Towing Vehicle

you got just what i want
now i will practice my whining!!!
"but peggy kate has one i want one too!!!!"
then i will give her this look
seriously tho it is great you could find on just when you needed it!!!!
have fun and let me know how it tows
jack
ps. please do not tell me your new gas mileage. i know it will beat 7.5mpg all to heck.

Hi!

Got the truck. I drove it home. I bought it I drive it! I am liking it already. It has some beef to it! I love the way it sounds! It feels huge, has the long bed and quad cab. PAtrick is out there putting in the new hitch now. Okay, he works on it he drives it too. Maybe we will make our Wednesday gig now.

Whine long and loud Jack! I vote you get one too! It will make that trip in October so much better!!!

I have wanted one of these for years, so I sure do feel lucky to have it now. I am going to have to work seven days a seek to pay for it!

We shall see how it tows tomorrow. Friday is the real trial! That is an hour there and another back.

I won't tell you what the Diesel Beast gets (it came with a FULL tank! (haven't checked yet but the tank is five feet long and we think holds at least 40 gallons)), but I will tell you we were getting 10 to the gallon with the Chevy! 7.5 ... OUCH!

Actually we are thinking of making bio-diesel. I had Better run out and buy a fryer! It is a serious consideration, the bio diesel anyway.

Thanks for the good thoughts!

Kate

Kate Being from Wisconsin also, you might want to check with Anamax in green bay. They use my fryer oil to make bio wille, should be able to tell you where to get it at least Ron

Wow Kate, that is really cool.

I am dreaming and scheming for a new tow rig too. My current one is a Ford 350 with a gas 460 and it's built for towing but it just ain't got the stuff and I know one day it will leave me stranded on the way to a job.

Way to go, let us all know how that beast pulls!

quote:

Originally posted by Kinsman:

I am dreaming and scheming for a new tow rig too. My current one is a Ford 350 with a gas 460 and it's built for towing but it just ain't got the stuff and I know one day it will leave me stranded on the way to a job.

We have 7 Ford trucks out here on the farm; a couple of them have the 460. Long running engines, our freezer truck has over 200,000 miles, and runs great. They get in that 7 mph range, $75 roundtrip to the Twin Cities markets, but I think you have to drive 12-14,000 miles/year to make up the fuel economy.

My hog hauler is a 95 Powerstroke, 5 speed manual, 5" exhaust, cold air intake, and chipped up to the "extreme" level. It get around 16 mph. It easily does burnouts with posi. When my pigs go "wee-wee-wee all the way to town", they mean it.

kate,
well i guess i am like the kid in the dirty harry movie. i jist gots to know. when you have an idea of mpg let me know. we knew our 1500 was marginal for the rig but both of them we paid cash for. you know the drill. used 3500 here are rare to find so if we do it it will have to be a special order work special like my 96 is (no radio, no nothing, just air).
heat down here is our biggest problem and does effect the speed that i am able to tow at especially in head winds and those we have everytime due to offshore winds. it's an ocean thing and happens every afternoon. makes ya good towing in crosswinds tho.
thanks for the help
jack

Hi.

We did our Wednesday gig today. Towed with the Big Diesel Beast. It is a very short run for us, less than a mile. But, it was sheer pleasure. Knowing the tow vehicle is capable of doing the job makes your mind rest so much easier. Our trailer is heavy, but this pulls it with ease. It just completes the package and makes everything better. I NEVER thought we would own a truck like this. It just seemed out of reach, but it all played out for us. I am still amazed.

Patrick is getting a list together of the things he needs so he can start building a bio-diesel processing thing (I am not sure what you call them). We have wanted to do this for some time
just never had the diesel vehicle to work with. Does Anamax make bio-diesel? That is what we want to do for our own use.

I guess I am here to tell you to keep whining, schemeing, and dreaming, because anything is possible. I hope you all get the tow vehicle you are dreaming about!

Best to everyone! And Thanks!

