04 towing results
#1
03-13-2005 | 11:26 AM
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From: Colorado,
04 towing results
I have way to many vehicles and like most of you want my L to last a long time. I just can’t afford to have another garage Queen.
I just got back from a 2,500 mile trip from Denver to Yuma towing a 5,500 pound 20ft double axle Weekend warrior trailer. Combined weight was about 11k The L seemed to do just fine.
I had a 99 L and tried a test for a short distance ounce with the same rig. It was obvious the springs would need some help. I prefer air bags but wasn’t happy with the options since our L are a little lower than most the fit wasn’t right. I don’t like springs cause I am to lazy to take them on and off.
My 04 L is stock with the stiffer springs and the truck sat level. I only carried some light stuff in the bed. I did run my little wheels and tires and bought some cable chains for the truck and trailer but didn’t need them thank goodness. I run stock Ford aluminum explorer rims with 235/70/R16 Michelin Cross terrain tires.
My only mods are a ½ “power valve in the tranny. I considered throwing in Gregs FTVB and an oil cooler but ran out of time. I did manage to install a Sun Pro 100-240 electric temp gauge in the tranny and hoped the cooler winter temps would get me by. It would run at 140 to 150 empty and with the trailer stay around 160 for a long time then on a mountain pass get up to 180 and then maybe back down to 170. Outside temps averaged from Low 40’s to mid 60’s.
I was never able to use overdrive for the whole trip except for a few try’s and maybe going down the backside of a mountain pass. I ran around 2,600 RPM which is only about 60 MPH but that seemed to be the happy spot with the cruise control on. I would boost for a while on steeper hills but never kept the boost on for more than 30 seconds without backing down to clear the smog hoses. I am running the Lightning Enterprise PVC valves.
I did pull the rubber snout back when I got down to the sand dunes and there was no sign of oil around the throttle body. Didn’t use any oil. The whole trip. I only had 5k miles on the truck when I started and am running the stock Motorcraft oil 5W-20W. Didn’t want warranty probs if I had problems away from home. Will prob switch to full syn now.
I also took off the cold air intake and put back the stock filter. Since it was clean and I wasn’t running high RPM’s I figured it would filter better.
My worst tank of gas was 7.9 MPG and my best was 10.9MPG Octane was 90 to 92. I think the best tank was on the SHELL 90 octane in New Mexico. Prices varied from $2.14 to $2.49 per gallon.
Side winds and buffeting was a bit of a problem to get used to. At 60 MPH everything out there is passing you. Which might not be all that bad when it happened fast. My first instinct was to try and correct but after a while you get used to it and it comes back instantly. The problem is when the person gets there air wave right at the front of the trailer and just hangs there. I also thought about an equalizer hitch but have never run one in the past and with things all level I didn’t bother.
Oh, a neat little side note on the Electric Temp gauge. It was an easy install using the 1/8 inch pipe plug in the tranny and running the single wire up and through a small hole in the floor to the right of the gas peddle behind the plastic. I used the trailer brake control wires for my Power, Ground, and dash light. I went to radio shack and got a tiny ¼ inch toggle switch and mounted it in the gauge face place plate since the trailer brake power is on all the time. The Sunpro gauge was cheap only $29.95 complete with sending unit and mount. The face is simple and clean 100-240 sweep in just PSI instead of KPI and PSI. I hate that when it is cluttered up with both.
The Auto meter looks nice but I didn’t want to spend $160 for the whole set up.
Whatever you have doesn’t really matter IMHO. You could have no numbers except low and high and mark normal with a grease pensile. I just like to establish what is normal and know when I should back off. I was thinking about putting a second one next to it for the inter cooler and buy an extra sending unit. Then use a SPDT ¼ switch to toggle back and forth from inlet temp to outlet temp.
Sorry to be so long winded but I know the question of towing with the L has come up in the past and I thought the info might be helpful. If anyone has questions about my set up or experience on this trip fire away……
Thanks to all for your ongoing help and support.
Greg Z
I just got back from a 2,500 mile trip from Denver to Yuma towing a 5,500 pound 20ft double axle Weekend warrior trailer. Combined weight was about 11k The L seemed to do just fine.
I had a 99 L and tried a test for a short distance ounce with the same rig. It was obvious the springs would need some help. I prefer air bags but wasn’t happy with the options since our L are a little lower than most the fit wasn’t right. I don’t like springs cause I am to lazy to take them on and off.
My 04 L is stock with the stiffer springs and the truck sat level. I only carried some light stuff in the bed. I did run my little wheels and tires and bought some cable chains for the truck and trailer but didn’t need them thank goodness. I run stock Ford aluminum explorer rims with 235/70/R16 Michelin Cross terrain tires.
My only mods are a ½ “power valve in the tranny. I considered throwing in Gregs FTVB and an oil cooler but ran out of time. I did manage to install a Sun Pro 100-240 electric temp gauge in the tranny and hoped the cooler winter temps would get me by. It would run at 140 to 150 empty and with the trailer stay around 160 for a long time then on a mountain pass get up to 180 and then maybe back down to 170. Outside temps averaged from Low 40’s to mid 60’s.
I was never able to use overdrive for the whole trip except for a few try’s and maybe going down the backside of a mountain pass. I ran around 2,600 RPM which is only about 60 MPH but that seemed to be the happy spot with the cruise control on. I would boost for a while on steeper hills but never kept the boost on for more than 30 seconds without backing down to clear the smog hoses. I am running the Lightning Enterprise PVC valves.
