Half Ton NOT enough

Discuss with others about towing. What is the best tow vehicle, hitches, brake controllers, etc, keeping in mind that everybody has his/her favorite.

Moderator: Mike Clay

Post Reply
jlondon5

Half Ton NOT enough

Post by jlondon5 »

When we first joined we had just bought a 31RK travel trailer half way across the country from our home and thought we had done all we could to get our current truck ready to tow the new bird home. We had a 2000 1500 Silverado with factory tow package. I added a K&N cold air induction, a stage 2 chip and lower thermostat along with a performance air mass sensor from Jet Perfomrance and bought a top line equalizer hitch with dual sway controls for the tow from Illinois to Arizona....
We left Yuma and two days later were backed up to the new Cardinal in Girard Illinois ready to hook up and head westward....
Driving along the country road east to I-55 was smooth and easy for the truck pulling it's new load and the mirrors and hitch were all working as was the new brake added to assist in stopping the bird.
On getting onto the southbound onramp at I-55 it all came unglued and almost a caused a major disaster. Winds of 30 plus had been coming to the area since the night before and they had arrived in full force.
The Silverado did everything thing it could as did I but anything over 40mph was absolutly scarey. About a mile onto the interstate a semi came by in the left lane,,,sucking us towards it and I could not get away. Full throttle, turning the wheel to the right and the truck kept moving left across the center lane stripes. The semi driver was watching us and he drove off into the median to get away and had all his left side tires in the grass of Illinois I-55 median ! We got unhooked from his draft and took the next off ramp and almost puked from the moment of terror we had just gone thru. We took a frontage road south to an RV park at exit 60 just north of Litchfield,Ill. We spent three days waiting for the wind to subside...Of course they did not and we put the trailer into storage there and came home empty handed.
On the way home the loving wife told me she would drive the 1500 Silverado now that it got 21 mpg since doing the upgrades from it's old 17mpg and, her new Nissan 350Z I bought her could be traded in on a BIG truck for getting our bird home as soon as possible.
I found the truck online, yes- EBAY, I pushed the buy it now button after calling the sellers and then on return to Yuma I drove the 350Z to Houston Texas and got my new truck.
I have bought a extremely nice very pretty, Cardinal RED, 2005 Silverado 3500LT Crew Cab Dually loaded with everthing but a moon roof. It has a Duramax and Allison drivetrain and I added a few power/towing improvement already to her. We head out next week to go back to Illinois and this time, bring our baby home and play along the way.
I'll post more on the return to advise of the towing difference.
The additions to the new truck are added in the signature below.
Jim&Kim 8)
[/b]
User avatar
Future Fulltimers
Posts: 847
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:35 pm
Location: Tennessee McMinnville
Cardinal Owners: 2006 30TS
Location: Tennessee Eastern (Deceased)

Post by Future Fulltimers »

The smart decision was too pull over. I don’t have all the specs in front of me but I’d say you were dangerously overweighed, :shock: but I don’t have to tell you that.
Glad to hear you two are safe and congratulations on your new purchases. :D
Wayne & Peggy Williamson
Rocky
GoodSam Lifetime Members
2006 30TS
2007 Silverado 3500 Classic 6.6L D'Max
AirSafe 25k hitch
User avatar
campswithcritters
exempt member
Posts: 3417
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2006 2:19 am
Location: Texas Most of the year!
Cardinal Owners: 2005 34RLT
Skype ID: campswithcritters
Location: Texas New Caney (Deceased)

Post by campswithcritters »

Great job picking the 1 ton dually, in a lot of cases it is better to have and not need than to need and not have! Once the weight distribution equipment, sway control, and brakes are adjusted properly I am sure you will not have the same problems. Just be sure to not get over-confident, you still are driving a heavy high profile vehicle. Enjoy the rig and tell us of your adventures in the future.
Bruce & Sharon Full-time since Nov 06
Boogie, & Jack ("the critters")
Luizianna

Post by Luizianna »

Wow...what a first trip adventure!!!! I think 30+ mile an hour wind would scare me no matter what I was driving!!! Shows you can handle just about anything and we are glad you made it to a campground safe!! I know you can't be tooooo happy about having to get a biggger truck :wink: , but try to make the best of it...lol Keep us posted on how the NEXT trip goes!! Wishing you safe travels and a great rv experience!
jlondon5

Post by jlondon5 »

Future Fulltimers wrote:The smart decision was too pull over. I don’t have all the specs in front of me but I’d say you were dangerously overweighed, :shock: but I don’t have to tell you that.Glad to hear you two are safe and congratulations on your new purchases. :D
The new bird weighs 8061lbs as we hooked up. Our Silverado has a factory listed towing capacity of 8800 as built. The factory hitch and eq adds made it in the good range for what we had planned,but mother nature told us differently. Our little half ton just was to short on power and weight in the butt.
Jim 8)
jlondon5

What a Trip !!!

