TOU,
Welcome to the TC forum. I see you joined today. Your tome was a good read and it was obvious to me that you have a lot of experience towing with an assortment of tried and true power plants and trannies. I've always though a GM 454 was a wonderful V-8 to tow stuff with, especially with the old TH400 trans. It is definitely old tech now, so from about 1999 to the end of production I was liking the Ford V-10 and the Dodge V-10 with their massive torque albeit short lived automatic transmissions. I drove a 2005 class C MoHo with the 8.1L GM V-8 engine and newest Allison trans and was amazed how much power and amazing mpg the power plant generated pushing that 29' 15K pound windbreak down the highway. However, having towed a lot can give you a false impression of what it takes to actually carry a truck camper. The TC is a different animal. You need a lot more axle, spring and secondary spring capacity; anti-sway and tire capacity, and wheel capacity on the rear axle as that's where most of the added TC weight resides. These are my new 10" W Stockton Steel 'Power Wagon' Wheels with 1/2" plate hubs and a stupid high capacity for the rear axle along with my new 35", 3860 pound capacity (7720 pound capy for the axle) AT3 tires:
For the largest TC's, this means DRW's, or in my case for 10 years, super singles with high load capacity wheels.
I would say it's a change of paradigm going from towing big loads to carrying big loads. To test my Dodge 2500 with all the weight carrying upgrades I needed a lot of crushed rock for a project and loaded the short bed several times with 5000 pounds of rock. With 3 secondary leaf springs up top, Stable Loads and an added helper in the main pack (8 leaves total) the deflection was 3 inches. As it stands, it's kind of a 3 stage system. Unloaded the ride is a little worse than the stock set up. second, the helper compresses to actuate the stable loads progressively pushing against the 3 upper secondaries. This is when the entire load is carried by all 8 leaves.
The ride did not suffer. No lean in the corners. The Rancho shocks were on 8. The only woe was pulling our 'hill' and I had to keep shifting down to have enough twist to get it up. And, I was happy I did not have to stop that thing going downhill.
I'm liking your V-8 GM thinking, but only if you are NOT going to put a lot of miles on the rig. The low gas prices won't last forever. For pure longevity, endurance and torque for the hills, and for a very long haul (more than 200K miles) the Cummins finally starts to pay for itself and payoff the $5-10K diesel penalty you had to pay . My '01 had only a $4200 diesel penalty at the start of the Diesel Warz. I still like the Cummins power in whatever guise it takes. My next-door neighbor Jim, asked me about my Cummins a few yeas ago as he had a line on a $7K used one of the same year. He bought it with 279K miles on it. It now has 300K miles on the original engine and is going strong. Then again, he has the sucky auto trans for Dodge in 2001. Two doors down my neighbor Ken bought a 1995 Dodge 2500, 4WD V-10 with 60K miles on it. $3500 out the door. It has been bullet proof. Plenty of power and torque if you can keep gas in the tank.
Again, welcome to the TC band. I'm sure you will add a lot to the outlook of this motley crew.
jefe
Welcome to the TC forum. I see you joined today. Your tome was a good read and it was obvious to me that you have a lot of experience towing with an assortment of tried and true power plants and trannies. I've always though a GM 454 was a wonderful V-8 to tow stuff with, especially with the old TH400 trans. It is definitely old tech now, so from about 1999 to the end of production I was liking the Ford V-10 and the Dodge V-10 with their massive torque albeit short lived automatic transmissions. I drove a 2005 class C MoHo with the 8.1L GM V-8 engine and newest Allison trans and was amazed how much power and amazing mpg the power plant generated pushing that 29' 15K pound windbreak down the highway. However, having towed a lot can give you a false impression of what it takes to actually carry a truck camper. The TC is a different animal. You need a lot more axle, spring and secondary spring capacity; anti-sway and tire capacity, and wheel capacity on the rear axle as that's where most of the added TC weight resides. These are my new 10" W Stockton Steel 'Power Wagon' Wheels with 1/2" plate hubs and a stupid high capacity for the rear axle along with my new 35", 3860 pound capacity (7720 pound capy for the axle) AT3 tires:
For the largest TC's, this means DRW's, or in my case for 10 years, super singles with high load capacity wheels.
I would say it's a change of paradigm going from towing big loads to carrying big loads. To test my Dodge 2500 with all the weight carrying upgrades I needed a lot of crushed rock for a project and loaded the short bed several times with 5000 pounds of rock. With 3 secondary leaf springs up top, Stable Loads and an added helper in the main pack (8 leaves total) the deflection was 3 inches. As it stands, it's kind of a 3 stage system. Unloaded the ride is a little worse than the stock set up. second, the helper compresses to actuate the stable loads progressively pushing against the 3 upper secondaries. This is when the entire load is carried by all 8 leaves.
The ride did not suffer. No lean in the corners. The Rancho shocks were on 8. The only woe was pulling our 'hill' and I had to keep shifting down to have enough twist to get it up. And, I was happy I did not have to stop that thing going downhill.
I'm liking your V-8 GM thinking, but only if you are NOT going to put a lot of miles on the rig. The low gas prices won't last forever. For pure longevity, endurance and torque for the hills, and for a very long haul (more than 200K miles) the Cummins finally starts to pay for itself and payoff the $5-10K diesel penalty you had to pay . My '01 had only a $4200 diesel penalty at the start of the Diesel Warz. I still like the Cummins power in whatever guise it takes. My next-door neighbor Jim, asked me about my Cummins a few yeas ago as he had a line on a $7K used one of the same year. He bought it with 279K miles on it. It now has 300K miles on the original engine and is going strong. Then again, he has the sucky auto trans for Dodge in 2001. Two doors down my neighbor Ken bought a 1995 Dodge 2500, 4WD V-10 with 60K miles on it. $3500 out the door. It has been bullet proof. Plenty of power and torque if you can keep gas in the tank.
Again, welcome to the TC band. I'm sure you will add a lot to the outlook of this motley crew.
jefe
My 1995 F350 has 215 HP and 425 FT/lb torque with a banks intake (which might increase it a little) hauling about 3000 LB camper lots of get up and go, the fuel mileage is great at 13.25 mpg US gal hand calculated no truck payments or big outlay to get the truck (but I also drive 55 to 57 mph retired never in a hurry). Had a Chev 1500 with a light camper same mileage but always big rpm also had a 2010 F250 gasser good power but low fuel mileage. Diesel almost never downshifts and just cruises right along, love the diesel but repairs are definetly more expensive.
Dave
Dave
