*Truck and Towing thread........ask your questions here.*

[Teamubr]

I'm suspicious of the boost gauge. It tops out at 17psi on the tune. EGTs climb to around 1300 at WOT to 70mph. Cruising at highway speed is around 500-600.

Where is your pyrometer? That makes a big difference on EGTs at the gauge. "Most" put the probe just downstream from the turbo. If yours is just past the turbo then your cruising EGTs are pretty normal. 1300 is getting too high. Ideally, you don't want to see more than 1200 or so. 1300 for brief stints is probably ok, but I wouldn't do it for miles up a grade. Getting close to 1400... lift! Keep an eye on the gauge. They can go up really fast, but they'll come down fast too when you stop pouring fuel.

Running at the +80 setting, I would expect your EGTs to stay in the 1000-1100 range. I'd get the exhaust on and see where you are. If you put the pyrometer ahead of the turbo (really hard to do on the 7.3 unless you drill and tap a manifold), I would move it into the bend just beyond the turbo.

I think your boost gauge is off. A stock 7.3 should be in the mid-upper teens. 16-17 psi, if I remember right. Mine, chipped on the highest setting, would blow about 26-28psi depending on air temp and load.

j

 

[Sluf]

Where is your pyrometer? That makes a big difference on EGTs at the gauge. "Most" put the probe just downstream from the turbo. If yours is just past the turbo then your cruising EGTs are pretty normal. 1300 is getting too high. Ideally, you don't want to see more than 1200 or so. 1300 for brief stints is probably ok, but I wouldn't do it for miles up a grade. Getting close to 1400... lift! Keep an eye on the gauge. They can go up really fast, but they'll come down fast too when you stop pouring fuel.

Running at the +80 setting, I would expect your EGTs to stay in the 1000-1100 range. I'd get the exhaust on and see where you are. If you put the pyrometer ahead of the turbo (really hard to do on the 7.3 unless you drill and tap a manifold), I would move it into the bend just beyond the turbo.

I think your boost gauge is off. A stock 7.3 should be in the mid-upper teens. 16-17 psi, if I remember right. Mine, chipped on the highest setting, would blow about 26-28psi depending on air temp and load.

j

Pyrometer is in the manifold, pre-turbo. Exhaust is already on.

 

[Teamubr]

i don't have real world experience with EGTs at the manifold. From what I've read, 100-200 degrees higher is typical. I'd think what you're seeing with the exhaust on is ok. Your 1300 would be 1100-1200 on mine and that's what I ran at +175.

Keep an eye on your mpg. I actually got better mileage running the 80tow setting than I did stock. It was great. More power and better economy.

j

 

[Sluf]

I'm definitely getting better mileage. Not sure exactly what it will be yet, but I can say it's better.

 

[PaHunter]

So the above photo's were taken of a DRV fifth wheel, the area that holds the pin box. You can see the steel failures. The use of more substantial steel would increase the pin weight.
Those towing fifth wheels, remember, inspect your trailer pin boxes regularly.

 

[tiggerdad]

Wow, that is impressive. Makes me wonder if it had a sudden "slam" to cause that. Interesting to say the least.

Not yours I hope.

 

[PaHunter]

Wow, that is impressive. Makes me wonder if it had a sudden "slam" to cause that. Interesting to say the least.

Not yours I hope.

No it is not mine. It is from an engineer friend, and no it was not from just one incident. It was just from "normal" towing. Just amazing how things are being constructed and that was a high end DRV fifth wheel.

 

[tiggerdad]

For those of us who work on things...

 

[PaHunter]

For those of us who work on things...

View attachment 362924

How timely, I am out trying to get bolts off my truck. Have been hitting them with the impact to no avail, now to heat them up some. I am trying to get my fenders mounted. Not so easy.

