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RE: Doris is Dead!
So glad for all of you. But please note that running 2 A/Cs on 30A can be questionable. Why? The NEC recommends a max of 80% to limit the heat or 24A for sustained operation and 2 AC's are sustained operation. And your family member issue likely contributed. But your dedication is fantastic and I admire you guys! Thanks for sharing.
You can run both AC's on 30A IF all other power draws are shut down with the exception some LED lights and a radio or TV. It really helps if you have soft starters on both of the AC units. Start with the batteries fully charged so that you are only doing maintenance charging and make sure that the water heater is not running on electricity.
My coach has both AC's and the water heater are on the same circuit but just about everything else is on a different circuit. I did have to put in a soft start system for one AC and plan to do the second one soon. It hasn't been a problem when on shore power. I have to watch it when on the 6kw generator. The starting load on an AC can hit 30amps all by itself. It is very short duration with the running load dropping down to about 11amps. The generator doesn't have as much in reserve as shore power does and starting both at the same time will trip its breaker without a soft start.
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Groover
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09/18/23 07:24am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: How much anti-freeze?
Assuming the cooling system has been rinsed with plain water (distilled is best), check the owners' manual for the cooling system capacity. Add half the system capacity with coolant and top off with distilled water.
I assume you don't have the manual and are looking for that capacity number. Sorry I don't have it either.
Thor did not provide a manual specific to my coach. Instead I got a 20lb satchel fuel of manuals from the builders of the components going from the jacks to the TV antenna and the dash radio to the rear view camera. There is one from Cummins but it is a generic manual for the engine with no specifics for the installation. I tried to get a wiring diagram for the coach and was told that there isn't one. That makes me wonder how they built the thing. They told me that there are diagrams from about 2015 forward but that doesn't do me any good.
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Groover
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09/18/23 06:48am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Ford files trademark for F200 pickup.
I am getting suspicious and hopeful that the F200 will be what has been sold as the max payload version of the F150. Hopefully upgraded to 8 lug wheels and 8,800lbs GVWR. I have no data to base that on but it just makes sense to me. With the least GVWR of the F250 being 10,000lbs this could bridge the gap between the F150 and F250, as the name implies.
The max payload F150 does already have a significantly sturdier frame than the regular model does so I don't think that boosting it up to 8,800lbs would be much of stretch.
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Groover
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09/14/23 10:54am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: How much anti-freeze?
Don't know what "other vehicles" you mean, but Ford is very specific on what type anti freeze to use in their engines.
I don't run Ford filters or oil in any of my vehicles either. I have never had any issues that can be attributed to coolant, oil or filters. I do make sure that the specifications are met.
My question is about how many gallons of concentrate I need. I am feeling pretty confident that the five gallon bucket will be enough.
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Groover
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09/14/23 10:36am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: How much anti-freeze?
50% full strength antifreeze & 50% distilled is what is USUALLY recommended….. At my business I always aimed for 66% full strength antifreeze & the rest distilled water….. And people always seem to forget that there is ALWAYS some of the old “stuff” left behind in the cooling system ( hoses, engine block, heater, etc ) unless it’s flushed out…. And if you do a good job of flushing then you have some leftover water in your system…. How much is left over in your system???
I do have a concentration checker and I do plan to err on the high side. I don't have chlorine in my water so it is not as corrosive as most tap water. One of the benefits of being on a well. My water heater has been in use for 23 years with no issues.
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Groover
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09/14/23 10:30am |
Class A Motorhomes
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How much anti-freeze?
I have a DP on a Freightliner chassis with the Cummins 6.7l engine that is due for fresh anti-freeze. Does anyone know how much concentrate I need? I need to do the QD6000 generator as well.
5 Gal antifreeze concentrate
This appears to be pretty good deal on some good antifreeze. If I have some leftover I can use it other vehicles.
