What are you towing with?

[MoparManiac]

The 318 in my old Ram made 150 HP when it was new.

When I owned it it probably had about 90 HP.

That thing was a DOG.

 

[Vanimal]

The 318 in my old Ram made 150 HP when it was new.

When I owned it it probably had about 90 HP.

That thing was a DOG.

my van is probably 220hp new (tbi 350). i suspect it has a new motor in it, it is actually relatively peppy for a rolling box. It's sadly faster than my saturn and jeep. plus the lack of crud on the engine and zero loss of oil for a 23 year old 300k mile vehicle is suspect.

 

[RCman]

I said I do not own any LAME 6 cylinders.

Unlike yourself.

This thread is about tow rigs, mine has 8 cylinders and no spark plugs.

is it sad that my lame 8 cylinder has about as much power as my lame 6 cylinder? but still gets better horrible mileage?
still, the rate of return on buying something that gets better mileage will never pay for the difference between even a $5k truck vs my $1k van, nevermind a $50k diesel. not quite sure it would even pay for the difference in registration or insurance each year.

Insurance is cheaper on a new rig that old. Going from a '03 to '06 my costs went down. Along the same lines as a new roof on your house brings the insurance down. Now obviously it doesn't work in all cases; if you go from a beater '80s to a loaded '13 then there will be an increase for sure.

 

[Vanimal]

This thread is about tow rigs, mine has 8 cylinders and no spark plugs.

Insurance is cheaper on a new rig that old. Going from a '03 to '06 my costs went down. Along the same lines as a new roof on your house brings the insurance down. Now obviously it doesn't work in all cases; if you go from a beater '80s to a loaded '13 then there will be an increase for sure.

in most cases i agree, but my insurance for the van is like $200/year with a $100 deductable and a really bad driving record. and my reg is like $70/year, which is hundreds less than a newer truck in CA (we dont have seperate property tax here, its in with the reg). i have 3 vehicles so it barely moves. fuel savings would never catch up.

 

[Icemans]

now THAT is a trailer.

Thanks. It needs to be a little longer like a 30ft deck. It is currently 26ft so the front rig has to be raised above the goose neck. It is a beast though the GVW on the trailer is 24k.

 

[Camping350]

If your in California and tow a trailer over 10,000 gvw you need an endorsement or class a commercial or non commercial a license.

 

[Icemans]

If your in California and tow a trailer over 10,000 gvw you need an endorsement or class a commercial or non commercial a license.

I'm not 100% sure but I think that is only in a commercial application. I have friends that tow there double stak trailer into Cali and have not been hassled. That is not to say it isn't illegal but I know they have been pulled over with no ticket for not having an endorsement.

 

[foxwar71]

if the truck GVW is 10k+ and the trailer is 10k+, youre supposed to have a Class A. its a wierd grey zone, you see these duallies pulling 5th campers aroumd but hardly any of the people drivimg have one. most cops might not say anything if pulled over, but a dot cop will probably give you a hard time.

 

[Icemans]

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#dl51medical

So I was wrong sorry guys. The way I read this is that you have to have a noncommercial license if you tow a travel trailer over 10,000lbs, if you tow a fifth wheel over 15,000lbs, or if you haul a load in a livestock trailer over 10,000lbs but not over 15,000lbs with in 150 miles of the farm.

Wow that sucks for you guys. I don't have to have a CDL in Washington (even though I have my class A ) if I'm not hauling commercial and are not using air breaks.

 

[Boss Cherokee]

6 liters are horrible on mileage. i have a friend with one who gets 10 mpg towing a 5k lb trailer at 63mph. its an 05 chevy, 2wd, 2500 4 door. He says it pulls nice, but hates the mileage.

* Wrong quote* Talking about the Dakota p/up's! My dad had one loved it. Great mileage. He sold it bought a mini van hated it sold that bought another p/up only this one had the V6 he hated it. The gas mileage was lower than the V8.

Iceman Give it time those comi politicians will catch up to your state and change the CDL laws before you blink an eye!

