Made our first long trip

[mr_josh]

Well I built my truck with the intent of using it to camp and it got put through its paces this last month.

My wife and son and I set out from Oregon on June 26th, up through eastern Washington on US Hwy 97 to Hwy 2, across the plains to Michigan, stayed with inlaws for two weeks, then came back across Lake Michigan on the SS Badger ferry and across on I-90 until WA then back down to Oregon on US-97. All told we were gone for 32 nights and clocked just about 5,200 miles exactly. It was an awesome trip and the ol' truck powered through.

Replaced both O2 sensors at the inlaws' house because of a sporadic No O2 Activity Detected code (P0140 if I remember right) when pulling hills in second gear. Replacing O2s solved it, no issues on the return leg. Only other problem was the transmission getting hot hot hot in certain types of driving while the converter was unlocked. Aftermarket gauge said it hit 250 once while climbing out of the Columbia Gorge on 97- fluid never looked / smelled burnt and it never slipped or shifted funny. As long as the converter was locked it would run <200 degrees. Kind of wondering if my (cheap Derale) gauge is inaccurate. More to come on that.

Engine never got hot despite 110 degree temps on the day we departed, AC blew cold, used 1.5 qts of oil in total, and the 5.7 achieved an as-expected average of about 9 mpg. Kept it out of OD the whole way, seemed happiest running at about 3k RPM which was right around 65 mph.

Anyway, here's a shot of the ol gal looking tough, ready to depart camp in SE Minnesota.

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[Supercharged111]

Another camper, awesome. Mine gets 7-10 with the camper. If you look closely, I have a carrier on the front too with firewood.

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I'll be going to MI and back in August with it as well. Immediately upon my return to CO I'll hook up my enclosed trailer and drag it to CA. Something may happen along the way, but I'm not worried. I've done loaded road trips before. Now for you, I HIGHLY recommend a Blackbear tune unless you can get it done in person. That TCC is supposed to lock when you floor it in a 4L80E. You can also do the 411 swap with tow/haul mode. Adding torque goes a long way toward keeping the converter locked as well. You could do some CARB legal shorties with downpipes that keep your stock cats in the stock position and a Walker bus muffler if you want to keep it quiet. Bit the tune will add some noticeable torque and your TCC lock algorithms can be modified to better suit your setup.

 

[mr_josh]

Always appreciated your setup- I read RV.net and irv2.com and think I've seen your setup on at least one of those. Don't really feel like I have a lot to add so mostly lurk.

I got in touch with Blackbear back in spring and was on the fence about getting a tune and ultimately decided to hold off. I was glad to find this truck and had fun getting it to where it is but I wish it had a 7.4L, had a full-float rear instead of the semi-float, and was a crew cab instead of an extended cab. 4.11 gears instead of 3.73 would be a bonus. There is a great looking single wheel crew cab truck down the road from me that I really covet.

I'm a little apprehensive about putting too much time and money into upgrading the current setup. I could swap a 7.4 or 6.0 LS and another rear end, but it would still only be an extended cab. My son is 5 so he fits back there for now but won't for much longer. I've kicked around the idea of putting it up on CL asking to trade for a rough-around-the-edges K3500 that's spec'd closer to what I want but maybe needs some work. That's probably a long shot but this truck drives perfectly and has more new parts on it than not at this point. I'm also open to a 6.0L GMT800. Ultimately we will be in the market for either a larger camper (would love to talk the family into a big Lance like you have) or travel trailer down the road so will need some more oomph along with the added space.

I didn't know about flooring it locking the converter. Most of the time, if I didn't have a train of traffic behind me, I would keep it in 3rd and stay in the throttle down to about 50 mph up a grade. Much below that and the converter would unlock followed shortly by a downshift. So I would just force the shift to second at 50 mph with the accelerator, put the lever in 2, and keep the speed between 50 and 55 up the grade. The 5.7 had plenty of power for that and on most grades would have been happy to keep accelerating if I'd have let it (but 4k rpm seemed excessive). Unless the ambient temps were really hot, most 6%-ish grades of a few miles only caused the trans temp to get to 220 or so (which is still too hot in my opinion). Once the road leveled out a little and I could shift up to 3rd and maintain a speed over 50, I shifted and let the converter lock. Immediately (and I mean immediately) after the converter locked, the trans temp would start to fall and unless it'd been a particularly long climb, it would be back to <200 degrees in under a minute. It would start climb over 220 if I was plodding along at 35 or 40 and then had to accelerate or climb.

