Depressing

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 03/25/2014 at 12:42 • Filed to: None

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I brought home a new toy yesterday!

its a coleman/fleetwood Niagara. its huge, its got 2 king beds, a heater, a water heater, toilet, shower and outside shower, 3 way fridge and so on...its amazing. The depressing part was towing it home; I went up some steep hills backways to avoid traffic since I don't have a 7 pin light connector yet and up the steepest hills (10% or so) I was doing 38 mph...floored. this thing weighs 2800 lbs empty and had a GVWR of 3350 and my truck is rated for 5000...

Depressing is thinking If I will have to sell if (the trailer) for something lighter and less awesome or sell it (the Cruiser) for something that can pull it like a 4th gen 4runner or Tacoma.

Granted, the engine is 240,000 miles, but even with a top end rebuilt and new head, I don't think it would be much better. I was looking at turbo systems for ~$6000, but then I realized I would need to do a top end rebuild (4 grand) and an trans upgrade ($1000) before I could be happy with the reliability...so $11,000. At that point, I sell the cruiser for $8000, and buy a 4th gen 4unner with the v8 for $20,000

I'd like to do some freeway pulling just to see how bad it really will be, as soon as I get an adapter for the lights. I don't mind doing 50 over the big passes...I really dont...but if I can't do 40; thats a line right there.

505Turbeaux > HammerheadFistpunch 03/25/2014 at 12:45

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Cummins will pull that thing right along. Even my old 3B BJ60 cruiser could probably have pulled that. that is a big pop up though

dinobot666 > HammerheadFistpunch 03/25/2014 at 12:46

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Have you upsized the tires on your LC? If so, you might have lost a bit of gearing in the process.

HammerheadFistpunch > 505Turbeaux 03/25/2014 at 12:50

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its big, but not heavy, 3350 GVWR is pretty damn low for a tent trailer

HammerheadFistpunch > dinobot666 03/25/2014 at 12:51

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im up to 32.5, so only 4%, my re-gear back to stock would be 4.28:1 versus 4.10:1. So there is a loss, but only a very small loss. Regearing to 4.30 or even 4.56 was something I considered, but its so damn expensive to regear.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > HammerheadFistpunch 03/25/2014 at 13:01

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That's usually the problem with the anemic 1FZ...

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > HammerheadFistpunch 03/25/2014 at 13:01

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Wow that's surprising. And I say that because I've towed a 5000 lb pop up camper with a 5000 max tow V6 Mercury Mariner before. and I didn't have any trouble getting to 70 mph highway speeds, i mean it was flat and i wouldn't try a hill but still....

HammerheadFistpunch > 505Turbeaux 03/25/2014 at 13:13

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if only, an LS swap is tempting, but i just am not competent enough to do it, or patient enough to worry about all the little issues that would crop up. plus a swap of any kind is technically illegal in my state and cost prohibitive

505Turbeaux > HammerheadFistpunch 03/25/2014 at 13:19

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yeah they dont pay much mind in my state to a swap. Just want the money, so whatever you got in there, if it is rolling down the road and safe, all good in the hood.

SteyrTMP > HammerheadFistpunch 03/25/2014 at 13:25

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It's called a 90's Jeep Grand Cherokee. Comes with this amazing lump of cast iron called the 4.0.....

We had one for a while. Bought it sight unseen from some used car dealership, drove it to my parents' house, where I was working on the Seven at that time. Did a quick oil change, hooked up a 1800lb trailer with the 1550lb Seven on it, filled the back of the Grand Cherokee with metalworking stuff, and headed off on a 500 mile trip, doing 75-80 a good bit of the way... with a trailer that literally had no suspension. The only issue I had was a complete loss of power at a stop on the way back... to find out that some cretin had used a screw wedged between the cracked battery clamp and the terminal. Replaced the clamp for 2 bucks and we were back in business.

I also used the same Grand Cherokee to haul a '66 Impala on the same heavy, wheels-mounted-to-the-frame trailer. The owner of the trailer had used his Grand Cherokee and that trailer to haul 8000lbs of stone, with only blowing one tire on the trailer; the Jeep was fine.

It'd be a possible cheap alternative. A decent Jeep can be found for 2k easily, which would keep you from having to sell the current vehicle. Another option is a Suburban...

HammerheadFistpunch > SteyrTMP 03/25/2014 at 13:53

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The 1fz-fe is...much to the sadness of jeep fans...a better engine than the AMC 4.0 HO, but its straddled with much more weight. The main problem is that at 5000-6000 feet, I'm down on power about 15-20%