3,000 mile thrash with 15K in tow

[Mark Rinker]

Loaded a 30' Searay Sundancer with 10' beam last Tuesday at noon from Detroit, MI and splashed it in Huntington Beach Marina (CA) Friday morning.

Encountered some nasty hot headwinds across Western Nebraska and most of Wyoming. Where it wasn't hot or windy, it was hilly - so the truck never got much of a break.

Wanted to pull it with the '01 with mods, but schedules and my lower back preffered the longer wheelbase '05 crew cab which is factory bone stock.

Average MPG for the trip was a miserable 8.1, with worst tank of 6.5. My average speed was ~65mph. Hot windy days was 60 cruise control, Thursday afternoon and night from Salt Lake to Barstow (trying to make up time) was about 70mph.
All in all I have to say the truck took it in stride, despite the HUGE wind drag created by the profile of this boat, complete with radar arch and radar unit nearly 12' tall. I did see some peak coolant temps of 240. Tranny temps never became a concern.

Grade braking came into play MANY times. Had a long haul trucker walk over to me at the pumps and say he had seen me three times since Des Moines and he couldn't believe how effortless this truck and trailer ate up the hills and handled the downgrades. (He then jokingly scolded me for talking on the cell phone while passing him at 70mph on a 6% downgrade...)

[ronniejoe]

Cool!

I've said many times... If you want to find out what your truck is made of, tow out west. I-10, I-40, I-70, I-80, I-90 or I-94 across the plains or desert southwest. It's a different world for towing.

[SoTxPollock]

Always amazes me after 15 hours behind the wheel how I'm so ready to stop and the truck is so ready to go. Mark, have you checked the rear differential to see if there is any paint left on it? All that horsepower had to go through there, so I'm just wondering if you've managed to burn off the paint yet? Like ronniejoe said it gets real interesting out there. I can remember wondering what was wrong with the truck, because I was having to push so hard on the accelerator to maintain speed. There were no trees around, wasn't until I stopped at a rest area and could barely push the door open against the head wind that I figured it out. Really makes one appreciate a good truck then.

[Mark Rinker]

I'll look at the rear diff when I get back to it next week. (Its parked at a friends house in Manhatten Beach, CA. I flew home Friday and am at home searching for a suitable backhaul by 6/26 for my return ticket. I ditched the trailer for the time being at the guys house who shipped the boat. Parking in coastal LA is at a premium!)

What would be really cool is to duplicate the trip and load with my '01 LB7 running propane the entire trip. I am pretty sure that the fuel savings would have been enough to pay for the (cheap) hotel rooms along the way, and I would have arrived Thursday afternoon instead of sleeping in the cab for a few hours outside Barstow, CA and arriving Friday morning with bad breath and hair that would scare small children.

With only the 26 gallon tank, I was stopping for fuel every 180-200 miles. Huge time waster, but my back thanked me for driving the '05 and stopping is a good thing to constantly recheck the load, tires, etc. I did replace one that started to separate, and bought a new rim and spare for the trailer at the same time. Oddly, the mechanic in Nebraska that sold me the rim/tires grew up blocks from the beach where the boat was headed...small world. Later in the trip, I caught another tire on its way down during a fuel stop - turned out to be only a loosened valve stem leaking past the cap!

[Craig M]

Mark, If you need to store a boat, trailer or truck for a few weeks (or months for that matter), I have 2 acres in Riverside (my home and storage area). Always room for a nice diesel.

[Mark Rinker]

Wow! Craig, I can almost guarantee that I'll be taking you up on that. Unreal - this board has not only helped me BUILD a business around Chevy diesels, its now helping me to RUN it as well...

[Inspector]

Mark:
I see that you used your stock 05. And I see that you towed through my neck of the woods. My question is "did you have any overheating issues?". I have seen and have a friend that has an 05 and he is concerned about how hot his truck runs. He has done some mods but still is not satisfied with the higher running temps. He will begin towing as soon as the new cargo trailer for his toys shows up and yes he is concerned how that will affect an already warm running truck.
What are your running temps without the trailer and while towing?
Denny

[Mark Rinker]

On the hottest days towing the boat out west, it held steady at 220-230. When the fan would kick in hard, it would pull it down to 210, where it normally resides under average Minnesota towing. 190 is typical for non towing miles.

I did noticed that the Mobil Delvac thinned out and oil pressure dropped from a 'normal' 55-60 to 40-45 when it was really hot. That bothered me, but I had to trust that everthing was operating within range, given the circumstances.

I plan to change the oil, tranny fluid, and rear end lube in CA before heading home.

[Stlheadake]

Mark, I really enjoy reading your posts. Makes me feel better about my 06 everytime I read them. Out of curiosity, why haven't you made any mods to your 05? Looking at your sig, one gets the feeling that you aren't afraid to tinker.

I am just sort of surprised that you have left this one alone, that's all. Keep us posted on your future trips.

[Mark Rinker]

No good reason really, the '05 is blue in color and my 'daily driver'. The two older LB7s are white 'job trucks'.

Not alot of spare cash with fuel prices, but wish I had upgraded to JK's tow tune for the '05 LLY before going on this trip, I would have saved one third to half the cost of the upgrade in fuel savings, I suspect.

Another reason for leaving it stock is that the '05 is still under drivetrain warranty, and will likely get traded in at about 85-90K miles, on an '06 or '07 3500...its less than one year old now!

Any 'tinkering' will be with the LB7s first, since they are now out of warranty and will be around until they 'drop', as worn out old tow/plow trucks.

[mark45678]

Hey mark one thing you will notice with the 2006 truck is the cooling system is MUCH better! my 2001 and 2004.5 lly would run warm pulling hills over a mile long, the 2006 lbz is much more stable when it comes to stock pulling power and engine temps ! Your lb7 will be hard to top if its got mods to tow with and 6th gear on the new trucks is not a option if your pulling anything more then 2000 lbs.the 6 speed may get 1/2 to 1 mpg better then a 2004.5 lly stock for stock exact same spec truck.(empty) towing is about the same.

[Mark Rinker]

I may trade this '05 LLY for a '03 dually or C4500. Its a bit undersized for the loads we are getting into, but overall has handled the tasks without issue. I am afraid to drive an '06, for fear that I will come home with one, and a sizeable increase in my business debt... :)