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Old 02-15-2003, 01:00 PM   #1
 
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Tow vehicle rating

I could not vote in this poll or "Tell us the type of your tow vehicle" either - should add a "bigger" category.
My tow vehicle rating is about 12 tons. (1998 International 4700).

Coming from a 1 ton Chevy Van, extented wheel base with a 454,
I now know one thing for sure:

YES, bigger really is better. That's it, bigger transmission, radiator and brakes.

What they say is true: when you tow an Airstream, you don't feel it.
At 70m/h, I completely forget it is there (on flat land at least).

Going down the mountains, I am afraid of only one thing now: an SUV pulling a trailer running into me.
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Old 02-15-2003, 02:15 PM   #2
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I'd love to see you pull into a State Park or National Park campground with that combo !!

At least you would get rid of any low hanging branches that would hit the top of our trailer .

John
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Old 02-15-2003, 02:25 PM   #3
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Thumbs up Vendor!!

I saw on our other thread that you're a vendor over the summer and now see clearly why you have such a monster tow vehicle !

Are you involved in mountain bike races?

John
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Old 02-15-2003, 02:30 PM   #4
 
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Yes John,

We went to dump after a show in Old Forge NY, at Nick' s Lake State Park in the Addirondacks.
We badly dragged our butt out of the dumpsite. We had camped there a few times in the past with our van - and barely made it. You should have seen the maneuvering then.
The turning radius of the truck is actually much better than the van's.
We always can find our rig easily coming out of WalMart. Just waiting for our favorite campground to install a dumpstation.
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Old 02-15-2003, 02:37 PM   #5
 
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No, John:

No bike races. Bluegrass music vendor, mostly North East.

Small problem with low branches: the roof of the box is some type of translusant plastic. Bought it with a small leaky dent. Have not had time to fix it yet. Have to redirect rain in a corner with a tarp.
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Old 02-15-2003, 02:54 PM   #6
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My friends are down from Maine and they work Ossipee Valley every year.

Got to love BlueGrass!!!

John
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Old 02-15-2003, 03:11 PM   #7
 
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John,

We have been to Ossipee Valley for the last 3 or 4 years.
Your friends must have seen us.
3 years ago, on our way there, we had a tire on the van explode in CT, at 65m/h, heavy traffic.
Thanks to the trailer, we kept the course and the whole rig stopped nicely.
We displayed what was left of that tire near our booth on the fairgrounds (Cornish ME). A lot of people must remember it.
They kept asking "how could you stop the trailer?". I beleive the trailer helped stop the van and saved our butt.

Chantal.
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Old 02-15-2003, 03:31 PM   #8
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Exclamation cool!

my truck at work is a 98 4700!

they are tuff!

do your air brake recall yet?

john
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Old 02-15-2003, 04:14 PM   #9
 
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I think the brakes are a hybrid of hydraulic & air. We had it just over a year, will know more as we go.
The air ride though is nice, especially when I bump the control with my leg and find myself stuck to the ceiling (at 5'4'', I need that extra problem to reach the pedals !!)

Chantal
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Old 02-15-2003, 06:45 PM   #10
 
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to John from FL:

I just realize.... your friends at Ossipee: are they Brian & Sally ???
If so, it is a small world and say hello to them from:

Chantal & Mike
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Old 02-15-2003, 07:26 PM   #11
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Chantal,

No, their names are Dick & Ellie, from Waterboro. Their in their mid 50's.

They're close friends with one of the bands and I'll get the bands name for you.

John
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Old 02-16-2003, 07:56 AM   #12
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Northstar!

Mike & Chantal,

The bands name is "Northstar" with Ted Demille.

My friends were wondering if you guys sell CD's? They remember a vendor selling them with your type of vehicle.

John
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Old 02-16-2003, 10:59 AM   #13
 
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John,

Yes we sell CDs and more stuff. We have a big yellow & white tent, we attach our Airstream to the back of it with an extra awning. They must know Brian, he is from ME, now in FL, sells hats & RV mats all over New England.

Chantal
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Old 02-17-2003, 03:41 PM   #14
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Would a 7ft tall 1975 K5 GMC Jimmy be concidered a big tow vehicle?
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Old 03-22-2003, 11:59 AM   #15
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femuse

You definitely have the biggest tow vehicle here, unless someone has a freightliner (doubtful)

The nice thing about your truck is it's multi-purpose. You can fit lots of stuff in there. In a diesel, it would be great. But 1998 is almost new.
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Old 03-22-2003, 02:07 PM   #16
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Ipso.

Wait....I know I've seen that on this fourum! There is an Freightliner, Mack, Peterbilt or whatever out there and the person does also use it to pull his large A/S! I swear I've seen it in the photo section. I only wish I could have found it to post it.

It's quite a rig!

Eric
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Old 03-22-2003, 03:34 PM   #17
 
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Don E Texas has a Freight Liner. Well....he uses only part of it. We use the whole truck.

We carry a bit more than we used to in our van (like 2nd generator 3000i, a few hundred pounds more of music books, enough groceries for a few months-like maybe 20Lbs of rice,....). The difference is (besides BIG brakes), we have room to move things around and don't have to walk folded in two. People were always asking :"you're not putting all that stuff in your van, are you?". Yes. Except it took us about 6 hours to load. Things had to go a certain way, all displays had to be taken apart,..... A real drag. Now it's a lot faster.
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In a diesel, it would be great.
Of course, it's a diesel
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Old 03-22-2003, 03:40 PM   #18
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Chantal! That's it! I knew I didn't have too much to drink!

Thanks for posting the link to the picture!

Eric
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Old 03-22-2003, 05:01 PM   #19
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femuse

Oh, I read it that you had 454 in it instead of you went from a 454 in your van. What kind of MPG do you get in this beast? Probably comparable to big block gassers.
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Old 03-22-2003, 05:38 PM   #20
 
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We have had the truck for only one season and a half, and I have been too lazy to check the numbers. The previous owner said 9 mpg. That looks right.
Other big advantage to the van: I don't think that the MPG is different with or without trailer (maybe not in mountain). We rarely use it without trailer.
The other is the cost of fuel: most of the time, diesel is the same price as regular. When towing with the van, we used mostly mid grade, but used premium in mountain. 10 & 20cts a gallon more than diesel.
The last point: we talked about buying a smaller truck. We test drove a Isuzu I think or similar. The way you sit, there is nothing between you and whatever you may run into. Then, the brakes were not impressive.
We thought about something like a Ford 450 or 550, but couldn't afford them. This was a lot cheaper, and in the end, a lot safer.
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