Has anyone gone from SO FL to Alaska in a IDI non turbo

[cur.bill]

Has anyone gone from So Fl in a 7.3 IDI non turbo towing either a 5th wheel or a travel trailer. I am just looking for personal experience. I have a 93 crewcab 7.3 with a total rebuild and a 3.54 rear. I only have 4,000 miles on the engine so it is not broke in yet. It will be a 9,000 mile round trip and I am strting to pln now. Thank you ahead of time.

 

[Fozz]

You can do it, but once you get out west, the mountains are gonna be very challenging without a turbo and with the gears you have. Make sure your brakes are good too (both truck and trailer). How heavy is your 5r/trailer?

 

[BIG DAVE]

comin up north, what part? i'm in kenai.

 

[towcat]

If you can re-gear with 4.10's your life would less stressful. towing with 3.54's out west is going to be a small challenge.

 

[funnyman06]

I would say it will be a challange, but you better be alright with being in first gear up some of the grades... 4:10 or if possible even 3.73s would help. But a turbo would make like oo so much better...

 

[cur.bill]

I have been looking at 24 to 26 foot 5th wheels. I can not see me trying to pullat anything bigger. I looked at a 24 footer that the owner pulls with a F150. I forgot to mention that my 93 is a dually.

 

[Exekiel69]

Since You are planing ahead of time why not get a turbo setup on that truck? It will be well worth the investment.

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

Hauling our 42ft tripple axle up from Hays KS last year we were running the pyro on 1200* almost all day long. I was very disappointed in that truck, my moms CC with the 6.9 and factory turbo system. We even had to make most of the haul in 3rd gear at 45mph.

 

[DragRag]

If you have an auto trans, and no trans cooler put one on it. It took all of three grades for me to find out the trans was going to overheat without one. Be prepared to never get there without one. A dually with 3.55's, are you sure? I have yet to find a dually that didn't have 4.10 gears. Check the tag on the diff to be sure, if it is a 4.10 it will say that or 4l10 which is a limited slip 4.10. 3L55 if limited slip 3.55.

 

[cur.bill]

I bought the gears and had them installed. I took out the 4.10s. I used the truck in my business before I retired, so I know there in there.

 

[punkmechanic]

I drove from orlando fl to portland last year. I have the zf5 in my crew cab and I had just installed the trans and turbo. my motor is more than wore out (was before I left) and I made it pulling the biggest uhaul I could get and the truck loaded. The hills are gonna suck, but if you realize that and keep an eye on the gauges you will make it and be fine. These trucks are not fast but they will go and go and go. Take your time and keep an easy foot when the temps climb.

punk

 

[Freight_Train]

I know a couple guys that are fixing to do this trip(except start from the coast in South Carolina) in a deuce and a half....I wanted to do this trip till I figured in fuel cost for the truck.nearly 6 Grand in fuel alone!...and the fact I all I did was drive 12 hours a day,it would take me 3 week and 4 days.

 

[Agnem]

You really need a turbo AND a Gear Vendors, but if you can only afford 1, get the Gear Vendors. It will make some of those hills less painfull. What trans do you have? I guess whatever it has, it has overdrive, so the 4.10's would be a good idea.

 

[Diesel JD]

At least with the turbo he won't melt down the engine up there in the thin air. If you keep the 3.55s you really need to add a turbo. You aren't going to hurt that engine much being a brand new rebuild by adding a turbo. An auxillary transamission is nice but the GV units are very expensive, DNE units are becoming hard to come by and brownie boxes are a lot of fabrication work.

 

[cur.bill]

In So Fl the 3.55s made alot of sense as I average 16 to 17 mpg on the Highway. I did not realize that it would be that big of a problem for such a big trip. With the prices of used motor homes down here it does not make much sense to drop 4 to 5 grand into my pickup and still not have a trailer to use. Talk about retrenching my ideas. Thank you for all these responses. I will get to Alaska one way or another.