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RE: Personal Question $$$
I'm in the paid cash club. I actually have net zero debt, and since I am sliding into retirement I'm gonna have to keep it that way. It's worth maybe $30K. The trick would be finding someone other than me who also thinks it's worth $30K...
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/18/12 03:12pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO)
OK, my curiosity was peaked... Marvel Mystery Oil, which I use for various things around the shop but not as an oil or gas/fuel additive, is often used as an additive to oil and gas. Those who use it claim many wonderful things for it, those who don't use it claim many wonderful things for not using it. No one has any idea what they are really doing, I found zero documented test results. So - what is it? It is an ashless base SAE 10W oil stock, some solvent, and 600 ppm of phosphorus, which is an old-school anti-wear additive that was by and large replaced with ZDDP in the 1950's in typical engine oil. And Oil of Wintergreen to make it smell nice. And some smaller amounts of Boron and Sulphur, again anti-wear additives. So the main thing it's going to do is smell nice, add some oil to your gas, and probably do some long term harm to your catalytic converter, since phosphorus is known to degrade the insides of the converters (one reason why the current engine oils have reduced levels of ZDDP and phosphorus).
My fun waste of time for the day, I enjoyed reading about it :)
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/17/12 12:40pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO)
What are you going to use it for?
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/17/12 12:09pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: WDH making noise when turning?
If you have a friction type sway control, they will make a LOT of noise with turns at slow speeds. If you have a dual-cam sway control, it will make a little noise, but that is quite normal. You can and should lube the round bar receptacles in the hitch head, and it's arguable that you should or should not lube the cams. It does make them work smoother and since the idea is to force the cam into the center, smoother is good. Some tend to feel that the cam is also a friction device, so say you should not lube it. I personally put a little lube on mine when I had it. Mind you I had it for 20 plus years, so putting a little lube on was only good maintenance - they do start to wear after a long while...
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/17/12 05:14am |
Towing
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RE: Camping VS Hotels
Since you're from Florida, you've probably already seen the ocean-side - so how about mountains? They are cooler in the summertime, too.
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/16/12 09:24am |
Family Camping
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RE: first tow - 2005 F250 Powerstroke impressions
For some reason I can't post the rest of my report. Oh well.
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VintageRacer
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05/13/12 12:22pm |
Tow Vehicles
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first tow - 2005 F250 Powerstroke impressions
So I took the leap of faith last week and bought a mint 2005 F250 with 87K KM (under 50K miles). It's the Supercab XLT, 6 litre PS, five speed auto, 3.73 gear, 4WD. I just towed from Tatamagouche Nova Scotia to Dundas Ontario, a distance of 1800 Km over two days. Trailer is a 20 ft custom car hauler with a 7.5' roof (1 foot extra height compared to a standard car hauler, that weighs 4,500 lbs as loaded (almost empty, in other words). Truck was lightly loaded as well, just me, my wife, some small luggage and our cat...
First impression is it tows the load very well, and can run in 5th gear almost everywhere except up steeper hills. Tow/haul mode keeps it in a lower gear when running easy along 2 lane roads, so I switched it off. I also switched it off in stop and go traffic, and in town when I wanted to be able to coast more - the engine brake effect got annoying when I had to keep accelerating to stay at a slow constant speed. Power was fine, I tend to accelerate at a comfortable rate but the F250 did that kind of effortlessly while my Dodge Ram Hemi was flat out to get the same performance. Up hills, I was able to go up at the speed limit in 4th or 5th while the Dodge would be at 90 KMH/H in third gear. So all the expected performance improvements, but with my trailer and load I really wasn't pushing the diesel very hard.
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VintageRacer
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05/13/12 12:17pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Brake Inspection - Point of "No Return"
In a normal situation you can pull the hub and replace it without damaging the inner seal. That presumes the seal is already in good shape, and isn't damaged in the process. Just undo the outer nut, pull the hub off, do whatever to the brakes and put the hub back on. Where you need to replace the seal is when you remove it to get at the inner bearing. You probably need to remove and inspect the inner bearing far less often with ez-lube hubs than with the older type where you need to remove the bearings to repack when servicing.
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/13/12 05:05am |
Towing
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RE: Height difference after Dexter over/under kit
If you are going from springs on the bottom to springs on the top of the axle, then you have the bottom saddle, the axle itself, the top saddle and the thickness of the spring pack to make up the difference. I would think that is around 5" or so.
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/10/12 12:54pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Fuel Mileage - TT/TC
Get the TT. I get about the same mileage pulling a light trailer as I do hauling my TC. Pro - the TC/truck is a lot handier to drive, but the TT gets dropped off at the site and the truck is free to roam around empty.
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/08/12 01:13pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Would you tow with this veichle?
I think you'll be very happy. That is quite a small trailer, which should suit the jeep very well.
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/08/12 10:55am |
Tow Vehicles
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finally switched to diesel...
Well, I just bought a diesel pickup for my tow vehicle, and I sure hope it does what I hope it will. 2005 F250 XLT Supercab 6.75' bed 4WD 6L Powerstroke with the 5 speed auto, and it has an AFE air filter kit. Gorgeous truck, owned by an older couple in their 70's who used it to tow down to Florida every year, so it only has 50K miles and has never seen a northern winter! It came with a 16K Reese slider fifth wheel hitch, and has 2600 lb payload. I am really looking forward to seeing how it does with my 20 ft car trailer!
