Recent content by lone_star_dsl

If there is a MPG penalty, it doesn't make itself noticeable out to the second decimal place. If I were hauling commercially, I would want to take as much fuel as possible for economic reasons. The savings really add up when you can buy cheaper fuel in bulk. It can sometimes be $5-10 a day...

With a FULL trailer (water, toys, etc.)and a truck full of kids, my weights are: Front axle: 5,200 Rear axle: 7,740 GVW: 12,940 According to Ram, my truck has the following capacities: Front axle: 6,000 Rear axle: 9,750 GVWR: 14,000 With the fuel at an added 700 lbs, I'm still 360 lbs under...

I have a 105 gallon auxiliary tank in my truck. It makes a world of difference not only in range, but I can now take my time when shopping for diesel so that I can get the best price. For every penny cheaper I can find fuel, I save $1.00 on the total fill up. It really pays to search for the...

I live, work, camp, and play in Colorado. Trailer tires hardly matter when it comes to traction. You'll be on maintained dirt roads which won't be the smoothest, but will be a far cry from "off-road". FWIW, I've never had to put my truck in 4wd in the mountains. You may encounter some snow...

Why would you disagree?  We're on the same team. Traditional gooseneck adapters damage the frames of trailers not designed to handle them i.e. 5th wheel trailers.

You're analogy of applying force to a loose nut does not supply to this situation. Pulling a trailer applies dynamic forces to everything from the truck, hitch, and trailer. Your analogy would be accurate if there was an outside force trying to tighten the nut as you were trying to loosen it...

My trailer has a black tank flush and I reluctantly hooked it up and gave it a go hoping that I wouldn't just fill the black tank to the brim.  To my surprise, I got a little dirty water followed by crystal clear water. I flushed the tank a half dozen times and everything seems to be in working...

I've been on the road for 10 days and it's time to dump the black tank. I pull the lever and...just a slight trickle. The gray tank dumped just fine. I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow.

A big piece of it that I should have focused on is road speed. My truck hates towing at 65 mph. It likes to go back and forth between 5th and 6th quite often. At 70+ mph, it's extremely happy...and so am I. With trucks now being equipped with 8 and 10 speed automatics, matching the proper gear...

Are the 3.42's still available? In my opinion, they would be the better choice for a daily driver that tows secondarily. Trucks equipped with those gears are getting really good fuel mileage empty and the option of towing in 5th gear should have the engine near it's peak hp and tq.

My friend and I each towed our trailers from Grand Island, NE to Wichita Falls, TX the other day. I figured it would be a great performance and MPG comparison. We both have extremely similar trucks. 2016 Ram 3500 dually, crew cabs. His truck has 3.73 gears and mine has 4.10's. Other than that...

My BIL has a triple axle toy hauler that has torsion axles. We had to change a tire while he was parked in his site one time. Because the axles are mounted directly to the frame, the weight of the entire side of the trailer needs to be jacked up to get a tire off the ground. Without having a...

Aside from one trip for a family reunion in which we stayed in an RV park, my family and I boondocked in our toy hauler over 30 nights this past summer. Given that we have some little kids that still need a midday break and like to watch a DVD while doing so, I'd like to rig up our entire...

For everyone touting the Andersen hitch, yes they are light and convenient but they cannot pass the SAE J2638 test for gooseneck and fifth wheel hitches. The work hardening of the aluminum during the cycle phase of the test causes it to fail early. There's no free lunch when it comes to safely...

The new battery is a 29H and the spec sheet shows 106 AH. Since it's fairly new (and I have the space), I'd like to add two more of them.  The converter is an OEM replacement WFCO WF-9855 55 Amp converter. My main concern was damage to the converter by asking it to run at maximum capacity for...