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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Help making a decision on truck purchase.
Just for piece of mind, I would not want to be pushing the max capabilities of my tow vehicle. My previous truck was about at about 90% of max towing the trailer, and it did it, I thought fine. Now with a new truck with plenty of capacity it is such a better towing experience.
A 3/4 ton gasser will tow that effortlessly, and the upfront cost is similar to a 1/2 ton. My Ford with the 7.3 gasser gets about 15-16mpg on the highway, and I have 4.30 gearing, if you get the 3.55 you'll get and additional mpg.
If you drive 15000 miles a year unloaded and get 3mpg better with the 1/2 ton, that will be about $500 a year in fuel savings, or less than $10 a week.
For $10 a week, I'd get the truck that you know will do the job easily, and safely.
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wowens79
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03/24/23 06:48am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Price of camping
I'm ok with the prices, I just want to be able to find some availability at the parks I like. I really miss the days of being able to do spontaneous trips. When the popular state parks fill up a year in advance it is frustrating.
I envy you guys out west that can boondock, here in the southeast, there aren't many places to do that.
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wowens79
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03/21/23 06:30am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: No place to camp in Florida
I must be in a minority as I seem to head that way for a week or so a couple of times each winter. I was just down there Christmas through New Years. Same time last year + 10 days in March. I might look 2 weeks in advance. I have a DP and don’t mind paying which might help.
I can normally find a private park, but state parks are tough. I don’t mind paying the price for the private park, but most of them are so crammed together. We’ve had sites we couldn’t extend out awning all the way or it would hit the neighbors camper.
This may not be a popular opinion, but I think FL should raise the prices at parks like Topsail, st George, the Parks in the keys, etc to like $100 a night and use that money to expand them or improve them.
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wowens79
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02/21/23 04:43am |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: No place to camp in Florida
We live in GA, and struggle to get sites at FL, GA, and AL State Parks. We’ve been camping for almost 20 years. Back when we started, you could decide on a Wednesday to go to the lake for the weekend and you could get a site. Those days are long gone. It gets harder every year.
There are parks that constantly have availability, but those parks are not on the water or in the mountains.
Between the difficulty to find sites at desirable parks, and the **** the RV manufactures are building at crazy high prices, we are considering giving it up.
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wowens79
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02/20/23 08:10pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: What Truck Dealerships do you recommend.
Give Granger Ford in Granger Iowa a call. They sold 2022 Super Duty's at 2% below invoice, and only a $200 dealer fee. My F-350 was $7k below sticker. They were super easy to deal with. About 3 emails and a $1000 deposit, and it was ordered. They called when it came in, and I flew from ATL to Des Moine, they picked me up at the airport, and had all the paperwork ready. Demo'd the truck, and 5 minutes in the office for paperwork and we were on the way home.
They also have a RAM dealer, but I'm not sure what kind of deals they make on those.
It was well work the flight and the wife and I enjoyed the drive home. Even with travel expenses, it saved about $6k over my local dealers.
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wowens79
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02/15/23 02:35pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Small ‘C’. Chev or Godzilla
This experience is not in a Class C, but I towed with a 2002 6.0, and now have a 2022 7.3. Towing was pulling a 8000lb TT
The 6.0 is an incredibly reliable engine, I drove it from new in 2002, for 20 years and 3 weeks and 268,000 miles, and it still ran great. All internals were still original when I sold it. The thing with the 6.0 is it makes all of its power at higher RPMs, it really likes to be over 3000 rpms, and on hills it was normal for it to spin over 4000rpms. It didn't bother it, and no issues overheating or anything. It was just designed to run at those rpms.
The 7.3 is a different beast, loads more power, and it makes power at much lower rpms. It has over 400ftlb of torque at 1500rpms. Hills that the 6.0 struggled to hold speed at 4000rpms, the 7.3 accelerates at 2500rpm.
I do have the 10spd in my truck, so it is easy to find the perfect gear, but on flat interstate it pulls in 10th at 1800 rpms. The 6.0 only had a 4spd, but it pulled mainly in 3rd at 3000rpms, and would either lose speed or drop to 2nd on some hills.
The 6.0 we called Ol' Faithful, it was a great engine, but has no where near the power of the 7.3.
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wowens79
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02/10/23 06:46am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Alarming spalling failures on 7.3 Godzilla
I bought a 7.3, and hope it holds together. One thing I have heard is that many of these that failing are in ambulance/wrecker service and have high idle hours. I'm guessing the low RPM doesn't supply enough oil.
Sounds very similar to the issues Ram's 6.4 has had.
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wowens79
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02/10/23 06:28am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Looking for owners manual- '97 Shasta 245
Like the answer above, they don't have one manual. They are more like a a house, you will have different manuals for the different items installed, like the water heater, stove, converter etc.
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wowens79
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12/06/22 06:29am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Internet RV Prices Today
It doesn’t hurt to make an offer and see what they say, just be polite but firm, and don’t be afraid to walk if it’s more than you want to pay.
