Pulled my first load today.

[bkrukow]

I finaly got to pull a substantal load with my new toy. I have pulled little utility trailers loaded with fourweelers but nothing that i could even tell was back there. Today though i had to go get my fathers skidloader so i could do a little landscaping around the house and hopefuly bild a small motocross track at a budies house. It isent a real big loader but still heavier than all the fourweelers of everyone i know combined. I estimate that between it and the 16 foot car trailer it was around 5000 pounds. It pulled it real well. You could tell it was there off the line but once rolling I could not tell other than the ocasional tug from a big bump. I have a few questions abought towing. How much weight can be towed befor needing trailer breaks? I could tell i was over the limmit but was just curios. When do you stop using overdrive? I would shut overdrive off till I hit abought 60 then turn it on to cruise, otherwise it cicks in at 45 and accelerates in overdrive. What kind of fuel millage can be expected? It is 250+ mile round trip to my fathers and when pulling an empty trailer there and a loded trailer home I used 3/4 tank acording to the gauge. I am going to the black hills in june to go fourwheeling and we are potentaly going to use a 8 1/2 x 20 enclosed trailer with 5 machines in it. Will i be able to use OD at inerstate speeds? I realy dont want to drive 55-60 that far just because i need to keep it locked out of OD. Thanks for the info.

[CumminsRam]

Towing in OD at interstate speeds should not be a problem, especially if you have 4.10 gears. With 3.55's, I don't click in OD until around 60mph.

Fuel mileage varies so much from truck to truck driver to driver, it is very difficult to say what you should expect. If your truck is an early 98 12v I'm guessing you should see 14-16 towing the trailer you mentioned (this will depend on gear ratio a little bit as well). If your truck is a late 98, 24 valve I'm guessing you'll see between 12-16. The 24v fuel economy is a little less consistent between trucks than the 12v, hence the wider spread.

[bkrukow]

Its a late 98 with 24 valve and 3.55s. Thanks for the info.