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8700 lbs, 2000 miles, 3 days

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#1 · (Edited)
Towed out to Road Atlanta from Dallas and back this past weekend. We were loaded up heavier than usual. Since the track is so far we wanted to bring every spare imaginable. Trailer weight of 8700 lbs is an estimate but probably doesn't miss it by more than 100 lbs. Truck also had four 200+ lbs guys in it and maybe ~200 lbs in the bed. Trailer is 24 box length car hauler. I use Anderson WD/anti-sway hitch and set it’s pretty tight. I have engine braking option installed and am running General Grabber HTS-60 XL rated tires. Truck is equipped with factory air susp.

The truck just flat worked without any drama. I’ve previously made several trips to the scales and have the trailer/truck dialed in very nice. The speed limit was 70-75 the entire way so to not be a rolling road block I towed 75-78 the whole time. I would slow to lower 70s on the big hills and never went over 3k RPMs. I didn't use cruise control or T/H mode. Truck drove in 6-7 gears the entire trip with occasional 8th on the flats. Ambient air temps were 40s-70s one day and 50-80s the second day. Highest oil temp was 251, coolant was 229 and tranny was 206.

I wish I had something more exciting to report. I was wondering if the bigger hills in Alabama around Birmingham would be a struggle but they were a non-issue. I’ve made the same tow with a long bed Cummins but never ran any type of anti-sway or load leveling. With the Anderson installed my 1500 felt about the same as that truck. Very mild movement occasionally when a semi passed. Wind was blowing 25 mph on the way out and at least that in TX on the way back. Truck and trailer combo took it all in stride.
Overall I couldn’t be happier. Averaged 10.5-10.9 MPG the tanks I monitored.

Oh one other thing. I averaged 27 mpg on the way into work this morning. Had been seeing 24.5 prior to the trip. I guess the trip did her some good!

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#12 · (Edited)
We race WRL. It's endurance racing. Usually two 8 hr races. There are four of us and we ea do a two hrs stint. Road Atlanta was awesome, can't wait to go back!

Hard for me to believe you could pull that much, so far, with such low temperatures. Your transmission temperature is flat out cold compared to mine.

Can't make a summary statement because your success blew me away.
I was thinking about you when I wrote that :). Highest tranny temp I've ever seen entire time I've owned the truck is 213 and it was over 100 and really hilly.

WOW WOW WOW, Just for comparison I towed 2000 LESS pounds behind me and at least 400 pounds less in the cab.Any speed over 55 you just held your breath, 60 mph and you thought you were going to flip the thing trailer and all WITH a wd hitch set up by the TT rental company. Towed that hog 140 miles and I felt like I drove a 1100 mile day, total pos. Obviously you know what the hell your doing and this rental pos company does not.
Not sure what they screwed up so bad. That sucks you had such a bad experience. I've never towed a trailer that out of whack. Have heard stories similar to yours though.

WOW AGAIN! Love to hear that, I'm towing around 7k and it's been fine so far.

One statement makes me curious tho, NO T/H mode? Why do you choose not to use it?
In my experience it does nothing more than hold the tranny in a lower gear than needed on the flat and as a result hurts fuel economy. The downside to not running it is more tranny shifting and potentially higher tranny temps. I've never had that issue though. Play with it yourself and see what you think.
 
#5 ·
Hard for me to believe you could pull that much, so far, with such low temperatures. Your transmission temperature is flat out cold compared to mine.

Can't make a summary statement because your success blew me away.
 
#9 ·
Towed out to Road Atlanta from Dallas and back this past weekend. We were loaded up heavier than usual. Since the track is so far we wanted to bring every spare imaginable. Trailer weight of 8700 lbs is an estimate but probably doesn't miss it by more than 100 lbs. Truck also had four 200+ lbs guys in it and maybe ~200 lbs in the bed. Trailer is 24 box length car hauler. I use Anderson WD/anti-sway hitch and set it’s pretty tight. I have engine braking option installed and am running General Grabber HTS-60 XL rated tires. Truck is equipped with factory air susp.

The truck just flat worked without any drama. I’ve previously made several trips to the scales and have the trailer/truck dialed in very nice. The speed limit was 70-75 the entire way so to not be a rolling road block I towed 75-78 the whole time. I would slow to lower 70s on the big hills and never went over 3k RPMs. I didn't use cruise control or T/H mode. Truck drove in 6-7 gears the entire trip with occasional 8th on the flats. Ambient air temps were 40s-70s one day and 50-80s the second day. Highest oil temp was 251, coolant was 229 and tranny was 206.

