How many miles on your tow vehicle?

[tpi]

109,000 1999 F250 super cab 6 speed 4x2 diesel.

Repairs : Alternator, differential bearings.

[Davis]

I have about about 119,000 mi on my 1994 Chevy dually with the 6.5 td and haven`t had any major trouble other than 1-inj pump replacement and a PMD replacement after that along with tires,belt,brakes,etc. My wifes 2004 Suburban ,5.3 eng has 42,000 mi on it with only having the tires replaced around the 37k mark. Davis

[Darol Ingalls]

The best tow vehicle I ever had was a '82 GMC 1/2T 4X4 with 454 and Turbo 400 trans. Towed several Airstreams but mostly a '76 Caravanner. Averaged 11-12 mpg and had more power than ever needed. Miss them both. Now have a '95 Ford F250 4X4 with 460/Overdrive towing a '68 Tradewind. Gets 10.5 mpg, has 95K miles. Continuous problem is from brake rotors warping. (I'm convinced the ABS system is faulty, but Ford disagrees.) Other tow vehicle is reliable '64 Pontiac Star Chief with 200K that I've had for nearly 30 years. Handles the Tradewind fine, looks great, and gets better milage, but out of respect for it's age, I only tow to local events. Darol

[uwe]

142000 miles

[3Ms75Argosy]

still looks great - 5.9L v8. 16mpg empty, 8-9 mpg towing. Cost me only $7,500 - pulls the whole girlscout troop en masse.

A brick, but a cheap one!

Needs new AC, but I don't want to pay ($1000) to upgrade to r134... no one will touch the old r12.
Marc

[RUSSELL]

Hi all,
I have 79,000 miles on chev 3/4 ton 350 Vortex. It is a 98 and the chev does all the towing of the Airstream. Schould last another 5 years.
Russell In sunny Tucson Az.

[uwe]

Originally Posted by 3Ms75Argosy

Needs new AC, but I don't want to pay ($1000) to upgrade to r134... no one will touch the old r12.
Marc

Marc - off topic, but I upgraded 2 Mercedes 2 years ago to R134, and it was just a matter of replacing fill valves, and a sticker. The seals are holding up just fine. No need to replace fan switches either.
Don't let anyone fool you with the 134 hype - it's cheap and efficient to change the system over.
I have done it on 3 vehicles so far, including my prior TV, a 91 Dodge van.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by 3Ms75Argosy

Needs new AC, but I don't want to pay ($1000) to upgrade to r134... no one will touch the old r12.
Marc

Marc, your van should already be equipped wih R134a from the factory, almost every vehicle manufactured for the 94 model year was R134a.
Also, the convert to R134a, all you need is the two adapters, a sticker, some PAG oil, and of course, some R134a. Fill to 80% of weight of the R12. If you need more info, let me know and we can move these posts to another thread to keep this one on topic.

[63air]

2004 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 55,000 great miles, most of it happily spent towing the Airstream, the boat, or on our farm fields.

[kenny2]

I have had a 1982 Chevy Suburban 1500 w 350 motor, 1987 1500 'burb w the 350 (fuel injected, though), 1995 2500 'burb w 454 and now a 1999 2500 'burb w the 7.4. Have put almost 300K on those vehicles with great luck. Always changed oil about 2500 miles or so and only used OD on flat streches. Have used K&N air filters for the last few years. Oil brand was usually valvoline.
Live in Colorado, so a lot of the towing has been on grades.

Owned a 2005 Duramax crew for a year but could not get used to the pick up after so many years of driving Suburbans. It was an amazing tow vehicle though.

[jcanavera]

Only about 18,000 miles on my '03 GMC Savana Van. Almost all of the mileage is towing and it sits comfy in my garage awaiting spring. It gets an annual change of Mobil 1 each spring. I usually get it out once a month in the winter just to get it hot and keep the fuel running through the injectors.

[GStephens]

I have over 230,000 miles on my '96 XLT F-350 2WD Dually 7.3 PSD and actually prefer to drive it over my wife's 2004 F-250 Regency Conversion FX4 6.0 PSD. Granted the newer truck has more pep, but the old one rides more comfortable and is a far better tow vehicle from a safety standpoint. The only issues I've had with the old truck is replacement of a fuel filter and idler pully. The '96 goes somewhere every day. The '04 sometimes isn't driven for weeks at a time if that tells you anything. I'm like a previous poster, the age of the truck doesn't bother me as long as it is dependable. I don't have to drive the newest or fanciest ride in town.
GStephens

[Pick]

2003 GMC Duramax/Allison 2500HD. 42,300. About 30% towing. I have a horse trailer, boat and 18' flatbed trailer that it also tows. Been running Mobil 1 5W40 synthetic. It is gettin hard to find, so I may switch back to 15W40 Mobil Delvac.

[RivrCtyStrmr]

Crazy Lev,

Have not pulled mile One with my 2002 MV Weekender so I've got some catching up to do! Ha. Just a little trailer restoration first.

Good to know that I'm not the only Eurovan guy. I got the idea it could be done a couple of years ago when I met a Montreal VW dealer in NJ on his way to VA Beach towing an SOB that looked to be 25+ feet long. Said he chose the Eurovan over any other VW (pre Phaeton and Toureg of course).

I'm sure the AS will outshine the poptop in the campground but it sure generates alot of interest all by itself.

Could you PM me on what type hitch you have sometime?

Thanks,

Stephen

[classic67]

Our new Calssic 31 has less than 600 miles of towing since we purchased it, but we plan to take care of that very, very soon!


But this question comes to my mind, how are airstreams delivered from the factory? Are they pulled normally, or put up on a truck and driven?

[eubank]

Well, other than vacations, we don't get out much. So our 2000 model truck (for the AS) has a little over 30K; our 1996 Honda (for personal travel) has around 27K; and the 1978 MGB is our high-mileage vehicle with a little over 120K.

Lynn

[davidz71]

2001 Chevy 2500hd with 8.1/allison trans just turned 59,000 trouble free miles on 5W-30 Amsoil synthetic, 75-90 Severe Gear Amsoil in the rear dif and Amsoil Torque Drive ATF in the Allison. An Amsoil dual bypass oil filtration system takes care of the filtration duties and I change oil every 10-11,000 miles or once a year. She just got a new set of Bridgestone Dueler APTIII tires for being such a great truck.

[SafeHarbor]

2003 Ram diesel LWB 2WD - 51,390 miles - 4.3% towing.

Lamar

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by classic67

But this question comes to my mind, how are airstreams delivered from the factory? Are they pulled normally, or put up on a truck and driven?

Some of the smaller ones are put on a trailer and hauled two at a time , but most are hauled just like you do, by towing them with a truck.

[nilesrob]

75,000 on our 2004 Excursion 6.0L diesel - hope to keep it for a long time and many miles.