self-contained camper and found it to be a problem sometimes. Occasionally I run into a "overflow" or off-season parking lot type of campground that only allows self-contained units. Usually in that situation you are desperate and that's the only game in town. I've been to Singapore before but never Malaysia. I'm going to Penang so will miss KL. It's funny, I never thought I'd come to Singapore to get out of the heat! It was 109 at home 2 days ago, an all time record. (SF Bay Area)
Sounds like you must have a cool job to be going to places like Singapore & Malaysia, It must be pretty interesting to be able to visit places like that. If you want heat you should check out my neck of the the woods, I live in the lower desert down by Calexico Ca, 109 is about average here with bad days at 120 to 124. I heard that temps were up to 103 in SF and that surprised me for that area 109 is really bad for SF. Have a good trip. John
Happy summer solstice from Anchorage! We've got about 19.5 hours of daylight today with sunrise around 4:15 and sunset around 11:45. Tomorrow starts the descent back to less than five hours at winter solstice in December. It's overcast now, but the skies are suppose to clear and temps are to hit 70ish. That's warm up here. A typical summer day has highs around the mid 60s and lows around 50.....give or take 5 degrees either way.
I've been out camping every weekend in May and June except for one. My next non-camping weekends will be the last weekend in July and the first weekend in August. I haven't done much fishing yet. The king salmon are in, but the crowds are pretty intense where the fish are. The camping isn't as fun with so many people so close by. I've dropped a line here and there, but mainly I've been enjoying the camping.
So far, I've made two trips to Homer and one to Seward. The other trips have been shorter trips up north. I plan to fight the crowds and try to catch a king this weekend. I'm heading north to a place called Sheep Creek about two hours north of Anchorage. I caught a 48 pounder there last year, but that was unusual for the creeks up north. The average is probably 25-35 pounds.
Malaysia and Singapore, uh? I work at the airport and see people heading that direction every day. Does that count? Enjoy the visit on foreign soil. I've had the opportunity to travel out of the US many times......to Canada.
Well I'm still in Malaysia. I ended up staying a few extra days. I need to go actually work now but wanted to post something so we don't get shut down, it's too quiet! This is a funny place, I'll say more after I come home.
20 states - Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and home to California -
Higlights - Air Museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton (any place that can fit a B-36, B-52 and an XB-70 Valkerie inside is worth visiting), Indianapolis Speedway (once around the track at speed - 3mph), Henry Ford Museum (some fantastic old steam power plants, one with a 3' piston and a 6' stroke), Carlsbad Caverns (250,000 bats live here), Hoover Dam (again, but this time the 'Hard Hat' tour inside the bowels of the place).
I am getting ready to go on my vacation to Lake Powel in July.I have heard talk about a Super Fan does anybody have one?I would like to know if its better then other fans and if so in what way?How do you like it? And how much does it cost? Thanx John
I believe you want a Fantastic Fan. There are a couple of different models, but basically they fit into a standard 14" vent hole. The fan is reversible and has 3 speeds. The deluxe model has a thermostat, so it will shut off when it cools down enough. I think you can also get one with a rain sensor so it will close the vent if it rains while you are out.
I guess the automatic features are what make it Fantastic.
We camped in a KOA just outside Dayton. We always carry a KOA campground guide with us. They may not be the best, but, like McDonalds, they are predictable. And I NEED my morning shower.
We also stop and pick a state campground and state park guide when we enter a state. They've been very helpful when a KOA is not where we are.
I also belong to the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America club. I've called people out of the directory and camped in yards for free (but, only when traveling by MC).
On another note, I've heard that there is a good museum at the AFB in Sacremento. Anyone been there? Gary, I think this means you. How about a day trip to it? Or find a campsite and we can make an overnighter. We should wait until Vince is back and see if he is interested.
Mike, What a trip.. a lot of driving in that short of time. Good mileage too! Not familiar with the AFB museum in Sacramento. Right now I'm in the process of moving, & finding time to play at this time is most difficult. I just love moving. I'll be taking a couple of loads up this weekend, & hopefully be moved in by the 15th of July. Lot of work to do yet. Oh, by the way, in case your wondering, I'm moving back to my home turf, one of the coldest places in the nation in the winter. You guessed it, TRUCKEE. I'm looking forward to having so many camp grounds right out our back door again. The camper will get a lot of use, but not so much in the winter. Will write more later, got to go. Where's the world traveler?
