97 F-350 CCLB build:

[Seabass]

Fook! What caused that? Was it cracked when you bought it and didn't notice?

No- best I can tell it was a fresh break. I looked it over good- that break was shiny all around. The strain of the load and the vibration did it. I always thought it felt like it was "tight" at higher speeds. I had blamed it on the 4.10's - but I think it was the shaft vibrating all along. The truck is heavy. All those add-ons are steel. The recovery gear and springs and tires and etc.....it all ads up. I may have been grossing 18,000 or so with the trailer. You mix that much weight with a bad u-joint and a poorly designed aluminum trans housing and BAM BREAK BOOM CALL THE TOW TRUCK CAUSE YOU AINT GOING NOWHERE!!!!!


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[pappawheely]

Luckily for me Jim Reel owes me a favor. I am getting new driveshafts from JE Reel as soon as I can get it in there. :Wow1:

 

[Seabass]

Luckily for me Jim Reel owes me a favor. I am getting new driveshafts from JE Reel as soon as I can get it in there. :Wow1:

I bet mine get checked out before I go pick it up!


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[Seabass]

Hadn't posted for a while. Thought it was a good time to update. I've had the truck back for several weeks now. I'm really happy with it. The trans shifts slicker than a gut! The new clutch is night and day different than the stock DMF setup from ford. The night I got home the IDM (injector drive module) took a poop before I even shut the truck off! No biggie and an easy fix. I've already put a thousand miles on it and even pulled my 32' flatbed gooseneck to pick up a new grain table for my combine. It was a fairly heavy load considering. It did very good. So now my wife is really on me to sell the slide in and buy a 20' ish bumper pull camper. I see her point- we have a great setup for sleeping in and camping out of the topper. It would sure be nice to have a luxurious base camp and a light weight easy to get around with truck. But, I like my slide in. Not sure at this point what to do. Oh well, winter is coming on and I have time to think about it.

 

[Rot Box]

Holy smokes I guess I missed your post about the tail shaft breaking :Wow1: Jeepers mister! Glad you got it sorted out, what clutch did you end up with? I swapped out the DMF for a South Bend in mine and while it's a bit 'grabby' it's a big improvement over the time bomb it replaced.

 

[pappawheely]

What clutch did you use? I thought the DMF was a good clutch. I know they are costly.

 

[Seabass]

All the guys in my neck of the woods hate the DMF. I thought it was aggravating to drive. Especially getting out of my gas truck and into my diesel- they were night and day different. The DMF seemed vague and it jarred and rattled at idle. But now, there's almost no difference in how the two trucks handle except that the diesel has A LOT more power. It engages soooo smooth and the pedal is so much easier to push down. I love it. As for the brand- I used a single disc from Kentucky Clutch in Brooks KY. They ship anywhere and have a very good name around my neck of the woods. I have a buddy with a 700 horse dodge drag truck that runs one of their dual disc set ups and loves it. I have used their clutches countless times in other trucks and farm equipment and have never had any trouble. These guys are very legit.

 

[Colorado_Outback]

This thread is inspirational, and makes me feel a lot better about all the sealant all over my hard sider!

 

[pappawheely]

there's almost no difference in how the two trucks handle except that the diesel has A LOT more power.

Sure, rub it in. :bowdown: I need more power!

 

[gohuge]

I need more power!

Dangerous words right there, lol. Cummins would be nice....It's only money.

 

[Seabass]

Hey- I actually spent time today getting prices on swapping a cummins into my gas powered truck. It's gonna be a great way to have more power! I think it will be a fun project. We'll see.... Gonna be a while before I get all the parts together maybe I can get started this spring.

 

[pappawheely]

Hey- I actually spent time today getting prices on swapping a cummins into my gas powered truck. It's gonna be a great way to have more power! I think it will be a fun project. We'll see.... Gonna be a while before I get all the parts together maybe I can get started this spring.

You could try it first on my truck. :bike_rider:

 

[Seabass]

I haven't posted to the thread in a while- but I visit the portal almost everyday. One of my favorite activities. Anyways.... do any of you guys take your slide in campers out very often? See, I'm still kicking around this idea of selling my Jayco and sticking with the camper shell and picking up a 20'ish bumper pull camper. It's kind of a pain in the ******** to unload or re-load the slide in. It's off with the shell and tool chest and then in with the Jayco and re-load all the tools wherever you can put them. Then since it goes in my best truck I've gotta drive my rig with its camper to take my wife out for dinner or unload the darn thing 12 times per camping season. Last summer I never took it out and I couldn't wait for fall so I could get my truck back. Now I kinda wish it was back in for a weekend trip- but who wants all that switching. If I could just afford another "nice" truck and leave the camper in all the time and only drive the truck when I was camping......yea right! I'm struggling with the decision. I kinda need to sell the Jayco to buy the bumper pull. It's hard to justify two campers. Just looking for some opinions before I really screw up. Thanks.

 

[surlydiesel]

I'm struggling with the same questions. If you bumper pull, you limit where you can go road wise like a fun mountain road that doesn't allow trailers. On the other hand, you can pull into a camp site, drop the trailer and head off to the store or hiking or anywhere in your truck and not have a "load". I think for my wife and I, the best setup would be a "shell" for short trips where we are going to stay someplace different daily. A trailer if we are going to stay in a certain area for an extended time. 3 days to a week plus. I think it all depends on what kind of camping/driving you want to do. I like the homebase idea but also like the ability to drive any road, anytime. Tough decision.

-jorge

 

[pappawheely]

No easy answer, Just do what you think works best. There will always be other campers that come along if you are not happy with the trailer. Notice they are called "slide in" campers. They don't say anything about sliding them out. I don't know why the manufacturers insist on using flimsy, marginal jacks. Once you've loaded/unloaded a couple of times you have been thoroughly traumatized and don't ever want to do it again. My suggestion is if you really want to take it on and off a lot; build a dedicated fixture/structure that you drive in, raise the camper only a few inches and then drive away.