A truck and trailer thread.

[biketopia]

It'd spoil you on propane if you had to buy it at the prices around here. For years now the price of propane has mirrored the price of regular gas. This fall a gallon of propane will set you back about $3.40.

I'm about the same, paid $2.99 to top the tank off 6 weeks ago. Hoping the addition of the fireplace insert and re-insulating the attic late last winter pays off in spades. The insert really pumped out some heat and the furnace barely ran, which was really nice. I was in the neighborhood of $1700+ just for propane between September and March.

I recently picked up a 14k 7x14 dump trailer from a buddy for a good price. I had been passively looking to update my tow pig from the ext cab 2wd 2500HD 6.0L Silverado I currently have, but now I'm really looking. I've done diesel in the past when I towed a lot, and being in fleet, I know firsthand the differences in TCO, maintenance, parts, ease of work, etc.. But any more finding a decent-looking anything without a ton of rust for under $25k is damn near impossible.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

Hell, I hope they have their Chains Crossed................

Damn, you went there…LOL…I thought asking about chains and what was the guy (with driving cap) stance on them…I think would would be interesting to know their thoughts if willing to have head down sorting and packing the split pieces while the dropping down bouncing and probably smashing knuckles while under the delivery conveyor while it was dropping wood in the trailer….but I figured I would be going to hell for that (I probably am anyway, but there could still be a chance I am not…best case I’m on thin ice)

 

[Kennyd4110]

That's a really nice trailer, not to mention all of the interesting stuff you show on it.

Thank you sir. Its been a great tool for us, we've had it for 5 years now.

Some specs on it:
H&H SpeedLoader EX
14K rated
20' tilt deck (powered UP and DOWN)
Removable fenders
Winch
Winch and deck have wired and wireless control
~2,200 pounds empty weight

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

My recent haul, selling the tractor, attachments, and many tools for an elderly family friend.

View attachment 164537

View attachment 164538
Nice set up…from the pics the axles seem like pretty far forward…. Or are my eyes deceiving me on the axles front of the center of the deck? (Looks like a purpose built car hauler?) nice set up with the power tilt and winch.

Hauling my NTM forklift:

View attachment 164539

Son's 2012 RAM:

View attachment 164540


My tractor:

View attachment 164541

 

[Kennyd4110]

@GrumpyFarmer , start typing AFTER the quoted post! LOL


"Nice set up…from the pics the axles seem like pretty far forward…. Or are my eyes deceiving me on the axles front of the center of the deck? (Looks like a purpose built car hauler?) nice set up with the power tilt and winch."

They are about in the middle. This way there does not need to be two full 'frames' like many other tilt decks. This leads to a steeper loading angle, but lighter trailer. My understanding anyway...but I'm not a trailer engineer. It is light on the front, so you do need to have weight forwards when using it. I have a Weigh-Safe hitch to help with that.

Heres two tilted pictures:

 

[Runs With Scissors]

It should come as no surprise that I didn't have the chains crossed yesterday,

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

@GrumpyFarmer , start typing AFTER the quoted post! LOL


"Nice set up…from the pics the axles seem like pretty far forward…. Or are my eyes deceiving me on the axles front of the center of the deck? (Looks like a purpose built car hauler?) nice set up with the power tilt and winch."

They are about in the middle. This way there does not need to be two full 'frames' like many other tilt decks. This leads to a steeper loading angle, but lighter trailer. My understanding anyway...but I'm not a trailer engineer. It is light on the front, so you do need to have weight forwards when using it. I have a Weigh-Safe hitch to help with that.

Heres two tilted pictures:

View attachment 164570


View attachment 164571

Whoopsies…I must have gotten a little too worked up over the power tilt and tie down rings in the deck. Very nice.

 

[lugbolt]

there is not a trailer tire made that is immune, not even the goodyears that were supposed to be the greatest

trailer tires are made differently than car tires, and they will separate like that especially as they get aged out.

tire pressure has a lot to do with it too

the type of tire

the plies

usage.

even air flow characteristics

Trailer tires are rated to run at or close to 100% load all the time. So if the tires are rated for a maximum of 1760 lbs (each tire), they work best running at 1700+ lbs on each tire (this includes the trailer's weight, the axle's weight, plus any cargo weight). Putting E F G rated tires on a trailer that carries 1000 lbs isn't solving any problems, could create many though.