Post by jlondon5 »

We are home finally ! Our first adventure of many to come with our Cardinal lasted over 2,477 miles from pickup in Illinois to our home back in Yuma Arizona.
We left Yuma on November 28th early in the morning headed back to Girard Illinois to get our Bird we had left behind in October. Being anxious I drove to Oklahoma City for our first stop of the night and got into bed around 2am Thursday. On moving on that morning around 11am we pulled into our destination at sunset on Thursday only to find the house battery had gone dead from a bad cell and we couldn't get the slides out and it was 30 degrees.. Spent a second nite in a nice Hampton Inn in Lynchfield Il. and stayed warm all nite.
About 11am Friday we went over to the local WalMart and got a new deep cycle battery and then went back to the local motor vehicle office to get a second temporary permit to get the trailer home, all proper and such. (In Illinois the plates stay with the former owner unless you register it in that state and then you get a new plate for you..)
Anyway, met the same lady at the counter and she even remembered us from October when we got the first one to stick in the back window of the trailer.
On telling her what had happened the first go round and what we needed to get home now that we had a BIG truck she smiled and replied.."You are allowed only ONE and you have already had it" Nothing short of becoming Illinpois folk and registing the trailer there would get us a plate or permit to tow it on their roadways. So I did what all good retired cops probably do, I said thank you very much, went back to the trailer and hooked up to our new Silverado 3500 dually and we drove off without any papers except the title and bill of sale from October to get us home. (no plate) Oh by the way never got stopped all the way home!!!
We drove east to just outside of Richmond Indiana to see the mother-in-law and get some fine home cooking.......We stayed in the Bird from Friday thru Monday Morning in 18 to 25 degree weather and never had a cold moment. It was great and everything worked in it as advertised.
The truck pulled it smoothly and without any effort from Illinois to Mom's and when we got ready to head back to Yuma we left in a snow flurry and teen temps.
All the way across country we had superb mileage except in the Tulsa to Oklahoma City turnpike area where the headwinds were pushing about 25 all day with gusts to 30. The truck got about 7.5 in that area doing posted speeds of 65 and 70. Along the rest of the route to our turn off in Holbrook Az. we averaged 10.2 mpg running at 71 or 72 mph. I cannot described the jubilation of having semis pass us or passing them at speed and not having ANY sway or noticeable buffeting from outside sources.
We stopped at the American RV Park for the evening in Alburquerque N.M. just to see the place that will host us next August. Not bad, except it has pullthru spaces but very small parking for your truck. Camping World is almost directly across the interstate from the park and the place was comfortable and friendly. Nice facilities !
On getting to Holbrook Arizona we turned south to leave the cold and headed towards Payson,Az. to head back down to our warm desert climate of Phoenix and onward to Yuma.
BUT<<<<<<
17 miles north of Payson in a valley and no cell service, no cb radios answering, the Duramax Diesel shut down with no warning. Kim and I tried everything but it would only idle and not pull... I stuck out my thumb and was picked up in about ten seconds. The kind gentleman took me to a garage in Star Valley just north of Payson where I got a tow truck enroute to get me and go get the rig and Kim. While waiting for the tow the owners of the business and I chatted and upon them learning I was from Yuma we learned we both knew several of the same folks there. I was guided to a nice RV Park called Payson RV Park in the pines and on calling them they had a pull thru waiting on us when we got to town.
Tow truck arrives, we leave and head towards the broken truck and Kim. When I tell the tow driver of the RV park he laughs and tells me he onced lived there and knows the people well and not a problem to get our Cardinal into the space they were holding for us.
On getting the tow to our truck and trailer he hads me unhook the trailer, loaded the dually onto his flatbed and then backed up and attached the trailer to his wheel lift on the rear. We arrived in the park after dark and was guided into a nice space and the tow driver took the Silverado to the Chevrolet dealer to drop it off. It is now Wednesday evening at 630pm December 5th,2007.
I was called by the dealer on Thursday, midmorning telling they had my truck but, they could not look at it till Friday afternoon. Okay, I am at their mercy and we went to the store on foot about a half mile away to pick up a few things to tide us over till friday evening,,,,,thinking I would get the truck back. Hahaha. Friday at 3 minutes to their closing they called and said; #3 cylinder injector had failed and they would have the parts Monday and then hung up....!
So, 280 miles from home, snow flurries, on foot and not knowing a single sole we decided to rent a car from Enterprise Rentals as they say "they come and get you". On calling them,, Kim was told we could be put on a list for Monday as they had NO cars. Oh Yeah we would be #8 on that list!!!
So, we called our daughter in Phoenix and she came to our rescue. Took us to Phoenix (75 miles away) and we rented a car and had a nice dinner and then went back to Payson to wait out our truck repairs.
Kim's work called and wanted her in Monday so we came home to Yuma empty handed again, only this time in a rental, not even our own truck...
Monday the dealer called and told us the truck was ready, so Monday nite we drove back to Payson, spent the nite in the Cardinal and Tuesday morning the 11th of December we got our truck back. Warranty replaced the faulty injector and we were headed home at last.
I fueled the truck, went back to the RV park, hooked up and shut up the Cardinal and we got 2 miles down the road, still in town, when it did the same thing as it did the first time. I was colder than the outside air temp when I call the chevy garage back and had them get roadside assistance to come drag us back in.
2 hours later we were back at the dealer and this time the trailer stayed on their back lot while they fixed the truck again. Thank god we still had the rental car. We went back to Yuma and told them to fix it right and call us when it was truely repaired.
Kim worked Wednesday and they called Wednesday afternoon telling me they had fixed it again and it was the same cylinder but this time it was a computer lead to that #3 injector that had a broken connection.
We showed up Thursday around lunchtime in Payson and I told them in no uncertain terms they definately did not want me back a third time.
We left Payson and drove down the mountain into Phoenix with Kim following to turn in the rental and then came home to Yuma.
We arrived home at dark on December 13th.
Having driven east to get the trailer getting 15 to 16.5 mpg on our 4x4 dually I had prayed we would not be beat up coming home by fuel prices. It wasn't the fuel, it was the dealer in Payson Arizona that made it a nite-mare. We put 1365 miles on the poor rental making 5 trips up and down that mountain but we're home, safe and sound now, and the Bird is all washed and polished and under a new cover for a month or so till we head off again to play and see the sights.
The changes I did to the new truck I believed helped in the faster acceleration from a stop and helped on the mileage as well while towing. I have been learning the LLY series Duramax from 2004.5 and 2005 is a poor mileage engine so every little bit help at todays prices.
Thanks to all who read and are reading this once more. Hope to you somewhere out ther soon on the road.
Jim and Kim 8)
Luizianna

