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RE: My Amazing 12-year old battery...
I only ever get about 4 years out of batteries. Maybe it's the climate where I live or I'm just unlucky.
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IdaD
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01/15/20 01:54pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: New truck batteries
I think there are about two or three manufacturers that make all automotive batteries in the US, so the brand doesn't matter much. I put Duracells in my truck last fall because that's all I could find on short notice and they seem fine so far, but being just a few months old they should be fine. I don't know who actually made them. If your batteries are starting to get spotty I'd change them sooner rather than later.
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IdaD
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01/15/20 11:58am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Ford Increases GVWR for 2020 Trucks
That is not the case in Texas. The registration fee for a pickup truck over 10k GVWR is twice that of a truck below 10k GVWR. It is not much, but it is more I would have to pay just to have a sticker that says 10,800 GVWR when I could have one that says 10,000 GVWR that is able to handle the same amount of weight. There are also CDL requirements in many states for any commercial vehicles driven that has a GVWR of over 10k.
Sure but how much do you value being able to banter about a meaningless payload figure on this site? It seems to matter a lot to some folks.
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IdaD
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01/14/20 02:45pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Falken Wildpeak AT3W
To add to my comments above, as long as the Falkens wear well I think I'll stick with them going forward. They're a great value and they hit a pretty sweet spot for me in terms of their on/off-road tread design and the mountain snowflake rating.
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IdaD
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01/13/20 08:40am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Towing questions
Stay within your tire ratings and you're good, but you might need to add Timbrens or bags.
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IdaD
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01/13/20 08:38am |
Tow Vehicles
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Falken Wildpeak AT3W
I installed Falken Wildpeaks on my Ram a few months ago and thought I’d post a quick review on them since another member asked for feedback on them. I installed the stock size which is 275/70R18 on my truck. They were a bit squirmy at first but in line with what you’d expect from any decently aggressive AT tire, and they settled down after a couple hundred miles. They’re very quiet on the highway and have good traction in all conditions, most impressively in snow. They have the mountain snowflake rating which in important when traction tires or chains are required. I put them on after hunting season so I haven’t had them off-road much although I think they’ll well.
The big remaining question is treadwear. These replaced BFG AT/KO2 tires that I really liked but they just didn’t hold up well enough under a diesel truck. BFG does now offer a DT version that are supposed to hold up better but they lose the mountain snowflake rating and frankly we’re about $300/set more than the Falkens. In comparing the two the BFG’s have a more aggressive sidewall but the tread is actually a bit more aggressive on the Falkens with larger voids. I read a lot of reviews before I bought these tires and good tread life seemed to be something a lot of people were touting, so hopefully that will prove true.
I paid a little over $1000 installed including tax so they’re a good value.
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IdaD
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01/12/20 02:29pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Chrysler UConnect
The only issue mine ever has is it sometimes doesn't turn on when I start the truck. It's probably happened a half dozen times in 5 years, and there's no pattern to it I can discern. I can't remember what version I have but it's has the small grayscale touchscreen. I only ever use it for the radio and phone calls, and I use Siri to manage my calling so I can't speak to how uconnect handles those functions although I'd guess not as well.
It's Chrysler and electronics. Adjust your expectations accordingly.
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IdaD
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01/10/20 10:45am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 2020 Silverado 2500
How many inches back?
I played around with my Andersen and B&W and 2-4" made no difference in handling.
It also will depend on heavy your pin is. Mine was only 1800 lbs.
Not to be a wise butt head, but 1800 pounds really won't make much of a diff as you stated. When you're pushing 3500-4000+, that's where you're king pin location makes a diff. Especially for steering. Just look at folks towing TT where truck's headlights could guide in 747's, sparks from safety chains would make Smokey the bear cry and only front brakes on tandem axle trailer work right (or too much). Oh, not to mention the rear of TT high enough that a 'Vette can easily fit under it.
A TT is 4' behind the axle. A couple of inches in front or behind the rear axle isn't going to impact front axle weight very much at all even if it is 4000 lbs of pin weight.
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IdaD
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01/09/20 07:32am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: "Death Wobble" updated, fixed
I had a 05 Super Duty and drove it to around 180k miles and with a couple sets of BF Goodrich AT tires and a couple sets of KO tires I never had a death wobble incident. My current 12 Super Duty experienced the death wobble twice in close proximity of each other that occurred at the end of life on BF Goodrich AT second generation tires at around ~80k miles. Once I replaced those tires I never had a death wobble incident and I'm currently at ~180k miles. Still have the original steering dampener and all suspension components and alignment are still original except the shocks.
BFG's are the one of the big causes of DW in Dodge/Ram trucks as well. Much more so than any other tire.
The last tires I had on my truck were KO2s and I never had any DW issues with them, but they wore really poorly so I am trying something else now. I'm at about 60,000 miles currently.
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IdaD
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01/09/20 07:29am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: "Death Wobble" updated, fixed
I thought death wobble was pretty much just a thing with Jeeps and older Rams but I guess not. I'd say worn front end parts are often the culprit but that wouldn't make much sense on a 2017. Make the dealer fix it under warranty.
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IdaD
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01/08/20 09:17am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 2020 Silverado 2500
Being a few inches in front of or behind your rear axle will have an extremely minimal impact on your front axle weight, especially if you have a diesel. I wouldn't worry about it personally. I run a rail mount Andersen hitch flipped towards the back which puts more of the weight behind my axle and haven't had any issues at all.
