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Forum
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RE: Fuel Economy
"The Chevy dealer tells me that the new 2500 w/6.6L gas and 10 speed will deliver 20-25% better mileage (from the 9-10 mpg that I get now while towing) than that the current 1/2 ton with 6.2L gas and 6 speed trans."
You really don't believe anything a car salesman says, do you?
Tried that when one showed me a quote for a new truck. I said, "So since you never believe anything a car salesman says, it's free right?"
Apparently you do need to believe SOME things a car salesman says.
OK...how about: You can't believe anything a car salesman says...unless it's in their favor.
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valhalla360
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11/15/23 07:07am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Honda Pilot Towing
Problem is most of your small SUVs are no longer sturdy body on frame designs that are well suited to towing.
The "tow rating" is mostly about how much pull can be generated without overheating the engine. Very often the "tow rating" is not the limiting factor in what you can tow:
- Maximum Hitch Weight: Online the honda appears to be 500lb. Assuming you run with a safe 15% of the trailer weight, that back calculates a trailer GVWR of around 3300lb. This is often limited on unibody vehicles as the "frame" is just sheet metal folded over a few times rather than solid metal beams.
- There is also the payload. I couldn't find it quickly online but if you check the drivers door there should be a yellow sticker that shows it for your specific truck (it will vary based on the options you choose). So if you have the max 500lb hitch weight and it comes with a 1400lb payload, that leaves 900lb for passengers, gear in the truck (coolers, firewood, etc....) and anything aftermarket like running boards that you add. A family of 4 with 2 strapping teenage boys can easily weigh 800lb, so it wouldn't take much to push you over the limit.
If you are really wanting an SUV and want to go beyond a popup or a tiny travel trailer, I would be looking at something like a suburban or expedition but even there check the payload ratings, many are spec'd for comfort and sacrifice payload.
Unless you need more than 4-5 passenger seats, the 1/2 ton pickups give plenty of interior room and are quite comfortable. Even if you go to a 1/2ton pickup, watch the payload numbers. While the max hitch weight will be much better, the payload on some isn't much better than the SUVs.
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valhalla360
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11/15/23 12:28am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: How to manually expand a slide out
What type of slide does it have:
- Rack and Pinnion: Typicaly a hole on the opposite side with a long handled tool.
- Cable: you need to go above the slide and fit a tool into the motor and turn with a drill.
- Hydralic: there may be a place on the hydraulic pump to fit a tool and turn with a drill.
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valhalla360
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11/14/23 02:06pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Water tank has a drain?
There are typically 2 outlets (not counting the one going to the pump):
- One comes out the bottom of the tank and is used for winterizing. Some of the new RVs use a 1.5" blade valve (similar to gray water tank drain). Older models use a 5/8" hose with a cap or ball valve on the end.
- One is attached at the top of the tank and is used for overflow. If you overfill your tank, the water will go out this hose and drain on the ground. Our last trailer had that and once it started, it would syphon and drain maybe 5-8 gallons before it stopped...on a 40gal tank, not so great but you also need to be careful as the tanks aren't designed to be pressurized, so just capping it off can result in bad things if you aren't careful.
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valhalla360
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11/14/23 02:04pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Heavy-duty short bed ...
What about the tank configuration prohibits putting it on a long bed? Usually, you can just put a spacer in and have a bit of open space at he front of the bed.
Reality is, no wants this configuration, so they likely decided it's not worth producing.
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valhalla360
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11/14/23 01:59pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Fuel Economy
1/2 ton trucks have made some nice improvements in mpg running empty but for the most part those improvements don't translate into better towing mpg...it still takes power to tow and the old engines were already operating near peak thermal efficiency when towing. A lot of this comes from running smaller displacement turbo charged engines. This works because your average 1/2 ton almost never uses the full "rated" hp, so you aren't really stressing the engine much. The smaller engine is able to be kept near peak efficiency and has less internal friction losses when running empty.