Kate

PS ... Let you know how the 100 mile round trip goes Friday!

Hi Jack.

I know, I know! We were pulling that trailer with a Chevy 1/2 ton. So hard on the poor truck, but it worked hard and gave us all it had. We will rebuild the transmission, in time, so Patrick will have an "in the woods" truck.

I should have a good idea of the mpg tomorrow night. We were getting about 10 mpg on the Chevy truck. Diesel here is running $3.02 which is cheaper than gas right now. We are planning to run a trial batch of biodiesel Sunday. Make up a small batch to work on the product before building the main processing unit. I know Peggy said gas is really hitting you hard. Now there is a selling point if I ever heard one!

The truck we bought is 2 wheel drive. Not a common animal up here. Everyone wants 4 wheel drive. But, if we had 4 wheel drive with the gooseneck I think it would sit way too high for pulling the trailer. The back end of the trailer would be tilted to the extreme. Two wheel is right for us. With the trailer on the ball, the truck still is not on the overload springs (Patrick told me that).

With the Chevy, when we went up a hill or even from starting up after a stop, it took everything to get it moving. You could feel the strain, even in the passenger seat! This one almost seems hungry to take off. Not a bit of a sign that it is even work for it.

I have read that diesels don't get that great on milage until they reach 86,000 and then it is like a switch is turned on and they jump to the 16 to 20 mpg. We are past that, so it will be interesting to see what we get tomorrow. I will post it. I also want to find out exactly what the trailer weighs. I was afraid to know before!

We are on the front end of a heat wave. I thought I would expire yesterday in the trailer! They are calling for high 90's this weekend, so we will be testing in the hottest of weather for us. It is dry as an old biscuit up here now. Grass is buned out and the earth is parched. Too hot is not great for sales, except for the ones that don't want to cook because of the heat. Flea Market could be dead this weekend. Everyone will hit the lakes. Still, we will be there.

Keep your eyes open on the 3500. We never expected to see one come our way. You just never know. You see very few on the lots in this neck of the woods, especially 2wd. I am pulling for you!

Sorry I missed your post here yesterday! Heat must have gotten to me!

Take Care. I hope that truck finds you!

Kate

Hogs goin' wee wee wee....heh heh .

Farmer, seems like you got a good rig there....16mpg and burnouts!

I haven't weighed my trailer but it is heavy. I smell a big diesel in my future.

Hi.

Just in from the Flea Market. Very hot here. Made the trip down this morning in record time in the rain. Seems to be cutting about 15 minutes off the trip time wise.

Diesel jumped in price today, but it is still 5 cents cheaper than gas!

Should have the mpg for you soon. We have about 30 in town miles on this tank just running withpout the trailer. So it will not be a true reading. He is doing the mpg now so I will post it here.

Hmm, about 12 mpg. I have to also add we are automatic transmission and we ran the air full blast all the way home.

So, we improved our mpg. Cut the price by 5 cents per gallon. Chilled out after a really hot day at work. And had the peace of mind working for us as well as a quicker trip.

I can't complain. When we fill up after tomorrow's run it will be just the trip to work and back. I also might suffer it out and see what happens with no air conditioning running. Then again, after a day inside a hot trailer cooking I might just need that chill down!

I thought we would get better milage, but Patrick tells me running the air and the auto transmission are key factors.

Anyway you shake it, we are still better off. Let you know what tomorrow's mpg is.

Have a Great weekend everyone!
Kate

Kate,
I'm so happy for you. And don't short yourself on the a/c. I want one....
I want to hear the piggies go wee, wee, wee, too.
Peggy

Hi.

When we left the market today it was 100 degrees. The air ran on the way home. I can check non ac miles another cooler day! The trailer at one point measured 102 degrees inside. It may have been hotter at other times during the day. This is way hotter than what we reasonably expect in summer. This was a fifty degree difference from last night to today. Even with a fan running in the trailer, it was mighty hot in there.

I don't have the mpg yet. Patrick has gone to sleep and I will have to post them tomorrow.

