Hello All:
Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice. My question has to do with whether to beef up my existing truck or simply buy a new model. A bit of background in order to provide context:
Two years ago my wife and I began to consider purchasing a fifth wheel and as a result we purchased a 2005 Chevy 3500 Crew Cab LT DRW 4x4 diesel with about 160k miles. The truck was stock with no mods but did have a gooseneck hitch from the previous owner. Fast forward to last fall when we finally decided on a 2014 Road Warrior 425 that we ultimately purchased. After attending several RV shows and speaking with the dealer we were under the impression that our truck would pull the unit with no problem. Then we took delivery and the ride home (from Cincy to Indy) was, to be kind, not enjoyable. The truck struggled up the hills outside Cincy and ran hot but did OK when we hit the flatland of central IN. Finally got it home and began to do some serious research to determine why the truck struggled (note to prospective RV'ers....this is the wrong time to begin your research...take it from me). This is what we found:
The truck is rated as follows:
Axle Ratio 3:73
Max Trailer Weight 12,000 lbs
GCWR 23,500 lbs
GVWR 11,400 lbs
RV GVWR is 18k lbs (dry weight appears to be right at 15k lbs)
I have a friend with the exact same truck as mine but his has SRW that he's modded to pull sleds/race competitively. Due to his advice we took our truck to a diesel performance shop where we had a racing intake, 5" exhaust and a tow chip/tune installed. They also installed a manual +/- shifter to better gear down on larger hills. The HP to the wheels jumped from around 250 to over 400 as a result. Plus it sounds really cool and makes my neighbors wonder why this guy with a loud truck just HAS to live in their neighborhood...which makes me smile of course.
The test came last week when we took our first trip to east TN via Nashville and it performed way better than before. Engine temps stayed at or below 210 (it crept just north of 210 on the return trip while going up a large hill but then cooled once we crested) and trans temps stayed between 180 and 200. Put it in tow mode and had to gear down a few times but generally kept cruising between 50 and 60 MPH.
That one hot moment is what has me concerned though. We have a trip planned to Myrtle Beach next month and while I've towed on some pretty big hills in TN I hear that the pull through the Smokey's (I store the unit in TN and thus will be going through Knoxville toward SC) can be a real bear. I've had a few white knuckle moments towing thus far and the last thing I want is to blow something in the middle of the mountains or put myself or others in danger because my TV isn't up to snuff.
My racing buddy recommended electric fans and an aftermarket radiator if needed to address any heat spikes as well as a racing trans rebuild to handle the larger load on the hills. Air bags are on the list too. Total mods would be about $10k which is a lot less than a new TV. I guess that my question is whether to continue to pump money into our current TV or just go and buy a newer unit with better technology. All the numbers that I look at point to the fact that our truck should pull our unit with easily but it doesn't seem to perform in the same way that I read some here report when pulling similar sized units. While peace of mind is priceless I don't want to spend cash unnecessarily. Anyone out there had a similar situation? Thanks again for any thoughts/advice.
Richie
Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice. My question has to do with whether to beef up my existing truck or simply buy a new model. A bit of background in order to provide context:
Two years ago my wife and I began to consider purchasing a fifth wheel and as a result we purchased a 2005 Chevy 3500 Crew Cab LT DRW 4x4 diesel with about 160k miles. The truck was stock with no mods but did have a gooseneck hitch from the previous owner. Fast forward to last fall when we finally decided on a 2014 Road Warrior 425 that we ultimately purchased. After attending several RV shows and speaking with the dealer we were under the impression that our truck would pull the unit with no problem. Then we took delivery and the ride home (from Cincy to Indy) was, to be kind, not enjoyable. The truck struggled up the hills outside Cincy and ran hot but did OK when we hit the flatland of central IN. Finally got it home and began to do some serious research to determine why the truck struggled (note to prospective RV'ers....this is the wrong time to begin your research...take it from me). This is what we found:
The truck is rated as follows:
Axle Ratio 3:73
Max Trailer Weight 12,000 lbs
GCWR 23,500 lbs
GVWR 11,400 lbs
RV GVWR is 18k lbs (dry weight appears to be right at 15k lbs)
I have a friend with the exact same truck as mine but his has SRW that he's modded to pull sleds/race competitively. Due to his advice we took our truck to a diesel performance shop where we had a racing intake, 5" exhaust and a tow chip/tune installed. They also installed a manual +/- shifter to better gear down on larger hills. The HP to the wheels jumped from around 250 to over 400 as a result. Plus it sounds really cool and makes my neighbors wonder why this guy with a loud truck just HAS to live in their neighborhood...which makes me smile of course.
The test came last week when we took our first trip to east TN via Nashville and it performed way better than before. Engine temps stayed at or below 210 (it crept just north of 210 on the return trip while going up a large hill but then cooled once we crested) and trans temps stayed between 180 and 200. Put it in tow mode and had to gear down a few times but generally kept cruising between 50 and 60 MPH.
That one hot moment is what has me concerned though. We have a trip planned to Myrtle Beach next month and while I've towed on some pretty big hills in TN I hear that the pull through the Smokey's (I store the unit in TN and thus will be going through Knoxville toward SC) can be a real bear. I've had a few white knuckle moments towing thus far and the last thing I want is to blow something in the middle of the mountains or put myself or others in danger because my TV isn't up to snuff.
My racing buddy recommended electric fans and an aftermarket radiator if needed to address any heat spikes as well as a racing trans rebuild to handle the larger load on the hills. Air bags are on the list too. Total mods would be about $10k which is a lot less than a new TV. I guess that my question is whether to continue to pump money into our current TV or just go and buy a newer unit with better technology. All the numbers that I look at point to the fact that our truck should pull our unit with easily but it doesn't seem to perform in the same way that I read some here report when pulling similar sized units. While peace of mind is priceless I don't want to spend cash unnecessarily. Anyone out there had a similar situation? Thanks again for any thoughts/advice.
Richie