operation new tow pig is great success

Beautiful truck!

Streetwiseguy wrote: Too darn big. Anything that needs a stepladder to get into the box is too darn big. Based on what I see around me, though, I am wrong.

i can't argue that point. my 90 c1500 has a very comfortable height bed. the avalanche was borderline too tall, and this one is silly. i need to hop up to sit, then swing my legs up and in. however, this is the truck they make to do what i need to do. i believe the 4x4 1 ton rams are so high to clear the solid front axle, the 4x4 half tons sit as low as the 2wd trucks because they have IFS. after owning a blazer, suburban, and avalanche in a row, i believe IFS has no place on a 4x4 truck. the avalanche was pretty darn low for a 4x4 truck and i did not need steps to get in. i could have ordered a 2wd and been a few inches lower, but up here in the snow, dealers only stock 4x4 trucks unless you're talking half ton base models. there were exactly zero 2wd crew cab short bed 3500 cummins trucks in the country according to the ram factory website that searches all their dealers. i thought about ordering a 2wd, but i also know i've been in some muddy situations snatching cars out of yards/fields/woods and i've gotten myself out with 4wd tow vehicles and had to get pulled out when i had the 2wd chevy 3500.

hoping to get the saab out of the garage this weekend so my wife can have it back and stop driving my new truck to work. my express van seat is worn out so my back and tailbone are killing me from driving it 500+ miles this week. need to junkyard a more comfortable seat, possibly next week.

Is that a short box? Nice truck, but I don't understand short boxes. I guess that's just me.

yes.

the reason is - i've got a 14K gvw trailer and will be buying another soon. to not require a CDL(I play by the rules, i do not try to fly under the radar like certain lemons teams that carry 3 car 21k wedge trailers with a dually and claim they don't have a CDL and haven't been pulled over yet) required a truck with 12K GVWR or less. kids require crew cab. crew cab short bed(6.7 foot or something) is 11,700 gvw. crew cab long bed is 12,400 requiring CDL to be legal with combined GVWR's 26001+ since the trailer is over 10k. trailer gvwr under 10k i could have bought a long bed dually and been fine. i could have gone to a GM longbed crew cab but i am so sour on gm trucks 99+ right now that it was pretty much a non option, then when i sat in one at the auto show last week nothing felt right like it did in the 05.

the other reason it's fine is that for work when the van is not enough, i don't use the truck itself to carry things. i pull an enclosed trailer with all my tools and materials, the truck is just the tool to get the trailer to the job. i have my other truck for around town "truck stuff" - running scrap in or picking up engines or whatnot - and it's a shortbed too.

Gotcha. Having kids myself, I appreciate the crew cab. I think a lot of people are just ignorant of CDL rules, so it's good that you pay attention. And since you have another truck to haul crap in the bed, no need to get this one scratched and dented.

tuesday was it's first day of work related work. Carli got her Snaab back monday afternoon after it taking me 5 months to get the engine swap done. also, last friday i put the steps on. iBoard brand - silly gimmicky branding but they're very nice aluminum extrusions with brackets and fasteners that go right in the factory holes, they're also the cheapest ones on the market, won't rot out in a couple years like the cheap steel ones, and look pretty sweet. i'm not a little guy and they do not deflect under my weight.

it sure makes my trailer look small. also, last friday i took in my old dually full of scrap and barely felt it and we delivered chandlerGTI his new corvette saturday. diesels love towing, eh?

today went to the dealer to give them my proof of business ownership for the ram commercial incentive and they ordered my new bosch cordless tool kit for me. picked up the hitch they ordered and they failed to order my wiring so the parts department took care of that and it's getting shipped to my house. i requested mopar part # for the hitch as part of the deal, they ordered a BW hitch ........for a 2500 ........that says it fits 2500 coil spring trucks only ........mine is a 3500 leaf spring truck

at this point i could call them on it but there is zero communication between sales and parts and the parts guy had no idea who the hitch was for until i showed up. when i got it home i read the destructions and. yeah. i'm wondering if the hitch itself is the same and the instructions or a few bits are different. the BW hitch is $439 and cost on the mopar one is sub $300 so i'm not even sure what they were thinking. worst case i put the hitch they gave me on ebay and order the right one myself.

operation pick up this van from another GRM'er and see how the truck does with about 8k of van and trailer behind it in the mountains of PA was also great success. did i mention the exhaust brake? because going down a long steep grade with that trailer behind me and not having to brake one bit to maintain speed was pretty sweet. also took the kids to the washington PA trolley museum for bunny trolley ride and easter egg hunt. they had fun.

also boys and girls, that is why you buy an 18' trailer and not a 16'

Looks good, what kind of bosch tool did you get? Sorry I have a problem and am addicted to power tools. Bought a little 12v Bosch driver on clearance and love that thing. It has replaced the 18 ryobi as my go to in most situations.