At least once I was in a construction zone that was moving at about 35, then traffic stopped for a minute, then I had to immediately climb a hill from that stop and everyone was still going 35. It hit 240 on that one and of course: construction zone, so no where to pull over. Just clenched my teeth and drove on and once we got back up to speed and the converter could lock, it finally got back down to around 200 (took a little while to get there, though). Actually, I never did pull over to let it cool during the trip- the couple of times we had to stop for a while for construction, etc., I put it in park and played with the throttle a little to see if it would cool off but it was really slow to cool down at idle. I kind of told myself that if it was at 240 and climbing and it looked like we wouldn't be back in a situation where the converter could lock again soon, I would pull over then, but that situation never really came up other than that first hard climb out of the gorge on day one.

So I've got some testing to do- I have a reasonably large aux cooler in-line with the factory cooler and the temp gauge is on the hot side of the cooler circuit. I have access to a nice Snap-on scan tool that I think can read the 4L80E's own temp sensor and see if it lines up with what I see on the gauge. Will check for obstructions in the cooler lines while I'm at it.

Alright, that was a lot of words- thanks for the ideas, happy travels.

 

[Supercharged111]

My trucks are programmed to stay locked once they lock, so once 4th hits and locks there is no unlock, just a downshift. Once it downshifts to 3rd, I pull the shifter back one and it locks. No unlock again, just a downshift to 2nd. The tune would be cheaper than exhaust if you're thinking about pinching pennies. Funny thing, a few years down the road I'll be in the market for a RCLB or ECLB 2500/3500 SRW but presently have a CCLB dually for sale with some roached clear coat otherwise in good condition.

 

[Dariusz Salomon]

I took my Tahoe this summer for a holiday too. Much shorter trip just to Cornwall due to covid restrictions-about 700 miles round with lots of local driving(normaly I travel to Europe from UK-that's usually 2200-2500 miles depending where I'm going) and this time it was lots of hills and stuff. She's been brilliant-no issues at all. My freshly fixed air con (with back controls) held up really well too so I'm totally satisfied. And best of all is the cargo space-there's no way trunk should be any smaller than this to take all the things one needs lol.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Always appreciated your setup- I read RV.net and irv2.com and think I've seen your setup on at least one of those. Don't really feel like I have a lot to add so mostly lurk.

I got in touch with Blackbear back in spring and was on the fence about getting a tune and ultimately decided to hold off. I was glad to find this truck and had fun getting it to where it is but I wish it had a 7.4L, had a full-float rear instead of the semi-float, and was a crew cab instead of an extended cab. 4.11 gears instead of 3.73 would be a bonus. There is a great looking single wheel crew cab truck down the road from me that I really covet.

I'm a little apprehensive about putting too much time and money into upgrading the current setup. I could swap a 7.4 or 6.0 LS and another rear end, but it would still only be an extended cab. My son is 5 so he fits back there for now but won't for much longer. I've kicked around the idea of putting it up on CL asking to trade for a rough-around-the-edges K3500 that's spec'd closer to what I want but maybe needs some work. That's probably a long shot but this truck drives perfectly and has more new parts on it than not at this point. I'm also open to a 6.0L GMT800. Ultimately we will be in the market for either a larger camper (would love to talk the family into a big Lance like you have) or travel trailer down the road so will need some more oomph along with the added space.

I didn't know about flooring it locking the converter. Most of the time, if I didn't have a train of traffic behind me, I would keep it in 3rd and stay in the throttle down to about 50 mph up a grade. Much below that and the converter would unlock followed shortly by a downshift. So I would just force the shift to second at 50 mph with the accelerator, put the lever in 2, and keep the speed between 50 and 55 up the grade. The 5.7 had plenty of power for that and on most grades would have been happy to keep accelerating if I'd have let it (but 4k rpm seemed excessive). Unless the ambient temps were really hot, most 6%-ish grades of a few miles only caused the trans temp to get to 220 or so (which is still too hot in my opinion). Once the road leveled out a little and I could shift up to 3rd and maintain a speed over 50, I shifted and let the converter lock. Immediately (and I mean immediately) after the converter locked, the trans temp would start to fall and unless it'd been a particularly long climb, it would be back to <200 degrees in under a minute. It would start climb over 220 if I was plodding along at 35 or 40 and then had to accelerate or climb.