I wish I had something more exciting to report. I was wondering if the bigger hills in Alabama around Birmingham would be a struggle but they were a non-issue. I’ve made the same tow with a long bed Cummins but never ran any type of anti-sway or load leveling. With the Anderson installed my 1500 felt about the same as that truck. Very mild movement occasionally when a semi passed. Wind was blowing 25 mph on the way out and at least that in TX on the way back. Truck and trailer combo took it all in stride.
Overall I couldn’t be happier. Averaged 10.5-10.9 MPG the tanks I monitored.

Oh one other thing. I averaged 27 mpg on the way into work this morning. Had been seeing 24.5 prior to the trip. I guess the trip did her some good!

View attachment 43489
WOW WOW WOW, Just for comparison I towed 2000 LESS pounds behind me and at least 400 pounds less in the cab.Any speed over 55 you just held your breath, 60 mph and you thought you were going to flip the thing trailer and all WITH a wd hitch set up by the TT rental company. Towed that hog 140 miles and I felt like I drove a 1100 mile day, total pos. Obviously you know what the hell your doing and this rental pos company does not.
 
#10 ·
WOW AGAIN! Love to hear that, I'm towing around 7k and it's been fine so far.

One statement makes me curious tho, NO T/H mode? Why do you choose not to use it?
 
#11 · (Edited)
It CAN be very impressive even astonishing to some what can be seen & learned with some time working with your truck hitch & load at the scale especially when combined with the driving & a little S curve before & after redistribution & then after some adjustments. If your trailer is heavy pay attention to the steer to drive ratio. My experience is if the steer is 80 percent or more of the drive axle weight she will feel handle & drive well as in an emergency swerve around your rig won't end up upside down backwards in a ditch.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the aerodynamic drag of a higher flat box TT can pull harder on a flat at over 65 than an enclosed car hauler that weighs 2,000 pounds more than the TT.

No doubt Robert has worked on this different times knows his equipment & has his ducks in a row.

Cool thing is it's more set with fixed weights in a TT and once you find what works best your done you don't have come back to the scale next week or next year unless something changes dramatically with your load. In fact after you have what gave you the best scale numbers etc take & write down your steer wheelwell top to ground drive wheelwell top to the ground and front and rear trailer to the ground measurements and check your load whenever with that. The most important being the front wheel well as you don't want it to be much if any higher off the ground.
 
#13 ·


This was last week pulling that new toy hauler back across Interstate 4. Note the CAT temperatures in the Scan gauge. Probably averaged that high and even into the 1,000+* range. Transmission is actually a bit cool on this readout but still in the typical towing range until you hit a major grade. Then everything climbs and climbs up fast.
 
#18 ·
Couple years ago I bought one of those thermal temperature lasers. Played under that truck after stopping many times. Got my shirt and pants dirty. Bumped my head. shot that plastic pan, metal housing, surrounding things and came to a conclusion.

This did not work. Nothing I could duplicate would read the temperatures the Evic did.

Talked with ZF twice. They say it's normal. Kind of agree with "Goofy". Right at 65,000 miles today. Still good for another 30,000+ before losing powertrain warranty. Want to beat it like a rented mule before deciding.
 
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#21 ·
Found this a few years ago. I'm thinking 240 is your towing temp around 200 is normal? Chart would indicate a range of 20,000 miles if 240 all the time 100,000 if 200 all the time. Probably something in between combined. This was not done with modern synthetic ATF in mind either.

For what its worth, maybe nothing. Also I would suggest this varies greatly on each fluid and make, my trans temp reads a minimum of 192 once at operating temp.

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#22 ·
I think those tranny temp life expectance charts are kind of out of date or based on a different set of criteria.

We know for our tranny ZF stated tranny norm temps should be between 175-212 and ok to go briefly between 248-260. We don't know if the 'briefly temps' numbers will effect longevity. But makes sense.

We also know now ZF recommends changing the oil/filter at 80-120km ( 49,700 to 74,560 miles) if you make 'many trips while towing' or 'many trips at high speeds'. Both of those are vague and open to interpretation.

I am planning to change my oil and filter/pan at 50k mi. The question them becomes though if you do change and there is a tranny issue at say 90k miles will the immediate response be to void it based on oil/filter change not done right..blah blah blah?
 
#23 ·
Dealer took it in for that once. Told me the transmission fluid was full and was fine. Guess they smelled it. ZF told me clearly that the tranny fluid is designed to take those temperatures.

I am not going to change it. Runs fine right now.
 
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#24 ·
Close to my new tow weight. I suspect your hitch weight was around 1k lbs and I've dropped that amount on the ball and the air suspension will level it perfectly. But do not underestimate the Andersen and how it made your trip so easy. Its hands down a game changer.
 
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