I did pull the rubber snout back when I got down to the sand dunes and there was no sign of oil around the throttle body. Didn’t use any oil. The whole trip. I only had 5k miles on the truck when I started and am running the stock Motorcraft oil 5W-20W. Didn’t want warranty probs if I had problems away from home. Will prob switch to full syn now.
I also took off the cold air intake and put back the stock filter. Since it was clean and I wasn’t running high RPM’s I figured it would filter better.
My worst tank of gas was 7.9 MPG and my best was 10.9MPG Octane was 90 to 92. I think the best tank was on the SHELL 90 octane in New Mexico. Prices varied from $2.14 to $2.49 per gallon.
Side winds and buffeting was a bit of a problem to get used to. At 60 MPH everything out there is passing you. Which might not be all that bad when it happened fast. My first instinct was to try and correct but after a while you get used to it and it comes back instantly. The problem is when the person gets there air wave right at the front of the trailer and just hangs there. I also thought about an equalizer hitch but have never run one in the past and with things all level I didn’t bother.
Oh, a neat little side note on the Electric Temp gauge. It was an easy install using the 1/8 inch pipe plug in the tranny and running the single wire up and through a small hole in the floor to the right of the gas peddle behind the plastic. I used the trailer brake control wires for my Power, Ground, and dash light. I went to radio shack and got a tiny ¼ inch toggle switch and mounted it in the gauge face place plate since the trailer brake power is on all the time. The Sunpro gauge was cheap only $29.95 complete with sending unit and mount. The face is simple and clean 100-240 sweep in just PSI instead of KPI and PSI. I hate that when it is cluttered up with both.
The Auto meter looks nice but I didn’t want to spend $160 for the whole set up.
Whatever you have doesn’t really matter IMHO. You could have no numbers except low and high and mark normal with a grease pensile. I just like to establish what is normal and know when I should back off. I was thinking about putting a second one next to it for the inter cooler and buy an extra sending unit. Then use a SPDT ¼ switch to toggle back and forth from inlet temp to outlet temp.
Sorry to be so long winded but I know the question of towing with the L has come up in the past and I thought the info might be helpful. If anyone has questions about my set up or experience on this trip fire away……
Thanks to all for your ongoing help and support.
Greg Z
#3
03-13-2005 | 06:48 PM
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Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,294
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From: Colorado,
Thanks for the help with the pics Rob. Always helping the PC challenged
If I had 6 Hookers taking care of me I would not have come back until my credit cards maxed out
It was one of my better trips. The tranny rebuild on the buggy held up and I had no breakdowns. The L ran flawlessy.
One evening I went up to a high dune to watch the sunset and noticed a couple of ladies walking up on foot to do the same highpoint.
After they made a lower peak I drove down and offered a ride to the top. Both Mother and daughter were feeling frisky after a day spent in mexico sampling tequila and jumped at the chance. I took them each for a ride and hit the top of the upper dune a little to fast. I went over the top and caught a foot of air and since the other side was a drop off into a deep bowl it was quite a distance before we touched down. My passenger was screaming and laughing thinking it was all on purpose. I didn't want to spoil the moment but I had a good pucker myslef which just added to the fun.
The weekends were busy and there about a 1/2 dozen fancy long travel rigs in the $60k range doing some jumping. A couple had North Star engines pushing them and they sure looked and sounded sweet.
I think it would be great to hook up our L engine in a buggy. You could prolly wheelie on demand.
It is tons of fun at any level in the sport. Seems that everyone that is running good has a grin on there face. Even saw a few golf carts out there with paddle tires.
I prefer the light weight air cooled VW engine massaged to around 2275 CC and a close ratio tranny. A lightweight two seater is hard to beat for all around fun.
If I had 6 Hookers taking care of me I would not have come back until my credit cards maxed out
It was one of my better trips. The tranny rebuild on the buggy held up and I had no breakdowns. The L ran flawlessy.
One evening I went up to a high dune to watch the sunset and noticed a couple of ladies walking up on foot to do the same highpoint.
After they made a lower peak I drove down and offered a ride to the top. Both Mother and daughter were feeling frisky after a day spent in mexico sampling tequila and jumped at the chance. I took them each for a ride and hit the top of the upper dune a little to fast. I went over the top and caught a foot of air and since the other side was a drop off into a deep bowl it was quite a distance before we touched down. My passenger was screaming and laughing thinking it was all on purpose. I didn't want to spoil the moment but I had a good pucker myslef which just added to the fun.
The weekends were busy and there about a 1/2 dozen fancy long travel rigs in the $60k range doing some jumping. A couple had North Star engines pushing them and they sure looked and sounded sweet.
I think it would be great to hook up our L engine in a buggy. You could prolly wheelie on demand.
It is tons of fun at any level in the sport. Seems that everyone that is running good has a grin on there face. Even saw a few golf carts out there with paddle tires.
I prefer the light weight air cooled VW engine massaged to around 2275 CC and a close ratio tranny. A lightweight two seater is hard to beat for all around fun.
#7
04-23-2005 | 08:26 AM
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 36
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Good information and nice post. I'll do the same here is a day or so and provide some pics - I use my to two my 20' enclosed housing my SCCA race car and it does fine. Get about 10 mpg best, around 9mpg worst, but it is flatter around here in NC.
I monitor my trans temp using my preditator and get about the same as you indicate, although it reports about 180 all the time - same as water temp I suppose. But, I'm not using it in cool air and not on hils.
R
I monitor my trans temp using my preditator and get about the same as you indicate, although it reports about 180 all the time - same as water temp I suppose. But, I'm not using it in cool air and not on hils.
R