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/05/12 05:49am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: What's in your roadside emergency kit
I carry all filters (except air), a good selection of electrical connectors and wire, and electric diagnostic tools, a few things unique to my bus like air system regulators, a fairly complete set of tools (sockets up to 1.5", adjustable wrenches, cutters, pliers, screwdrivers), 1/2" and 3/4" torque wrenches, two jacks (20 ton and 10 ton), two run-up blocks, a spare tire, an air compressor, an impact wrench, a 4' breaker bar (loosen wheel nuts), the manual for the bus and the engine, and my two-stroke tune-up tool kit (I drive a Detroit 8V-71T engined bus). I also carry a spare starter motor - I have no idea why, but it saved my butt when the starter failed and I was able to tell the mechanic "no problem you don't have one in stock, I got a fresh rebuild right here..."
I could probably rebuild the engine with what I carry, but it all fits in a little tool kit, weighs less than 50 lbs. I could have changed that starter motor, but it was raining outside, and the mechanic had a nice warm dry bay that he could work in so I let him do it... :)
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/04/12 11:06am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Engine Brake
Infinitesimally. Consider that an engine brake is on a diesel engine, and that it only comes on when the engine is on over-run (truck pushing the engine, basically), so the engine is in a no-fuel condition (unlike gas engines, diesel engines inject no fuel when on over-run). That means there is no fuel being consumed while the engine brake is on, or off when coasting down a hill. The only reason is will consume a truly tiny bit more fuel is if you coast down the hill you'll be going a whole lot faster at the bottom, and be able to coast farther up the other side of the valley... In the real world if you do over-use the engine brake when you could be quite safely coasting at a slightly higher speed, you will use a bit more fuel. If you were going to use the service brakes anyway, no difference.
Brian
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/04/12 10:58am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Engine Brake
Gemstone, "jake brake" is like Kleenex - it's become a generic term for a compression brake amongst heavy haul truckers, and the OP is a heavy haul trucker, so that's why I posted the way I did. Notice I said that Jacobs does also make an exhaust brake... Jacobs calling their exhaust brake a Jake brake is actually really good marketing, I think. They are a great company with top of the line products, and tying that new product set back into a legendary product with decades of success is a terrific idea.
I have original jake compression brakes on my Detroit 8V-71T in my bus, and what a simple and great idea they are... You have them on your KW, so you know all about that too!
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VintageRacer
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05/04/12 08:12am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: weight distribution help
The bar rating is related to the tongue weight of the fully loaded trailer. I have always preferred to have the next size up of bar, so for 600 true lbs of tongue weight, I would go for the 800 to 1000 lb bars. I bought a new hitch for my new trailer, that has a tongue weight between 400 and maybe 700 lbs, and I find the 600 - 800 lb bars I bought are a little light. It depends on your tow vehicle and hitch as well. 600 lbs on a 2500 series pickup - you can't tell if the bars are on or off. Same deal on a light 1500 series and you need the heavier bars. What the bars do is cut down on porpoising, btw, in terms of ride quality.
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/04/12 08:00am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Engine Brake
They don't make a "Jake brake" for the 5.9 Cummins, but there are exhaust brakes available. As you probably know, the traditional Jake brake opened the exhaust valves just before TDC so using engine compression to brake the vehicle. The loud Jake rattle you hear from big trucks is the sound of the full compression pounding out the exhaust. Exhaust brakes do a good job and are available from several suppliers, including Dodge who sell an exhaust brake actually made by Jacobs.
http://www.bankspower.com/techarticles/show/17-How-An-Exhaust-Brake-Works
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/04/12 07:03am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 13k v 15k AC
If all that is on is the AC, then either one is fine on a 20 amp house circuit. 15K BTU draws around (it varies with make and outside temps) 13A running, and instantaneous surge around twice that when starting. You can sometimes run a 15K AC on a 15 amp breaker, but sometimes they will pop after a while.
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/03/12 08:33am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: F250 vs F350
I have to ask, because I am thinking of looking at the F250 myself - it seriously weighs 8200 basically empty and has a GVWR of 10,000? Making a payload of only 1,800 lbs? That just seems daft - my Dodge 2500 has a 3k lbs and that is the range I need to stay in. I thought the Dodge 2500 Megacab Cummins was the only three quarter ton pickup with lousy payload. I guess I gotta do more research.
FWIW I don't believe in exceeding the manufacturers GVWR, you never know when you will be in a region where that limit is the law. I could care less what anyone else does, but I stick to the sticker!
Brian
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VintageRacer
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05/02/12 01:14pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Rust???
Normally the cure for a rusty steel tank is to take it out, empty it, put in a large handful of nuts and bolts, rattle it around for half an hour to get off any rust chunks, put in a sealer and slosh it all around for 100% coverage, let it cure, and reinstall the tank. Eastwood and other car/bike restoration companies have the sealer. Alternatively put a big fuel filter on the output.
Brian
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VintageRacer
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04/26/12 08:26am |
Toy Haulers
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