Z3 Stalker Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I had a GMC 2500 with a Duramax, that would pull my trailer with the stalker in it with a difference of about 50 mile to a tank. I now have a Toyota Tundra with the 5.7L and have yet to pull the trailer to see how that performs. Dodge has just brought out a 1500 with a small diesel (4L I think). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestTexasS2K Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Dodge 1500 is now available with a v6 turbo diesel. The same on used in the Grand Cherokee. Jeep owners are getting about 30 mpg hwy 22 in town. The truck makes about 330 ft lbs torque. I think the tow rating is 10800 just under the ecoboost f150. Nissan will have a Cummins built 4.0 v8 coming out in 2015. Toyota is rumored to be doing a 1/2 ton diesel in 16. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky dawg Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Unless you tow on a frequent basis, can the better mileage come close to justifying the increased cost of the Diesel option? Add in that the fuel is usually about 15% more expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Lots of pluses and minuses. Diesel is sometimes almost a buck a gallon more, other times 30 cents. And cost varies wildly state to state, town to town. It does give you more towing capacity in a same-size vehicle. My Touareg's 3.0 liter turbo diesel can pull 7700lbs, yet has foot print of an Accord. While I can get mid 30's at 65-72 mph w/o the trailer, I get 12.5 mpg towing my 16' enclosed trailer at 65-68 mph. It is like climbing a steep incline the whole way. Finding diesel can occasionally be an adventure. And when you finally find a pump, it is blocked by another diesel owner who has wandered into the store to use facilities, check e-mails, write the great American novel..... So it can be a tad frustrating accessing diesel, whereas finding gas is never an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klasik-69 Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Unless you tow on a frequent basis, can the better mileage come close to justifying the increased cost of the Diesel option? Add in that the fuel is usually about 15% more expensive. Good point, hence the reason I switched from the F-250 diesel to the F-150 gas. Also, the ride quality of the F-250 wasn't helping my back. Here in Florida, we're paying about $4.14/gal for diesel and around $3.70/gal for gas. Aside from the extra cost of the fuel, there is also the extra cost of the engine. Depending on the truck manufacturer, it can be anywhere from $5,000 to $8,500 extra. So yes, you are most correct in saying that if you don't tow something nearly every day, you're wasting your money. One of the guys in another club I belong to just came back from working 8 years for Boeing in Europe, and he was telling me that he drove a diesel BMW 330 over there and would get 40 mpg or better. Also, where he was in Europe, diesel cost about 15% less than gasoline. It used to be that way here but now it's the opposite. We run Isuzu NPR trucks in my business and up until about 3 years ago, they were all diesels. Now we're electing to go with the GM LS gas engines. A new gas powered NPR HD goes for about $39,500 with tax and tag. A diesel model will be around $48,000. Also, the diesels require the urea injection system so you have to add about 5 gallons of urea for every two tankfuls of diesel, which adds to the cost of operation and another area of maintenance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 My Touareg goes abt 10K miles on 5 gallons of urea. If I am towing a lot, that drops some. And, at this point, urea is not very expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klasik-69 Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 My Touareg goes abt 10K miles on 5 gallons of urea. If I am towing a lot, that drops some. And, at this point, urea is not very expensive. That's not bad at all. I was going on what the Isuzu dealer told me regarding the consumption of urea for their diesel powered NPR trucks. The other real problem with the current diesel trucks is the massive size of the catalytic converter which is almost bigger than the engine itself and cycles with heat up to 1500 degrees. I don't know if the VW's use that style of cat converter, and I didn't even think they had to use the urea injection but apparently from what you said, you do. The guy I was talking with who drove the BMW diesel in europe didn't even know about urea so he wasn't using it in his vehicle, perhaps their emissions don't require that system to be implemented..........not sure on that one. However, his BMW may have been an older vehicle built prior to the current standards. Your Touareg with a 7700 lb towing capacity is pretty impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Nethercote Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 The Urea injection has been unique, as far as I know, to the North American market for emissions reasons. It was the cause of several European Diesels (VW, Mercedes) disappearing from the marked for a couple of years, while the makers looked at alternate solutions. It will be the primary difference between the North American and world market versions of the Diesel that will be offered in the Chev Colorado pickup when it returns to the market in 2015 (2016 model year for the Diesel) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Duck Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 Does anyone know of a firm that RENTS enclosed trailers large enough for a Caterham (CSR). I tried UHaul and their largest is 12x6 (with a 5 ft opening). Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdog Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 I always figured it was the chicken or the egg being first. If more folks bought diesels. Such as the TDI jetta's and such. It would stimulate the market to sell diesel. But I also think that because of the silly way the American makers tried to introduce diesel domestic cars was what caused the public to not accept diesels. A slightly modded V8 gas engine made to run on diesel just didn't work. They were very noisy and worse, they couldn't handle the cylinder pressures and fell apart. The tow vehicle that my wife and I just bought to import to the USA is the Merc GLK250 bluetec. I just didn't want to deal with rubbish fuel economy when not pulling the seven nor the typically crappy build quality & cheap plastics of the American trucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 (edited) Does anyone know of a firm that RENTS enclosed trailers large enough for a Caterham (CSR). Never used these guys personally but I have known of them for years. http://www.empirerac.com/trailer-rental/ or a google around the Tristate area showed up this: http://www.thetrailerdepot.com/rentals.php http://www.cttrailers.com/trailer_rentals.htm I would also look at any place that sells trailers and phone them to ask if they have a rent before you buy program to try one out. Edited May 11, 2014 by Croc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 Well, sense starting this thread back in February, this is where I have arrived. The folks at RPM Trailers sent me a few photos of the early-on build stages of the trailer which should be arriving June 11. :hurray: Here a few of the photos I received. I've also created a photo file for interested parties: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=25611 . . . . . . :lurk: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyMike Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Nice! Those photos remind me that I need to go buy some more shares of Alcoa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee break Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 That's one serious rig! What do you estimate the towing weight to be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 Nice! Those photos remind me that I need to go buy some more shares of Alcoa. Mike, Thanks. And yes, I think these folks have cornered the market on aluminum. That's one serious rig! What do you estimate the towing weight to be? I truly don't know yet. Based on RPM's web site, 8.5x20's have shipped from the InTech factory weighing anywhere from 2980 to 3920 depending on how they were equipped. I figure that mine, with 5200 lb axles and the options I ordered, will fall somewhere in the low-to-mid level of that weight range. Here is a link to some of the aluminum trailers that RPM has sold. Most of the trailers listed in the link will have a shipping weight listed: http://www.rpmtrailersales.com/categories/aluminum-trailers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 Well . . . . Fruition. The trailer arrived this evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Hill Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Pretty spiffy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Very nice, Shane. Now just make sure you position your car to get the correct tongue weight. Ask me how I know. :ack: Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 (edited) "Nice" doesn't do it justice. Many of the surfaces look gold-plated. My trailer features a rust color. Actually it is rust. Now you will have to upgrade your tow vehicle to keep pace w/your fancy trailer! As to tongue weight, I found some experimentation was helpful. When I use the max, the tow vehicle feels like the front wheels are barely touching the ground. Too far back and the ball and hitch rattle like crazy. So somewhere mid-point seems to work best. Keep your windows down and radio off and listen carefully the first coupla miles to determine if it is towing smoothly, effortlessly. As I recall, Tom's trailer ended up on its side once, so he does have stories to tell. Edited June 11, 2014 by Kitcat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboWood Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Wow with some more wow sauce please. All the other 7's will be jealous. Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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