Heh.

*throws the tow rope around a mountan*


"Honey, we're taking a short cut."

"What short cut?"

"The one I'm about to make..."

 

That made me laugh...

 

let's say 3600-4000 tops. I have never met anyone who packs 1000lbs. of gear. I know, people are gonna say "but once you fill the water tanks thats 8.6 lbs per gallon." Most trailer towers like this don't haul a tank of freshwater, unless they use it to adjust tongue weight, and most camp at rv parks and campgrounds that have sewage dump stations. So the holding tanks are empty when towing.

I'll agree that its gonna be pushing 4000. But no more. A good dealer should let you take it for a "test tow" to see how comfortable you are with it and your tow vehicle, before you buy. They may come with you, but they'll let you do it.

 

Hey Evil,

People used to doubt me at first... but now i'm known around town as the crazy inline 6 guy that hooks up to anything.

Last month I pulled a guy that was jackknifed towing two cars heading south if you know what I mean. He was blocking traffic and the tow truck couldn't get to him. I just drove down the sidewalk and told the cops I could pull him out. This was during a severe storm. I yanked the crap outta his truck and managed to get all of his cars straight after 2 tries. The best part was there was tire smoke everywhere and the cops looked really happy that I was there. The first person stuck behind that mess was a lifted Z71.... I kinda glanced at him with this "c'mon dude, grow a pair and put your right foot to the floor look"...

This year i've already pulled a stranded semi (in first gear) to a safer place to check out his truck. He was stuck halfway in the slow lane and people were about to cream the poor guy. I pulled over and asked if I could try pulling him about a mile up the road to a big parking lot and he agreed. I'll admit it... I didn't know if I could do it or not. I had 2 tow straps and I decided i'd give it one shot and just yank him and keep the momentum up. Yes this was a loaded semi with a flat bed full of wood. YES MY FOOT WAS ON THE FLOOR AT 4k RPM LOL....

Then there's my dad's friend that has a monster of a John Deere 4WD tractor that had the starter go out. I hooked up my truck to the front of it and pull started while he was towing a cutter and a hayrake. I later had to do it again while he was towing the round bailer.

Yeah... i'm the crazy inline guy that hooks his truck to anything.

What you'll learn about the 300 is they can literally tow ANYTHING no matter how heavy it is. You need to have really steep gears to do it though. The trick is how you start off. You really have to just floor it and be agressive with the clutch. You can't be easy on it while getting something huge up and moving. The other thing is you can't go for a very long distance either. I don't have any specs in front of me... but the diesels of the 40's to maybe early 60's probably didn't have a whole lot more power than our 300's do today. They have about the same dang power band too... so that's something to think about...they were moving huge trailers...

My ultimate goal is I'd like to hook up my truck to a train one day... just to see if I could budge it.

I go through U-joints about 3 times a year sometimes more with all my crazy antics but it's worth it. I use my Ford truck to it's fullest potential and I love doing it.

 

are you joking?

 

GOOD FOR U CJSTEAK!! damn i love hearing good towing stories. it makes me so proud of my 4.9.

 

Well, dad gum! Thats unstopable, probally took care of it and grew up to be a big angry Behemoth, with giant loins ( if you know what I mean) lol!!! Yall guys, I'm not sure what kind of transmission gears I have. I just wonder how I find what kind of gears that I have? She'll peel out if im at 1700 rpm and I hit the gas, she barks. Has anyone ran 20w-50 in their truck? If so what is it like? I got a boss thats telling me its not a bad idea to put heavy oil but I don't ever tow with her. My boss told me he had a chebbie 350 v8 and used 20w-50, I don't know if I want to put that in the motor. He also told me that it keeps it from leaking and heavier oil will produce more torque? Is this true? I don't know guys....?

 

It seems to me at least in a colder climate, heavier oil will slow it down. I doubt there are any torque gains associated with heavier oil. It does offer more protection at higher temps.

 

I agree, I know you'll get worser gas miledge but there a catch... more lubercation. Hey guys, theres one thing I don't understand about exhaust... they say if you put a flowmaster in place of the oem muffler and put dual exhuast you'll get better miledge? How is that? I don't understand... but if you run straight pipes you get the worst miledge. Better miledge what about the torque? I don't understand...

 

The OEM muffler and dual cats are a flow restriction, as well as the pipe size. Meaning the piston has to work to overcome the back pressure created to evacuate the cylinder.

Replacing the with high flow cat and muffler and pipes between 2.5" and 3" inches have been found to be near optimal for reducing back pressure while maintaining exhaust velocity. Velocity needs to be maintained at a level that helps create a "vacuum" effect to reduce the load on the piston while evacuating the cylinder. The negitive economy is usually found when the pipes are too large too maintain velocity.

Single or dual pipes are mainly a matter of choice for the sound.

 

Good post, well stated !!!

David

 

Towing a small camper trailer, I'd say that should be a sure bet and even well within specs. You don't need a V10 to tow, you may need a V10 to tow at 80mph or 70 uphill but its not required.

I've done a lot of towing with my I-6, the worst was a gross of 24,500 across I-80 coast to coast, there's one big grade after truckee, 9% I think, I did end up all the way down in 1st and at about 90% power, maybe 95% but it held a solid 2600 rpm all the way up the hill. I'd never suggest anyone tow a 19k # gooseneck with a 250 4x4 (with the ld rear axle and 3.73's)

I find that towing heavy trailers and the full size backhoe tends to tear
out the motor mounts, my theory is that if you tow/haul within the published limits, you'll likely never have a mount failure. I'm easy on the clutch, getting up to an 8000 pound trailer rolling does not require feathering the clutch as the six is happy at 1000 rpms. The 6 has lots of torque but about 60 horsepower, it'll move almost anything eventually.

Jason

 

I hauled in excess of 12k behind my 84. I had little to no trouble getting the load moving... stopping was a different story.

 

Actually, I didn't get a chance to hit a scale to get weighed but
a few months back I loaded up the gooseneck trailer with timber
logs. The total net was 1800 bdft of fresh cut pine and 1800,
as sawlogs they were pretty heavy. After milling, still green,
I had the sawyer load on the pine and 1200 bdft of fresh hickory
from my neighbor, the combined load was really really heavy.

It was at one point, getting wheelspin on clean pavement,
slightly damp and I'd have to estimate the tongue weight
at around 6000 lbs. I think that's when it crushed the right side
motor mount... again.

-Jason

 

People don't realize it but these motors do generate enough grunt to break parts.