OT shook down

On Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:31:59 GMT, "Larry L" wrote:

Well after impatiently waiting 500 miles like Dodge suggests before towing
anything with my new truck,

today, I took it for a short 'shake down' cruise pulling my travel trailer

Wow, what a difference from the old one ... TONS of power and I LOVE the
'Jake Brake' feature, something I've never had before



Yeah, I know this has zero to do with fly fishing and that you, personally,
don't give a **** .... but I just had to tell someone g and everyone else
is out of the country, or in class, or at work

Are you getting anything close to the same mileage as the older truck?

TC,
R

wrote


Are you getting anything close to the same mileage as the older truck?



yeah, right about the same, ... not better, but not as bad as I first feared
.... still only have 600 miles on it, so it will do better in time

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:02:36 GMT, "Larry L" wrote:


wrote


Are you getting anything close to the same mileage as the older truck?



yeah, right about the same, ... not better, but not as bad as I first feared
... still only have 600 miles on it, so it will do better in time

That's surprising (to me, based upon purely anecdotal info), but happily so for
you, I'm sure. Refresh my memory - what year/make/engine version/etc. was your
"old" truck and what did it get MPG-wise? I'm pretty curious about this, even
though it is anecdotal. I have a friend who has a mid-90s Dodge that gets in
the mid-20s MPG, even pulling a trailer (cargo tag-along or travel 5th wheel),
and he just had it repainted, etc., in lieu of replacing it because the new
Dodges get something like 15. OTOH, if your experience is that there is little
difference...

TC and TIA,
R

wrote

That's surprising (to me, based upon purely anecdotal info), but happily
so for
you, I'm sure. Refresh my memory - what year/make/engine version/etc. was
your
"old" truck and what did it get MPG-wise? I'm pretty curious about this,
even
though it is anecdotal. I have a friend who has a mid-90s Dodge that gets
in
the mid-20s MPG, even pulling a trailer (cargo tag-along or travel 5th
wheel),
and he just had it repainted, etc., in lieu of replacing it because the
new
Dodges get something like 15. OTOH, if your experience is that there is
little
difference...



My old one was a '92 bought new late in '91 ... right at 280,000 miles on
it, and way beat up from a hard life ( it was a good reflection of it's
owner )

the last time I checked it ... all around, ( mainly short drives, rural and
in town, but no sustained highway ) it got 15.4

Going to Yellowstone last time ( about a year ago ) pulling my trailer I got
11.5

The best I ever recorded was way back and was around 21, unloaded, down the
highway ...It always had a 10 hole dog box on it and roughly 3/4 ton of fly
fishing **** stored in it .. so, 'unloaded' wasn't, really

I've played with the meter deal on the new one too much, resetting it too
often, to get reliable numbers

but, based on those short distance tests between resets ... all around 16.5
.... closest thing I've done to highway (rural roads but still a stop every
couple miles ) 19.2 .... towing 9.7 ( I was really 'testing' the power, drag
race starts, looking for steep sections in the local foothills and stopping,
just to start again on the grade, etc )

..... The new is far less loaded 'empty' than the old one, most of that was
with zero cargo ( cept fly fishing gear in back seat ;-) some with maybe a
couple hundred pounds in the bed. I added a roll-up tonneau cover and
it noticeably reduces wind noise, maybe drag?

.... the new one is 4WD the old 2WD ( like most 4WD trucks mine may be a
waste and more a function of the desire for macho image than real need ...
but I DID get stuck a lot in the old one, back when my average working
environment was a duck club ... once I drove to a spot with a buddy, parked
and worked dogs, it rained a little bit ... I couldn't get going in my own
tracks in the alkali and he had to pull me out with his 4WD .... the next
time to that duck club I got so stuck we had to get two huge articulated
front end loaders, dig out under the truck, run straps under and both the
tractors lifted as my friend pulled to get me rolling .... anyway, 4WD made
more sense for me 10 years ago than it likely will for the next 10, but
diesels are so damn torquey that I opted for it ... hopefully I'm not so
dumb as to just use it to get even stucker ;-)

My 'needs' included wanting a pleasant place for my wife and I to chat while
we enjoy our 'golden years' ( I'm actively trying to buy into this crap ..
since the reality of old is pretty grim ;-) and we have plenty of space,
satellite radio, etc ... only the 4WD truck-like ride detracts form an air
of passenger car comfort ... a few MPG is not a big deal $$wise, no more
miles than I now drive, it does bother my 'green conscience' a little

