Advice needed-Western US summer trip
Hello all, We are planning our first big RV road trip and I need some help. We will be leaving from Central Florida in June, and have about 28-30 days total. We have traveled quite a bit in the pas...
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Ill add my 2 cents on tow vehicle. 9000 lbs sounds a bit light for a 39 ft trailer. My 37 ft KZ montego bay is close to 14k lbs dry. Of course it has 3 slides.
Now the real reason for my post.
The 7.3 is a beast. I have a 1999 F550 and have been making 2 trips a year from Phoenix to Olympia Wa. for the last couple years. 11 ft caribou cabover pulling a 20 ft flat bed with a 76 Bronco. Done it 2 different ways. Over 2 7500 ft mountian passes. No problems. Last trip my gas milage was terrible and truck seemed a bit sluggish climbing. Turns out I was dumping boost due to a shot exhaust manifold gasket. While in Olympia visiting my son, Ford Tech he took care of the manifold problem and I had him install boost, EGT and trans temp gages. Truck has 260K mles on it and has always been used to haul heavy weight.
Prior to trip get truck serviced and if possible install a set of gauges. I was suprised how helpful they were. When you start those long climbs you sometimes want to keep speed up which means more fuel which increases EGT. You can run 1400 Degrees for a short time but if you get to 1600 things start failing.
I would recommend getting a set of gauges.
Next thought.
Transmission. Has it ever been rebuilt or does it have over 200K on it. 200K is a lot of miles on the trans. Mine went at 228K comming back to AZ from San Fran. with the Caribou fully loaded and tanks pretty much full so around 6K lbs in the bed. The trans is the weak point in your rig. With a trans temp gauge and EGT gauge you will know when to get off the gas a bit or grab an exit to let things cool down. I never had to get off the freeway but did need to get off the gas a bit a couple times in mountain passes.
Have fun on the trip.
Now the real reason for my post.
The 7.3 is a beast. I have a 1999 F550 and have been making 2 trips a year from Phoenix to Olympia Wa. for the last couple years. 11 ft caribou cabover pulling a 20 ft flat bed with a 76 Bronco. Done it 2 different ways. Over 2 7500 ft mountian passes. No problems. Last trip my gas milage was terrible and truck seemed a bit sluggish climbing. Turns out I was dumping boost due to a shot exhaust manifold gasket. While in Olympia visiting my son, Ford Tech he took care of the manifold problem and I had him install boost, EGT and trans temp gages. Truck has 260K mles on it and has always been used to haul heavy weight.
Prior to trip get truck serviced and if possible install a set of gauges. I was suprised how helpful they were. When you start those long climbs you sometimes want to keep speed up which means more fuel which increases EGT. You can run 1400 Degrees for a short time but if you get to 1600 things start failing.
I would recommend getting a set of gauges.
Next thought.
Transmission. Has it ever been rebuilt or does it have over 200K on it. 200K is a lot of miles on the trans. Mine went at 228K comming back to AZ from San Fran. with the Caribou fully loaded and tanks pretty much full so around 6K lbs in the bed. The trans is the weak point in your rig. With a trans temp gauge and EGT gauge you will know when to get off the gas a bit or grab an exit to let things cool down. I never had to get off the freeway but did need to get off the gas a bit a couple times in mountain passes.
Have fun on the trip.
