No wonder that felt heavy...

[Alex V.]

Making my move from central MO to central KY (450 miles), we estimated the total weight of the trailer, tractors, implements, band saw, and misc. junk on/behind my '85 C3500 at 7,500 lbs. - heavy for that long a haul, through hills, with a tired TH400 and a 454 that needs new vacuum hoses, valves adjusted, and more fuel than the 350-jetted Q-Jet is giving it, but doable. On the long pulls it felt awful heavy, and on some steeper hills I had it almost to the floor, but on flat ground or average hills I could still cruise at 60-65 and get more out of it when I needed it. Then we returned the trailer to its owner (a friend of my buddies down here who runs a small shop and towing business) and found out that our estimation of 2,000 lbs. for the trailer's empty weight was over 1,000 lbs. too light, and we forgot to account for the weight of the 2 half-axles and 5 tires/wheels he sent along... which put the total GCWR right around 14,500. I'm impressed that, in its present condition, the truck didn't burn any oil, use any trans. fluid, or bring the temp. gauge more than a needle above where it usually sits. No exact calculations on gas mileage, but considering the first tank ran out at 187 miles and the second lasted just about as long, it should've been somewhere between 9.5 and 10.

In its natural habitat, just after leaving home:


The whole convoy:

'85 C3500 with the 18 ft. trailer (made from a mobile home chassis) with the '50 Cub and '61 and '74 Economy tractors on board, friend's '89 E150 (300 I-6/C6) w/14 ft. boat trailer and the '75 CJ5 on board, and my Cruze with all the clothes, guns, and guitar.

And Oneton's first photo as a Kentucky truck, in Henderson:


The van (dubbed "VanGoh" [VanGo ?] by my dad) pulled roughly 10 MPG, and the Cruze made 38 or so. We figured the van's total payload (had a lot of my books, clothes, etc. in it) at 4,000. Had CB's in all the rigs, and my BIL had great fun in the Cruze running blocker for the less agile machines during merges.

[gchemist]

Way cool story and pictures!! Good luck at your new location!!

[tucsonjwt]

Reminds me of when I moved from Michigan to AZ in March of 1982. My 73 454/TH400 with a single tank was purchased for $450 and I was pulling a homemade box trailer with tandem cut down mobile home axles. I think it was about 5,000 lbs empty, and I had a fair amount of stuff in it.

I started on a Sunday morning and ran into an ice storm on the freeway with a stiff cross wind. Four days later I was climbing the hills in the west and was afraid to drop the transmission to a lower gear so I just floored the accelerator and the transmission kicked itself down to a lower gear. I could drive about 1.5 hours before stopping to fill the tank. I kept that truck for 21 years until it completely rusted away. I gave the truck to an acquaintance who races pro stock and he took the 454/TH400 out to rebuild for racing. It was still running strong when I got rid of it.

[Alex V.]

Thank ya, gchemist!

Tucsonjwt, sounds like your haul was a bit longer than mine, and through more challenging terrain. The more I tow with it, the more I think of the 454/TH400 combo in stock form. I never doubted its ability, but actually using it hauling substantial loads only solidifies my respect for it.