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IdaD
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01/08/20 09:15am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Jeep Ecodiesel, vs Pentastar, vs Ram Hemi, vs Ford Godzilla
Heavy duty trucks with gas engines turn into turds when you strap on a big trailer and hit a grade. It'll only be disappointing if your expectations are unrealistic.
I was a no replacement for displacement guy... EcoBoost changed me :)
True. That initial statement should have read "naturally aspirated engines" not "gas engines".
Has there been a HD gas truck that wasn’t naturally aspirated?
Nope, and I doubt there will be anytime soon or ever. If there was one, it would either need a huge cooling system or be de-tuned considerably to keep the temps in check.
The Ecoboost has an open deck design which is one reason why they are able to keep it cool. Most HD (gas and diesel) engines have a closed deck or semi closed deck design to handle the stress of the HD duty cycle. Putting a closed deck design on a turbocharged gas engine block in a towing application is just asking for overheating issues because the ports on the block are not big enough to keep the cylinders cool. Since diesels run much cooler than gas engines due to their higher thermal efficiency, they can have a closed deck block and still keep cool under load in many instances where a gas engine could not.
The open deck Ecoboost is great and reliable in a half ton duty cycle, but not in an HD truck duty cycle. Especially when you also have to meet emissions.
Exactly. So again, put a heavy load behind an HD gas truck and it quickly turns into a turd. Is what it is.
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IdaD
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01/08/20 07:08am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Jeep Ecodiesel, vs Pentastar, vs Ram Hemi, vs Ford Godzilla
Heavy duty trucks with gas engines turn into turds when you strap on a big trailer and hit a grade. It'll only be disappointing if your expectations are unrealistic.
I was a no replacement for displacement guy... EcoBoost changed me :)
True. That initial statement should have read "naturally aspirated engines" not "gas engines".
Has there been a HD gas truck that wasn’t naturally aspirated?
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IdaD
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01/07/20 07:59pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Jeep Ecodiesel, vs Pentastar, vs Ram Hemi, vs Ford Godzilla
Something tells me the Ike is going to be a big disappointment for the big Ford.
Heavy duty trucks with gas engines turn into turds when you strap on a big trailer and hit a grade. It'll only be disappointing if your expectations are unrealistic.
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IdaD
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01/07/20 11:19am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: F450 vs F350 SRW payload
How do the axle ratings compare? Payload ratings tend to not mean much in a lot of cases. This is probably one of those cases.
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IdaD
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12/27/19 07:23am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Ram 2500 CTD in Africa
For many emission components, the expected service life is 100k miles. Many are not even warranted past 36k miles. A modern diesel has huge financial exposure past 100k miles. Go to the turbo diesel forum.its getting to make sense to turn them at 125k miles or less.
The following is a brief comeback from one of lead moderators, I asked if my new 2018 CTD would be reliable past 100k miles. He's a technician as well,
Ever had to replace the complete exhaust\catalyst system when a DEF injector sticks just destroys some $4k of emissions stuff plus itself? Do that ONCE then look at the bottom line on costs. What are you gonna do when the ignition module fails and it won't recognize that playschool key anymore? Just TRY to jump that truck into running to where you can get it fixed cuz you ain't doing it yourself anymore due to the fact it REQUIRES dealer programming to install and set it up. Don't ever do any one a favor jumping their dead vehicle in a parking lot, ANY little inattention or unknown problem will take out a TIPM or ECM and you are in the same boat. Do I dare mention turbos that carbon up, head gaskets that leak for no obvious reason, injector tips that break off, injectors that hang and melt pistons on a hard pull, and the infamous grid heater bolt that burns off and gets sucked into a cylinder
It's remarkable that any of the multitude of diesel trucks I see running around every day are even on the road.
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IdaD
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12/13/19 07:55am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: How does one charge a dual battery vehicle?
The driver side battery was dead. No measurable capacity. The passenger battery had a capacity of 550. I replaced both. I also bought a Battery Tender and will mount it somewhere under the hood.
I had to replace my OEM set on my 2015 this fall as well. I don't know if it's climate related or what, but I can't seem to ever get more than about 4 years out of car/truck batteries before they need to be replaced.
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IdaD
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12/12/19 03:20pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: The Big Boys have Just Arrived
Whoa! $53K for an XLT gas truck!?
How much does the 7.3 option cost? You figure that should be more like $41-43k before tax/title but that's still fairly pricey for a basic gas HD truck. It may be optioned more heavily than a typical XLT, I suppose.
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IdaD
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12/10/19 11:18am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Thoughts on studded tires
My folks get studs in the winters, and they're in their 80's now so it's probably a good idea not only for the ice performance but also so people can hear them coming so they know to get out of the way. I don't bother with dedicated snow tires, just AT tires year round, and that's good enough for our rigs. I recently put Falken Wildpeak AT's on my truck and they have the mountain snowflake symbol on them. I've only had them in snow once so far but they did extremely well - I'd say better than the BFG KO2 tires I had on the truck previously.
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IdaD
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12/06/19 02:52pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Why Tesla's are bad at towing!
How many folks tow at 75 miles per hour? 55 would make more sense.
Me. (Depends what I'm towing and where)
After enough miles of empty wide open road with no traffic in the high desert west, it starts to feel like you could step out of the truck and jog at 75 mph. I'll gladly pay a little fuel economy penalty to reduce travel time over a long distance.
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IdaD
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12/05/19 11:52am |
Tow Vehicles
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