Thanks a lot for your additional info, but after checking about the so called Fantastic fan I realize that this is not what I need. I am going to go with just a plain wall mount 12V fan like I have used on past camping trips. My camper is set up with AC and microwave but no generator so they don't do me much good. As far as heat goes durring the day I have two Sea Doo watercraft to play with all day in the water. just need to be able to stay cool a night. Thanx again. John
Well I've been back home a few days but haven't gotten to Edmunds. Mike that was some trip, quite a grand way to break in the new truck. I'm jealous of your mileage, is that all from the 4.10 rear end and auto transmission? I probably should have picked the 3.73 since I drive empty 70% of the time.
My attitude on the road is a bit different after spending some time in Penang. There the buffer for being "close" to someone is about a foot. Anything more than that is polite. But then there are hundreds of scooters zipping by both sides and in front to fill that foot of space. Every mom and pop and kid drives scooters. They may have their baby in front or their business on the back, you never know. And if their traffic lane is stopped, no problem. Just drive in the oncoming traffic lane, they will avoid you by at least a foot! Needless to say I didn't attempt to drive there. Watching the bus/taxi drivers run the obstacle course was very entertaining.
The only bummer on the trip was my checked bag got riffled in Malaysia and I lost all the Rolex watches I bought there! Another $30 down the drain.
Mike, I'll look for that article. Gary, I hope you like snow. I've camped around Truckee many times. It's a beautiful place but they have some serious winters there.
I doubt the 4.10 hurts your mileage more than 0.1-0.2mpg, and the automatic costs no more than 0.5 mpg. The two things hardest on mileage are:
1. City driving. Stop-n-go stuff. You get 0 mpg while stopped, and acceleration takes more gas, and braking just turns that energy into heat.
2. Leadfoot. I'm not saying this applies to you, but it has a huge affect on mileage.
Most of the time we were on the highway, in CRUISE CONTROL with the AC blasting. We spent a lot of time in the mountains in 4th gear CC on and it didn't cause a drop in mileage. The wind did. And your big camper is probably eaqual to alot of wind.
Todays AC is more efficient than older stuff, and using the AC may be more efficient than opening the window and causing increased drag.
Any body know some winning lottery numbers so I can retire early? And travel some more.
Common wisdom on the Silverado topic (namely Tim) feels 3.73 to 4.10 costs about 1mpg. The best I've gotten is 14.5 empty but there was some lead foot involved there. Not too bad, just 75-85 mph cruising. With the camper I don't expect anything decent. Actually I've found a way to be quite happy with the truck's mpg, I don't track it anymore.
As long as you are happy, then it is not a problem.
75-85 cruising has an affect here also. I cruise the speed limit (65-70 most places).
I don't agree with Tim on the loss of mileage with ratio change. Used to be true with carburetors, but not with fuel inj. With the modern feedback system the engine gets the fuel ratio controlled precisely. The truck requires a fixed amount of horsepower to go a certain speed down the road. Changing the ratio doesn't change that horsepower need. The only thing that changes is the engine speed, and consequently, engine frictional losses go up with increased engine speed. But these losses are minimal and the loss in fuel economy is quite small.
Lost a spring in my MC transmission once, and lost ability to shift. Rode home 150 miles in first gear, 5000 rpm, 30mph. Lost 3mpg on that tank. (50 to 47 mpg).
Load has a much bigger affect.
Anyway, if you've gotten 14+ empty then you don't have a big problem with the truck.
Hey, we need to go camping. I'm looking for ideas. Los Padres Forest, Kings Canyon, Lake Thomas Edison, Death Valley. OK, I've got some ideas, can always use more. Mostly, I need to go camping.
You make a convincing argument. I actually agree with you and have believed the same thing. However after noting how the manufacturers build car automatics to lug the engine in the name of fuel savings I began to believe RPM had more significance. My gut feeling is that the delta is less than 1mpg.
I threw out the Truck Trend with the travel article and they don't have it on their website. Too bad. It makes me want to run out and buy a popup. I'd do it if I had somewhere to store it.
For camping, it's not the best time of year for Death Valley. Actually now is about when its name becomes real. I know a nice spot on a creek but it's kind of far. I think it's called Middle Creek, on the connection to Upper and Lower Blue Lake (I believe it's Blue). It's south west of Tahoe. I haven't been there in ages but it used to be 6 miles of easy dirt road and then 5 cute spots on the water. Serious bears there though, one dented my 1970 Dodge tank while I was asleep.
