Didn't haul any hay today but hauled some hay-burners instead.

Drove 50 some miles down empty to pick them up and hauled them to some friend's house. Saved them from going to auction which is one of the things we do.

All said and done we put on 160 miles with the horse trailer and returned 9.8 mpg. Not bad but was hoping for better. That being said, I wasn't exactly driving for mileage, more just to get there.

Of course, with the animals you can't drive very hard so the trip back was quite a bit slower. Again, though, I'm still impressed by the stability. Even with the horses moving around it felt pretty good. You could feel the move but it never felt unstable or unsafe and the trailer never felt like it was trying to "wag the dog"

Took six hours start to finish with a tractor supply run at the end, by a successful and safe trip.



Went down for one horse and came back with two.
That's my VERY pregnant wife on the far left. Hope she don't see this pic or she'll be likely to kill me!

 

You seem to like doing that. In fact one might even say that you have 'hay fever'.

 

I've lost track of how many times I've hauled loads of hay just like this, but it was kinda cool tonight as I rolled 176,000 miles on the clock while making this trip.

3 bales @ ~1500lbs each plus the trailer. ~6500lbs.

Set the cruise at 65mph and let 'er buck. Easy one handed drive















Good times... Good times

 

"Set the cruise at 65mph and let 'er buck."
Back when we towed the camper to the Black Hills past your area I thought it was going to buck itself to death on I29, kind of scared me for the rest of the trip but it was smooth as glass once I hit I90!

 

The camper does pull quite a bit harder than a load of hay, even though the weights are about the same.

Setting the cruise is a mixed bag with this truck. If I set the cruise, its pretty aggressive with the throttle, but it will unlock the converter and walk up most hills without having to downshift. But if I use my foot, it wont unlock the converter and to get up a hill requires a downshift to 2nd. It simply will not unlock the converter if you drive with your foot and OD off, which makes it really hard to walk the hills.

I'm going to take it in and get all the pcm updates and see if that helps. The programming on this truck just seems really poorly executed, IMO. Bit it gets it done.

Yeah, I29 north of Sioux city is a lot of rolling hills and id expect a bit of a workout down there. I90 is pretty flat except for chamberlain and wasta.

 

My 05 Expedition is the same towing with the cruise control, every little hill it slows down then drops the hammer and screams to the top. Guess I never really worried about it because I don't generally use the cruise control towing but it would be nice occasionally, very interested in what you find on the updates.

I was on I29 South of Sioux City from I80, 2011?, they may have redone the road since then after the flooding but at the time it was brutal with the trailer. I90 was an nice drive other than the wind, 95°+ a blowing like a banshee, the The trailer sway control being dialed in was a must have.... don't ask how fast I was driving after we left Cabela's, the wife and my first kid weren't very happy and just wanted to get there so hammer down! Lol

 

I'm not sure I've ever hauled a trailer through that stretch north of Sioux city, so maybe the pavement bucks when you are hooked up. we were down that way last year when we came back from our "day out with Thomas" in Boone, and the pavement was fine just driving, but I've been on a lot of roads around here that are fine unless you are hauling a trailer. We use 20' joint spacing and we get some "curling" because of it. but try convincing our "experts" that 20' joint spacing doesn't work.....

yeah, the cruise is a tough deal for me. I've got problems with my right foot so holding the pedal for any period of time just kills me, so I drive with cruise 90% of the time. It's more aggressive than I would be going up the hills, and then it over-shoots by 2-3 mph at the top of the hill, but I'm inclined to think it might be better (for the truck) than driving with my foot.

when I drive with my foot, it absolutely *will not* unlock the converter if you have your foot on the pedal. I've tried everything and it won't do it. so it won't pull the hills in 3rd with the converter locked, so as it loses speed up the hill and you feed it more throttle, at about 60mph it will downshift to 2nd. so the engine goes from about 2400 rpm to about 4000 rpm and it's not very smooth about it.

whereas, on cruise, it will unlock the converter at about 64 mph and the engine will go from 2600 rpm to about 2800 rpm, and then if it keeps losing speed at about 63mph it will downshift to second and the engine will jump to about 4000 rpm, but it does it in a very smooth way (presumably because the converter is already unlocked and it doesn't have to unlock and shift at the same time).

also when you drive with your foot, if you push it down far enough to downshift, when you get to the top of the hill it wont upshift to 3rd until you are almost completely out of the throttle. you have to be out of the throttle far enough that you are losing speed before it upshifts. but on cruise (probably because it overshoots), when you get to the top it smoothly upshifts to 3rd when you get to the top.

I don't know, its weird, but drivability just kinda sucks. I'm hoping some PCM updates will help sort some of this out. but to be honest, I feel like I'm betting $100 against $400 for an aftermarket tuner. I'm kinda thinking the only way it is going to shift well is with an aftermarket tuner. I should just bite the bullet and get and 5-star tune, but I'm cheap.... and broke, because I just spent about $900 on the ignition .... but I digress.


how did your 05 ride with the camper behind it? mine really rides hard anytime you've got something with significant tongue weight. the camper really makes the truck ride hard. it's pretty good unloaded, but with the 800+ lbs tongue weight from the camper it kinda beats you up a bit.


the hay rides nice, though. but I had them scooted back a bit to take some weight off the truck. I told my wife's uncle that my 1/2 ton SUV isn't a 3/4 ton truck so he picked the two bales up in the front (at the same time) and moved them back ... I told him that was just showing off, since there is no way ours would lift two at a time ... it often wont curl these monsters back once I get it on the spear

 

Didn't really ever think about it until you asked but my 05 Expedition doesn't really ever unlock the comforter with just the foot feed but I guess I've kind of trained myself to let off the Excelerator pedal and get back on it to disengage the torque converter when I want it to.... not exactly ideal but it's what it does currently and I guess I've adapted to it. (I think tapping the brake pedal does the same thing but I can't say I do that or have tried that recently).

Loaded ride quality, honestly it's only been with a travel trailer with weight distribution and it was not much different then unload with the weight distributing hitch, loading the weight farther back on the trailer will definitely bounce the truck more but without weight distributing hitch it would definitely be rather a rather squishy ride.

 

I tried this today. I had to haul the camper in for new tires and if you quickly let off completely and get back on the gas it will unlock the converter and stay unlocked as long as you are deep enough into the throttle.


tapping the brake doesn't work, but letting of completely does. Like you said, not ideal, but it does work. Seems like by letting off you are losing some momentum at just the time when you need it, but if you do it at the bottom of the hill it doesn't seem to slow you down like doing it half way up the hill.


good idea, I would have never thought of that. it works, but I still find it odd that it won't just unlock by stepping into it hard enough, and that it will work fine with the cruise. but at least this is a work-around for when you don't want to use the cruise. and it should eliminate a lot of downshifting that the cruise seems to cause.


just thought I'd report back that it does work just the way you said it worked for you.


the ride stinks, though. very harsh. livable, but harsh.