Glad your truck worked out for you. I hope mine works out for me.

patgizz wrote: for rust, we're going to take apart everything necessary to get the cosmoline type spray into every possible nook and cranny. my dad bought a 5 gallon bucket and the spray gun a few years ago and my mom's 2005 astro from utah is just as rust free as it was when they got it and she drives it every day in the salt.

Can I, er, borrow the rig to do that when I'm ready to get my VW on the road?

I betcha I could have found the driveline vibration. And the evap and O2 faults. But I also betcha that you'll be happier with this than some Avalanche so that all is unimportant.

I'm shocked that they are bothering to put a level gauge on the DEF tank rather than a sensor. DEF freezes, putting a sending unit in the tank must have been a bitch and a half.

I have issues with people buying huge trucks and not using them. You sir are living right. It looks good working hard.

What has your fuel economy been like?

Knurled wrote:

patgizz wrote: for rust, we're going to take apart everything necessary to get the cosmoline type spray into every possible nook and cranny. my dad bought a 5 gallon bucket and the spray gun a few years ago and my mom's 2005 astro from utah is just as rust free as it was when they got it and she drives it every day in the salt.

Can I, er, borrow the rig to do that when I'm ready to get my VW on the road? I betcha I could have found the driveline vibration. And the evap and O2 faults. But I also betcha that you'll be happier with this than some Avalanche so that all is unimportant. I'm shocked that they are bothering to put a level gauge on the DEF tank rather than a sensor. DEF freezes, putting a sending unit in the tank must have been a bitch and a half.

i believe the vibration and phantom clunk were inside the transfer case. everything else had been rebuilt/balanced, and the clunk was right under the seats. tire swap didn't change it either. but also, there is no way the avalanche was pulling this van back from the PA mountains safely. i would not have attempted it. i know the RH front o2 was out of spec and the evap solenoid thing on top of the tank was that fault. i had my scanner on it and still have the new o2 sensor. i wasn't looking for reasons to get a bigger truck, i needed it and was hoping the avalanche stayed nice enough long enough to get more out of it than i owed while i found the right truck.

i'll see where my dad ordered the goo, you could order a smaller size then come over and spray it here with the gun, i have a big compressor.

mpg on this trip was 13.6 and lots of mountains and uphill starts. empty it's been around 18. i did a 65 mile round trip to the dealer and back the other day, no highway mostly 55mph 2 lane and got 21.

That is nuts that that much metal can get economy that good!

operation "dealer ordered me the wrong hitch" is complete. i sold the wrong hitch on ebay for $434.99 less $37 in shipping plus ebay fees. just ordered the correct mopar factory gooseneck prep package which includes the hitch and safety chain hook mounts for $308 and the ball/chain hooks for $144(that i would have had to order anyway if the dealer got me the factory hitch i asked for). so in the end their screwup has me cash ahead. $90 minus whatever the ebay fees on a $435 sale are. $43.50 i assume. so i'm about $46 ahead. also they did order the correct factory harness, that showed up tuesday. so when the hitch gets here i get to drill some holes in the new truck.

also got a letter from the bank, they dropped the interest rate .45% from the contract so the payments have gone down. and the dealer sent me a check for the difference between the trade in amount and what was owed, so they didn't apply that as a down payment. so i've got a decent little check that covers the toolbox, running boards, and bed mat that i bought.

next step - install gooseneck and finish trailer shopping so i can start bringing clean iron up north for us poor souls in the rust belt.

suck my fuel economy, avalanche!

i'm not hypermiling but i'm also not driving like a "dude my dong is so small i bought a jacked up cummins and drive everywhere with my foot to the floor rolling coal to make up for it" bro either. the torque can be intoxicating and hard to lay off at times.