I can say that running the air on maximum for fifty some miles, the temperature gauge on the truck never rose above what the norm is. The cab was downright cold too. Dodge does know how to make a darned good AC unit !

Thank you ! I want you to have one too! I have my positive thoughts going for you!

My piggies went wee wee wee to market, but even in this heat I sold out of the piggy sandwiches! So, all was quiet on the way home. Just a few cows mooing.

Now I remember why I left the Virgin Islands! Too hot for me! I hate to break a sweat before I even get out of bed! I have great sympathy today for all of you in hotter climates across the country. I can see why air would be such a nice-ity.

Well, a couple more days of this weather and then back to normal. I am glad we are off tomorrow!

Take care!

Kate

Hi.

Just a quick update on MPG. We are getting about 15 mpg now pulling the trailer. The weather is cooler and we are not running the AC. Maybe that accounts for the difference, maybe it is also getting used to driving a new vehicle? Anyway, 15 is pretty good in my book.

Kate

kate,
thanks. that is real close to what i have been hearing (everytime i fill the gennie gas cans i ask the dodge and chevy tourists what they are getting).
from where i set with my current gas mileage a change up to a 2500 or 3500 cummins or dura max would save me about 3 bucks a mile!!!!
plus it would allow us to range further afield to do selcted festivals which is what is in our business plan anyway.
again thanks for taking the time to let me know. i really appreciate it
jack
man i still can't get over saving 3 bucks a mile. 12 miles would save enough that i could operate my generators no cost for 2 days!!

Hi.

I am supposed to be at work but I ran home to pick up something and stopped to check the boards. Heh, heh. Nice to work a mile from home!

Jack, getting further afield is a big bonus for us. We just took on a new flea market on Tuesdays in Hayward Wisconsin. Home of Famous Dave's first restaurant! Interesting comments we are hearing too! We are new to them right now, but I think we will fare well. Funny thing is everyone knows what brisket is there! He has educated them for us, thank you very much!

I think you have thoroughly justified getting a new truck!

Kate

Hey Jack,
Splain to me how you save 3 bucks a mile? I am missing something. What is fuel going for there?

Thanks!
Kate

kate, math works out like this.
current mpg is 7.5
cummins mpg is 15 mpg
gas is 3.05 here, diesel is 2.95
so by halving 3.05 i get a savings of 1.53 per mile
12 miles gives me 18.30 in pocket or about 6 gallons of free gas for the gennies.
opps thats only 24 hours of running time for them

Jack ...

Gas equals 40.66666 cents per mile

Diesel is 19.66666 cents per mile

Savings of 21 cents per mile. Dollar back every five miles.

So you save about three dollars every 15 miles, right?

?? Kate

If you want to have some fun, trick it out with a power chip. I went with the "Edge", and ran it on the "tow" mode at first. Added bigger exhust and and upgraded the air intake and now run on the "exteme" mode.

It will take a while to make up for the $400 chip pricetag, but in the mean time I enjoy the power and sound of it (Gearhead speaking).

Hi Roger,

Does this save you fuel, controling the fuel injection, or does it give you the power to boost the HP ? Or does it do both?

Could you explain a bit more for me please.

Another question ... how much weight are you pulling when you take those little piggies to market?

Thanks!

Kate

quote:

Originally posted by Katelesley:
Hi Roger,

Does this save you fuel, controling the fuel injection, or does it give you the power to boost the HP ? Or does it do both?

It boosts power, and mpg.

Could you explain a bit more for me please.

www.edgeproductsinc.com

Another question ... how much weight are you pulling when you take those little piggies to market?

14,000# pulling a 7X24' Eby aluminum gooseneck.

Thanks!

Kate

kate,
you are absolutely right!!!
i learned a very important lesson--
never do math with a 112f heat index while standing near an fec running on max temp.
it don't work, no sir, it just don't work!!!!

Hi.

At 112 degrees, actual or heat index, I don't do anything a'tall!



Kate