Broke down...again, any ideas?

[TucsonAZ]

You are all correct for sure, I should have gone in and taken care of that stuff before leaving, if the bearings were needed I still would have had to special order them but it clearly would have been a lot easier than the way things panned out. When I purchase something I normally go over it fairly well, I did with this in terms of doing a tune up and making sure most things were in proper working order, clearly I overlooked something.

I stepped on the scales when I headed out of town as a side note, 4,080 front and 5,640 rear for a total of 9,720 and that was with an empty tank. Now, I did just put 4,500 miles on a step van, I wouldn't call it "easy" to drive but it wasn't super bad either thanks to the custom seating I made for it. The one concern that has me on the fence about hanging onto this is that my battery bank is half the size I would want if it were fully decked out, I had no walls inside, no cabinets, no water tanks, it was pretty much just a shell and already maxed out on weight with the little bit I did do. If I were to do this thing the way I wanted, I would be at 12,000 pounds with quickness, maybe that's okay, maybe with the addition of some suspension upgrades, it's a lot of weight in that platform though that's for sure and for a 350 to be tugging that around, man, I'm really impressed with that motor after this trip.

I'm just trying to figure out my needs still, I love the step for some reasons, dislike it for others, not really sure what to do with it now or what place it has in my future.

 

[akrvbob]

You have a limited amount of options if you want all that solar on the roof.
Bob

 

[TucsonAZ]

You have a limited amount of options if you want all that solar on the roof.
Bob

It was a little overkill, nice to have but not as worth the trouble to have soooo damn much. Four panels would have been more than enough for my needs in the summer. I took photos of what I was pulling in and the conditions at the time for you all, I will post when some energy returns. I struggled a few times, once, when parked in complete shade and broke down I was only bringing in about 100 watts and drained down to 62% and another when there was fog and rain and I couldn't bring in squat. Otherwise, I used 52kwh in 1,398 hours and I'm sure I produced a lot more than that which went to waste.

Knowing I could run a convection oven for 30 minutes day or night was really nice though. If I did it while the sun was out it didn't make any dent in my bank so to speak, maybe 1% at most. I would however rather adapt to using less than all that went into having so much.

 

[cyndi]

Glad you're home, safe and sound.

 

[Patrick46]

Our old motorhome was pretty heavy, and we carried enough food and supplies for a family of 5 (in the winter) with all the holding tanks topped off...and had 5 snowmobiles on a trailer behind it. But even with all that weight on there, it still did OK.

I can't imagine what you were carrying that was so heavy. Maybe you need to go through your stuff and lighten the load a bit.

 

[SternWake]

If you want to keep the vehicle, adding the suspension to carry more weight is not difficult to overcome, the issue becomes the brakes not being able to stop the extra weight, and upgrading these might prove to be more difficult.

The 350 probably has more options for increasing power of any v8 out there, and it might very well need nothing if it already has an RV/torque cam.

I was really looking for a chevy with a 350, but a dodge with a 318 was first to pop up and it has been a good engine too, but not nearly as workable as the SB chevy.

 

[TucsonAZ]

Yeah, I love the SBC for so many reasons, it really is a great motor and while I wouldn't call it the best motor of all times with some of the inline 6 options, the 300D and the red block Volvo all being better just to name a few, I would put it in the top for versatility, cost, availability, support and so on.

I thought about the suspension upgrades but will spend some time thinking about my needs. At first there were comforts of home I didn't wanna to give up, now I'm seeing many of those things as more burden than they're worth.

At the end of the day, we really need to choose what's best for our needs, in that aspect it's like shopping for a gun, there just isn't a universally correct choice.

 

[TucsonAZ]

I was wondering if you figured out what kind of gas mileage you are getting?

I did keep track of it the entire trip, I have a feeling my odometer was slightly off (my lady and me were showing different miles driven after each fill up) so I would feel comfortable calling it 9 mpg +/- 5% and that was with a fresh tune up and so on. I was also going faster than ideal for fuel economy for a lot of it and pulling many hills and such but 9 mpg covers it as an average for sure.

 

[Patrick46]

in that aspect it's like shopping for a MOTORCYCLE, there just isn't a universally correct choice.

There! Fix't that for yas!!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Doesn't sound like your mileage is any better than a standard moho. I keep hoping that some one will come out with a new engine management system that will increase existing engine gas "mileage". I'd like to see some direct injection v8 engine mileages. thanks for the info.

I've been looking into the idea of buying a used Budget Rent-A-Truck for my conversion. The ones with the E350 front ends and a box in back. They have the Ford 5.4 V8 engine, and Budget says to expect 11mpg from them.

Oh, and Budget also says they all have the 4.10 rear ends. I'm wondering how much it would improve if I switched it out to the 3.73 gears, and also how that would affect the drivability? Maybe some of the more mechanically experienced here - Patrick? HighDessertRanger? - could weigh in on the subject?

Regards
John

 

[Patrick46]

I don't think it's a bad idea.

