Trip report:
32 nights, ~5,200 miles driven (+trip across Lake Michigan)
15 nights in campgrounds 3 nights in hotels 14 nights with family
5,200 miles / ~9 mpg = ~578 gal of fuel consumed. 1
578 * ~$3.30 / gal = ~$1,900 for fuel (That is very rough and I could add it all up from my debit card statements but I choose the path of willful ignorance. For what it’s worth, if gas had stayed the $3.00 / gal that I assumed back in January, we would only have saved $166.)
Mechanical:
Only one out-and-out failure:
-Check engine light came on day one climbing out of the gorge into Washington. Scan tool said: no input from pass. side O2 sensor. Amazon sent two new O2 sensors and an O2 sensor wrench to Michigan. Replaced them in 30 min. in Katey’s mom’s driveway and light stayed off all the way home (and I think hot idle is better?)
Things that were finicky but manageable:
- Transmission ran hot when torque converter unlocked (so, any time under 50 mph basically)
- Transmission leaked unless kept at exactly the right fluid level which was tricky
- Expensive Redhead steering box leaked about a pint of fluid :(
- Radiator fan clutch stuck ‘on’ for most of the state of Montana (return leg), which if you’re going to pick a failure mode is the one you want, but it was a loud few hundred miles. It fixed itself when we got to Washington.
- Camper fridge refused to switch from propane to 120v on the last night when plugged in. ?
- Camper door is kind of falling apart and Gorilla-Taped together at the bottom.
- Pretty sure my front shocks are toast (they were new in January).
- Truck-to-camper pigtail connection was funky (it always has been) and had to be zip-tied together to avoid losing certain lights.
Stuff I worried about but wasn’t a big deal:
- 36 year old camper -didn’t- end up a pile of toothpicks
- Semi-float 14-bolt rear end didn’t eject axle/wheel
- Engine didn’t use excessive oil (1.5 qts overall), lose oil pressure or make bad sounds or grenade
- No overheating (didn’t have to turn off the AC!)
- No flats or blowouts!
Mechanical prep work that paid off:
The entire steering and front suspension is new parts + new shocks all around. All of the brake parts are brand new. Tires about a year old (265/75 R16 General Grabber ATx- I really like these tires). I put Timbren helper “springs” (basically big rubber bumpstops) on the rear. Before we left I had the wheels and tired re-balanced and all the valve stems replaced.
Even though the steering gear leak was irritating, the steering was tight and the truck handled extremely well with the camper. Not having to fight the steering or worry about sway made it easy to put down a lot of miles without excessive fatigue. The total weight when loaded was just about 10,000 lbs which is a lot for an 8,600 lbs GVWR truck. (We were still under on the front and rear axle gross weights.)
To help with weight balance and make the spare tire accessible, I installed a front receiver hitch and put the spare up front on a cargo rack that I got from Craigslist. That’s also where we strapped Henry’s bike. That added an extra 3’ to the front of the rig but moved the 100 lb spare up there and off the rear axle. I ended up offsetting that by buying another cargo rack for the rear (+2’ receiver extension because the camper hangs 2’ off the end of the bed) where I strapped on four totes with various supplies (propane grill, tools, camper water hose, etc.) That was probably another 250 lbs hanging two feet behind the rear bumper. Overall, the Timbren overloads seemed expensive but I think they’re as effective as airbags and without the additional plumbing and hardware.
My last order of business was to install an auxiliary transmission filter, second aux cooler, and transmission temp gauge in an A-pillar pod. This turned out to be a real bonus: I suspect the torque converter in this truck is slipping way too much and causing very high fluid temps when it’s unlocked. I was able to watch the temps and play with throttle and speed to keep it managed. The gauge said it hit 250 coming out of the gorge in second gear with 100+ degree ambient temps but never acted weird and the fluid doesn’t look or smell burnt. (And I say, “the gauge said” because I’m not 100% sure the gauge is accurate. Going to use a more comprehensive scan tool to read the transmission’s own sensor and compare it to the added gauge.)
The daily upkeep:
It’s a lot easier to poke around on a cool vehicle than a hot one, so even when we prepared the camper / campsite for departure the night prior, I left the “walkaround” for mornings. Every morning before departure I would check the oil, coolant, and power steering fluid levels, as well as do a general under-hood visual inspection. Because I was monitoring the transmission temperature so closely, I would also pull the transmission dipstick and inspect the fluid color and smell. I also did a daily visual of the tires, looking for any obvious damage or deflation. Every other day I would check the tire pressure with a gauge.
A note about the daily upkeep:
It might seem excessive to check all that stuff every day, and maybe it is. But given the significant amount of work that I was demanding of the truck for a sustained period of time, it seemed prudent to be watching for something to be out of the ordinary. There is a big difference between realizing in a relatively civilized campground that something isn’t right versus facing complete engine failure along side the road in Middle of Nowhere North Dakota.
An aside: this is a block quote that lives out in the middle here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean dictum fermentum tellus aliquam convallis. Nullam sed luctus magna, eu tristique velit. Duis molestie ex eu dui blandit finibus. Vestibulum faucibus porta iaculis. Nullam a tortor sit amet tellus consequat pretium in sed lectus. Suspendisse sit amet felis eget ligula vestibulum sagittis. Nam laoreet ex ex, eget pretium nulla hendrerit mollis. Quisque eget tempor tellus, aliquet egestas massa. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Phasellus lacus quam, imperdiet quis velit nec, rhoncus luctus magna.
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Footnote test! ↩