NW WA Meet / BS Thread

That's what i was thinking of doing as well. I like the idea of adding a fan, i seem to always struggle with trans temps as any hill climb sky rockets the temps.

 

Now that I've swapped the transmission, I need to get one also. I've seen my trans temps up around 218ish going over blewett on a few occasions loaded up headed to hunting camp with the factory cooler. Usually it's with the truck in 4th and flex-lockup achieved. Once I can take my foot out of it and it hits 5th gear and lockup, the temps drop about 20°-25° pretty quick and after 10 miles of easier terrain back to 180°-185°ish.

 

I bought a 15 ft, about 3000 lb dry trailer that I picked up with my 11 taco, 3" OME lift, 31" tires, 2.7 engine, and 5 speed manual. My truck had to work for it to pull it around. One of the best things I did was swap out the stock side mirrors for the dodge mirrors that flip out. I think they were about $100 online, but I also got the manual mirrors with no heaters, so the most basic set. After the Tacoma was totalled, i pulled the trailer with a 2006 dodge 1500 with 5.7 hemi, and shitty fabtech 6" drop bracket lift with AAL rear that was sagging before adding weight, and factory 33 inch tires. That truck got about 8 mpg when pulling the trailer. Since then, I've only pulled the trailer once behind my 96 dodge 2500 with cummins and automatic trans. My diesel didn't like going above 65 with the trailer on, because it is basically pulling a parachute for the size of it.

I hope for the way your truck is set up, you have at least D if not E rated tires. Don't be afraid to run higher pressure when fully loaded. My diesel apparently is factory rated to run 80 psi in the rear and 65 up front. I know, bigger and heavier truck, but still E rated tires.

Watch your tongue weight with any hitch extender. That will really torque on the rear end of the truck. Leverage from the extension, and all. Call the trailer 3500 lbs on average, pushing you in the turns from farther back is more prone to kick the back of the truck loose. I had that happen once with a horse trailer on in the snow, horse in the trailer, and truck in 4wd already. Luckily that didn't go much before I got it back under control, but still was a butt puckering moment.

I had a 20 ft flatbed I wish I had the antisway setup for. I was given a hitch for it, and 1200 lb bars, but it didn't have the connector pieces to hook onto the trailer, so I ran without. I am guessing that the loaded trailer was about 13,000-14,000 lbs, triple axle, bumper pull. What I didn't catch until later was that the frame was bent on one side (bought a "homemade" trailer from Idaho that was a mobile home conversion). It was also tail heavy, and lopsided in the load, heavy on the bent frame side. It starter swaying on me 3 different times. I was able to regain control the first 2 times, and the third time, I was going downhill, so the trailer was pushing me. Ended up with the trailer wheels dumping into a ditch on one side, rolling and peeling off the hitch completely, safety chains were connected by carabiners, and the carabiners straightened right out, and the truck went into the ditch on the other side of the road.

As for getting the $800 model, that seems like overkill unless you have thoughts of getting a bigger truck someday and moving the hitch to that. Your truck is only rated for 6500 towing when it was stock. With the way your truck sits, the overall tow rating will have probably dropped to more like 5000, which your new trailer is still good for that.

Lastly, and you probably already have this taken care of, you need a brake controller to take the trailer away from the dealership. When I got my trailer, the day I went to pick up the trailer, the checkout guy wouldn't even let me drive to the trailer before he saw that I had the brake controller installed. For my Tacoma, I had uhaul wire in a Reliance basic one. That gave a preset brake force to the trailer every time I tapped the brakes. When I got into the dodge 1500, I bought a Tekonsha proportionate brake controller for about $110 on Amazon and wired it in myself (had a harness to plug in like Tacoma with tow package, so a 30 second job to find the plug). The Tekonsha is a much nicer unit that can be programmed for a couple different trailers, and it senses how hard you are hitting your brakes, then sends more or less braking power to the trailer accordingly without having to change anything. It is the same 4 wire setup as well. It senses the braking in the way it is mounted, and is reactionary. To me, that is the way to go, but it requires it be mounted about level from front to back for the internal sensors, and that makes the mounting location almost problematic. I had it mounted to the dash board next to the A pillar.

 

Tow package also includes a bigger alternator (130A), bigger battery (27F), bigger main fuse (140A), and dedicated circuits for trailer lights, brakes and +12v.
And also an oil cooler which is a pretty nifty little thing that sandwiches under the oil filter and also acts as an oil heater!

 

Yeah I’m not going to tow anything, was just looking for info on trans cooler. Just wanted to see if anyone local had good luck with it and if they ran an aux fan.

 

Thanks for the info! Appreciate the experience for sure. I do have E rated tires, I usually run them at 35psi daily, what should i put in them for towing? Im not scared to go up in PSI haha or down.

