sdaver
08-09-2003, 17:39
A couple buddies and myself left July 31 headed from Tuscaloosa Alabama to Sturgis, SD for the 63rd annual motorcycle rally and races. I pulled my enclosed motorcycle trailor(20'x7'x8')with three harley heritages and luggage and supplies for 6 adults approx 6k (trailor bikes and junk). Towed with standard juice on level 3 and at times supplimented the juice with a healthy shot of propane. Towing was easy and once the truck shifted into fifth it never kicked down. I towed at 79 to 82 mph with propane and juice for three tanks and got 11.89 mpg without the propane netted the same 11.8 to 11.9. The propane added additional power but it was just for a fun factor and was not really needed(no noticible egt change). The highest egt I saw was 1250 degrees and that was lugging in fourth at about 45 mph. Average egt at around 80 mph was about 900F preturbo(hoot position) Once we got in SD the speed limit went to 75 mph and we sped up to about 85 with the increased speed and a new headwind milage fell to 10 mpg. I ran into several dmax/ trailor combos similar to mine that were also getting 12 to 13 mpg.
One of the other great experiences of our trip was getting to meet John Kennedy and his better half Elaine and spend 5 days with them enjoying Sturgis, Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Crazy horse, and the Badlands. He to had similar fuel consumption with a similar dmax combo. They are truly nice and sincere people that I would have never met with out the diesel page and I look forward to spending time with them again and soon we will plan our return to Sturgis in 04.
My suncoast allison performed flawlessly. With close to 6k miles its just as smooth as it was the day I picked it up and tranny temps stayed less than 200F even in the badlands. No limp no slam no slip. Kennedy got to abuse it on some 7 percent grades and Ill let him make his own comments :D I spent some time behind the wheels of his ats allison and did find the shifting firmer as forwarned along with a firm and sometimes annoying downshift but it was better than I expected. Day to day driving the shifts could become annoying and wet/icey winter driving could become a challenge but it did not slip and shifts were solid and firm under power.
Im still glad I choose the suncoast and would make that decision the same again.
The trip was a memorable one as we all expected and its not often I do somethimg of this magnitude and I would be ready to do it all again tommorrow. This was my 02's second trip to sturgis and I turned over to 50k on this trip. Next year should get me close to 100k. The dmax has been a great asset and best of all it brought me here and introduced me to some great new friends :D dave
One of the other great experiences of our trip was getting to meet John Kennedy and his better half Elaine and spend 5 days with them enjoying Sturgis, Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Crazy horse, and the Badlands. He to had similar fuel consumption with a similar dmax combo. They are truly nice and sincere people that I would have never met with out the diesel page and I look forward to spending time with them again and soon we will plan our return to Sturgis in 04.
My suncoast allison performed flawlessly. With close to 6k miles its just as smooth as it was the day I picked it up and tranny temps stayed less than 200F even in the badlands. No limp no slam no slip. Kennedy got to abuse it on some 7 percent grades and Ill let him make his own comments :D I spent some time behind the wheels of his ats allison and did find the shifting firmer as forwarned along with a firm and sometimes annoying downshift but it was better than I expected. Day to day driving the shifts could become annoying and wet/icey winter driving could become a challenge but it did not slip and shifts were solid and firm under power.
Im still glad I choose the suncoast and would make that decision the same again.
The trip was a memorable one as we all expected and its not often I do somethimg of this magnitude and I would be ready to do it all again tommorrow. This was my 02's second trip to sturgis and I turned over to 50k on this trip. Next year should get me close to 100k. The dmax has been a great asset and best of all it brought me here and introduced me to some great new friends :D dave