23 tundra. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.
23 tundra. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.
My first real tow with the Cayenne Diesel. It's not an F350, but for 5/6 weekends a year, it towed fine, and is whole more fun to live with as a daily the other 355 days. Got 16 mpg (twice as much as the baby V8 in my old Tundra) towing a 20x8.5 weighing about 5,000 lbs with the race car. Running a Husky WDH. Ran from 65-70 mph on I95 with no problems. A number of folks stopped by in the paddock with questions :-)
Sold the skid steer and F250 posted earlier in the thread. I never trusted that 6.0 diesel and the ride was horrible.
the replacement is a 2005 Silverado 1500. 5.3, 4L60e with 4.10 gears. The 4.10 gears are rare in 1500s but make a big difference, especially in the high altitude mountains where I'm located. It would be nice to trade the heavy 12k equipment trailer for something a bit smaller and lighter down the road.
2009 F350, 6.8 V10 with 164k on it. I bought it from my buddy at a little over 100k. It had been his company truck and I knew it had been pretty well taken care of. Oddly I don't have ANY pictures of it towing our Mustang so here are a couple of Jeep pics. Towing our YJ to the Rubicon (1000 miles each way) we got 9.3mpg at 75mph. Towing doubles to Moab it was right at 8mpg at 65-70mph. While I do miss the towing ability of my old 6.0 Power Stroke, I sure don't miss the repair bills! My trailer is a 2000 Big Tex, bought it new. Replaced the axles once and have painted it a couple of times and it just keeps doing it's thing.
In reply to John82601 :
How do you like the soft top? Been debating a soft or hard top for my truck
In reply to Hoppps :
LOVE the SofTopper. I stumbled across it on CL for a steal. It's good for general "topper" tasks PLUS I can open the side canvas's up and haul our black labs around without worrying about them getting too hot or getting out. It folds forward in about 5 seconds to have an open bed and I can remove it completely in about 10 minutes by myself.
New user here, first post is going to be about my tow setup, you see where my priorities are. 
Trailer is an old locally built unit (Neal MFG). Bought it because of the 4 foot dove. Makes loading low stuff so easy. That and the slide out ramps are a huge improvement to carrying ramps around. Tow vehicle is a 2014 Nissan Frontier. I bought it nearly new in 2015 and have put 170k+ trouble free miles on it. I have towed all sorts of stuff all over the midwest and beyond. Only real complaint is that it's just as about as thirsty as a 1/2 ton full size truck, but with a little less power. Oh well, it's paid for and so is all the other junk I have. 
In reply to dherr (Forum Supporter) :
So far so good, put a quick 1100 miles on it, long trip to SC to pick up some car parts last month. Going to get the trailer later this week and will pick up a TR250 project over the weekend. Will be the first towing I will have done since picking it up, will be very curious to compare it to our old Suburban 1500 that really struggled with the trailer in the mountains, I suspect this truck will handle it with ease for my little cars.
The USS Orleck in the background seems fitting.
In reply to Kendall Frederick :
That thing is beautiful! I can't think of the last one I saw in that color.
buzzboy said:In reply to Kendall Frederick :
That thing is beautiful! I can't think of the last one I saw in that color.
I meant to reply to this the other day and couldn't get it to post from my phone. That's the factory color; it had surface rust on the roof, a few spots of primer, and liberal dings and creases in the bed, but wasn't rusty. Even the doors shut nicely and the weatherstrip is in good condition. It was painted in a pole barn behind a trailer, believe it or not.. and I'm happy with how it turned out. It got 20 mpg on its first full tank running around the three county area here. :-)
The parking lot is pretty uneven so it doesn't really dip that much. 2008 Yukon Denali with 6.2 engine, intake, exhaust and tune. Pulls really well for what it is, weight distribution hitch makes a big difference too. Mishimoto radiator with built in oil cooler and bigger trans cooler, oil was pegged on 250 gauge previously and now doesnt go over about 230 in summer towing. Trans doesnt go much over 200 now even when 100+ outside. Also added an Improved Racing trans thermostat so fluid warms up quicker, really helps in the winter. Changed out factory autoride for Fox shocks and Eibach sways. Handles much better without being too harsh.
