ericboutin
Full Access Member
Well we just got back from Cape Cod, Mass...2300 miles from start to end...towing our 30 ft TT!! What a crazy trip! All was going well on the way up except at the North Carolina border with Virginia the A/C compressor decided it was going to seize up! It was acting up before the trip but I tightened the belt and that seemed to fix it but on the trip it said no more. When it seized of course it busted the belt and twisted the PS pump belt. I always keep spares in the toolbox and we changed em out at a Rest Area but I wasn't able to get the PS belt as tight as I would liked and of course going through NYC it decided to throw off so I had no PS going through NYC at about 11 at night!! Luckily right after we left the city the other two belts decided to throw off leaving me with no brakes or alt!! Obviously we called it quits for the night and fixed her up good the next morning. I left the compressor belt off this time as there was no need for it! Dang it!! The rest of the trip to the Cape was without incident.
On the way home was a traffic nightmare!!!!!!!!! It took us 10 hours to go from Cape Cod to the middle of the Jersey Turnpike!!!! Then Day two 10 more hours to go from Jersey to Richmond VA!!!!! It was bumper to bumper all the way!!! Just a literal parking lot!! Anyways as soon as traffic seemed to start flowing just before Richmond a tire on the TT decides to explode!!! Un frickin believable!!! I had enough and we stopped again for the night. It took 26 hours and three days to go from Cape Cod back to the house in Boiling Springs, SC!!!
Just to make this post even longer on a great note....before the trip I only had 1 little tranny cooler and temps on the highway were about 195 cruising and then in bumper to bumper they would rise real quick!! Well before this trip I installed the perma-cool tranny filter and the biggest air cooler I could find along with re-connecting the stock tranny cooler and; I left the little cooler inline also just for good measure and in all that traffic (stop and go for hours! ) the tranny never saw temps higher than 180. It actually never made it to 180 it would just sneak up to it. Cruising now it stays right at 165!! It was nice not to have to freak out when we were sitting in all the bumper to bumper stuff!! If I hadn't done it I know I would have been stranded puking tranny fluid all over the ground!! (As Joe would well remember! ) My tranny gauge sensor is mounted on the driver's side port above the pan.
Anyway The Dewey did exceptional for an old truck, never complained once she just seemed to be happy towing along!! Sorry for the long post I just had to vent on the dang traffic and brag on the tranny coolers...if you got an auto and are having temp issues I highly recommend doing this mod!!
On the way home was a traffic nightmare!!!!!!!!! It took us 10 hours to go from Cape Cod to the middle of the Jersey Turnpike!!!! Then Day two 10 more hours to go from Jersey to Richmond VA!!!!! It was bumper to bumper all the way!!! Just a literal parking lot!! Anyways as soon as traffic seemed to start flowing just before Richmond a tire on the TT decides to explode!!! Un frickin believable!!! I had enough and we stopped again for the night. It took 26 hours and three days to go from Cape Cod back to the house in Boiling Springs, SC!!!
Just to make this post even longer on a great note....before the trip I only had 1 little tranny cooler and temps on the highway were about 195 cruising and then in bumper to bumper they would rise real quick!! Well before this trip I installed the perma-cool tranny filter and the biggest air cooler I could find along with re-connecting the stock tranny cooler and; I left the little cooler inline also just for good measure and in all that traffic (stop and go for hours! ) the tranny never saw temps higher than 180. It actually never made it to 180 it would just sneak up to it. Cruising now it stays right at 165!! It was nice not to have to freak out when we were sitting in all the bumper to bumper stuff!! If I hadn't done it I know I would have been stranded puking tranny fluid all over the ground!! (As Joe would well remember! ) My tranny gauge sensor is mounted on the driver's side port above the pan.
Anyway The Dewey did exceptional for an old truck, never complained once she just seemed to be happy towing along!! Sorry for the long post I just had to vent on the dang traffic and brag on the tranny coolers...if you got an auto and are having temp issues I highly recommend doing this mod!!