 

[Sluf]

I have a question for everyone that I think I already know at least part of the answer to. The refrigerator in my 5er is acting flaky. I'm planning on replacing it with a Haier 9.8cu ft residential model. I also have a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter that I intend to mount in the front compartment and run to the refrigerator only. That way, when we leave for Disney in February, all the food/drinks will stay cold during the trip. I only have one battery at the moment, but planned to add a second one for the trip. The refrigerator itself runs at 2.5 amps per the manufacturer. The truck does charge the camper battery because of the emergency braking system while pulling the camper, right? Also, shouldn't the truck should keep up with the amp draw as well?

 

[PaHunter]

I have a question for everyone that I think I already know at least part of the answer to. The refrigerator in my 5er is acting flaky. I'm planning on replacing it with a Haier 9.8cu ft residential model. I also have a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter that I intend to mount in the front compartment and run to the refrigerator only. That way, when we leave for Disney in February, all the food/drinks will stay cold during the trip. I only have one battery at the moment, but planned to add a second one for the trip. The refrigerator itself runs at 2.5 amps per the manufacturer. The truck does charge the camper battery because of the emergency braking system while pulling the camper, right? Also, shouldn't the truck should keep up with the amp draw as well?

I know people in the Sandpiper forum I am on run the fridge on battery power, 18 cu ft residential and they say it takes 8 hours to kill the battery. We cool ours down load with foodstuff, and gallon water jugs frozen ahead of time to keep everything cool.
Two batteries and truck running should be alright. But then I am not an electrician, nor do I play one on tv.

 

[Teamubr]

The truck does charge the camper battery because of the emergency braking system while pulling the camper, right? Also, shouldn't the truck should keep up with the amp draw as well?

The truck should have a 12 volt feed to the trailer that does go to the battery. I'd have to look, but I think the fuse for mine is a 20 amp. This sounds good, except... The 2.5 amps for the refrigerator is at 110-120 volts. The math works out to be 300 watts to run the 'frige. The inverter pulls 12 volts and steps it up to the 110-120 for the refrigerator. 300 watts at 12 volts is 25 amps. This shouldn't cause you to blow the truck fuse (the circuit is generally isolated to put a set amount to the trailer battery), but it means the truck probably won't keep up with the refrigerator draw.

Long answer, but unless you are driving across country for several days, the battery will have enough reserve to run the refrigerator for your trip.

Not sure what size 2nd battery you are going with, but when I dry camped at races, I had 2 Group 29 (pretty large) deep cycle batteries in my old camper. I could run everything in the trailer except the A/C or microwave, including a satellite receiver and TV running on an inverter, for 3-4 days.

j

 

[Sluf]

The truck should have a 12 volt feed to the trailer that does go to the battery. I'd have to look, but I think the fuse for mine is a 20 amp. This sounds good, except... The 2.5 amps for the refrigerator is at 110-120 volts. The math works out to be 300 watts to run the 'frige. The inverter pulls 12 volts and steps it up to the 110-120 for the refrigerator. 300 watts at 12 volts is 25 amps. This shouldn't cause you to blow the truck fuse (the circuit is generally isolated to put a set amount to the trailer battery), but it means the truck probably won't keep up with the refrigerator draw.

Long answer, but unless you are driving across country for several days, the battery will have enough reserve to run the refrigerator for your trip.

Not sure what size 2nd battery you are going with, but when I dry camped at races, I had 2 Group 29 (pretty large) deep cycle batteries in my old camper. I could run everything in the trailer except the A/C or microwave, including a satellite receiver and TV running on an inverter, for 3-4 days.

j

My 2nd battery is the one I recently pulled from my truck. It's an 875cca/1000ca battery. The camper battery is a group 24 Interstate deep cycle 690mca battery.

The plan is to leave Knoxville at approximately 3pm on Feb 17th and head south. We're going to drive until I get tired, pull over, and sleep for the night. If we start out with a fridge that is loaded and cold before we leave, the fridge should only come on every so often, so the batteries should be charging in between times. The major concern will be the 5-8 hour stop to sleep, which shouldn't be much of an issue either, I wouldn't think anyway. I need to find out if the truck supplies power with the key off, too. I wouldn't want to run into a situation where I drained the truck batteries.

