Rescue, if I was going to 'invest' in two pallets of beer, I would probably be getting something OTHER than Keystone... Keystone doesn't come in bottles does it? I GOTTA have bottles.

Don't take it too hard, Confused. It's the "law of the jungle".

 

Confused, I'm confused? You get a PM and I don't? What the hell? You have a bag over your head and I'm sporting a green mohawk?.?.? I guess they were mad at you because you called them an old man.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Oh, and the camp spot; I didn't know if you were saying I was lucky because of my wife, the elevation I was at, etc. Anyway, it's on public land (National Forest). It's pretty much first come, first serve. I've camped in that spot before and wanted to try some other place, but the mountain was kind of busy (you know when it's busy when there are paper plate signs everywhere, giving directions - or is that just a Utah thing?).

Tommy, I just noticed your wife was a petite gal (quite pretty by the way). It's nice when your wife wants to go hang out on the trail with you. Usually, I just take my boys with me. My eleven year old is quite the ATVer - he's a good rider on such a big machine. He has pretty good judgement for a kid. My little one is getting good too. I think he's better than my daughter - that's because girls don't know how to ride.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] Okay, did that stike a nerve with the 18 year old rider chicks?

Lt. Dan, thanks for the comments. It's nice to have a few of us get to know each other better. By the way, nice truck!!

Does anyone else want to play?

 

Okay, I'm a little slow - I ride the short bus and it takes me a while to comprehend a post that was made in April. You blew your tranny? I wonder sometimes what to shift into. I pull a 10% grade a lot and just take it out of overdrive. Is that the right thing to do?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

Whitewater: what he was saying was that he was running an automatic, and pulled it down to 2. He was probably thinking this would tell the tranny to run in 1st & 2nd as needed. But it will hold 2nd gear. Like putting a manual tranny in 2nd. It didn't go down to 1st gear when it needed to (going to slow for 2nd) and started lugging it. Like leaving it in OD when climbing a steep hill. It just burnt the tranny up.

When trailering you really need a tach and a tranny temp gauge. The tach is so you can get in the powerband of the motor when climbing and a tranny temp gauge to keep an eye on it so you don't burn things up. Of course an auxillary tranny cooler is a good idea too.

And yes, taking it out of OD is the right thing to do on hills. Saves the OD clutches. I've had them go out on me. Lost OD but was still able to put another...ohhh 200 plus miles on my trip. The rest of it held together. Little did I know the torque converter had stopped locking up a while before that. 10% is pretty much insane. Not sure of anything close to that hear. I've been on some 9%, but it was pretty short.

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BlackandRed,

I wish Ford would have put in a tranny temp gauge in the 2000 F-250's. I have a tranny cooler, but need to get a temp gauge. The 10% grade is probably a 2 mile stretch, but I pull an 8% grade on and off for 5 miles or so. The next time I go there, I'll take a picture of the grade sign.

What do you drive?

 

whitewater, "you're a lucky man" comment was a combination of beautiful wife, nice family and lots of toys. AND, she was willing to pose seductiviley on your ATV. NO FAIR! surprised you were able to get that shot away without your animal instincts kicking in first. yep, "lucky" had nothing to do with camp spot. we get the paper plate trails too, or flagging ribbon (cuz here in the magnificent forests of British Columbia, we're all lumberjacks... you know the Monty Python song,"I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay"....?). How close would the nearset camper come and park next to ya? I remember you mentioned that as a pet peeve somewhere, either a post or your profile. Even when we go to remote, ugly to reach, bumpy-walking speed driving areas, you always end up with some recently paroled guys and a stack of beer boxes to go with their boom boxes and all night party, parked within 100 feet. And don't forget, we don't have 'the right to bear arms'!!

kinda funny I got the PM when you're the one exploiting the cute kids pictures as a potential chick-magnet!!(LOL) [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] . just kidding, I'll post some pics somehow, then you can abuse me. Now if the last grenade you launched about 'girls can't ride' doesn't generate a reply, then I'm gonna get suspicious!! Not to worry though, if it does generate a reply, I'll probably be your shield again and catch the wrath. I think I may need to change my handle to Trojan if this protection keeps up. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

okay, now the truck issue. we were on one of those rough, rutty, rocky goat trails for the annual Kamloops ride. It's just too rough to go more than walking speed=4 low. We had 4 quads on truck, box full of stuff, and 30' travel trailer in tow. it was too hard on 2nd gear, plus no automatic downshift from 2nd to 1st= blown tranny.

Now on the highway, if you're outta O/D, it will EVENTUALY downshift to 2nd if you have accelerator pedal floored. but if you've got it floored and you're barely holding and you don't feel power or pressure increase (i.e, lost that grunt), you're really working the tranny hard. Problem is the engine has the power but tranny can't take it. You'd be better off down shifting from D to 2nd if you feel you've lost the grunt. NOW bear in mind, there's probably a certain speed/rpm you max out at before you UPshift from 2nd to drive. That should be the same speed you DOWNshift at so you don't redline engine. For example, I have 4:10 gears with a dually crewcab and a mild (60 HP) powerchip. I find my truck shifts from 2nd to 3rd around 40MPH (max). When I pull super steep highway hill LOADED, I can hold 50MPH out of O/D (that's probably 3rd gear I guess). But it's just killing my tranny to do it. It really is better to shift down to 2nd at this point (after slowing to 40 MPH) and just let the engine and tranny pull me up the hill at 40. I may get passed by a Cummins with 1/4 of my load/weight, or a Duramax with my same load, but who cares? The object is for all of us to make it to the top, not blow up on the way. We get so used to the speed issue, we forget that our demand on the truck is sometimes too much. And i can giggle knowing they're bagging their equipment. The big run at the hill and then powering out halfway is also hard on tranny. Nothing wrong with the big run, it's working it too hard on the way up and downshifting too late.