IF I had been looking for another truck only for real truck work, and
driving lots of miles, I'd have gotten an older 5.9L .. they have plenty of
power ( and I'd add one of the chip deals you introduced me to ) and get
better mileage than either the models before (my old one ) or the new 6.7L
.... I couldn't find one, with less than 80,000 miles on it, for virtually
the same price I paid for the new one, 'thanks' to the current economic
struggle in Detroit, and decided that the warranty and 'luxury' of new were
the way to go, given everything

wrote

the mid-20s MPG, even pulling a trailer (cargo tag-along or travel 5th
wheel),
and he just had it repainted, etc.,

If I had an older one getting mid-20s I'd have kept it, if only as a second
one for 'by myself' trips and local use. The guy that got my old one runs
a truck accessory biz and mainly wants the Cummins, itself ... I was
religious about oil change and valve jobs ... the Dodge part was past beat
up, the door literally fell off one time, but the Cummins still 'purrs' (
My father-in-law described that purr as "Sounds like there are 10 little men
in there beating on empty metal drums with big hammers" ) and has never used
a single drop of oil


um, if you're into green ... the new ones are much cleaner, and quieter ...
in Yellowstone where the altitude magnified the unburnt black smoke I'd warn
people near the truck, "I'm going to start it now, don't inhale"

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:09:31 GMT, "Larry L" wrote:


wrote

That's surprising (to me, based upon purely anecdotal info), but happily
so for
you, I'm sure. Refresh my memory - what year/make/engine version/etc. was
your
"old" truck and what did it get MPG-wise? I'm pretty curious about this,
even
though it is anecdotal. I have a friend who has a mid-90s Dodge that gets
in
the mid-20s MPG, even pulling a trailer (cargo tag-along or travel 5th
wheel),
and he just had it repainted, etc., in lieu of replacing it because the
new
Dodges get something like 15. OTOH, if your experience is that there is
little
difference...



My old one was a '92 bought new late in '91 ... right at 280,000 miles on
it, and way beat up from a hard life ( it was a good reflection of it's
owner )

the last time I checked it ... all around, ( mainly short drives, rural and
in town, but no sustained highway ) it got 15.4

Going to Yellowstone last time ( about a year ago ) pulling my trailer I got
11.5

The best I ever recorded was way back and was around 21, unloaded, down the
highway ...It always had a 10 hole dog box on it and roughly 3/4 ton of fly
fishing **** stored in it .. so, 'unloaded' wasn't, really

I've played with the meter deal on the new one too much, resetting it too
often, to get reliable numbers

but, based on those short distance tests between resets ... all around 16.5
... closest thing I've done to highway (rural roads but still a stop every
couple miles ) 19.2 .... towing 9.7 ( I was really 'testing' the power, drag
race starts, looking for steep sections in the local foothills and stopping,
just to start again on the grade, etc )

.... The new is far less loaded 'empty' than the old one, most of that was
with zero cargo ( cept fly fishing gear in back seat ;-) some with maybe a
couple hundred pounds in the bed. I added a roll-up tonneau cover and
it noticeably reduces wind noise, maybe drag?

... the new one is 4WD the old 2WD ( like most 4WD trucks mine may be a
waste and more a function of the desire for macho image than real need ...
but I DID get stuck a lot in the old one, back when my average working
environment was a duck club ... once I drove to a spot with a buddy, parked
and worked dogs, it rained a little bit ... I couldn't get going in my own
tracks in the alkali and he had to pull me out with his 4WD .... the next
time to that duck club I got so stuck we had to get two huge articulated
front end loaders, dig out under the truck, run straps under and both the
tractors lifted as my friend pulled to get me rolling .... anyway, 4WD made
more sense for me 10 years ago than it likely will for the next 10, but
diesels are so damn torquey that I opted for it ... hopefully I'm not so
dumb as to just use it to get even stucker ;-)

My 'needs' included wanting a pleasant place for my wife and I to chat while
we enjoy our 'golden years' ( I'm actively trying to buy into this crap ..
since the reality of old is pretty grim ;-) and we have plenty of space,
satellite radio, etc ... only the 4WD truck-like ride detracts form an air
of passenger car comfort ... a few MPG is not a big deal $$wise, no more
miles than I now drive, it does bother my 'green conscience' a little

IF I had been looking for another truck only for real truck work, and
driving lots of miles, I'd have gotten an older 5.9L .. they have plenty of
power ( and I'd add one of the chip deals you introduced me to ) and get
better mileage than either the models before (my old one ) or the new 6.7L
... I couldn't find one, with less than 80,000 miles on it, for virtually
the same price I paid for the new one, 'thanks' to the current economic
struggle in Detroit, and decided that the warranty and 'luxury' of new were
the way to go, given everything

Weird, your old truck's mileage being what my limited anecdotal info
indicates. I've known a few folks over the years with the older Cummins Dodges,
and all indicate(d) getting 20-plus MPG, and over 15, even hauling heavy-ish
loads. As to running out of Dodge before running out of Cummins goes, here's
another story -

A friend got one back when they were still newish (about 1992-93) and not three
weeks after he got it, he was driving from a horse show to his home for the
evening (no trailer behind him) and got pulled over near home. The cop, who it
turned out he knew, pulled him over for no tail lights. Upon closer inspection,
it turned out that something hadn't been installed properly, and the lights had
fallen out (or in the cutout in the bed, I don't recall exactly).