3/4 ton trucks haven't seen the same improvements as they haven't gone with smaller displacement turbocharged engines. This makes sense as they are more likely to be using the more o the available power and using it regularly. Removing the heat from an engine putting out 300hp is tougher with a small displacement engine.
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valhalla360
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11/14/23 12:09am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Progressive RV Insurance requires you to have another car?
How about this...perhaps look for a LEGAL workaround that still gets you what you want/need. If the question is about whether or not you have another REGISTERED vehicle in the household, then what would be the LEAST expensive way to answer that truthfully? Would a motorcycle or even an old motorized scooter count as a "vehicle"? If so, can you buy a VERY inexpensive (...I'm not even sure if it would need to be functional) motorcycle and register it with the DMV? (Note: From what you provided us, it doesn't even ask if you have this extra "vehicle" insured or not...just "registered"). I believe registering a motorcycle is much less than a car. Maybe you could buy a pile of parts motorcycle for $100 and register it for very little and then you can answer the question from Progressive truthfully. Then, make sure you keep it registered. Just a thought. Even this is a bit "off" in my mind, but at least you would be able to honestly say that you answered their application question truthfully.
Do not lie on your application...it could turn out very badly for you and your family.
Good luck!
Chris
Even this gets pretty sketchy. If it was done clearly with the intent to mislead...they may still call it fraud and the court may agree.
Better to buy a $500 beater that runs...and ask for confirmation in writing that your plan is acceptable. If you get an email back that it's good, nothing to worry about.
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valhalla360
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11/13/23 04:46am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: We just bought a fifth wheel! Several questions ...
If you will be off grid for months, can you put in the house solar system first and feed the rv off that?
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valhalla360
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11/11/23 11:12am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: We just bought a fifth wheel! Several questions ...
If you have shore power there is no purpose in upgrading the battery bank, beyond a single cheap 12v battery.
AGM are for planes or boats that do not stay level, since the acid won't spill. They offer no advantages in an RV, doubly so if it stays parked.
If you don't have shore power, 6v golf cart batteries are a good traditional approach, alternatively lithium are becoming more cost competitive but make sure your charging system is compatible.
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valhalla360
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11/11/23 12:50am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Fifth Wheel Tag Renewal
Nobody uses "Trip Permits" in these high fee States???
Calicrazy is well known for taking a guilty until proven innocent approach to tax collection...License plate reader picks you up in state and checks your official residence and you get a tax bill with penalties...plus in this case, you would be guilty even if the tax is excessive.
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valhalla360
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11/10/23 06:55am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Ok to run shore power without battery?
Also the NAPA guy said that a deep cycle RV battery is not really appropriate for my set up (basically kept at full charge by the smart converter) since it never discharges. Opinions on that?
Lead acid batteries are happiest at 100% charge. All types of lead acid. But if the charger keeps charging after full, it will boil off the water causing damage.
Lithium are not happy staying for long periods at 100%. Better for storage at 20 to 80%.
Unless you are running 6v batteries, 99% chance the internals of your battery are a starting battery just with a different label slapped on.
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valhalla360
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11/10/23 12:45am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Ok to run shore power without battery?
Obviously, something is wrong with the battery charger...so best not to use it at all until it can be repaired or replaced.
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valhalla360
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11/09/23 01:13pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2025 Ram 1500
I'd rather have the range extending generator and the drivetrain pure electric than plug in hybrid with transmission. Driving experience of EV > driving hybrid. We'll see what the price points come in at for those Ram options.
They are both hybrids just variations (serial vs parallel). PIH tend to have bigger electric motors and the gas motor drives a generator because they must operate only on electric most of the time, so serial makes more sense.
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valhalla360
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11/08/23 10:22am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Fifth Wheel Tag Renewal
Paid $300 for our 5er in Michigan...and that's a one time price...for as long as you own the trailer.
Enjoy Calicrazy.
