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Pickups Pickups - Archived Discussions Cabover Campers & Camper Trailers (pickups) 
1377 messages, Last post on Nov 20, 2003 at 1:43 PM
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I totally agree about the 3/4 ton truck. From your comments I thought you were wanting a smaller SUV, if you can call a Tahoe smaller, which I believe only come as 1/2 ton. You need to step up to a Suburban class to get 3/4 ton. My dad pulled a 25' trailer with a 1/2 ton mid 80s Blazer and he was happy enough with it. But I sold it for him and had to take a lower price because of the transmission condition. According to the buyer GM put the 4-speed car transmission in that truck and it just isn't up to towing like the older 3-speed was. Anyway I bet that isn't true today as I've never heard anything bad about the GM 1/2 ton units. But your trailer plus cargo is near the limit for a 1/2 ton truck and it's always good to have some margin. You should go try out a GM extended cab truck. The current body style (year 2000 an up) have the most rear seat room of all the brands. See how it works with your passengers. If acceptable, those are abundant in the used market, even 3/4 ton. |
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My dad tows a 6200# trailer with his Silverado 1500. He has done it for many years without problems. What amazes me is that he gets a 3.42 final drive and still pulls that trailer. Eastern Iowa has plenty of hills, and he claims he pulls them in Drive and doesn't have his foot on the floor. Of course, he generally drives 55-60. The tongue weight is only 600-900#, no problem for a 1/2 ton. The trailer weight is well within the truck's ratings. A weight distributing hitch is mandatory (according to him). Properly set up trailer brakes mean you don't overload the truck brakes. I have both a 1/2ton and a 3/4 ton Silverado. I like both. The 3/4 ton is more like a truck, the 1/2 ton is more like a car with a big, open trunk. Drive both, see what you think. Talk to people with similar sized trailers. Find out how they drive and what they drive. Either one may work for you. Mike L |
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Don't forget to look at the door tag, it will tell you the GVW for the vehicle which is critical info for towing. I pull a 28', 6600# trailer with a 3/4 ton extended cab Silverado with no problems. Ray T. |
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Since I got my 00 2500, the clutch pedal has had too much free play - 2-3". Since it released before the floor, it meets GM specs. Bleeding had no effect. Last time I used the truck was in Death Valley and since then the truck sat for about 5-6 weeks. When I got back in it, the clutch was worse - 3-4" free play and releasing right on the floor. Since I still thought it had to be air in the concentric slave cylinder (aka the throwout bearing), I wanted to try again to get the air out. Since bleeding still didn't help, I decided to try a different method. I made a dummy clutch master cylinder cap with a seal and a port in the middle. I hooked up a vacuum pump to the port a put 30" of vacuum on the master cylinder. I was hoping the vacuum would make the bubbles much larger, and then they would come out. After a couple of minutes of vacuum, I pulled the cap off - I could actullay see some small bubbles coming up! And now the clutch is perfect!!! About 1" free play and the release point is about 1/2 way down. Better then when it was new. The vacuum worked so well that I'm going to try it on a motorcycle brake system that has always been difficult to bleed. I'm not sure the bleed port for the concentric slave cylinder is all the way at the top of the cylinder. Mike L |
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I was very interested in your method for bleeding the clutch hydraulics. In the last few years I have found three clutch pedals (a Ford 150, a 250 and an Explorer) that went to the floor without disengaging the clutch and in each case the master and/or slave cylinder was replaced to correct the problem. I wonder now whether any of these were simply air bubbles that could have been bled. In each case the failure was rather sudden, usually overnight, with complete or nearly complete inoperability coming on over a few pedal depressions. The questions: How did the air get into your system if a cylinder wasn't leaking? any ideas? (For instance, it would be easy for a guy with a syringe and a small bore tube to introduce some air during a routine grease/oil change if his shop needed some business.) And would you put a vacuum on the master cylinder to see if bubbles appeared in every case where the clutch pedal suddenly goes to the floor without disengagement? Thanks, Ross |
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My clutch pedal was low from the 1st time I drove it. After several attempts at bleeding, I just gave up and drove it that way. Only after sitting for several weeks did the pedal change for the worse. It is possible that I could have bled the extra air out of the system and gotten back to where it was. But, I tried the vacuum instead and it worked. Putting a vacuum on the master cylinder was easy enough to do, I'd certainly do it before replacing anything. Of course, my reasoning may be wrong. Maybe the master cylinder wasn't able to fully retract, and the vacuum pulled it hard enough to clear the obstruction - or??? The only way I can think of air getting into the system is with the brake fluid. If the fluid got low and air got in; or maybe really rough roads got enough air into the fluid. Then using the clutch distributed the air to the slave cylinder where the air came out of the fluid (temperature or air pressure changes?) and caused the clutch to suddenly get worse. I can tell you that the two motorcycle brake system that I tried this on - one is now working great, and the other needs a master cylinder! Mike L |
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 Don't forget trivia night on Wednesday, February 19, 9-10pm ET/6-7pm PT. Join other members for some trivia and member-to-member chat! http://www.edmunds.com/townhall/chat/townhallchat.html |
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Dorothy bought me a book at the HP Book Faire - Backcountry Adventures Northern California. It lists tons of backroads, giving road conditions, scenery, etc. They list roads from 1 (any passenger car) to 10 (highly modified 4wd required, expect body damage). This book doesn't show any roads above a 7 because that is not the target audience. It seems to be a great resource - so good, that I went onto Yahoo and ordered Backcountry Adventures Southern California. They also have one for Utah and another for Colorado. Now we need to try some of these roads. Tom S's book gives remote campsite, and this shows campsites that are on the roads, but you still need Tom's book for a description of the camps. Next time you're nearby, stop in and check out the new reference. Mike L |
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Hey let's go! The DV trip satisfied my wanderlust for a while but I'm beginning to feel the urge. How about some time in April? I'll take a look at the book on Amazon. I need to order Tom's anyway as mine is old and in two pieces now. |
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We haven't heard from you in a long time. My son and his family are headed for Anchorage this summer and want to rent a truck camper for a couple of weeks. He doesn't like the price from the one company he has checked with. Do you have any leads? Ross |
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