Yeah a hitch extender probably isn't the best option, i think re locating the propane tank and getting a flip down tongue jack might work. I do have an appt at Torklift in Kent next week and they are pro's so I trust them. They said to bring the trailer in like i would be going on a trip so they can measure the tongue weight for me when the install the hitch. I spoke to them on the phone a few weeks back and they had a cheaper distribution hitch/sway bar and then they had the equalizer hitch, which they highly recommended. I think they have ones rated for 6k, 10k and 16k if im not mistaken. I wanted to get to the 10k one so that when i upgrade to a bigger trailer i can still use it. I was told with the equalizer hitch i didnt need to do any other hook ups when i attaqched the trailer, it was just hook and go, and with the others i would need to do a few things when i hook up. Also they said you can tell a difference back there with the new technology, so i figured i would go with the nicer one.

Also i did install a brake controller, its a REDARC tow pro elite.

 

I never got around to it myself (just not enough time). Ive added them onto other peoples trucks though. Its quite easy as you have lines going to the radiator already. SO just a matter of mounting a cooler, run lines, and top off with fluid.

The stock cooler is meh. Its really only good for the truck itself (low speed, 4lo type use not towing)I would say most people go with the cheaper, bigger ones and see improvement cause more fluid and larger cooling area works. Im personally more of a fan of the bar and plate type coolers which usually means more money but they are more efficient so you can run smaller sizes and get the performance of the bigger tube and fin units.

Ive known a couple guys (in drag cars) who had trans temp issues with cheaper units then swapped to bar and plate in the same size and have had no issues since is the only reason I'm leaning more towards one of those designs.

 

On tire pressure, you'll have to play with it as you get more loaded down. My truck sits at 7000 lbs for daily driving. Stock second gen v6 is about 4200. Take all your mods and upgrades into account and you are probably more like 4800-5000. Add load and passengers on top of that, plus a trailer and your axles are probably starting to not like you. Anyway, try to more like 50 psi on the tires and see how it feels.

Once you have the trailer, take it out empty, and on back roads to set the brake controller. Even my tekonsha I set for different power levels for different trailers. When I had the flatbed empty, I would turn the brake controller down because it was prone to locking up the tires. The horse trailer took more power for what felt like the same brake force, and the travel trailer more than that. If you start to get to a bad spot while pulling a trailer with brakes, there should be a button or lever on your brake controller that you can push or pull (I'm too lazy to have looked up what you got yet). That button or lever puts full brake force to the trailer temporarily.
If the trailer starts to sway on you, absolutely do not hit your brakes. Try to stay steady on the gas and turn the truck to sway with the trailer until you have the trailer following you again, then slow your happy ass down. The way travel trailers are built puts the axle far enough back from the tongue that you shouldn't have an issue with it.

 

@Greddy I just looked up the brake controller you listed. If you have issues with the factory wiring that goes from the actual controller to the knob, let me know. That looks like it is RJ45 ends on a category 5e or 6 cable. I have access to those regularly, and have the crimper for it as well. I also know people on the west side who would also have access to the tool and materials.

The controller is a proportional one, which is better, but I didn't see anything in the pics for the emergency full power braking, but in a little reading, it looks like it is designed to switch from promotional to manual by pushing the button, and turning the knob.

When you go to hook up once the load balance/antisway is all in place, get the trailer on the ball, lock the trailer on, then use the jack of the trailer tongue to lift both the tongue of trailer and back of the truck, then connect the load balancing stuff, then lower it back down. Eventually, when you grow older, replace the factory crank jack on the trailer with a powered one that runs on the battery on the trailer, and make it so kids can do it.

 

Any kind souls out there that want to help me stuff some 35s under my truck? Mostly pinch weld bashing, trimming bottom corners of fender flares and whatever else comes up... I have an appt to have my CMC done later this month.

I just can’t do these things on my own because of recent back surgery.

Trying to fit 35/10.5/17 on my 2nd gen, OME HD front and rear (886 coils) and SPC UCAs on the truck.

Posting as a feeler, if not I’ll wait until I am able to do it myself.



Edit:
Located in Puyallup.

 

Holy shit

I weighed mine on the scale at work and hit 5200+~ IIRC. That was with rack, rtt, camping gear, full tank of gas, sliders and front and rear bumper with a 9000# winch also. Not including me in it.

 

Pm’ing you now.

 

where you live at?

 

Puyallup.

Edited main post.

 

when you planing on doing it?

 

Seriously consider doing a cab relocate

i still rubbed 35’s with a CMC

 

Whenever really, I have my CMC appt on the 26th of this month. I don't have a lot going on between now and then, just random appointments and school work to do.

 

OK. Thats why I am trying to get some of the more minor fitment stuff sorted out now to see exactly what needs to be done by the time I get my CMC completed. One bit at a time I guess. Sucks being in limp mode.

 

i might be able to help this weekend. depends on what the wife wants to do. or the 22/23rd would be perfect since the wife and kids fly out on the 22 at butt crack of dawn to go to va for a week

 

I dont rub my cab mount in the stock location with my 35's. also, mine got hacked away more than most peeps probably have