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wowens79
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11/18/22 09:14pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Eagle vs Montana High Country vs Avenue
Have you looked at the Grand Design product line? I believe they are a bit better than the ones you listed.
Ken
Thanks for the suggestion. I have looked at GD, and they are in the running. There are 2 things I don't like, I don't like the dark cabinets (23's are lighter, but wanting a closeout), and I want a residential fridge, I don't trust that Furrion 12v fridge.
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wowens79
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11/18/22 07:04am |
Fifth-Wheels
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Eagle vs Montana High Country vs Avenue
Any thoughts on quality difference in these 3? I’m looking at their 3 slide rear living. The Montana HC is the favorite as far as layout, and appearance.
We’ve been very dissatisfied with out 2016 Heritage Glen.
I know they are all gonna have issues, and most things I’ll fix myself. It’s easier than dragging it an hour or two to the dealer.
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wowens79
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11/17/22 09:29pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Not bad for 11 years and 240,000 miles.
I just sold my 2002 6.0, it had 268,004 miles on it. I got 225k out of the original brake pads. Great truck.
I’m want info to go to about a 12k lb 5th wheel, so I bought a new truck, and switched to a Ford with the 7.3 Godzilla in it, and it is a huge power improvement. Hopefully since Ford copied the LS, it will last a long time.
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wowens79
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11/13/22 09:10pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: One Tire Worn Out
Check your shackles and bushings while you're at trying to find the culprit. Have you seen how bad it can get? Things can really wear out...almost dangerous in some cases. Make sure everything is nice and tight. Then take some measurements from the center of the axles on both sides to see if they are lined up. You also might check measurements from the end of the frame (front and back) to the center of the axles also. Process of elimination may take a while but at least you will know where things are.
Thanks for those tips!
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wowens79
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10/27/22 07:59am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: One Tire Worn Out
Could it be brake adjustment ?
Good question, I had not thought about that. I’ll have to check that.
Thanks for that suggestion.
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wowens79
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10/24/22 07:21am |
Travel Trailers
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One Tire Worn Out
I’ve got one of the tires in my TT that is worn almost bald. The other 3 are fine. I’m guessing it is out of alignment/bent. Can this be fixed without replacing the axle??
It’s been 4 years for it to wear out. Should I just replace the tires for and go another 4 years. I’m probably gonna trade in the next year or so.
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wowens79
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10/24/22 06:43am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Selling 2018 F150 to upgrade to 2022 F150 - worth it or not?
Don’t do it, even if money wasn’t tight. Going into more debt is not the way to get out of debt.
A 4 year old truck with 60k miles is good for another 12-15 years. Pay off that $7k, then keep making the payment but to a savings or investment account, then pay cash for the next truck. Flip the cycle one time and you’ll never worry about a car payment again.
I was in your shoes 16 years ago. Trust me having no payments is the way to go.
That old truck in my signature is getting to retire in about a month after hauling me around for 20 years. A new F350 is being built next week, but I’ve already made the payments for it and more over the years.
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wowens79
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07/26/22 08:57pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Fifth wheel length question
We are looking at going to a couples type 5th wheel also, and I went to the websites of our favorite campgrounds, and put in random dates like 10 months out, and put in different camper lengths and looked had how the availability changed. Once you got over 35-36ft, the number of sites really dropped off.
We were looking at state parks in AL, GA, FL.
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wowens79
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07/11/22 09:33am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Lack of RV Parks... Jimmy Buffet to the rescue!
We just stayed at The Ridge RV Resort in Sevierville. Very nice place.
We stayed in Bryson City at a campground that had good reviews, but it was really sketchy. It the only time I've carried a gun to the bath house.
I will say it was probably a bad time to go, it was in February, and we had like 10 inches of rain while we were there, so it looked extra gloomy. We liked the quietness to Bryson, but did not see a good looking campground.
So what was the campground you stayed in so I can avoid it?
Ela Campground
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wowens79
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07/08/22 06:14am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: New Travel Trailer
If it is a Ram 1500, the payloads on them are real low for a 1/2 ton, and they are coil spring, and ride good, but not great for towing.
My buddy had one, and was towing about that size, and it was a white knuckle ride the whole time even with a good W/D sway control hitch.
You'd think a 1/2ton would handle it, but they make the suspension to soft, to give it a good ride.
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wowens79
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07/06/22 01:56pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Lack of RV Parks... Jimmy Buffet to the rescue!
We just stayed at The Ridge RV Resort in Sevierville. Very nice place.
We stayed in Bryson City at a campground that had good reviews, but it was really sketchy. It the only time I've carried a gun to the bath house.
I will say it was probably a bad time to go, it was in February, and we had like 10 inches of rain while we were there, so it looked extra gloomy. We liked the quietness to Bryson, but did not see a good looking campground.
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wowens79
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07/06/22 09:02am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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