Towed my Tahoe out to Iowa and came back with a cherry (but filthy) 924. The 8.1 burb continues to impress in everything but fuel economy. 9.2 mpg with the cruise set between 75 and 78 most of the time.
I do think I'm going to end up revalving these shocks. They are good, but they are softer than I'd like them to be for towing stuff.
I'd been intending to upgrade from the 88 GMT400 to a newer old truck so I could start towing to autocross events.
My wife suggested trading in her Mazda five and buying something newer that she could daily, driving my civic on the days I need to tow.
2021 Expedition Max, 3.5 EB. I reserved the trailer while closing the sale, picked up the trailer an hour later. I need to sell the GMT400 to fund a trailer purchase.
Out with the old. I have to acknowledge how great it has served me.
2500, 350/350, entirely stock except for a clutch type limited slip and a 40k transmission cooler. Served me well for 15 years. Picture from about three years ago, after buff and wax.
It's longest towing weekend, 1000 miles in four days, January 2020.
2018, bringing home my first Miata. Blame GRM for that happening.
Sad to say, this is as good as it gets 
2012 Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn Megacab. 440k miles. Duties include hauling this popup camper across country, as well as our 16' open, and 24' enclosed race trailer all over the northeast. 6.7L cummins diesel that gets better mileage than the family Toyota Highlander. (18mpg vs 16mpg).
In reply to Peabody :
I rode a TM 150 recently and I have to say, your "as good as it gets" ain't so bad, what a fun bike.
Peabody said:Sad to say, this is as good as it gets
Hahaha....that is awesome 
Drug home a new (to me) toy hauler...need to sell the old one now. This one is a bit better platform to build on. Tows beautifully and sits a good foot lower than the old one, which so far seems to mean much easier towing even though it is a thousand pounds heavier.
Suburban still makes for an excellent tow rig, but I think I've given it too much timing. It's pulling a couple degrees quite consistently pulling up hills at 2300 rpm now that it's hot out - nearly 90F here today. KR takes care of it quickly, but I think ideally I would stay away from knock entirely, or nearly entirely, on the high octane spark map.
I feel right sized with my rig now. 23 Maverick Ecoboost 4k tow. I didn't need a big truck for the F500/trailer, this does it plain better than my expedition did.
Recently redid the interior of my 6x15 trailer so it could be used for camping, either with our family of four, or just me, or my wife and I with the car in there.
It's fitting to show the Expedition here!
Haven't towed anything yet, and have to do some upgrades for the camper.
But getting it from a great guy, with known history, we plan to have this for a good while.
Sold a trailer to a guy with a Ridgeline. 400 lb tongue weight around 4000 lbs.
Excavator and mini skid with the trencher and the mower attachment. 300 miles from NC to home. It was a load, probably a touch over 6k pounds. 65-68 on the interstate. 55 on the back roads. A couple of the steeper hills got it down to 30 mph but she made it home. It's a good thing it was mostly downhill. It got terrible fuel economy at 11 mpg because it spent an enormous amount of time in the 3500-4500 RPM range. Overall, it did fair.
My rig is 2017 Ram 3500 dually 6.7 cummins 4.10 rear similar to Rodans' but in charcoal gray over silver and with a matching ARE high top on 8 ft bed. Used to tow my 32 ft TT ( pull behind 11K ) and anything else needed.
We just ordered a 22 ft V-nose enclosed Spartan dual axle to tow our 2 Can Am Spyders as we are into that now. #10000 GVWR 4K empty so way under the trucks capacity. Will post pics later of tow rig and Spartan trailer when it gets here end of September 2024.
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