12" lifted SRW 350 GCWR 26,000lbs WHAT A TRIP

[dazdillenger]

I know it's ill advised to overweight your tow vehicle, but to be honest I didn't realize how much it weighed until I hit the scales, and at that point I was already home. I purchased a bus a while back in long island anticipating driving it home, only to drive all the way down there to find someone had robbed parts off of it and it no longer ran. Anyway, after 3 months of storage fees, I had to pick it up. I had initially lined up an f550 dumptruck to do the trip, but the night before it had a massive brake failure that put it out of commission. Already having lined everything up, I figured why not take big red. (truck in my signature)

I got there, hooked to the 10ton 8 wheel pintlehook equipment trailer I had bought, and thought-this is going to be heavy. Got to copart, after 2 hours I got the bus loaded. This brought heavy a whole new meaning. I'd never seen big red squat in the back, let alone 6". I've towed big loads before, and I had anticipated this one being right at the legal limit, but had never gone that big (13'7" tall to boot). I had JUST done headgaskets/studs in the old girl, and as of then she had just rolled 289,000 (stock trans, stock everything). My nervousness was compounded by the fact that my truck has a 12" lift and 40" tires. I figured something was going to go wrong, but I held my tongue and did it anyway. Driving through NYC was a bit scary, the trailer tended to push the truck a bit, and noone thinks twice about cutting you off. Power was always there (I ran my Innovative aggressive tow tune). Limited myself to 60mph on the way home. When I got within 50 miles of my house I stopped at a truck stop weigh station. My truck was BONE DRY on fuel (I rolled in with 2 miles till empty) and the weight was without myself, or my passenger.

Steer axle 4040
Drive axle 7380
Trailer 13280
GROSS 24700!

Ad another 200lbs in diesel, and 500 in passengers, and she was near 26000lbs fully loaded. I sing the praises of the 6,0 every chance I get, and this is no exception. She handled it like a dream. There were a few hills I was a bit concerned with, mainly on the backroads, that required the pedal to the floor to hold 30mph in 2nd for MILES. If the black onyx/VR headgaskets were going to fail, they would have on that stretch. The truck performed admirably, and managed to pull down 8.7mpg average on the trip (I reset it on one particularly nasty hill for laughs-2.1mpg!).

This one takes the cake for big loads. I'm sure some of you have exceeded it, but this was the heaviest I've ever had behind a pickup. Especially considering it was a 380mile trip. I'd do it again locally, but that's about it.

[jetjock15]

I pulled down the ALCAN in winter with my truck and trailer and scaled over 30, there is an added level of caution needed when towing that heavy and lifted, nice job. My trip was over 10x the distance, but the weight broke a few parts along the way. Some body is going to view your story in a negative light, if it gets too bad I would just say you made it up, i would not post a pic of the wieght ticket.

[dieselcrawler]

Even dumb things can be done wisely, and with caution, and you live to tell the tale. It's all about calculated risk, and awareness... I towed our Excursion home when I bought it, on a trailer I had also just bought from the same guy, behind the red single wheel truck, with no license tags and no trailer brakes. Probly not the smartest thing to do, and not quite as heavy, but still.... we all do these things when you just gotta get things done. Glad to hear you made it home safely, and you sure seem proud of your 6.0!

What's the plans with the bus?

[dazdillenger]

I got the bus running the other day-had a tank full of water. As for what I'm going to do with it, I don't know. I like odd things!

[atvrider93]

thats pretty cool! what kind of EGTs were you seeing?

[dazdillenger]

Never broke 1100. I credit the boost cooler-when it ran low up a hill I had to ease out of it to avoid getting the EGT's too hot. Without it, I easily gained 200 degrees!

[dereku]

goofy thing to buy a bus. Would make a sick custom RV tho.

[screamin7.3]

Congratulations. Now tell us what you're doing with the bus. You're up to something I just know it.

[dazdillenger]

Well, that's kinda my plan. I buy a lot of sportbikes at auction, and have to drive sometimes hundreds of miles go get them. I figured I could pull my 20' enclosed trailer with it, or use the wheelchair lift to load the bikes right in the back if I didn't need the trailer. I figured some curtains, a flatscreen, and a futon bunkbed, along with some carpeting and she'd be golden. Partition off the very rear for working, maybe put a small compresser and toolbox back there. It's big enough to walk around in freely, and has front and rear heat, ac, and the 750lb capacity lift. That, and I paid 1200 bucks for it. (2003 e350 with 150k on it!). Unfortunately it took so long to pick up, and I made several trips down to get it running, so it cost me more than I paid in storage and fuel. Still, It's definitely worth much more than I have into it, and It's a sweet machine (hahahaha). Figure I'll get a mild tow tune and some gauges, and she'll be a ROOTER!

[dazdillenger]

Originally Posted by screamin7.3

Congratulations. Now tell us what you're doing with the bus. You're up to something I just know it.

A better question is what WON'T I be doing with it! lol

seriously, I was going to use it to pick up vegi-oil. That lift will make picking up 55 gallon drums a walk in the park. I can see it now-I can have a complete vegi oil filtering station in the back! Put a WVO kit in it, and never stop for fuel!