There is another great out of the way place also down a long dirt road. It's a little campground in the middle of the forest. Nothing and nobody around. It's in the Sierra range but I can't remember its name. I'll e-mail my sister and see if she can remember. It may be closed by now, I haven't been in 10 years. Who knows if my camper will even fit in there, I didn't have one back then.
Have you ever been to Little Grass Valley Lake? It's a nice public spot. Not too far but slow roads getting in. Look in up in Tom's book.
I have more but that's enough for one night. Anyone else out there interested in a trip?
The hidden campground is/was called Bear Valley (not the ski resort), located somewhere past Donner pass. I looked in Tom's book and there is one but I can't tell if it's the same one. It sounds like a nice little place though.
I'm up for a trip soon. Let me work on a few more ideas.
I would like to take the truck down to the state off-road rec park near Hollister. It's a big place with a section for ATV and motorcycles and a separate place for 4x4s. It has trails rated by difficulty level and an obstacle course. Have you ever been there (I haven't)? There is a smaller one near Livermore too.
There is camping at Fremont Peak state park near the Hollister vehicle park. Sounds like a good combination.
Sounds good. You want to take your full size camper on trails to explore the limits?
Never been to Hollister, never heard about Livermore. I've wanted to go to Hollister and go 4 wheeling. I've seen pictures of the obstacle course in 4Wheeler magazine, and I don't think I would try any of the obstacles they used!
So you want to do that? I kind of thought you wouldn't be interested since you've done some of the real thing. Would you have the camper on? I would not. I'll skip that excitement for my first trip. Normally I'd drop it in camp but since it's so close I would just bring a tent and eat dinner Mike style--a can of soup.
Maybe go on a Friday evening, drive Saturday and return Sunday. Or skip the Friday depending on particulars. I don't know it that park fills up or if they take reservations but they probably do. You want me to get some?
The weekend of the 29th and 30th. We can go down on Friday. I would leave the camper on. That's one of the reasons for having a pop-up, go anywhere camper.
You might wind up going places I won't go, or maybe not.
Sounds like fun.
When it gets steep, Dorothy gets out and walks. She won't even ride up or down the paved road to my daughter's house in the Santa Cruz mountains.
My crawl speed is probably lower than yours. I have a 5.6:1 low gear and you have 2.4 or so low gear + torque multiplication from the torque convertor. But then you have to watch out for heat build up in those circumstances. Downhill the manual should have a real advantage. The automatic should have an advantage when trying to ease over an obstacle.
Do they have showers at the park? Not that it matter much. I have my external shower. I can put on my swim suit and wash my head and shampoo the grease out of my hair. Dorothy doesn't have the oily skin and greasy hair and she can go a couple of days without a shower, I can't.
I think this is a great idea, maybe better than I currently have. I don't know what storage space would be like in the down postion. But, you should be able to get 2-4 mpg better, just like a camper shell.
Later,
Mike L
ps: You can make or not make reservations. My map says there are 3 campgrounds at the eastern edge of Hollister Hills. And there are at least 3 camping areas over the hill at the San Luis Reservoir, in addition to the RV park there. And more camping is available at the Pinnacle Nat'l Monument. So we should be able to find something.
The axle ratio definitely makes a mpg difference with the Fords. I've got the 4.30 with my truck. The guys with the same truck and 3.73 get 1-2mpg better than I get. The reason is that my truck with the lower axle ratio is always using more rpms at any given speed. As an example, when I am going 70mph, my engine is turning about 2400 rpms. The same truck with the 3.73 will turn about 2150 or so. Since it's turning less rpms, it's not working as hard, and needs less fuel.
I took the camper off yesterday at lunch for the first time since mid-May. I figured I'd take a weekend off and stay home. A friend called about 2pm and said the red salmon were in the Kasilof River, so he was hooking up his boat and four wheelers and taking the family down for some dipnetting. The camper goes back on today and I'm going to join him. I caught a 30 pound king salmon last weekend at Sheep Creek north of Willow during the final weekend of king fishing. Hopefully, I'll get some reds for the freezer this weekend.
I guess you're having fun out using your camper. We haven't heard much from you recently.
I really don't think the final drive ratio has much effect on fuel economy. Check the window stickers for 1/2 ton trucks. The rated economy does not change with changes in final drive.
In years past, the carburetors did see a fuel economy change with ratio. But not so much with the new fuel injected engines. The biggest load is still pushing the truck/camper through the air at speed. And that load doesn't change when the final drive changes, only the engine rpm's change. And with the O2 sensors in the exhaust, the computer will only give the engine the correct amount of fuel for the load. Now there is some increase in load due to the (slight) increase in engine friction due to higher rpm's, but it is very minimal.
