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1989 Crew Cab Tow Rig Build

Overview Gallery Discussion
Looks perfect! Is that on springs only or did you do airbags yet? I have a nice 12 volt timer in my camp trailer for the fuel station. My father in law put it in once upon a time. It's for a 12 volt circuit. It would be perfect for a transfer pump setup if you figured out how many minutes you need to pump a full tank over or as a safety to keep from accidentally leaving the pump on. I guess a big ole 3/4" led marker light or something would work good too.
 
Truckman4life said:
Looks perfect! Is that on springs only or did you do airbags yet? I have a nice 12 volt timer in my camp trailer for the fuel station. My father in law put it in once upon a time. It's for a 12 volt circuit. It would be perfect for a transfer pump setup if you figured out how many minutes you need to pump a full tank over or as a safety to keep from accidentally leaving the pump on. I guess a big ole 3/4" led marker light or something would work good too.
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It's on springs only...it really only squat an inch or so was all...not bad at all
 
SpeedlabDan said:
Wow I need a camper like that I'd put my dirtbike in it! What model Fleetwood is it?
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Sorry for the late reply on this...it's a 2002 FleetwoodRV Outfitter camper. I think they only made these for a few years in the early 2000's, so there are not many of them out there. I had never seen this "toy-hauler" style slide-in camper design ever until I saw this one for sale. Even after I found it, I couldn't find much info on them on google...so you know they are rare, haha

And that's the plan is to put dirt bikes in it and go do some camping and riding too
 
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Those mileage numbers are pretty good! My K2500 with a TBI350 and 4.10’s only gets 11.5-12 unloaded driving around. So for a crew cab at highway speeds with an 8.1 that’s impressive!
 
78K30 said:
Those mileage numbers are pretty good! My K2500 with a TBI350 and 4.10’s only gets 11.5-12 unloaded driving around. So for a crew cab at highway speeds with an 8.1 that’s impressive!
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That was my thoughts exactly too. My brother has a 2000 3/4 burban with a 6.0 (he built it a bit with vette cam, head work, tune, etc.). And he gets 12 unloaded and 9 towing at all times. And he said the power in my stock 8.1 feels better than the power in his mildly built 6.0 burban....while getting the same mpg's...so I'm sold on the 8.1, haha
 
Wonder what that performance tune is going to do for your mileage? I'm sure it will generate much higher smiles per gallon.
 
I get about the same mileage empty with the 454. Haven't calculated hauling the camper yet. I know 8.1L aren't anymore reknowned for fuel efficiency than the 454 is. Haha

That is a BIG camper.
 
LNielson said:
Wonder what that performance tune is going to do for your mileage? I'm sure it will generate much higher smiles per gallon.
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Not sure...I'm interested to see if the performance tune does anything for that too.

And to be honest, the smiles per gallon are what I really care about anyways :D

mrk5 said:
I get about the same mileage empty with the 454. Haven't calculated hauling the camper yet. I know 8.1L aren't anymore reknowned for fuel efficiency than the 454 is. Haha

That is a BIG camper.
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My 96 Vortec 454 got pretty much the exact same so far as this 8.1, however the Vortec 454 was rated at 290hp and 410tq (in stock form), while this 8.1 is rated at 325hp and 450tq (in stock form). So to get that type of gain in power and not sacrifice mpg's is pretty nice. I mainly posted this up cause I hear so many people talk trash about the 8.1 mpg's...well I'm hear to say that it's not that much farther off than even the 6.0 trucks (my oldest brother just bought a 2004 3/4 ton with the 6.0/4l80e combo, and he said the best he has got is 14 mpg's all highway...hasn't really towed yet, but I imagine it would be around 10 towing above 7500 lbs, maybe less). And even with my Dodge...sure it gets 18 empty, but towing my blazer and bikes full of crap to Grand Junction I got 10 mpg's. The reality is it's all a wash...so when the flatbillers start claiming they get 22 mpg's in their cummins while towing 10k up Loveland pass...I'm hear to call bullshiz all day long on it...and this 8.1 is fantastic for the weekend warrior towing guy

Yeah, the camper is really tall, but makes it nice and spacious in there. But it's visually deceiving...cause it only weighs 1600 lbs dry. I even loaded another 600 lbs or so of stuff in the back for the ride home, and it only squat the back of the truck maybe an inch or so. And it was crazy head winds heading back, and it really didn't push me around all that much at all.
 
My cummins is gonna generate it's own fuel. That will be nice.

I'm happy with the current tbi 350 mpg but there are very few spg with 165 hp. You have a good compromise of power and mpg.
I'd say you were pretty fuel efficient for a brick on wheels.
 
GWeakland620 said:
So how long were you able to go between fill ups?
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I didn't push it, so would go about 300 miles or so between hitting up a gas station. With the 3 little ones all 6 yrs old and younger, that was about as far as we could go before the whining started and they needed to get out anyways...so good enough for me, haha. But if I'm averaging 10mpg's, and with 40 gallons of gas (dual 20 gallon tanks), then I should be able to go 400 miles or so

obijuank5 said:
My cummins is gonna generate it's own fuel. That will be nice.

I'm happy with the current tbi 350 mpg but there are very few spg with 165 hp. You have a good compromise of power and mpg.
I'd say you were pretty fuel efficient for a brick on wheels.
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Haha...I literally said that exact thing to my wife as we were driving. I said, "You know, for a brick wall rolling down the road, I'll take 11.5 mpg's all day long!"

My brother was riding with me in the truck through SLC, and we were hitting an on-ramp to I-15, I dropped to 3rd gear and hit on it real hard and then clicked 4th and kept my foot in it...my brother exclaimed a loud, "FREAK YEAH" (apparently yelling freak yeah is hereditary ;)). So yeah, I'm pretty happy with the power to mpg's. It's so much freaking fun to drive this truck :saweet:
 
And was able to use it to fit my camper in the 3rd bay of my shop. Just barely fit in the door. I think I need to pick up some other casters that are just a tad bit beefier so they last longer, but these will work for now. And still had room to fit my blazer next to it, and still be able to work on them if need be. Freaking love it! I love that I can keep this camper out of the weather and keep it in good condition for as long as I can

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I wish I had tall doors/ceilings like that. When is the 2 post lift going in?
 
skunked said:
I wish I had tall doors/ceilings like that. When is the 2 post lift going in?
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One of these days I will have a lift in this shop. My dad installed one in his shop (can be seen in pics earlier in this thread) and they are so nice! So one day I'll get one in here. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

But the doors are exactly 10 ft. tall, and the ceilings are 12 ft. tall in this shop....It's so freaking nice! I always tell my wife I bought our house solely for the shop :D
 
Purchased 1 new driver saddle tank off rock auto for a pretty good price. As I mentioned earlier, on our trip down to WY/UT I found out I had some rust/crap in my factory tanks. So decided to just upgrade the driver tank for now as that is my important one that feeds the motor. Soon I'll get a new tank for the passenger side so I can have 40 gal. fuel capacity again.

Old tank out and next to the new one:

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