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Groover
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09/13/23 06:54pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 2024 F150 Reveal
I have been playing with the build and price for Lariat and Platinum trim levels and was very disappointed to find that I could only get the max tow package with the 5.0 engine. In the past you had to get the 3.5L to get the highest tow ratings. Now it is forbidden. I couldn't even spec out tow mirrors or locking rear axle with the 3.5L. A tow package seems to included with the hybrid but no details about it are available.
I was hoping to get a major upgrade from my 2016 Lariat but now I am not at all certain that what I want is even available.
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Groover
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09/13/23 11:13am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: hauling capability
I would second the stability as a major concern as well. An example last week it was very windy here, coming back from Boise on I-84 the cross wind was brutal. I saw a pickup in the other lane coming toward me in what appeared to be about a 20 degree lean fighting the cross wind. As I passed it, it was an F something Superduty SRW crew cab, not the that brand probably mattered, it would have been the same regardless what brand I am sure. If that was the type of camper I wanted, I would probably make sure I was driving a DRW. Those slide in campers, especially the larger ones catch a lot wind, and have to be a little scary on uneven ground.
I never had that issue with my 1991 F250 hauling one of the largest slide in campers available. But then I did have the camper package with a rear sway bar, optional overload springs generally saved for the F350 and a size larger tires in the rear. Also, trucks and campers have both gotten taller since then and catch more wind. The floor of my camper was on the bed of the pickup. The holding tanks were under the floor of the camper behind the rear bumper. You didn't want to drive it far with the grey water tank 3ft behind the rear bumper full.
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Groover
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09/06/23 08:11am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: hauling capability
You are concerned about the weight but the other concern is stability. The camper package includes stiffer rear springs and a rear swaybar. You may also benefit from aftermarket shocks. One of the best things that I did on my 1991 F250 was replace the factory shocks with Rancho 9000 shocks. Some people like Bilsteins. I have never compared the two so no opinion from me on that. Your truck is 25 years newer so it may have come with better shocks.
My truck empty was about 5,600lbs and rated gross was 8,800. My camper loaded was about 4,000lbs. It was 20'6" end to end with 4'6" past the rear bumper. That doesn't count people. I drove a little slower and was very careful on turns. In those days the brakes left some to be desired so I had to be careful with them. I also frequently pulled a 4,000lb boat behind the camper. I never had any issues with the truck but did have issues with the factory Michelin tires and some khumo's coming apart. No issues with Firestone tires. I did upgrade the rear tires from 235/85s to 265/75s when they became available for about an extra 800lbs of tire capacity.
Best wishes!
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Groover
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09/01/23 09:30am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: towing with a Tesla
OK if a gallon is 34 kWh and a gas vehicle goes 10 mpg and the EV goes 30 to 50 miles on that same energy there must be a bit more math involved or some laws of physics are broken.
Electric motors are "around" twice as efficient as a gasoline engine
(I stated that above)
The math work and I have proved it several times on this very forum.
Oh BTW. Electric mileage drifts around much like mileage on gas diesel or coal or natural gas. How fast you go, how much weight you are towing, how tall the load is and about 20 other things make a big difference.
BTW, btw, the powers that be said they will not make a new battery for my plug in electric car, and they won't fix it even though it is under warranty. I will learn how much money I will receive this week.
Fun times for sure.
I get just under 4 miles per kwh in my Model Y which is over 130 miles on 34kwh. My son's Model 3 does about 10% better than that. I am going to say that based on my personal experience the math is off by a factor of roughly 3 for Teslas. Your unspecified brand may be quite different.
Pulling my 21' offshore fishing boat with the Y cuts my mileage roughly in half.
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Groover
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05/31/23 09:56am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: F250 upgrades
I am going to through in a totally different consideration if you decide to add airbags.
You can choose between having both bags on the same air line or separate air lines. Separate air lines add stability for high center of gravity loads like some 5th wheels. They can also facilitate hitching up to a 5th wheel on uneven ground by twisting the truck to match the alignment of the camper. On the other hand, when riding empty or with a low CG load a single line allows for more articulation of the rear axle which gives a smoother ride helps avoid getting stuck on uneven ground.