A lower final drive (bigger number - 4.30) will give more available power due to greater mechanical advantage. That is why the manufacturers have higher tow ratings for lower final drives.
But they never change the fuel economy ratings for final drive ratio changes.
I believe they use taller final drive ratios to lower the amount of pollutants going out the tail pipe. Slowing the engine down will let the oil ring scrape more oil off the cylinder walls, and less oil will burn (incompletely) and be swept out the exhaust causing pollution. Slowing the engine down also allows more time for complete combustion, lowering pollutants again.
We still have to decide if we want to go down Friday night (awful traffic) or early Saturday (get up early on a Saturday???). And pick a campground.
My first choice would be to go early on Sat, go through the park and check out the campgrounds on the far side for suitability. If not acceptable, then we can go to San Luis when we are done. However, I'm open on this subject.
If anyone is interested in renting a slide-in camper, including truck, before buying, check out this web site. You can even fly into an area and have one waiting for you. I haven't rented from here, but thought it was interesting.
I am thinking about getting a '90 F250 with 4.9 engine,along with being a low mileage 4x2. Also has 5spd trans. Looking to load a 9 1/2ft Sportmans at about 2100 lbs loaded and possibly pulling 14 ft boat in midwest. Could I be asking too much of truck. Thanks Schem
It might depend on where you live and how you drive.
If you have a lot of mountain driving, then you might want more power. And you may want more power pushing that big camper down the highway at 70mph.
On the other hand, if you live in the flatlands and don't drive fast it should do you just fine. The F250 will handle the weight without problem. If you find the back end sagging from the weight, get a set of Air Lifts (http://www.airliftcompany.com/) for the back to help support the weight. Also make sure your truck has good shocks and most importantly: Make sure it has tires that are up to the load (LT tires Load Range D or E).
We have had our Dodge 3500 and Lance camper for about two years now and love the comfort and ease of use. One of the drawing cards was the ease of removing the camper with the electric jacks and the fact that we can use the camper while it is off the truck, allowing us to use the truck for running around.
This all worked well until this past June when we tried to register in campgrounds in and around Denver. NO ONE would allow us to remove the camper from the truck. We tried 5 camprounds until finally moving on the Idaho Springs.
Is this practice common anywhere else. Has anyone else had this happen to them??
Unless you are a very patient person, look for another truck. As markbuck said, you will be running wide open quite a bit of the time. And since it's running so hard the gas mileage is lousy. I just got rid of a F250 with the 5.0 V8 and it just barely got by hauling my 2500lb Lance. It kept up fine on flat freeway driving and actually did pretty well in wind. But get on a hill and sit back and relax because you aren't going anywhere quickly. Gentle hills were no problem, moderate hills would put me down to 45mph and steep ones to 35mph. I felt fairly safe pulling out into traffic. I doubt I would with the 6cyl and a trailer though. I get the same mileage now with a Chevy 6.0 and have excess power.
I've never heard of not being allowed to drop your camper but I'm not surprised. Campers are barely considered RVs by the big parks used to the 40' jobs. I see in some adds for RV "resorts" they don't allow campers at all.
I guess those campgrounds felt it would look tacky to have a stand-alone camper. Well too bad, I'd use Mike's system: don't ask.
I don't want to think of my truck as a 2500LD. That was the 7200lb GVWR 2wd version. Let's just say the 8600lb trucks are 2500's and the 9200lb trucks are 2500HD's.
My truck shipping weight was 5600lbs. I would guess the HD model will bee 300lbs heavier, and the Crew Cab adds at least 300lbs. That would mean your truck should weigh something around 6200lbs empty. So you will wind up with around the same payload that I have, and if you use the crew cab for more people, you may have less available payload.
I currently have a 1300lb pop-up camper, and with my wife, myself and our gear and food, etc. we have 1200lbs available payload left. If all this math works, you could have a 2500lb camper and two people, or more people and less camper and you will be right at 9200lbs.
Thanks for the input. Kinka figured I'd get a rise out of you on the "LD" comment. ;o)
Suspect most of the time I'll be hauling a load is 3 guy's and maybe one wife, one dog, three dirtbikes plus junk, and pulling a 5,000 lb travel trailer. Figure fuel economy towing will be comparable to my buddies V-10 3.73 F350SD auto which is usually comparable to my 4.8L running WFO down the highway when pulling a similiar load.
