Cheapo Tow Rig project

Croatan_Kid said:
How many of those miles are on that motor?
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Not that many relatively, only about 165k.

I still find it impressive as a whole though as far as the entire truck. The body isn’t rusted out and truck ride and drives nice and tight as if it had 100k
 
I can replace motors and transmissions for a lot cheaper than a whole new truck! I'm working on 300k myself.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
I can replace motors and transmissions for a lot cheaper than a whole new truck! I'm working on 300k myself.
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My thoughts exactly. I could replace this motor for less then $2000 with a brand new one, and if I wanted I could even do a few upgrades and still come out pretty cheap. And it honestly tows really really good.
 
Anyone looking for a cheap truck like mine? A client of mine has one for sale.

04
8.1 Vortec
Auto
403,762 miles
Ladder rack included.
$3500 Obo

Call 336-908-3412

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it would be nice if it were 4x4
 
Project Cheapo Tow Rig keeps climbing in cost, but I'm still millions ahead. No real updates other than I just replaced the tires I had put on when I started this thread. They only had 5,000 miles on them but since they were not E rated tires I was always worried about them. I felt limited like I could not load the truck down, couldn't pull a bigger trailer, and couldn't haul a slide in camper. I was also starting to notice a lot of under-steer when going into a curve. Much like driving a Jeep with aired down tires it was taking a ton of input from the steering wheel to turn. This was due to the tires not being rated for the weight of my truck and the tires were rolling. I sold the tires to James Belcher and Tuesday I put on a brand new set of MasterCraft Courser LTX E rated tires.

I have also painted the mud-stained frame and fender wells with undercoating. Pics to come. I had it scheduled to have the camper-shell and tail gate painted next week but decided to put that on hold because now I'm going to look at a Slide In this weekend. I will ditch the camper shell if that goes well.
Also, I drove the truck about 500 Miles over the last week or so, and averaged 12.2MPG which I was pleased with! I still get that CEL randomly for the misfire. It runs just fine for 100-500 miles and then comes on, but still runs great. I don't notice any change in how it runs or any "moment" that it skips or misses. I just ordered a scanner so I can read the codes myself and clear them.

I have some long tows in the truck coming up. Wondering how it will do if I have a 2,000ish pound slide in and Jeep behind it. Only one way to find out!
 
77GreenMachine said:
Project Cheapo Tow Rig keeps climbing in cost, but I'm still millions ahead. No real updates other than I just replaced the tires I had put on when I started this thread. They only had 5,000 miles on them but since they were not E rated tires I was always worried about them. I felt limited like I could not load the truck down, couldn't pull a bigger trailer, and couldn't haul a slide in camper. I was also starting to notice a lot of under-steer when going into a curve. Much like driving a Jeep with aired down tires it was taking a ton of input from the steering wheel to turn. This was due to the tires not being rated for the weight of my truck and the tires were rolling. I sold the tires to James Belcher and Tuesday I put on a brand new set of MasterCraft Courser LTX E rated tires.

I have also painted the mud-stained frame and fender wells with undercoating. Pics to come. I had it scheduled to have the camper-shell and tail gate painted next week but decided to put that on hold because now I'm going to look at a Slide In this weekend. I will ditch the camper shell if that goes well.
Also, I drove the truck about 500 Miles over the last week or so, and averaged 12.2MPG which I was pleased with! I still get that CEL randomly for the misfire. It runs just fine for 100-500 miles and then comes on, but still runs great. I don't notice any change in how it runs or any "moment" that it skips or misses. I just ordered a scanner so I can read the codes myself and clear them.

I have some long tows in the truck coming up. Wondering how it will do if I have a 2,000ish pound slide in and Jeep behind it. Only one way to find out!
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I will race you to AOP! :D
 
Truck done excellent on the way to AOP and back. Some of that tow had some rolling hills and Fancy Gap included, and I got 9.2 on the first tank, the second tank on the other half of that drive which was more flat I got 11.3mpg. Very happy about that.
Very happy with my new tires as well, the handling is so much better.

And today I hauled the heaviest load I’ve towed with it. I’d assume the tractor is 6k with the box blade and weights, plus the trailer which is 3k. Takes a little bit to get moving but it done really good.

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I’m really wanting to paint the camper shell and tail gate soon. I was gonna have my buddy paint it, then I thought I was gonna buy a slide in so I canceled. Now I’m planning to paint it myself since I painted my Jeep and bought all the stuff to do it. I just ain’t had the time with all the junk I have going on.



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77GreenMachine said:
Truck done excellent on the way to AOP and back. Some of that tow had some rolling hills and Fancy Gap included, and I got 9.2 on the first tank, the second tank on the other half of that drive which was more flat I got 11.3mpg. Very happy about that.
Very happy with my new tires as well, the handling is so much better.

And today I hauled the heaviest load I’ve towed with it. I’d assume the tractor is 6k with the box blade and weights, plus the trailer which is 3k. Takes a little bit to get moving but it done really good.

64582c6b86e4a79f19c1fa566bc819a0.jpg


I’m really wanting to paint the camper shell and tail gate soon. I was gonna have my buddy paint it, then I thought I was gonna buy a slide in so I canceled. Now I’m planning to paint it myself since I painted my Jeep and bought all the stuff to do it. I just ain’t had the time with all the junk I have going on.



