Made it home with a "new to us" AS

[Streamer1]

Well, I just returned home from a "Purchase" trip to NC and TN with the 1996 25' Excella in tow. Some observations: 1) The "wide-body" is just that! The extra 6" on BOTH sides makes a difference in sight lines. I could see ok, but it likely would have been easier to see sideview traffic with 6 LESS inches in the way. 2) Truckers on a whole seem to be a very courteous lot. Of course there is always a few who roll past you at 80+ leaving you with a "white-knuckle" experience, 3) Passenger cars that think you can stop on a dime while criss crossing in front of you, 4) My half ton (06 Nissan Titan) was for the most part up to the task. The straightaways were as expected, not a problem. Mountain driving was accomplished, though the engine would jump 500 rpms to 2500 and occasionally briefly to 3200-3400 to maintain speed (60mph setting) upgrade.

My guess is that diesels (automatics) also downshift as required to get the job done also. Overall mpg with tow was 12mpg. New Marathons and new brakes made the trip a very good "purchase and pickup" experience.

[kposey]

Congratulations! You should have just stayed down here for our upcoming rally at Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds. If you do get back down this way, look us up. I know you will want to use your new stream as often as possible!

[FordTruck]

you went N on I-95 as we're right off of the interstate on the north side of Richmond. Then again, you might have gone north on I-81 and hence the downshifting as you went up and down the mountain roads in western VA.

Anyway, congrats are in order for your safe trip home to the Commonwealth.

[skykingpilot]

Congratulations Streamer! The 25-footer is a great size rig. Time to start wearing it out... or at least try! ENJOY!

[steelbird312]

Streamer1,
If that unit is found to be a little too wide for your tastes, I could probably be talked into stopping by and getting it out of your way the next time we are by there

[hookedonclassic]

Congrats. Post pictures of your new AS and TV. Enjoy.

[CaddyGrn]

Congratulations on your new (to you) Airstream!

I think we all have experienced some of the towing worries you mentioned... it is the crazies out there that zoom by while on their cell phone and in a hurry to meet their maker or something that give us all white knuckles!

I agree with hookedonclassic ~ post pictures of your Airstream soon! We love to see all the pictures! Have fun, and hope we see you camping!

Mrs. NorCal Bambi (traveling in S Tardis)

[Streamer1]

Thanks everyone! I will take a picture tomorrow (Lots of rain up here in Northern Virginia the past few days) after I wash her down!

[Streamer1]

http://www.airforums.com/photo...?i=13424&c=507

Please see above link to see our "new to us AS" and TV. I tried to upload directly to this thread, but it said I exceeded the picture size limit of 300kb. My picture is apparently 1.26mb. Oh well.

[sd90mac]

Very nice. I hope you have lots of fun streaming!

Marie

[CanoeStream]

Wow! That's positively the largest image I've seen -- but there are different limits between the Forums, Photos & Classifieds sections. Nice looking 'Classic' there!

I absolutely agree on what the extra 6" width did to cut my view out the side mirrors. Your experience with the Titan was same as mine -- even gently rolling hills wouldn't prevent the tranny from downshifting two whole gears when going uphill. Guess that's the price of closer gearing on the five speed.

Any superlatives you read about the Allison tranny can be confirmed here. Control of overdrive downshifting is effective when going up the hills -- there's just so much torque available in the mid-RPMs (but none off the line...). My experience with 2 years of towing with a Titan was that I needed to drive out of overdrive on all but the most gentle of roads -- which limited my speed to around 60mph. But my overall impression was that the Titan drivetrain did not struggle at all with the Argosy. Let's see how it does at 100K and 150K miles. I only had 22K on when I sold mine last January.

Even better is that the Allison tranny will not let you run free in overdrive if you come over the crest of a hill with the throttle off. It's a different story if you crest a hill with the power on ... woo-hoo! I suspect it's a similar story for Powerstroke Fords.

Congrats on your baby! The 90s were very good for Airstreams.