Appreciate hearing of experience with engines. Guess I'll keep looking for deals with more h.p.. I'm new at this so enjoy this page. Gives a novice an opportunity to pick up info.
I don't know what age or brand of truck you want but for used trucks I'd say a GM 350 or Ford 351 is an adequate engine for a camper and light trailer. The smaller V8s will do it but not very comfortably and with no better mileage when loaded since they are working so hard.
I asked once at a campground why you couldn't drop the slide-in campers and there reason made sense. Fire. If a wheeled rig catches fire, they can roll it away from potential hazards. They can't move the slide-ins. I posed two questions: 1) Ever heard of a dolly? 2) Who wants to get that close to a burning trailer anyway? No response. See y'all later, I'm off to Stanley, ID for most of next week.
Oh ya, they are going to go into a locked motor home and take it out of park without the keys and roll it away. Or roll a 30' trailer on jacks away before it burns up. I guess the owners may be there with the keys but then as you say, who would want to go inside? They just don't want the campers because it looks a little unorthodox, a bit like a storage yard.
Vince and I went down to an Off Road Vehicle park with our trucks. Some interesting obstacles, hills, off camber stuff. Nothing dangerous or scary (except to my wife).
Having the camper on didn't seem to slow me down at all - until I snapped off on of the 'S' hooks on a tie down. You really can twist one of these trucks when the ground goes down on the LF and RR and up on the other corners. I guess I need to get some HappiJac spring loaded tie downs.
Just ordered a Northern Lite 9'6" camper, base configuration is 1850 lbs. dry. I will be loading this on my Silverado 2500 4x4 Ext. Cab long bed. I'll have Ride-Rites installed by the time the camper arrives, and was planning on Rancho 9000s down the road some time. My questions: is a rear sway-bar necessary? Should I do the Ranchos right now as well as the air-bags? Your opinions appreciated.
Just saw the first curb weight figures on the 2500HD LB CC 4x4. Advertized as 6,025 lbs. What does the standard 3/4 tons go? Oh, figured go check the same source. Will let yawl know.
Payload was 3,376 lbs - options and passangers.
Lets see 9200GVWR-6025curb = 3175 payload minus options and passgers.
Geeze, why can these manuf make their numbers add up.
Comments
Markbuck, thanks for the offer. Why do they close for lack of rain, fire danger? The article was in Truck Trend of a few months back, maybe it's still on their web site. They went through an old town with a one-room school house that is being turned into a historical site. Then on to a little visited town near the North Rim. I can't remember any of the names. The road was dirt and got a little hairy on the side of some hills because they went when there was still snow/ice on the ground. I don't know if it would be reasonable to take a 9.5' hardside camper on that trek, I rather doubt it. Do you know what area I'm referring to? What do you think about a top-heavy camper on those trails? I'm tempted to buy a popup for trips like this. I would do it if I had place to store it but I would still keep the big one for road trips and it already fills my driveway.
Rick, glad all worked out on your trip. I used to have a non-self-contained camper and found it to be a problem sometimes. Occasionally I run into a "overflow" or off-season parking lot type of campground that only allows self-contained units. Usually in that situation you are desperate and that's the only game in town. I've been to Singapore before but never Malaysia. I'm going to Penang so will miss KL. It's funny, I never thought I'd come to Singapore to get out of the heat! It was 109 at home 2 days ago, an all time record. (SF Bay Area)
If you want heat you should check out my neck of the the woods, I live in the lower desert down by Calexico Ca, 109 is about average here with bad days at 120 to 124. I heard that temps were up to 103 in SF and that surprised me for that area 109 is really bad for SF.
Have a good trip.
John
I've been out camping every weekend in May and June except for one. My next non-camping weekends will be the last weekend in July and the first weekend in August. I haven't done much fishing yet. The king salmon are in, but the crowds are pretty intense where the fish are. The camping isn't as fun with so many people so close by. I've dropped a line here and there, but mainly I've been enjoying the camping.
So far, I've made two trips to Homer and one to Seward. The other trips have been shorter trips up north. I plan to fight the crowds and try to catch a king this weekend. I'm heading north to a place called Sheep Creek about two hours north of Anchorage. I caught a 48 pounder there last year, but that was unusual for the creeks up north. The average is probably 25-35 pounds.
Malaysia and Singapore, uh? I work at the airport and see people heading that direction every day. Does that count? Enjoy the visit on foreign soil. I've had the opportunity to travel out of the US many times......to Canada.