We used to tow about 8500-9500 mi a month during the summer, pulling 24' enclosed with the race car in it. Blowouts were common. Started going from D rated to E and it got even more common. Year or so later we decided to put the D rated tires back on and while we were replacing stuff, I had them put a TPMS on the trailer that links up to a monitor in the dash. Nowadays I think you can get them with bluetooth so the phone can display it through an app (or iPad, whatever...) So we would leave the track at 1200 hr, TPMS said 65 psi. 150 mi later they were closing in on 80 psi! There is a lot that causes that kind of heat, and a lot goes into dissipating the heat too. Airflow is a big deal. Steel wheels hold heat, aluminum dissipates it a lot faster. That sorta thing. I started using nitrogen and that helped quite a bit but we still had to stay on top of them. D rated tires were less likely to grenade than the E's were. The trailer guys at one of the tracks explained why, has to do with physics. Most folks think that the more plies the better but the more plies also means the carcass is much thicker and heavier and that all holds a lot of heat, gives a lot less which is hard on suspension and chassis (that is a big deal hauling higher end race cars), etc etc. Before I sold everyting off we put 16" wheels on it with 16" LT rated truck tires. Those worked GOOD. Never had one of them blow, they always kept pressures in check too, and trailer rode excellent. Tread lasted a lot longer too. I sold it with those on it and now I'm out of the race car business.

 

[McMXi]

I got a second load of hardwood this afternoon and there was only one truck in front of me so it took less than hour to get in and get out. This load was a bit lighter at 7,180 lb but the total weight of wood I bought is 14,830 lb for a cost of $1,069.24 which is $0.07/lb and includes a 3% credit card fee. This will be plenty to last me through to mid April when I no longer need the wood burning stove.

The new driveway isn't finished but it sure helps even in its current form.

 

[Lil Foot]

My LoadTrail 6x10 7000lb gvwr dump trailer came with Rainier 205/75R15 C rated tires.
They seem fine, except they had pretty shallow tread when new compared to other new tires I've had.
They have hauled many tons many miles with no problems.

The spare is the previously mentioned Goodride in the same size & rating.
It has deep tread compared to the Rainier's, but it's never been on the ground, so I have no knowledge of how it will perform.

Never heard of either brand before buying this trailer.

 

[McMXi]

Not sure what others think, but the quality of the front and rear bumpers on modern trucks leaves a lot to be desired. Not sure if it's economics, weight savings, safety, EPA mpg numbers or what, but given the cost of these things, you'd expect better quality parts.

I bought a TDK front bumper for the F-450 earlier in the year that I've yet to install, and there's no doubt that I'll be ordering a TDK rear bumper at some point. I've had Ranch Hand front and rear bumpers on my F-250 for years, and even though they're not on a par with the quality of TDK bumpers, they're still a significant and functional upgrade over the factory garbage.

https://throttledownkustoms.com

 

[L35]

Not sure if it's economics, weight savings, safety, EPA mpg numbers or what,

Yes

 

[McMXi]

Yes

I think that safety is probably the lowest factor on the list with economics and EPA regulations the main drivers.

 

[McMXi]

I haven't driven the F-250 for quite a while, around a year actually, ever since I had what I thought was a FIDM (Fuel Injector Driver Module) failure. I think they're sometimes called an FICM (Fuel Injection Control Module) but that might be a misnomer.

The F-250 has around 180k miles on it now, and last October during a trip to town, the truck lost power, black smoke began billowing out of the exhaust, the engine was running really rough and it was all I could do to limp the truck 6 miles or so home. As soon as I got home I did some research, and the symptoms pointed to a bad FIDM which isn't unusual given the mileage and age of the truck. I ordered a remanufactured FIDM from XDP which comes with some upgrades and there's a core charge for the original FIDM.