It was one more reason that among an extended group of farmers and ranchers, who
nonetheless generally liked the Dodge/Cummins, that the joke was you needed 6
trucks and one engine...

I've never owned one - I've had Chevy 6.5s (where you need 6 drive trains, 1
truck, and a Hong Kong electronics specialist) and Fords. My current "#1 pick"
is a Powerstroke (International) 7.3, but because of the myriad problems in the
years of the 6.0, combined with the "drag racing/truck pull" tuning of the
engine. I've not really had any experience with the new 6.4, but I'm leery of
it as it had been out about 13 minutes when Ford started talking about the 6.7
or whatever the 2010 or 2011 engine is, but I like the looks overall of the
newer Fords and Dodges - comfortable, but still trucks. IMO, the 2007-8 Chevys
are very durable and the newest Chevy looks like something Darth Vader's
teenaged son would drive.

TC,
R

wrote

engine. I've not really had any experience with the new 6.4, but I'm
leery of
it as it had been out about 13 minutes when Ford started talking about the
6.7


I actually set out to get a Ford mainly because of the less than tough body
of the old Dodge ... ( I used to think that there were lots of old Dodges
on the road ... a closer look shows that there are lots of new Dodges on the
road ... that look old )

The sales Manager at the local Ford dealer ... after I mentioned that I'd
heard so much bad about the 6.0 and asked "how's the new one" replied...
"oh, it's a great motor, great" ... "It's only problem is that it gets lousy
mileage" .... !! I went across the street to the Dodge dealer, turns
out it was the same salesman there I bought the old one from in '91 at a
different dealer ( and he remembered me ! ) we discussed the improvements
Dodge has made to frames, doors, etc and he didn't have to sell me on
Cummins ... took me a few shopping trips and a couple test drives, but it's
a done deal now

time will tell,

who has fell

and who's been left behind

In article
,
Frank Reid writes
What kind of trailer do you have?
I am looking fior a teardrop *I may buy this year or next

* and try this group *- rec.outdoors.rv-travel

I'm looking at which teardrop I'm going to build. Powertools and
welding on wood covered surfaces. Cool!
Frank Reid

This item you call a teardrop is something not encountered here in the
UK - at least not by me. I looked it up in Google and found several
sites showing the construction etc. fascinating and really cool.

I should imaging that there is ample sleeping room in the front
compartment for average sized people. I nearly bought a two person
caravan some years ago but even that seemed to be larger, at least
taller, than a teardrop.

One is never too old to learn.
--
Bill Grey

On Thu, 2 Apr 2009 20:10:44 +0100, "W. D. Grey"
wrote:

In article
,
Frank Reid writes
What kind of trailer do you have?
I am looking fior a teardrop *I may buy this year or next

* and try this group *- rec.outdoors.rv-travel

I'm looking at which teardrop I'm going to build. Powertools and
welding on wood covered surfaces. Cool!
Frank Reid

This item you call a teardrop is something not encountered here in the
UK - at least not by me. I looked it up in Google and found several
sites showing the construction etc. fascinating and really cool.

I should imaging that there is ample sleeping room in the front
compartment for average sized people. I nearly bought a two person
caravan some years ago but even that seemed to be larger, at least
taller, than a teardrop.

One is never too old to learn.

Yeah, but can well be too old to sleep in a teardrop caravan...especially if one
is any taller than about 5 feet/1.5m...

HTH,
R

In article ,
writes
On Thu, 2 Apr 2009 20:10:44 +0100, "W. D. Grey"
wrote:

In article
,
Frank Reid writes
What kind of trailer do you have?
I am looking fior a teardrop *I may buy this year or next

* and try this group *- rec.outdoors.rv-travel

I'm looking at which teardrop I'm going to build. Powertools and
welding on wood covered surfaces. Cool!
Frank Reid

This item you call a teardrop is something not encountered here in the
UK - at least not by me. I looked it up in Google and found several
sites showing the construction etc. fascinating and really cool.

I should imaging that there is ample sleeping room in the front
compartment for average sized people. I nearly bought a two person
caravan some years ago but even that seemed to be larger, at least
taller, than a teardrop.

One is never too old to learn.

Yeah, but can well be too old to sleep in a teardrop
caravan...especially if one
is any taller than about 5 feet/1.5m...

HTH,
R

Yes TH :-[
--
Bill Grey