Search results

As I understand its operation, the load-sensing and proportioning valve only senses the height of the chassis above the axle. Thus when you put a load in the bed with stock suspension, it droops, the system senses this and increases pressure to the rear brakes. If you mount a camper and level...

Nice to see some real-world figures here. I get tired of having guys swear to me they get 25 mpg with their Cummins while towing their 30-foot Airstream at 75 mph.

That depends. If the lower-horsepower engine has to work harder all the time, perhaps not. For example, when we swapped our FWC from a Toyota pickup with a 22RE four-cylinder and five-speed to a Tacoma with the 3.4 and auto, our fuel economy stayed virtually identical. Yes, the 3.4 was a more...

That sounds like a good plan. I might have suggested this before: The stock bushings on Boss shocks don't last very long (unless they've changed them recently). Pro-actively fitting urethane bushings is a good idea.

GrayJ, I think you're on the right track. If you plan to remove the camper between trips, air bags are the only way to go. I've never personally seen any adverse effects on a chassis from properly mounted air bags. Certainly never experienced it myself in what's now several hundred thousand...

Don't be too sure. At least 15 years ago my friend Jack Dykinga had a camper on a new Dodge truck, and the bed's sheet metal began splitting within months. When he took it in the company tried to claim the truck was not meant to carry a camper. He prevailed in the end and got a new bed, but sold...

I've seen at least a half-dozen add-a-leaf springs broken over the years, and experienced it once on one of our own trucks. An add-a-leaf adds stress where the original pack was not designed to take it. It's really a band-aid solution. The only exception is if the added leaf is designed as an...

Do you mean you have just one battery in the camper, plus your truck's starting battery? Or just the starting battery? In either case, the alternator will provide plenty of current to run the fridge while the truck is running. You really should have at least one deep-cycle battery in the camper.

I agree that leaving the top up would be best as long as it's out of the weather and UV exposure. Remember that if you plan to access the inside of the camper while it's stored the floor needs to be supported. It is not designed to be walked on while mounted only on camper jacks.

Alongthewayside, After owning, driving, and reviewing a lot of different suspension setups for carrying a camper, I've come to the conclusion that there are two ideal ways to go. 1. If you plan to remove the camper between trips, air bags are the only way to support the additional weight while...

Excellent! And good for GM.

Desert Dave has it right. A lot of 6.0 issues were caused or exacerbated by hot-rodding them, which blew the head gaskets secured with TTY (torque-to-yield) bolts. However, the stock EGR coolers are definitely problematic—the fine coolant passages clog and reduce flow to the oil cooler. A good...

Rob, if I were you I'd take the truck with the stock tires, have them replaced at Discount or wherever, and sell the take-offs on Craigslist. Use the cash to buy a spare wheel to match the alloys you probably have on the corners. Done. I'd love to hear how you like the truck and engine.

I'm pretty certain TPMS only alerts to under-inflation, so switching from a tire designed to run at 35 psi to one designed to run at 45 psi should make no difference. In my experience many people over-inflate E-rated tires simply because they read "80 psi maximum" on the side wall and assume...

This is weird. If the nominal tire sizes are the same, any minuscule variation in diameter between brands will make zero difference. After all, tire diameter changes fractionally as the tire wears, and the onboard electronics must cope with that. ABS sensors measure the difference in wheel...

As a few people have mentioned, the choice of tread design is just as important as load range to balance performance, safety, and economy. A lot of people run tires that are more aggressive than they really need, which has several downsides. I just wrote a bit about it here.

Fireball, Bob's information is excellent, but I respectfully disagree on the backing plate. I do not consider fender washers to be nearly sufficient backing; his three-inch square plates are much better. I don't think you could have plates that are too big; the more the load is spread the...

We have a front dinette on our Fleet and use it every time we're out, for eating and working. We also carry a stainless-steel table in a rack under the cabover extension, for cooking and eating outside.

Well done for even considering fighting the dominant paradigm of ever-larger tires. I think the switch to a slightly smaller diameter would be beneficial, and I don't believe you'd notice any difference in off-pavement ability with a .6" loss of ground clearance or the slightly narrower...

We had a Ravelco installed years ago. There's nothing to match it for simplicity (no moving parts) and security. Thieves might break in and take stuff, but unless they have a tow truck you know your vehicle will be there then you return.

Thom, thanks for your thorough and patient argument. However, despite your efforts, I'm still having trouble with this. Consider an experiment in which you drove two vehicles straight off a curb at low speed. Both vehicles have the same unsprung weight—axles, tires, etc.—but one vehicle weighs...

Fox shocks are indeed superb. I'm not sure—no, I'm sure they're not necessary for the vast majority of the kind of travel we do, but they are impressive. The best expedition shocks I've ever personally used were Koni Raids, on a 3,000-km loop through Tanzania and Kenya in an overloaded 110...

Squatch, the Boss shocks (here) are actually manufactured in Australia. I've only dealt with the Canadian importer, but the site lists a few U.S. distributors now.

Air bags augment the springs and help level the vehicle; they provide no damping. Thom: I'm going to challenge you on your claim about the function of dampers. If the only variable in the dynamic system was the unsprung weight, why would we have the huge variety of valving available to us? The...

It would be a mistake to assume that shocks suitable for a race truck are suitable for an everyday vehicle; the requirements are quite different. For example, a lot of so-called high-performance shocks come with heym joints instead of rubber bushings, which I think is a mistake for an...