Normal towing temperature?

[Greenlee]

Is this too hot? I went for a test run pulling my camper and the temp gauge was making me a little nervous. It normally runs straight up on 210 or a little under 210. With the camper on the freeway it was creeping up between 210 and the next mark on the gauge. Off the freeway, on back roads it goes back below 210.


The truck has a TBI 350 and TH400 transmission. It has 3 row radiator that came out of a Suburban I robbed the TBI wire harness from. I have a newer truck I can pull it with, but I have a camping trip coming up and thought it would be cool to take the old Chevy! I hooked up trailer brakes and put on a receiver hitch. It seems fine other than the higher than normal temps.

[dieseldawg142]

if your creeping up past 210 on the hiway, your going to get awful hot the minute you hit a hill, prob have to blast your heater on full. have you tried dropping in a 190 or 195 t-stat?
i haul a 2800lb truck camper & tow a 4000lb-ish quad trailer over nothing but mountains. have an alum 3 core rad, oil cooler, ps cooler, & a 30000lb trans cooler with a DeRale tranny pan
http://www.etrailer.com/Transmission...le/D14202.html
it stays at a pretty steady 195, but will creep up to 200 or so on some of the bigger uphill pulls, like the "smasher"
http://www.i5cam.com/coquihalla-hwy-through-hell
if your not going to be hitting any major hills, i would at least run a cooler t-stat, put some synthetic in the motor, & be ready to run your heater full blast

[mongoose]

are you sure that gauge is accurate?

[tucsonjwt]

I would check your engine block temp with an infra red gun to verify engine temp on the dash gauge. Also, x2 on a trans cooler, but don't hang it off the radiator core with plastic push pins (as some kits have.) Instead, mount it with brackets somewhere, like on the core support. Bigger trucks and camper specials like I have come with a stock oil cooler, which I think is also a good idea, but I would not go aftermarket on this one.

[tucsonjwt]

Off the subject, but I noticed you have a little sag in the rear (your truck, not you), but if you don't have an equalizer hitch you should get one - makes towing a lot easier and raises up the rear end of your tow vehicle to match the trailer. Also cuts down on "lag and surge", which develops with non-equalized hitches. I remember seeing ads for an equalizer hitch on a front wheel drive car (Toronado?) and the rear wheels were off the ground by tightening up the equalizer bars - to demonstrate the lift feature of the equalizer..

Some equalizers now have anti-sway bars, which also help with the crosswinds and passing 18 wheelers.

Of course, all of this gets a little pricey for occasional use, but you can find them used on CL all of the time - Ebay too.

[TexasJeff]

I have a 3/4 ton, 350/350, 3 core radiator and mine stays about 160, my camper is about 3000lbs, a big pop up camper with a slide out. I just use a anti-sway bar on my, after I load the bed with all the coolers and other stuff my truck sags a bit in the rear too.

[Greenlee]

I pulled it back to storage and went for a little longer ride on the freeway. This time it stayed closer to the 210 mark.

I'm not positive the gauge is accurate.

I put the thermostat in a couple of years ago, but for the life of me I can't remember what it is. What do you guys recommend? Someone mentioned 190.

I used to have a weight distributing hitch. I normally pull the trailer with a Nissan Titan and it really doesn't squat that truck too bad. I thought the hitch was more trouble than it was worth and gave it away to one of my friends. I guess now it would be nice to have!

[Greenlee]

Originally Posted by TexasJeff

I have a 3/4 ton, 350/350, 3 core radiator and mine stays about 160, my camper is about 3000lbs, a big pop up camper with a slide out. I just use a anti-sway bar on my, after I load the bed with all the coolers and other stuff my truck sags a bit in the rear too.

Nice rig Jeff! I always admired your truck. I have always had long beds before this truck.

[dieseldawg142]

if he throws a quad on the front, he's gonna sag even more.
if you want to be the bomb when towing, an equalizer hitch & a set of airbags.
we have bowed eq bars at work from keeping 5-6 ton dump trailers level. use airbags to control your height. bags are good for off center loads, & you can really make your truck handle decently (for leaf springs). even empty i leave 10-15 psi in the bags, takes most of the weight off the springs & lets them work nicer i find. or load all your coolers at the back of the trailer, that should bring your tongue up
i have a 190 t-stat in my crew, with hills we got, it's needed, but a trans cooler will help you out a lot too
and as tucson says, dont mount any coolers to your rad, fab up brackets or something