20 states - Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and home to California -
Higlights - Air Museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton (any place that can fit a B-36, B-52 and an XB-70 Valkerie inside is worth visiting), Indianapolis Speedway (once around the track at speed - 3mph), Henry Ford Museum (some fantastic old steam power plants, one with a 3' piston and a 6' stroke), Carlsbad Caverns (250,000 bats live here), Hoover Dam (again, but this time the 'Hard Hat' tour inside the bowels of the place).
See separate message on gas mileage 4.8L vs 6.0L
Later,
Mike L
Can't wait for the 6.0L CC. No allocation yet.
Clearly the XB-70 was the standout!
But, both my wife and I enjoyed the afternoon we spent there.
Mike L
Thanx John
I believe you want a Fantastic Fan. There are a couple of different models, but basically they fit into a standard 14" vent hole. The fan is reversible and has 3 speeds. The deluxe model has a thermostat, so it will shut off when it cools down enough. I think you can also get one with a rain sensor so it will close the vent if it rains while you are out.
I guess the automatic features are what make it Fantastic.
Camping World (http://www.campingworld.com/) carries them as do most RV suppliers.
The cost is about $150-200.
I don't have one, I just use a little 12V fan when it gets too hot.
Lake Powell in July? You must like the heat! Or you are planning on sleeping in the water. The desert usually cools off about 30-40 degrees at night.
Later,
Mike L
We also stop and pick a state campground and state park guide when we enter a state. They've been very helpful when a KOA is not where we are.
I also belong to the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America club. I've called people out of the directory and camped in yards for free (but, only when traveling by MC).
On another note, I've heard that there is a good museum at the AFB in Sacremento. Anyone been there? Gary, I think this means you. How about a day trip to it? Or find a campsite and we can make an overnighter. We should wait until Vince is back and see if he is interested.
Mike L
Gary-
Check out:
http://www.travis.af.mil/database/museum/
If you click on one of the planes listed you can see the plane specs and a list of all museums that have one on display.
Mike L
John
My attitude on the road is a bit different after spending some time in Penang. There the buffer for being "close" to someone is about a foot. Anything more than that is polite. But then there are hundreds of scooters zipping by both sides and in front to fill that foot of space. Every mom and pop and kid drives scooters. They may have their baby in front or their business on the back, you never know. And if their traffic lane is stopped, no problem. Just drive in the oncoming traffic lane, they will avoid you by at least a foot! Needless to say I didn't attempt to drive there. Watching the bus/taxi drivers run the obstacle course was very entertaining.
The only bummer on the trip was my checked bag got riffled in Malaysia and I lost all the Rolex watches I bought there! Another $30 down the drain.
Mike, I'll look for that article. Gary, I hope you like snow. I've camped around Truckee many times. It's a beautiful place but they have some serious winters there.
I doubt the 4.10 hurts your mileage more than 0.1-0.2mpg, and the automatic costs no more than 0.5 mpg. The two things hardest on mileage are:
1. City driving. Stop-n-go stuff. You get 0 mpg while stopped, and acceleration takes more gas, and braking just turns that energy into heat.
2. Leadfoot. I'm not saying this applies to you, but it has a huge affect on mileage.
Most of the time we were on the highway, in CRUISE CONTROL with the AC blasting. We spent a lot of time in the mountains in 4th gear CC on and it didn't cause a drop in mileage. The wind did. And your big camper is probably eaqual to alot of wind.
Todays AC is more efficient than older stuff, and using the AC may be more efficient than opening the window and causing increased drag.
Any body know some winning lottery numbers so I can retire early? And travel some more.
Later,
Mike L
Mike L
75-85 cruising has an affect here also. I cruise the speed limit (65-70 most places).
I don't agree with Tim on the loss of mileage with ratio change. Used to be true with carburetors, but not with fuel inj. With the modern feedback system the engine gets the fuel ratio controlled precisely. The truck requires a fixed amount of horsepower to go a certain speed down the road. Changing the ratio doesn't change that horsepower need. The only thing that changes is the engine speed, and consequently, engine frictional losses go up with increased engine speed. But these losses are minimal and the loss in fuel economy is quite small.
Lost a spring in my MC transmission once, and lost ability to shift. Rode home 150 miles in first gear, 5000 rpm, 30mph. Lost 3mpg on that tank. (50 to 47 mpg).
Load has a much bigger affect.
Anyway, if you've gotten 14+ empty then you don't have a big problem with the truck.
Hey, we need to go camping. I'm looking for ideas. Los Padres Forest, Kings Canyon, Lake Thomas Edison, Death Valley. OK, I've got some ideas, can always use more. Mostly, I need to go camping.