Post by Luizianna »

Well Jim...it sounds like you've had some great adventures so far!! Third times a charm so next trip should be fantastic!!
User avatar
Olbird
Council, Asst. Admin
Posts: 4185
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:29 pm
Location: Washington Kelso
Cardinal Owners: 3850 RL
Location: Washington, LaCenter

Post by Olbird »

Wow Jim,

I hope you guys don't play the slots, if not for bad luck you would not have any luck at all.

Hope things turn around and can start getting some trouble free trips.
Good Luck on your next trip.

George:
George & Julie
3850 RL Full Paint w/ TrailAir Spring Ride System, Kodiak Disc Brakes, TrailAir Tri-Glide Pin Box, Over 130 Mods

2022 Ford F450 DRW
Rob & Cathy

Post by Rob & Cathy »

Jim, that's quite an adventure, thanks for sharing.

I feel just the opposite of George. Your luck can only improve. Time to play the slots maybe even the lottery.

Rob
Last edited by Rob & Cathy on Sun Dec 16, 2007 6:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Olbird
Council, Asst. Admin
Posts: 4185
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:29 pm
Location: Washington Kelso
Cardinal Owners: 3850 RL
Location: Washington, LaCenter

Post by Olbird »

Rob,

That is true, only great times from this point on and remember Jim we are all here and ready to help when ever needed.

George:
George & Julie
3850 RL Full Paint w/ TrailAir Spring Ride System, Kodiak Disc Brakes, TrailAir Tri-Glide Pin Box, Over 130 Mods

2022 Ford F450 DRW
Post Reply