If it comes down to it, I may just go with the residential fridge and go grocery shopping once we get there. Reviews on the fridge says it gets cold in about an hour. It would just be nice to have everything in the camper and cold upon arrival.

 

[PaHunter]

My 2nd battery is the one I recently pulled from my truck. It's an 875cca/1000ca battery. The camper battery is a group 24 Interstate deep cycle 690mca battery.

The plan is to leave Knoxville at approximately 3pm on Feb 17th and head south. We're going to drive until I get tired, pull over, and sleep for the night. If we start out with a fridge that is loaded and cold before we leave, the fridge should only come on every so often, so the batteries should be charging in between times. The major concern will be the 5-8 hour stop to sleep, which shouldn't be much of an issue either, I wouldn't think anyway. I need to find out if the truck supplies power with the key off, too. I wouldn't want to run into a situation where I drained the truck batteries.

If it comes down to it, I may just go with the residential fridge and go grocery shopping once we get there. Reviews on the fridge says it gets cold in about an hour. It would just be nice to have everything in the camper and cold upon arrival.

The truck could supply power while off, you could always just disconnect your 7 way connector, just make a note to reconnect before you leave in the morning.

 

[Sluf]

The truck could supply power while off, you could always just disconnect your 7 way connector, just make a note to reconnect before you leave in the morning.

I just took my meter outside and checked it. Key off, no power. Key on, power on. I'm safe there, it seems.

 

[Teamubr]

I just took my meter outside and checked it. Key off, no power. Key on, power on. I'm safe there, it seems.

You beat me to it. Not sure about Dodge or Chevy, but I know Fords only power the plug with Key ON.

Your refrigerator should be fine. Even if it kills the battery while you're sleeping (you should have plenty of battery for 8 hours), unless you have the doors open, the refrigerator should stay cold for quite awhile.

j

 

[Sluf]

So I'm 90 days out now, and it appears we may have a small change of plans. It would certainly seem that we're going to have to drive two vehicles now. My oldest son got married in August and my daughter-in-law LOVES everything Disney. Since I've been working so much overtime recently, I suggested that we take them with us to the Fort. My son was supposed to find out today if his new job (about a month) would let him off to go. He felt confident they would since it's his best friend's dad that he works for. Fingers crossed!

 

[Sluf]

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So the above photo's were taken of a DRV fifth wheel, the area that holds the pin box. You can see the steel failures. The use of more substantial steel would increase the pin weight.
Those towing fifth wheels, remember, inspect your trailer pin boxes regularly.

On the same subject of pin boxes, etc, I have a question about my hitch/pin box setup. I recently lowered my hitch to its lowest setting to level my 5er. Prior to and since lowering it, the truck "bucked" forward and backward from time to time after hitting a bump/dip in the road. The airbags helped considerably, but didn't take it all the way out. Would I be better served to raise the pin box up the same amount that I lowered the hitch and then raise the hitch back up? It seems to me that it would take some of the torque and flex out of the pin box by getting it closer to the cross brace its mounted to on the structural part of the camper.

 

[tripleb]

Sluf, I don't think it will make any difference. My pin box is as high as it will go and hitch as low as it will go … still have the bucking you have mentioned. I think it's the nature of the beast, so to speak. I also have a MorRyde cushioned pin box. I have considered replacing the hitch with a cushioned hitch system to help eliminate the bucking but those hitches are expensive and heavy.

 

[Sluf]

Sluf, I don't think it will make any difference. My pin box is as high as it will go and hitch as low as it will go … still have the bucking you have mentioned. I think it's the nature of the beast, so to speak. I also have a MorRyde cushioned pin box. I have considered replacing the hitch with a cushioned hitch system to help eliminate the bucking but those hitches are expensive and heavy.

OK. Sounds like it probably doesn't matter then. I think I may go ahead and and swap the settings anyway, just so I can see my hitch better. After I put the toolbox in, I can't see the hitch anymore. I may not gain anything as far as the bucking goes, but I'll hopefully be able to at least see the hitch again.