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Groover
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05/30/23 06:11am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 2023 Super Duty 6.7PSD HO Review
I believe every ford I owned wandered or drove. chevman
That was because of the Twin I-Beam suspension design. They were bad on tire wear too.
I had one F250 and 2 E350s with the Twin I Beam suspension. Drove all of them well over 100,000 miles. None ever wandered but I did need to get the toe-in adjusted on one of them due to tire wear. Otherwise they were maintenance free and had good tire life. Build dates were from 1991 to 2003. No diesels and no 4wd may have helped.
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Groover
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05/14/23 02:26pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: New Super Duty on order
My only real complaint with 7.3 is, in tow mode the minute you touch the brakes going down even a moderate slope, it downshifts too low for the speed I'm carrying, so Im going down slopes in 2nd gear screaming at 5000 rpm until I ease into the gas again. I find sometimes its easier to use manual and pick the gear I want. Towing about 8200 lbs with my 3.55 I get about 9-10 on rolling hills. 11 on flats at 65. Otherwise, I have few complaints about the truck. (except that gas cap lanyard.....argh!)
With my Ford I also do a lot of manual control of the gears. It seems to be too eager to down shift when the brakes are applied in tow haul mode and not eager enough to downshift when climbing hills. I would like to have the option of customizing some of the tow/haul settings, including different settings for different trailers. I don't see how that would be hard for Ford to do with everything already computerized.
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Groover
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05/10/23 06:18am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Valve stem extenders for inner wheels (DRW)
The valve stem extenders that came on my motorhome leaked and the inner tires went flat on me. I took the extenders off and put a TPMS system on. No more flat tires since doing that 6 years ago.
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Groover
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04/26/23 09:27pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: New Super Duty on order
Troyt: that’s the truck I want to replace mine with. DWR version. Keep us posted on the performance of the “Godzilla” and the options you got. Likes and dislikes.
My dodge still going strong but time is an enemy of us all!
So my truck is relatively bare bones, got the sport and XLT premium package but other than that nothing fancy. I'm liking heated seats so far, the Ford Pass system so I can start/lock/unlock with my phone, used the tailgate step the other day and thats pretty slick, power telescope and fold mirrors are nice primarily for the car wash and tight parking. I do wish I could've gotten adaptive cruise but by the time I ordered the model and the package to get that it would've been another $10K. Why can you have that feature in my wife's base package Subaru that cost less than $25K but not in my $70K truck? Picking up a Companion 5th wheel hitch for it tomorrow so I'm sure I'll like the Ford puck system.
The 7.3 seems very nice, hope the mileage improves a bit as I only have 500 miles on it so far. Love the 10 speed tranny. That thing shifts so nice and smooth, you can hear it shift but barely feel it, even under load. It does shift a lot though! The technology for the screens is getting vastly underused by me. I find the look I want and go with it.
Once we get the 5th wheel I'll update how I feel it tows.
Ford seems to be having a hard time getting the parts for adaptive cruise control, amongst other items. My 2016 F150 Lariet has adaptive cruise but now you have to order King Ranch or above trim level to get it. Massage seats are totally gone from the option list.
Stuff not available on 2023 F150
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Groover
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04/25/23 08:14am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Twisted Receiver Square
The hitch may be part of the bumper. Installing a new bumper may be the required fix.
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Groover
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04/23/23 08:11pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: RAM EV
Interesting, 8 bolt axles/wheels and 2700 lbs. of payload. 14k tow capacity.
Also, the airbag suspension, I assume, probably has a "low-rider" mode which reduces drag to extend range on the freeway.
Pretty impressive. It'll be very interesting to see how far it can tow 14k though.
People seem to be obsessed with the impact of trailer weight on range. My experience has been that a flatbed heavily loaded with firewood or dirt has less impact on fuel economy than an empty box trailer. Hence, it is air drag that kills range. Yes, weight does hurt range some with ICE vehicles but that is mostly due to increased use of mechanical brakes turning momentum into waste heat. An EV designed for towing will turn most of that momentum into electricity and put it back into the battery for re-use.
