Anybody towing with an older truck?
I've noticed most sigs on this forum indicate pretty new TVs. I am towing with a '91 F350 Dually that has only been used for RV'ing. Initially it pulled a 5er, then had a Lance TC mounted on it fo...
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I tow with my '96 F250 Powerstroke. 190K miles on it and still runs great. I've had a few issues with it on long trips, but nothing that has actually left me stranded, and parts are pretty easy to source quickly and cheaply:
*Had a water pump go south on me out camping, but made it the 200 miles home towing the trailer. Lost a lot of coolant, but the temperature gauge never spiked the whole trip.
*Next was a starter that bit the dust on the way out camping. Was able to get it started, drove to the nearest O'Reilly's, and changed it out in their parking lot in about an hour or so with the trailer still attached. They stayed open past closing and even let me use their tools; only payment required beyond the cost of the starter was a 6-pack of beer from the fridge.
*On another trip the rear end started going out and howling like crazy on the way home. Truck again made it the 200 miles home without a problem. The downside to this particular breakdown was the shop initially diagnosed it as the trans, so I spent the money on a trans rebuild for nothing before also having to fork out the money for a rear end rebuild.
*The last and probably most exciting of the problems I've had was losing an idler pulley in traffic in Salinas, California. I didn't have the trailer with me on this trip, but I was in the middle of a straight through drive from Portland, OR to Santa Barbara, CA. Called the nearest Ford dealer; they had the part in stock and could install it that day, but I had to figure out how to make it the 10 miles to their shop with no power steering, power brakes, or cooling in the middle of summer. Tow truck was a 2 hour wait, and then I'd be running up against their closing time, so I decided to limp it up there. Made it without issue and they had me back on the road in an hour.
I'd love to have a new(er) truck, but I certainly don't want the payment! The few repairs I've had to make to mine are nowhere near what the payment on a new truck would be, and who's to say a new truck won't have it's own set of issues? Plus I have a manual transmission in mine, and that's almost impossible to find on the newer rigs, so I don't see getting rid of my truck for quite some time.
*Had a water pump go south on me out camping, but made it the 200 miles home towing the trailer. Lost a lot of coolant, but the temperature gauge never spiked the whole trip.
*Next was a starter that bit the dust on the way out camping. Was able to get it started, drove to the nearest O'Reilly's, and changed it out in their parking lot in about an hour or so with the trailer still attached. They stayed open past closing and even let me use their tools; only payment required beyond the cost of the starter was a 6-pack of beer from the fridge.
*On another trip the rear end started going out and howling like crazy on the way home. Truck again made it the 200 miles home without a problem. The downside to this particular breakdown was the shop initially diagnosed it as the trans, so I spent the money on a trans rebuild for nothing before also having to fork out the money for a rear end rebuild.
*The last and probably most exciting of the problems I've had was losing an idler pulley in traffic in Salinas, California. I didn't have the trailer with me on this trip, but I was in the middle of a straight through drive from Portland, OR to Santa Barbara, CA. Called the nearest Ford dealer; they had the part in stock and could install it that day, but I had to figure out how to make it the 10 miles to their shop with no power steering, power brakes, or cooling in the middle of summer. Tow truck was a 2 hour wait, and then I'd be running up against their closing time, so I decided to limp it up there. Made it without issue and they had me back on the road in an hour.
I'd love to have a new(er) truck, but I certainly don't want the payment! The few repairs I've had to make to mine are nowhere near what the payment on a new truck would be, and who's to say a new truck won't have it's own set of issues? Plus I have a manual transmission in mine, and that's almost impossible to find on the newer rigs, so I don't see getting rid of my truck for quite some time.
