Now that we know what you tow with, Let's see some pictures

[Moabxjeeper]

I don't see towing in my near future, but that MPG is good to hear. I just picked up an 89 250 with a 460 on trade from Kevin. Its in the shop right now, I'm hoping my buddy can get it to pass emissions without having to dump to much cash. Not sure what tranny you have, but I can probably expect worse, I can't be certain but I think its only a 3 speed auto. 2500 rpm's at 55. If I tow I see a 55 mph speed in my future. Or a 5 speed swap

Edit: Didn't see the ZF5, I think my MPG will be closer to your original estimate

I don't know much about autos since this is my very first truck, but the ZF5 seemed to do very well. I have 4.10 gears and only had to drop it down into 4th on the steeper hills going up Spanish Fork. It would keep about 55mph pretty easily on the hills. I never really pushed it over about 65mph on the flats for mileage.

My very first trip in my truck was when we went elk hunting last October. With all of our hunting gear and us in the truck, it got somewhere around 11-12mpg. Not too bad IMO. I'm very happy with it overall.

The biggest secret to buying a big thirsty truck is to get an extended cab. That way you can take 3 or 4 guys with you and have them all pitch in for gas.

 

[maveric]

Here is my current tow rig. It doesn't even know the trailer is back there.
Just requires re-financing my house to fill it up.

 

[TRD270]

Here is my current tow rig. It doesn't even know the trailer is back there.
Just requires re-financing my house to fill it up.

Now thats just not fair..... that being said I don't envy your fuel bill

 

[mbryson]

Now thats just not fair..... that being said I don't envy your fuel bill

It's probably not a whole lot different than a ton truck getting worked within an inch of it's life

 

[Ima9er]

so here is what my old tow rig looked like, it was a 1995 gmc 6.5 liter turbo diesel, towed great 3 times to moab, and numerous times to 5 mile. and ran really well as a dd, but this last weekend we headed to moab and it didn't have any problems, until on the way home from moab, the turbo decided to go out and only give me 4lbs of boost at max. so I started looking around for something that will take "girtrudes" place. this is what I found. the new tow rig is a 20044 ford f250 6.0 psd crew cab, leather, 4" lift sitting on 35" tires. has the egr delete, and chipped. she runs like a champ. i'm excited to see how well she tows.

 

[blznnp]

Do you know if the head studs were replaced? My brothers work truck is a 6.0 an he loves towing with it, tows a mini excavator.

 

[Unimog]

It's probably not a whole lot different than a ton truck getting worked within an inch of it's life

I'm going to step down from a semi to a ton truck in the near future, but it isn't for mileage. My Freightliner gets about 11-12 with the mog on back @65mph. I don't expect much more from a dsl pickup.

 

[Ima9er]

Do you know if the head studs were replaced? My brothers work truck is a 6.0 an he loves towing with it, tows a mini excavator.

the head studs are stock still, but im not going to worry about it, because I bought a 5 year 100k mile extended warranty, and if the head gaskets go out then ill just pay extra for the apr head studs and have them put them in.

 

[Evolved]

Almost all stock up front (truck), a few extra bolt ons on the back (Jeep).

 

[sixstringsteve]

I love your jeep evolved.

 

[Evolved]

I love your jeep evolved.

Thanks!

She works pretty good. I'm not sure I would change anything that Marcus did. Although, I think I have the wife talked into a 5.3 and Atlas swap this winter. We will see if I actually go down that road. Why fix whats not broke, you know?

 

[Maverick]

Updated the get-the-rig-to-the-trail (trailer queen) set up. Picked up a 7x26' 14,000 trailer from Paiute Trailer in Salina on Friday. I had them add tie-downs flush in the deck (wish I would have put them 2" wider), extra spare, a tongue toolbox, 10k dropleg jack, oh, and 8" channel instead of 6".

We loaded it up last night for a shakedown test and it did great. It's not as heavy as the 24' deckover that I rented a couple times, and it showed on the EGT. Trailer weighs 3640.

Finally weighed the eXcursion too, 8500lbs, which is about 500lbs less than I thought, based on previous weighings with trailers. (X front 4120, X total 8500, trailer 3640, combined 12140). Jeeps weigh 3380 and 5000lbs.

I ordered bigger 1200# EQ bars from State Trailer, hopefully they will arrive on Friday.

Edit: I grabbed this info from another post for future weight comparisons. This was just after 2013 Jeep Safari, using a 24' PJ 14K# deckover, same jeeps.

Front 3840
Rear 6680 (subtracting front from X total)
X total 10520
Trailer 11680
All 22120 Some of the weights may not add up due to rounding to the nearest 20 each time.

Various loading arrangements pre-measured and calculated to find the best balance. Ended up with 1250 (calculated) on the tongue. Also used EQ bars. The reality is that the eXcursion had 2000# on it, nearly 2200# on the back, and -300# on the front. Hence, the new EQ bars.
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My eq hitch is still a little too high for the trailer and I have it on the lowest setting that is left, since I cut the bottom off many years ago. Does anyone have one they want to swap? It looks like this: https://www.curtmfg.com/masterlibrary/17120/images/17120_1024x768_a.jpg Otherwise I'll just buy another one at State Trailer on Friday when I pick up the new EQ bars.

 

[I Lean]

I saw an ad/coupon for a Harbor Freight 12,000 lb winch for $299....seemed like it was just what you'd want for the new trailer.

 

[Maverick]

I saw an ad/coupon for a Harbor Freight 12,000 lb winch for $299....seemed like it was just what you'd want for the new trailer.

Sweet! We stuck a receiver mount on the bumper bar for that purpose, or I could just mount it to the deck between the tie-downs. The toolbox is ginormous, so I could fit a battery in there pretty easily. The breakaway system has a battery...I suppose I'd want to put an isolator on it to keep the batteries from fighting. I have a little 3000# winch that I may experiment with, see if it will do the job.

 

[Herzog]

That is a purty trailer.

 

[Maverick]

That is a purty trailer.

Thank you. Each scratch is bringing a tear to my eye.

 

[TurboMinivan]

That is a purty trailer.

x2. Seriously, it looks really sweet.

 

[Maverick]

x2. Seriously, it looks really sweet.

Thanks Dempsey, I'm looking forward to next week. I'm already loving the toolbox. All the straps, plus the hitch and bars.

Now I'm trying to get the gear in the Jeep to be loaded as clean as loading the Jeeps on the trailer.

 

[skippy]

How much does a Trailer of that size set you back?

 

[Maverick]

How much does a Trailer of that size set you back?

Quotes ranged from $5200-$5800, when I could get them. Had they been responsive, I would have gone with the PJ from Wasatch. They weren't, and Marc was happy with his Paiute, so I chose them. Paiute was great to work with and threw in some upgrades.