Long Distance Trailering Necessities

[ksttac]

flares or cones?

[Blue01F250]

Glad to see ya made it safe and had a good day fishing!

Hopefully today will be just as good.

I get about 12 ish while hauling below 70 mph -- on relatively flat terrain -- so if you have any hills at all and going 70, then I'd say thats about on par

[SteveKran]

Originally Posted by vitalidle

Glad to hear you made it safe! What is the truck a 4x4 xtra cab crew cab stock tires or oversize? Sounds close maybe a bit low. I get 14-15 pulling my 5 thousand pound boat running 60. Did you hand calculate? Also depends on the terrain.

Ok, I payed a little more attention tonight on my way home. I made sure to keep the cruise set to 65 the entire way home.

It's a 2003 7.3L Crew Cab Fx4 with 305/75/R16 Cooper Discovery tires. I know the stock tires are 265's, and I believe the 305 is pretty much a 33" tire. After 111 miles I stopped and was getting 10.4mpg. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow so yall can see what I'm dealin with.

[vitalidle]

Remember with oversize tires your going faster then the mph indicates and also you are traveling more miles so you are getting better fuel mileage then you are calculating

[vitalidle]

Travel with a handheld gps next time you will see the difference. I have 285's and Im roughly 2 mph faster at 60.

[SteveKran]

Originally Posted by vitalidle

Travel with a handheld gps next time you will see the difference. I have 285's and Im roughly 2 mph faster at 60.

Good idea, I've got mine in my center console. I never thought to use it.

[StarDriver]

Originally Posted by dieselcrawler

I'm glad to hear someone pins the latch on their trailers... I was helping a friend of mine load a truck the other day, his dad met us there with the his '02 F-250 and the son's trailer. As we come-along a dead Blazer onto the trailer, the hitch jumps off the ball... my friend and I both think the ol' man never even latched it, let alone used a pin to hold the latch down... swore up and down he did... trailer had been sitting, no scrapes in the rust where the latch would have moved if he had... poor ol' feller... don't even think he realized how easy he could have hurt one of us... scared me good... glad I din't have to follow him home, he didn't chain the Blazer down well eather... I tried to do what I could to sugjest the right way, but I wasn't gonna argue with my friends ol' man like that...

No offense, but if they are your friends, they will respect your opinion especially when it comes to safety. I padlock my latch, it also prevents someone from unhooking your trailer and stealing it off of your truck, or it prevents soemone from unhooking the latch as a joke.

[SteveKran]

Originally Posted by StarDriver

No offense, but if they are your friends, they will respect your opinion especially when it comes to safety. I padlock my latch, it also prevents someone from unhooking your trailer and stealing it off of your truck, or it prevents soemone from unhooking the latch as a joke.

That's what insurance is for

[StarDriver]

Originally Posted by SteveKran

That's what insurance is for

But it's no fun to come out and find your trailer gone with your prize ride inside. I've heard of it happening, the tow rig is there but the trailer is gone.

[dieselcrawler]

Don't worry, I know the value of latches, and also use padlocks as pins, there when you need them, and useful as pins otherwise. I make sure the ones on the doors to the box trailer match the one on the hitch, and the other trailers I have, they share a key...
I don't know the ol' man very well, his son (my friend) and I share concerns with this matter...
Argueing with an old man who is convinced he latched the trailer, well, I come across as arrogent enough most of the time! I'm just gonna double check as much as I can if this situation happens again... If my truck wasn't in the shop getting a trans, we'd have been using my truck, and no old man!