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valhalla360
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11/07/23 11:03pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: 2025 Ram 1500
A plug-in-hybrid really is a smart option
- 90% of the time, you are just daily commuting with relatively short miles and a truck with 100mile battery range is fine.
- 10% of the time, you exceed the battery range but it's a non-issue as the generator kicks in and you can go as long as you want.
Honestly, the generator is probably overkill but more for marketing. A little 50kw generator would solve most of the issue. Just need some programing that integrates with the trailer brake controller and GPS...the truck does some calculations and if you will exceed the battery range, it kicks in the generator from the start of the days drive rather than waiting for the battery to run down.
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valhalla360
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11/07/23 11:00pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Which is the better battery configiration
Call it what you like, my three 12 volt AGMs do fine on an all electric 45' coach if you do very little dry camping...we do virtually none.
If you never dry camp, buy a single flooded 12v as cheap as you can (around $100) and it will do fine.
There saved you an extra 120lb and probably $500-800 over AGMs which make zero sense in an RV unless you are doing barrel rolls on a regular basis with it.
Now back to your thread talking about actual apples to apples comparisons....
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valhalla360
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11/04/23 12:05am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: "Service Trailer Brake System" message on Suburban
Might check the wiring near the trailer plug. If there is a short, it may have closed the circuit that the truck checks to determine if a trailer is attached but not all the circuits check out, so it gives you a warning. Particularly if the issue is intermittent.
When the trailer is hooked up, all the circuits connect, so it thinks things are fine and enough juice may be getting back to operate the trailer brakes...so the warning goes away and your brakes work.
Had an issue with our ford where the wire to one of the trailer brakes was chaffed and a strand was intermittently hitting the frame setting off a similar issue.
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valhalla360
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10/31/23 08:07am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Which is the better battery configiration
Properly set up is not possible unless you wish to buy a special purpose alternator. Or add a diode type device to the existing alternator.
The computer in the engine "looks" at the starter battery voltage. When the starter battery has recovered--charging is scaled back. Once that happens there is little or no charging of the house bank.
A dc to DC takes the incoming voltage and boosts it to an acceptable voltage for charging the house bank.
My dc to DC charger does a maximum of 20 amps. That works out to less than 5 amps per battery.
Because I have a larger than usual bank, I chose to set the output voltage of the dc to DC at 14.7 volts. Don't do this unless you have researched what the ideal charging voltage is for the house bank.
Except the house bank is connected to the starting bank when running, so the engine computer sees a lower voltage and keeps the amps up...not 100-200amps but if properly set up, it's still sending maybe 20 amps back which will largely negate the draw from the fridge.
If you want to fast charge, you need to upgrade the pathway to the house bank and make sure the alternator is one designed for continuous high output. Used to be quite popular with boats to upgrade to a 300amp alternator...now it would be simpler to add 400w of solar since most people drive during the day when the sun s out.
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valhalla360
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10/31/23 12:58am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: an article about RV'ing
What do you think about my new green RV?
The engine is small (only 4 horsepower), but it gets me to where I'm going...
https://i.imgur.com/IEQDUyBl.jpg
I'll be installing solar next week.
I am having one problem though....My black waste tank sensors aren't working properly. Does anyone know where I can find some ice to put in the tank so that I can drive around and clean those sensors??
:)
I hear you can find some up by Donner Pass...just make sure you take enough friends...in case you get the munchies.
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valhalla360
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10/30/23 07:51am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Free VPN?
Aw, snap - VPN at uwsp.edu needs MFA to connect. Probably "their" university password. My laptop doesn't even have MFA other than a password :)
Yeah, I tried the link and it appears you need an account with the university...Assuming the university isn't handing out free accounts, back to commercial products.
We have the free version of Tunnel Bear which gives you 2GB per month. Not enough for watching videos but plenty to handle the stray site that gets cranky if you are out of the country.
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valhalla360
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10/30/23 05:48am |
Technology Corner
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