Pulled some extra material home last friday, when I loaded it I knew it was heavy, but I put most of the weight on my trailer so it didnt look that bad.

About half way over the first pass I was down to 30mph thinking WTF!!!

Started doing the math in my head (careful... ).

Each case is 70#.

45 cases to a pallet.

6 pallets plus one pallet of another material.

19,500# of payload on the trailer...

Plus a 4500# trailer...

Plus a 8900# truck...

32,900#...

Was not too bad until I got about half way and blew a fuel line. Fixed that in about 20 minutes but it covered my brakes in Bio diesel.

Didnt think about that issue until about half way DOWN the other side... Trailer brake controler maxed at 12, boost on the controler at 3 (max), locked out of OD doing 55mph.

Smoked the truck brakes about half the way down the pass.

Butt pucker factor was well above 10.

 

Impressive - how did you stop the truck and what parts (of the truck/trailer) were casualties of this?

 

No issues, I need brakes anyway, more then likely will do them this weekend, but there still working fine now.

Just one of those days where you think to yourself...

"well that was dumb"

That is the most weight I have ever carried. Prior to that it was 28,500 GVW and that was not bad, but it was also not over a pass.

 

Memory on the gauges is wicked cool. All that weight and the engine oil, coolant, and tranny are just humming along like "ho hum".

 

And thats with 250/200 injectors, stock HPOP and B99...

Oh and this was not on a 40, 60, 80, 10, 20 or any other tow setting...

Just my good old Swamps Street Hot file...

Did use about 4 gallons of water...

 

Quite a load. Glad that you made it down safely.
Is there an exhaust brake on your truck? Was that EBP reading while climbing at full boost or while going down the other side?

What would normal diff temps be at 20k-23k lbs GVW?
I was flipping through my F450 manual the other day and saw that Ford actually recommends rear diff fluid change every 50k for extreme duty applications. I am sure my truck is way overdue....

I'll be doing 28k lbs GVW through several mountain passes this weekend. I hope things go well and it's a totally boring and uneventful drive.

 

No exhaust brake, just a modded H2e turbo, not sure when that EBP reading was last cleared.

Normal rear diff temps hover around 200 for me. Highest I had see before this was 250, pulling the grapeview out of socal.

I would not think you would have any issues with your 450 and a Dana 80.

 

Good job Joe!!!! Fix those brakes.

 

With all your gauges,I'll bet the o-@#%$-o-meter was pegged at redline..Lmao

 

That's scary stuff, Joe. Reminds me of the time I was bringing firewood down from a mountain near Vancover, Wa with a 1500 4x4 suburban and pu bed trailer. Lost my brakes completely due to overheat just before I reached the bottom. Had to coast to a stop to let the darn things cool enough to work again. I'd hated to have been coming down a big mountain...it cured me of 1/2 ton trucks.

 

I hope it does better this time. I worked it hard earlier this summer and the 450 struggled. (low power, overheating etc). This time I'll have good injectors, all the material on my compressor wheel , a totally clear radiator and good coolant. Should perform better but certainly won't be any worse...

For a while I thought I heard what sounded like dragging brakes but that turned out just to be the Centramatic balancers. I was pulling over and checking with an IR gun and the brakes were cold so I couldn't figure it out at first. (At slow speed the little ball bearings in those things make a noise that sounds weird.)

When I first bought that truck I thought the rear gears were going to need replacing because there was a whine back there while driving. Again I would check with an IR gun and the diff temp matched my other trucks so I was baffled. Turns out the tread pattern on these 19.5" tires 'sing' while going down the road. The 'note' even changes depending on how heavily loaded they are.

Now I just turn up the radio when I hear weird sounds.

 

Joe , what of breaks are you using? When I need some I want the ones that you use!

 

Factory stuff... Only the second set of brakes on the truck, there down to the warning notches.

I dont use my brakes much, just drive sane.

Well... other then this trip. LOL

 

There are easier ways to test the warning lights on your gauges Joe

 

Safer too...