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Very nice! Is it just the pic, or did you have the opposite problem as me with leveling the trailer? I just picked up a bigger drop slide so hopefully I won't be dragging the tail of the trailer next time.
 
I had the opposite problem. Chris’ truck sits a little higher than mine so that had the front of the trailer a little low for my truck. It wasnt too bad though and I’m only moving the tractor about 6 miles.
 
Actually, tractors are lighter than they look. I don't see the model #, or I'd try looking it up. Box scrape I'm guessing 250#, & 500 on the loader attachment. Don't see any add on weights, & don't know if water has been added to the rear tires. Towing it probably gave a good indication.
 
Water in the tires plus 200lb weights on each side of the rear blade. It’s a Mihandra 2555 4x4, I looked it up and it said just under 5k but I’m telling you what, I could sure feel it behind my truck! It was slow moving getting up to speed but once I was going 60-65 it didn’t have a problem holding it there.
 
On another note, if you recall I had low oil pressure problems in this truck in the beginning. Well I changed the oil and it came back up, but after 4K miles it started dropping again. The first oil change I bought some oil I never heard of called Peak, from some place in Lexington called Magic Mart. It was an impulse buy since it was cheap and I was just looking to do a quick change as a test. When it dropped I changed it again and this time I put Penzoil high mileage in it, and since then I have had MUCH better oil pressure consistently. Always thought oil was oil and it could really only be made by the same handful of manufactures and was basically the same but apparently there are some differences. I won’t buy that Peak stuff again. Maybe it’s just coincidence, but who knows. The Penzoil has 2k on it with no drop in pressure at all so far. Curious to do an oil analyses. @Nakoma i need to get one of those things from you soon!
 
Nakoma said:
I’ll pick up a kit for you this week. Chris k. Has my number. Give me a holler and we can figure out how to get it to you.
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I need to head up there at some point so I'll pick it up then. I'll shoot you a txt later on this week.
 
Little update. Two weeks ago I towed down to Jacksonville, AL to Choccolocco and back with no issues. Got 9.5 and 10.5 mpg. I think most of that depends on where you get fuel.
That was the worst tow ever due to traffic in Charlotte, Greenville and Atlanta, and the most miles of Construction ever. I think I-20 was worse than I85.
The truck done excellent as usual, I was real happy with it. I’m fixing to drive it empty to Hot Springs, NC for a 4 day mountain get away with the wife. No long trips for a few months so I took the camper shell off and I built some tall Saw Bucks to be able to do it by myself from here on out.

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I’ve been wanting to do that for a while and finally got around to it.


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However, now I’m getting a CEL. My scanner says P0141 which is for 02 censor CI heat circuit l. I will do some multimeter testing soon to see if it’s actually the o2 sensor or just the harness.
The University of YouTube has plenty of online classes to properly diagnose this.


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77GreenMachine said:
Little update. Two weeks ago I towed down to Jacksonville, AL to Choccolocco and back with no issues. Got 9.5 and 10.5 mpg. I think most of that depends on where you get fuel.
That was the worst tow ever due to traffic in Charlotte, Greenville and Atlanta, and the most miles of Construction ever. I think I-20 was worse than I85.
The truck done excellent as usual, I was real happy with it. I’m fixing to drive it empty to Hot Springs, NC for a 4 day mountain get away with the wife. No long trips for a few months so I took the camper shell off and I built some tall Saw Bucks to be able to do it by myself from here on out.

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6f46134aaaf74553542b9bedbaf30a44.jpg

32aec6a11a640510bd1329cf6e7e2657.jpg

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I’ve been wanting to do that for a while and finally got around to it.


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Backing out from under that is just getting your ready for your camper!
 
Pretty bummed. Truck has finally hit me with an expensive repair. Yesterday coming home from URE I was 2 miles from the house when the AC started blowing hot. Today I discovered a broken belt, but it was gooey like it’d gotten hot which was because the AC compressor locked up.
Now I have to replace it, the condenser, dryer, and orfice tube and flush it all.

Rock Auto has the whole kit pretty cheap but by the time I have it flushed and recharged it will probably be $500-600.

I have 2 long distance trips coming up, and was about to drop some money on my rig. Now that will be spent on this repair instead.


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77GreenMachine said:
Pretty bummed. Truck has finally hit me with an expensive repair. Yesterday coming home from URE I was 2 miles from the house when the AC started blowing hot. Today I discovered a broken belt, but it was gooey like it’d gotten hot which was because the AC compressor locked up.
Now I have to replace it, the condenser, dryer, and orfice tube and flush it all.

Rock Auto has the whole kit pretty cheap but by the time I have it flushed and recharged it will probably be $500-600.

I have 2 long distance trips coming up, and was about to drop some money on my rig. Now that will be spent on this repair instead.


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Just put a window unit in it and rock on.
 
Go ahead and get the Dorman replacement high side fitting with the schrader valve in it instead of the ball. If you don't replace it, it'll start leaking around that stupid rubber ball.

Might as well get a new AC belt tensioner too.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
Go ahead and get the Dorman replacement high side fitting with the schrader valve in it instead of the ball. If you don't replace it, it'll start leaking around that stupid rubber ball.

Might as well get a new AC belt tensioner too.
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How old were you when the AC compressor was invented? I mean, we can't take your advice if you weren't there to witness its inception
 
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