At least once I was in a construction zone that was moving at about 35, then traffic stopped for a minute, then I had to immediately climb a hill from that stop and everyone was still going 35. It hit 240 on that one and of course: construction zone, so no where to pull over. Just clenched my teeth and drove on and once we got back up to speed and the converter could lock, it finally got back down to around 200 (took a little while to get there, though). Actually, I never did pull over to let it cool during the trip- the couple of times we had to stop for a while for construction, etc., I put it in park and played with the throttle a little to see if it would cool off but it was really slow to cool down at idle. I kind of told myself that if it was at 240 and climbing and it looked like we wouldn't be back in a situation where the converter could lock again soon, I would pull over then, but that situation never really came up other than that first hard climb out of the gorge on day one.

So I've got some testing to do- I have a reasonably large aux cooler in-line with the factory cooler and the temp gauge is on the hot side of the cooler circuit. I have access to a nice Snap-on scan tool that I think can read the 4L80E's own temp sensor and see if it lines up with what I see on the gauge. Will check for obstructions in the cooler lines while I'm at it.

Alright, that was a lot of words- thanks for the ideas, happy travels.

350 Vortec makes its HP peak at 4,600 rpm it will run at 4,500-5,000 rpm all day long. Just watch the temp gauge. I pulled my travel trailer at 70-75 mph, foot to the floor in 2nd gear into a 40+ mph head wind for more than 100 miles outrunning a storm. Never ran hot just just ate gas like no tomorrow. 1/2 the 31 gallon tank in that 100 miles. Above ~50 mph in 2nd gear above 75% throttle (near WOT) the converter locks up. My 4L85E stayed about 180°F. After that trip, I did raise the RPM for the compressor shut-off to 5,200 rpm and the TPS cutoff to 100% so that the a/c compressor would stay engaged. With the 25% underdrive crank pulley I could spin the engine 6,000 rpm and the a/c compressor not exceed the rpm it saw at 4,500 rpm with the stock crank pulley.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Also as mentioned above. Shorty headers will add some torque. I ended up using Thorley tri-ys. I have high flow cats that replaced the burned up OEM ones on my Express. I also have a walker dynomax bus muffler on it. For having headers, high flow cats and a free flowing muffler it is very quiet inside even when I am standing on it. Has more intake growl than anything. 6,500 lbs of van getting rolling with 3.73 gears at the time.

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When I am cruising and jamming to some music you do not even really hear the engine. Tri-Y headers, tune, marine cam and intake it had enough grunt from the old 350 it would pull 6-7% grades locked up in overdrive at 65 mph at ~2,000 rpm.

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[1997]

Another camper, awesome. Mine gets 7-10 with the camper. If you look closely, I have a carrier on the front too with firewood.

You must be registered for see images attach

I'll be going to MI and back in August with it as well. Immediately upon my return to CO I'll hook up my enclosed trailer and drag it to CA. Something may happen along the way, but I'm not worried. I've done loaded road trips before. Now for you, I HIGHLY recommend a Blackbear tune unless you can get it done in person. That TCC is supposed to lock when you floor it in a 4L80E. You can also do the 411 swap with tow/haul mode. Adding torque goes a long way toward keeping the converter locked as well. You could do some CARB legal shorties with downpipes that keep your stock cats in the stock position and a Walker bus muffler if you want to keep it quiet. Bit the tune will add some noticeable torque and your TCC lock algorithms can be modified to better suit your setup.

that's not a camper, its a house!

 

[Supercharged111]

that's not a camper, its a house!

It's astonishing how big it is with the slide out and the tent bed opened up out back. Hard to believe it fits in the back of a truck! Something on the order of 25 feet nose to tail and it fits in an 8 foot bed.

 

[skylark]

Are you in the Bend or Kfalls area?