Oh, BTW, leaving it in 2nd to pull highway the way I described isn't going to blow tranny the way i did mine. I was in 4-low territory and overworked it in 2nd gear. It would be the same at highway speed as leaving it in O/D on that 10% grade you described.

DON"T cheap out and neglect your tranny fluid and filter change, and pay $200 for the top of the line tranny cooler (installed). I put one on my '79 Ford 460 gas myself and it wasn't hard, but on the Powerstroke, there are 3-4 layers of coolers: the rad, the air cond condenser, power steering fluid cooler (yep, there's one of those, lotsa guys mistake it for tranny cooler), and there's a lighter duty tranny cooler. so you're fighting for good location a little. That's why i let Ford do it for me for $250 installed (Cdn= $200 US).

Sorry this is a little long, but i first had to hack on ya, and then get to the point. This is the way my cousins who have operated logging trucks and every other piece of motorized machinery in the steep north, explained it to me. And they've forgotten more than I'll ever know about driving and operating ANYTHING motorized. When we go riding, they put me to shame on a 2wd old quad compared to my fancy new 4x4. All about experience, and knowing what to do in each situation. Hope this helps.

 

it took me awhile to type this while black and red gave you the short answer. B$R, are you talking an exhaust temp. gauge: "pyrometer"? I hear anyone going to the 4" exhaust puts those in. I haven't done the exhaust and gauge cuz it costs huge $$.

 

You crack me up. I'm sitting here at my desk laughing and my parnter in crime (office buddy / employee), is looking at me weird. Oh well, he does the same thing, except his forum is all about Ramchargers (what a Dodge nerd he is).

Yeah, I threw a grenade, but no one wants to play. My wife would be proud of me.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Camping: usually, the nearest camper is about 500 meters away or further, but there are mostly trees or a ridge in the way (so I don't have to see them). However, every once in a while, I get the idot (AND YOU ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE), camping within rock throwing distance (which I do when someone camps next to me). I'm just not a RV park kind of guy. I like to get out and not see a soul (unless she's neked).[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Thanks for the truck talk (that is what this thread is all about, isn't it?).

 

Going to do the mutliple replies in one.

Whitewater, I'm just a little guy. '91 GMC Sonoma Long bed with a 4.3L V6 (nice motor I have to say, motor #2. #1 lasted until the Boss bought it back from his daughter and the wife blew it driving home...they need this brown stuff called oil @ ~136K. I got it after that.), 700R4 auto (GARBAGE from what I've been told. It's on #3. #1 0-120K, #2 120-180K. #3 has ohh...4K I think on it. Replaced after Pres. Day.) Company has sunk $3K into it since the beginning of the year. Started off with brakes all around (front rotors), new tires (huge difference on the sand @ Pismo, these things actually are soft enough to flex!). Then the tranny let go. O2 sensor had just been replaced and the tranny shop picked up a rich condition. Back to the shop. New O2 sensor, plus intake manifold gasket was sucking air (real good job on the engine builder!) The garage noticed the CAT was running too hot on the opposite side. So to the muffler shop for new CAT and the muffler looked like someone took a torch to the front of it. So it's been a money pit this year. So it's almost new. Needs new seat covering. It's trashed. 180K miles that kinda happens. I wish it had a tach and tranny temp gauge. It also has a small radiator leak (at the tranny cooler inlet). So it doesn't overheat, but the boss will tweak out when I tell him. So I just watch it. Though I wish it had a little taller tire (they are like 215/70R15 or something like that. Sport package.) as well as something like an ARB Air Locker for the rear end.

I've just picked up a lot from friends, around here and a Ford diesel tech forum.

Confused: I was talking about a transmission temp. gauge. My friend's '03 F-350 has one stock. Upper right small gauge. I think EGT is usually only an issue with diesel. Never heard of anyone with a gas motor bothering with one. Usually they put them in those 3-4 gauge pods on the front A-pillar of the trucks. I *think* when the EGT gets really hot the motors are starting to run lean. I know this is what happens with aircraft as my boss is a pilot. Flown with him a couple times. Cool to think about being able to change your mixture mid flight. The one time he did that was on a flight from Ontario, Calif. to Fresno, CA (where we are based.) Richen up the mix to cool the EGT (and motor) down, but not too low so you don't use too much fuel.

I'm not much into modding motors. You're just putting some much more stress on everything. Just buy a bigger truck. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img] Though I'm pretty sure today motors can take more then what they put out factory. These diesels are built with 300K mile lifespans at least.

And at least I'm not the only one who comes here during "work" hours. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

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Tommy, your out of luck, they only come in cans[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] I prefer bottles also, but very seldom pass up a nice cold can[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Whitewater, Your welcome and thanks. I'll let the ladies ride you about saying "girls don't know haow to ride"[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] I have three and if I was to say something like that, I would definately hear about it.

About trucks, I have learned that you should change the transmission fluid about every 15,000 miles or so, especially if you do a lot of towing. I have a 60 hp chip in my truck, Banks trans command and 4 inch stainless exhaust. It doesn't have the guages on the A frame. I haven't noticed a increase in the transmission temp (I know it's a idiot guage") If I was to go to a more "hp" chip and/or a larger load going to Pismo over Cuesta Grade bi-monthly, then I would invest in the guages. As it is now, change transmission fluid every 15 k or so. Lt.Dan