I've been have starting issues for at least a couple of years with the F-250 in very cold weather and if I don't have access to 110V for the block heater. Parking at the airport over the winter when I was out of town for work was always a drama-filled affair since it would take many glow plug cycles, many attempts to start the engine, and lots of smoke once the engine finally sputtered to life. The DP-Tuner chip/programmer figured out that at least two glow plugs were bad so I bought new valve cover gaskets and glow plugs at least three years ago but never got around to installing them. One more piece of the puzzle is that I was running Optima yellow top batteries in the truck which seemed to work well as long as I didn't leave the fan switch on. The previous owner installed an electromagnetic clutch for the fan that was turned on/off by a temperature sensor in the cooling system. I didn't like the fact that the A/C wouldn't run cold when idling on a hot day, so I wired the clutch to a switch in the cab with an LED and I turn it on/off when idling on hot days since there's not enough air moving over the A/C condenser without the fan running. The problem is that I wired it to +12V and not +12V IGN so I've forgotten to turn it off at times which has drained the batteries more than a few times.

OK ... so a long story so far.

 

[armylifer]

I am guessing that more is coming.

 

[McMXi]

A couple of weeks ago I removed a bunch of stuff such as the air filter housing, air intake, inter cooler tube, etc., and managed to remove the driver's side valve cover. I replaced all four glow plugs on the drivers side and installed a new FEL-PRO valve cover gasket. I also ordered new gaskets for the crank case ventilation housing. The valve cover gasket has a connector built into it for the wiring harness that runs to the injectors and glow plugs.

I followed the instructions and measured the resistance for each injector at the IDM connector and the results are shown below in blue. The values are supposed to be 2.8 to 3.6 ohms but clearly I'm not getting that. I haven't changed out the passenger side valve cover gasket or replaced the glow plugs but will be getting to that tomorrow.

 

[McMXi]

I bought two new batteries from Costco last week, specifically the 65 AGM variants, and after making sure that the turbo wouldn't inhale anything harmful, I started the truck this morning (45°F) without using the block heater, and not only did it start up first time, there was very little in the way of white smoke from the exhaust. I'm not sure of the significance of the ohm readings for each injector circuit. I imagine that the increased resistance could be down to old wiring but is this going to be an issue? I have no idea. I did use dielectric grease at the IDM connector and the connector on top of the valve cover. I'll measure the resistance of the four circuits on the passenger side once I've replaced the valve cover gasket. If it doesn't change, it might tell me something about where the resistance has increased.

Test 2 and test 3 above are critical tests in terms of the IDM so I confirmed open circuits before starting the truck for the first time in over a year. I was surprised by how well the truck ran given all of the missing components. Next up is to complete the glow plug and valve cover replacement on the passenger side, and then reinstall everything that I removed.

After driving the F-450 for so many months, the old F-250 feels, well, old. Humans are comparative creatures and we don't work in absolutes. It's only because I've spent a lot of time in the F-450 that the F-250 feels all of it's 23 years. I am really looking forward to getting it back up and running again so that it can fill the role as my winter driver.

 

[McMXi]

So I began this F-250 update by saying "the symptoms pointed to a bad FIDM which isn't unusual given the mileage and age of the truck" and this is still the most likely explanation of the problem that occurred last year. The fact that I installed two new batteries, a remanufactured IDM and a new valve cover gasket before starting the truck means that I'll likely never know for sure if the IDM was the problem, but it still seems like it probably was.

I know for sure that the batteries were bad but I don't know if failed batteries would result in injector issues with loss of power and billowing black smoke. Regardless, I needed to address the glow plugs, and $255 for an upgraded/improved IDM isn't a lot to pay compared to having a dealer fix the issue. Batteries are a wear and tear item, as are glow plugs and valve cover gaskets. All in this job is significantly less than $1,000 so not a big deal unless the injectors or wiring harness are bad and this IDM fails in short order.

I bought the truck from a friend in 2018 for $8k and it only had 117k miles on it at the time. I've made some upgrades and sold some parts off the truck such as the SnugTop and front bumper, and taken care of some wear and tear items such as brake rotors, calipers and pads, but overall it has proven to be a reliable and relatively cheap truck to own.