Later,
Mike L
I threw out the Truck Trend with the travel article and they don't have it on their website. Too bad. It makes me want to run out and buy a popup. I'd do it if I had somewhere to store it.
For camping, it's not the best time of year for Death Valley. Actually now is about when its name becomes real. I know a nice spot on a creek but it's kind of far. I think it's called Middle Creek, on the connection to Upper and Lower Blue Lake (I believe it's Blue). It's south west of Tahoe. I haven't been there in ages but it used to be 6 miles of easy dirt road and then 5 cute spots on the water. Serious bears there though, one dented my 1970 Dodge tank while I was asleep.
There is another great out of the way place also down a long dirt road. It's a little campground in the middle of the forest. Nothing and nobody around. It's in the Sierra range but I can't remember its name. I'll e-mail my sister and see if she can remember. It may be closed by now, I haven't been in 10 years. Who knows if my camper will even fit in there, I didn't have one back then.
Have you ever been to Little Grass Valley Lake? It's a nice public spot. Not too far but slow roads getting in. Look in up in Tom's book.
I have more but that's enough for one night. Anyone else out there interested in a trip?
7-14/15 No can do - Got the grandson all weekend
7-22/23 No can do - My daughter's Birthday dinner
Rest of year - OPEN
I'm ready to go, just have to add water and food to the camper.
Mike L
I would like to take the truck down to the state off-road rec park near Hollister. It's a big place with a section for ATV and motorcycles and a separate place for 4x4s. It has trails rated by difficulty level and an obstacle course. Have you ever been there (I haven't)? There is a smaller one near Livermore too.
There is camping at Fremont Peak state park near the Hollister vehicle park. Sounds like a good combination.
Never been to Hollister, never heard about Livermore. I've wanted to go to Hollister and go 4 wheeling. I've seen pictures of the obstacle course in 4Wheeler magazine, and I don't think I would try any of the obstacles they used!
A good place to use/test/develop 4wd skills.
Mike L
Maybe go on a Friday evening, drive Saturday and return Sunday. Or skip the Friday depending on particulars. I don't know it that park fills up or if they take reservations but they probably do. You want me to get some?
You might wind up going places I won't go, or maybe not.
Sounds like fun.
When it gets steep, Dorothy gets out and walks. She won't even ride up or down the paved road to my daughter's house in the Santa Cruz mountains.
My crawl speed is probably lower than yours. I have a 5.6:1 low gear and you have 2.4 or so low gear + torque multiplication from the torque convertor. But then you have to watch out for heat build up in those circumstances. Downhill the manual should have a real advantage. The automatic should have an advantage when trying to ease over an obstacle.
Do they have showers at the park? Not that it matter much. I have my external shower. I can put on my swim suit and wash my head and shampoo the grease out of my hair. Dorothy doesn't have the oily skin and greasy hair and she can go a couple of days without a shower, I can't.
Did I ever show you this pop-up camper?
http://www.newcoenterprise.com/camper.htm
I think this is a great idea, maybe better than I currently have. I don't know what storage space would be like in the down postion. But, you should be able to get 2-4 mpg better, just like a camper shell.
Later,
Mike L
ps: You can make or not make reservations. My map says there are 3 campgrounds at the eastern edge of Hollister Hills. And there are at least 3 camping areas over the hill at the San Luis Reservoir, in addition to the RV park there. And more camping is available at the Pinnacle Nat'l Monument. So we should be able to find something.
I took the camper off yesterday at lunch for the first time since mid-May. I figured I'd take a weekend off and stay home. A friend called about 2pm and said the red salmon were in the Kasilof River, so he was hooking up his boat and four wheelers and taking the family down for some dipnetting. The camper goes back on today and I'm going to join him. I caught a 30 pound king salmon last weekend at Sheep Creek north of Willow during the final weekend of king fishing. Hopefully, I'll get some reds for the freezer this weekend.
I really don't think the final drive ratio has much effect on fuel economy. Check the window stickers for 1/2 ton trucks. The rated economy does not change with changes in final drive.
In years past, the carburetors did see a fuel economy change with ratio. But not so much with the new fuel injected engines. The biggest load is still pushing the truck/camper through the air at speed. And that load doesn't change when the final drive changes, only the engine rpm's change. And with the O2 sensors in the exhaust, the computer will only give the engine the correct amount of fuel for the load. Now there is some increase in load due to the (slight) increase in engine friction due to higher rpm's, but it is very minimal.