Range studies need to focus more on air drag and towing speeds, not weight. The auto makers know this and their towing tests are conducting with trailers having large air dams on the trailer giving consistent air drag results. The major testers like TFL need to get trailers of this sort. Auto makers rate their vehicles for max frontal area in addition to weight. Most people on this site seem to be unaware of that rating.
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Groover
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04/10/23 07:13am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Ford F-250 Brake Controller Install
The factory controller has the ability to access vehicle stability information and take steps to control an unstable trailer. That could be a life saver.
You need to be aware that the factor controller (at least in my 2016) model turns off the brakes below about 3mph, presumably to prevent burning up the brake actuators. There will be times that you don't want that to happen and you should keep a hand on the manual override. Example: coming down a steep gravel drive and trying to make a sharp turn onto a gravel road. I nearly got pushed off the side of a mountain once. It took me a while to figure out why. Any stop on a steep hill while towing heavy can be a challenge. In my case I am towing a trailer about twice as heavy as the truck.
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Groover
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03/17/23 11:52am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: part three of the broken frame saga.
Link to the article... https://www.truckcamperadventure.com/is-the-eagle-cap-1165-too-big-and-heavy-for-a-one-ton-dually/
Fwiw, my 2010 F450 has a 14,500 GVWR from the factory and licensed for 16000 lbs. The newer trucks are not rated higher, so this paragraph is off a bit. I'm under my GVWR, but mine is only 9 1/2 ft double slide. Relative to the larger ones, it's light. :D
Boatycall had a triple slide Eagle Cap on his 2011 F450, or did. I wonder how it's holding up. He was also towing behind it.
But as one Ford F450 owner discovered, a class 4 truck is no panacea when it comes to hauling a heavy camper. Immediately after the rally, this particular owner took his rig, consisting of a 2013 Ford F450 and a 2015 Eagle Cap 1165, to a local CAT Scale to get weighed. He was horrified to learn that his truck was overweight by whopping 2,400 pounds. With a GVWR of only 14,000 pounds and a payload rating of only 5,443 pounds, his truck was woefully overmatched by the 1165. The CAT Scale printout showed 5,160 pounds on the steer axle and 11,280 pounds on the drive axle for a total of 16,440 pounds. Before buying the truck, he was told his F450 could carry “anything” that he wanted and “not to worry.” Obviously, this wasn’t the case with the 1165. When it comes to payload, this illustrates how far today’s trucks have come from trucks that are 10 to 20 year older. Always research before you buy.
I haven't checked lately but the last time I did the F450 pickup was optimized for trailer pulling, not hauling. The F350 pickup was actually rated to carry more than the F450 pickup.
This just goes to show that you shouldn't take the dealer at his word. Make sure that you find the critical information in writing from the factory.
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Groover
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03/17/23 10:40am |
Truck Campers
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Is this the biggest/heaviest TC on the market?
Rugged flat bed TC
"The 2023 Rugged Mountain Denali 3S is a hard side, triple-slide, dry bath truck camper made for long bed trucks. The interior floor length of the 2023 Rugged Mountain Denali 3S is 12’7”, the interior height is 6’8”, and the center of gravity is 64” from the front wall.
The Denali 3S has an 80-gallon fresh tank, a 77-gallon grey tank, a 35-gallon black tank, and a 6-gallon water heater. It can accommodate up to ten Group 27 batteries and has two 20-pound propane tanks.
Rugged Mountain is reporting the base weight of the Denali 3S at 5,538 pounds. The cost of the 2023 Rugged Mountain Denali 3S is $74,900."
Base price is $74,900. You can option it up to $125,000. 5500 series truck recommended as dry weight is 5,538lbs. Why not go for the F600?
It is a beautiful rig but it is a monster! I used to think that my old 12'6" bed length TC with no slides was large and heavy at 3,500lbs
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Groover
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03/12/23 11:44am |
Truck Campers
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