Vanimal The diesel is not a fuel cost thing alone. I didn't order mine to save money on diesel when diesel in California is required to be a ridiculous special blend. It also can run on biodiesel if I care to make it. It's less maintenance, 5,000 to 6,000 oil intervals, no spark plugs, not to mention it can have 500k +++ mileage life with fuel, oil, air filter changes, as well as the torque to pull loads at a descent fuel mileage!

 

[kastein]

the dakota 3.9 pickups? What year? The 97 SMPFI is nearly at 4.0 levels power wise and is probably around the same fuel economy wise, it even comes with an AX15 behind it, some years iirc got NV3550s.

 

[Camping350]

The rule is
1. tongue trailer over 10,000 needs Non commercial A license.
2. Fifth wheel under 15,000 need at least Class C with recreational trailer endorsement.
3. Fifth wheel over 15,000 needs Non Commercial A
Of course if you have regular Commercial A that exceeds the requirements.

See DMV link:

http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl648/dl648.pdf

 

[Camping350]

Ive been towing mine 14,300 since 2004 brand new. Just found out about this rule from a guy at work last week. Weird thing is I have a Commercial B so I went to DMV to get my endorsement idiots there said you don't need one. Came home read some more clearly I need the endorsement. just a written test. If you need the Non commercial A it is a driving test. Freaking CA

 

[Boss Cherokee]

Ive been towing mine 14,300 since 2004 brand new. Just found out about this rule from a guy at work last week. Weird thing is I have a Commercial B so I went to DMV to get my endorsement idiots there said you don't need one. Came home read some more clearly I need the endorsement. just a written test. If you need the Non commercial A it is a driving test. Freaking CA

Sad thing is we vote these restrictive power hungry Bas*$@ds in!

 

[Vanimal]

Vanimal The diesel is not a fuel cost thing alone. I didn't order mine to save money on diesel when diesel in California is required to be a ridiculous special blend. It also can run on biodiesel if I care to make it. It's less maintenance, 5,000 to 6,000 oil intervals, no spark plugs, not to mention it can have 500k +++ mileage life with fuel, oil, air filter changes, as well as the torque to pull loads at a descent fuel mileage!

it costs me about 1k a year to run my van, including fuel, reg, upkeep, and insurance. i paid 1k for the van almost 3 years ago and have maybe 700 into it after rebuilding the trans and various repairs when i got it. it would take many, many years to have any sort of return on a diesel.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

it costs me about 1k a year to run my van, including fuel, reg, upkeep, and insurance. i paid 1k for the van almost 3 years ago and have maybe 700 into it after rebuilding the trans and various repairs when i got it. it would take many, many years to have any sort of return on a diesel.

 

[Boss Cherokee]

it costs me about 1k a year to run my van, including fuel, reg, upkeep, and insurance. i paid 1k for the van almost 3 years ago and have maybe 700 into it after rebuilding the trans and various repairs when i got it. it would take many, many years to have any sort of return on a diesel.

I paid 23k for mine brand new and besides the coversion that I did myself and can't be counted (apples to apples as you say) I've done zero to it. Maybe $100 oil change & filter 250 annual insurance so 350 totai.

 

[scottmcneal]

I'm paying $3.69 a gal for gas.Diesel runs me over 4 bucks a gal(4.09 to 4.39).Savings per month is nice to have.
Thank god i own both styles of truck

 

[Vanimal]

I paid 23k for mine brand new and besides the coversion that I did myself and can't be counted (apples to apples as you say) I've done zero to it. Maybe $100 oil change & filter 250 annual insurance so 350 totai.

the 23k has to be taken into account. that's 21k more than my initial investment, including the trans rebuild and repairs when i got it. even if yours was half of what mine was for reg, insurance, maint, fuel, etc. each year, it would still take 42 years to pay for itself. if i actually drove mine more than 2-3k miles a year, it'd be a different story. and yours obviously has a bit more of a cool factor than mine. and tows better lol

 

[Boss Cherokee]

I'm paying $3.69 a gal for gas.Diesel runs me over 4 bucks a gal(4.09 to 4.39).Savings per month is nice to have.
Thank god i own both styles of truck

Mines not a DD.2002 with 100k on it. Also Vanimal you can list the XJ as primaty vehicle and thevan as rv for cheap,r insurance on van.