A lower final drive (bigger number - 4.30) will give more available power due to greater mechanical advantage. That is why the manufacturers have higher tow ratings for lower final drives.
But they never change the fuel economy ratings for final drive ratio changes.
I believe they use taller final drive ratios to lower the amount of pollutants going out the tail pipe. Slowing the engine down will let the oil ring scrape more oil off the cylinder walls, and less oil will burn (incompletely) and be swept out the exhaust causing pollution. Slowing the engine down also allows more time for complete combustion, lowering pollutants again.
OK, it is time to get down off my soapbox.
Good Luck with the fishing.
Mike L
My first choice would be to go early on Sat, go through the park and check out the campgrounds on the far side for suitability. If not acceptable, then we can go to San Luis when we are done. However, I'm open on this subject.
Mike L
http://www.cruiseamerica.org/rv_rentals/available/camper.asp
Thanks Schem
If you have a lot of mountain driving, then you might want more power. And you may want more power pushing that big camper down the highway at 70mph.
On the other hand, if you live in the flatlands and don't drive fast it should do you just fine. The F250 will handle the weight without problem. If you find the back end sagging from the weight, get a set of Air Lifts (http://www.airliftcompany.com/) for the back to help support the weight. Also make sure your truck has good shocks and most importantly: Make sure it has tires that are up to the load (LT tires Load Range D or E).
Mike L
Truck would be running WFO alot with that camper.
This all worked well until this past June when we tried to register in campgrounds in and around Denver. NO ONE would allow us to remove the camper from the truck. We tried 5 camprounds until finally moving on the Idaho Springs.
Is this practice common anywhere else. Has anyone else had this happen to them??
I've seen campers off the truck in campgrounds, but never thought much about it.
Mike L
I still won't ask, I'll just do it.
another truck. As markbuck said, you will be
running wide open quite a bit of the time. And
since it's running so hard the gas mileage is
lousy. I just got rid of a F250 with the 5.0 V8 and
it just barely got by hauling my 2500lb Lance. It
kept up fine on flat freeway driving and actually
did pretty well in wind. But get on a hill and sit
back and relax because you aren't going anywhere
quickly. Gentle hills were no problem, moderate
hills would put me down to 45mph and steep ones to
35mph. I felt fairly safe pulling out into traffic.
I doubt I would with the 6cyl and a trailer
though. I get the same mileage now with a Chevy 6.0
and have excess power.
I guess those campgrounds felt it would look tacky to have a stand-alone camper. Well too bad, I'd use Mike's system: don't ask.
My truck shipping weight was 5600lbs. I would guess the HD model will bee 300lbs heavier, and the Crew Cab adds at least 300lbs. That would mean your truck should weigh something around 6200lbs empty. So you will wind up with around the same payload that I have, and if you use the crew cab for more people, you may have less available payload.
I currently have a 1300lb pop-up camper, and with my wife, myself and our gear and food, etc. we have 1200lbs available payload left. If all this math works, you could have a 2500lb camper and two people, or more people and less camper and you will be right at 9200lbs.
My SWAG.
Mike L
Suspect most of the time I'll be hauling a load is 3 guy's and maybe one wife, one dog, three dirtbikes plus junk, and pulling a 5,000 lb travel trailer. Figure fuel economy towing will be comparable to my buddies V-10 3.73 F350SD auto which is usually comparable to my 4.8L running WFO down the highway when pulling a similiar load.
I'm new at this so enjoy this page. Gives a novice an opportunity to pick up info.
dschem
2) Who wants to get that close to a burning trailer anyway?
No response. See y'all later, I'm off to Stanley, ID for most of next week.
Having the camper on didn't seem to slow me down at all - until I snapped off on of the 'S' hooks on a tie down. You really can twist one of these trucks when the ground goes down on the LF and RR and up on the other corners. I guess I need to get some HappiJac spring loaded tie downs.
Mike L
Just ordered a Northern Lite 9'6" camper, base configuration is 1850 lbs. dry. I will be loading this on my Silverado 2500 4x4 Ext. Cab long bed. I'll have Ride-Rites installed by the time the camper arrives, and was planning on Rancho 9000s down the road some time. My questions: is a rear sway-bar necessary? Should I do the Ranchos right now as well as the air-bags? Your opinions appreciated.
Payload was 3,376 lbs - options and passangers.
Lets see 9200GVWR-6025curb = 3175 payload minus options and passgers.
Geeze, why can these manuf make their numbers add up.