If you'd get 11 mpg's with the 4;10's, then you'll probably get 14-ish mpg's from the 3.73's.
You'll get better fuel economy on the long runs, but you'll suffer when you need power for climbing hills and passing.
Me...I'm not a fast driver (anymore), so this would be something I'd likely consider doing mysself.

If you think it's worth the trouble and expense of installing it, then I'd say go for it!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

If you think it's worth the trouble and expense of installing it, then I'd say go for it!

Patrick

I probably wouldn't go to the expense of changing the gears if that was all I was doing, but I'm also thinking about putting a locker in to help avoid getting stuck on unpaved roads when boondocking, and if I do that, the added expense of new gears is minimal, the labor is gonna be the same anyway.

Regards
John

 

[highdesertranger]

well I am not real familiar with that drive train. what Patrick said I basically agree with. as far as changing the gear ratio 3.73 is a good compromise ratio. the 4.10 will give you better torque(low end power) but the rpm will be higher on the highway(less mpg). you have to decide for yourself which is more important. what type of driving will you mostly be doing? as far as a posi/locker goes, a 2wd with a posi/locker is almost as good as a 4x4. almost being the key word. if it was me I would rather have a diesel in that set up. better torque, better mpg. highdesertranger

 

[TucsonAZ]

It seems reducing drag coefficients would be one of the best places to start, a step van, normal van, truck, they flat out SUCK in that area, reduced speeds help, tire pressure, better gearing all helps but I'm sure not much, 10ths of a percent at best I'm guessing. An electric fan would also be a big help but I rather something fail in the functional position and haven't swapped for that reason alone.

 

[highdesertranger]

well tucsonaz you hit on the number one thing that can improve mpg, especially when you are driving a vehicle with the aerodynamics of a brick. slow down. keep it 55 and under. with my gas hog I actually get better gas mileage driving on improved gravel roads rather than the interstates, keeps me at 45 and under. highdesertranger

 

[66788]

I'll take 17mpg with my Cummins 4BT in a 26 foot step van. Haven't seen anything beat that yet for it's size.

 

[highdesertranger]

yeah the 4bt is a great engine. highdesertranger

 

[Dragonfly]

No help here..but I can really commiserate.
In our years of traveling, we called that a 'cloverleaf' situation..where you go round and round and never find out where to get off.
Brought back memories of our very first trip in 1977..got to Calif and on a back road, the drive shaft fell out of the van. Old van, of course..but it had brought us all across the country. Well we walked 6 miles in July heat till a truck driver took pity on us and dropped us off at a garage. It all went good from that moment on.
We've found that people respond with kindness more often than not to such roadside problems. More for people in small old rigs than ever helped us later in a nearly new, huge RV. Strange about that. Guess they figure the folks in the big one are rich and don't need help.

Not going to list our emergencies, but driving over the Hoover Dam with no brakes was memorable...anyone who has gone that way knows about the switchbacks, tourists ambling across to the other side.Somehow we made it without killing anyone including ourselves.

Just take deep breaths, think carefully how to remedy the situation and then go step by step to do that.
The problems do end..
Good luck to you!

Oz

 

[TucsonAZ]

When you're dealing with something this large and at this weight, MPG becomes one of those "if you've gotta ask" kinda things. The 4BT is a solid motor that would help with fuel milage but there were a few factors for me that made it a no go:

1) VOCs, it's so much worse than a gas motor the idea pretty much was dead in the water right there.

2) Weight, my battery bank is up front, an added 600 pounds, with the 4BT that wouldn't have been an option as all trimmed out with accessories the 4BT adds nearly that much more.

3) Even with 4,500 miles driven a year, fuel is $2.99 a gallon where I am but at say $3.50 that's $1,750 in fuel once a year, at 17mpg that's $925 and while $825 is a lot of green the three oil changes I do a year makes up for about $125 of that, the added cost of diesel say another $100 which leaves me at a $600 savings, still a lot of green but the 5.7 SBC water pump is $25, the 4BT is $185 and I can get mine at RockAuto or Autozone, if the 4BT turbo goes out, there's $500 plus. The long block if I ever needed it, $1,000 versus $6,000, the thermostat...$1.25 versus $20. I'm just pointing out that you need to put A LOT, I mean, A LOT of miles on each year for that diesel to out way the risks involved in having it. They are extremely great motors however and get really good MPG but an informed choice must be made before going in that direction.

 

[highdesertranger]

Tucson, I am confused. when you say voc's (volatile organic compounds) is better with gas, I have to disagree. I believe it's the other way around. in fact here is a study from carb(California air resource board) which shows it the other way around. http://webpages.charter.net/lmarz/emissions2012.html . in fact the diesel is cleaner in all categories of pollution not just voc's. I have another study from carb that states for pollution they would like to see every car burning diesel instead of gas. not that I am a fan of carb. but I do know that gas is a lot more volatile than diesel, that's why diesel is considered a safer fuel in situations were fire is a big concern ie boats. highdesertranger