BlueLghtning

Yep, I would love a 13/18, especially for climbs and descents. There are lots of times where that half gear would be nice.

Okay, I had to look at mine again to see where I'm at. I'm at about 1425 at 65mph with my taller tires and 3.58 gearing, so still about 100rpm higher than you. You may really be in a nice gear range that allows you to run 9th on slower reads and still be pretty good. I still find I'm either running 9th a little higher than I would like or lugging 10th on back roads. You are still getting great fuel mileage. I do think I tend to drive a bit faster and not worry about fuel mileage as much as I did in the beginning. I just enjoy having the large truck that handles our large 5th wheels with ease. Thanks for sharing the info.

Do you find the Detroit 12.7 still has power to pull down at 1300 with the trailer on? What is yours rated at? My 2000 has a 12.7 rated at 435hp and I think 1650/tq with a 10spd manual and 3.58 rear end with a .74 OD. When I first got the truck it was running low pro 22.5's on the rear. The Detroit seems really happy around 1400-1500 RPM's and even up to 1600 it seemed like the motor didn't mind that at all. I recently changed to 11R 22.5 tires and that made more a change than I expected. It lowered me a hundred RPM in each gear (or picked up about 2-3mph at each RPM), but negatively it spaced out my gears a bit more too. These were my original RPM's/speeds before the tire change. 1275 = 55 mph 1375 = 60 mph 1475 = 65 mph 1500 = 67 mph 1575 = 70 mph 1600 = 72 mph Now I think I'm at about 1400 at 65mph and 1500 at 70mph. Of course now my speedometer is off a couple mph, but I have my GPS to go by. The truck does cruise a bit more relaxed now, but on the other hand, I'm not holding hills as well in 10th gear any more unless I'm really in the RPM's. Maybe with your change it made 9th a bit more usable at higher speeds. I am a bit heavier than you and my trailer comes in right at 20k fully loaded. I'm 38k total.

I know you were comparing the Honda 2000 vs the Predator 2000, but I want to throw my 2 cents in on the Predator 3500. I own a Honda 2000 I bought used and have put many hours on it, but I have several friends that have the Predator 3500 and camping next to them, I gotta say that thing is impressive. The first time I actually heard one from a guy camped next to me, I just assumed it was the larger Honda 3000 from a far. Once I got to looking though, I realized it was the Predator 3500. Amazingly the Predator 3500 is actually quieter than my Honda 2000 at 1/4 load and because it's a larger generator, it doesn't rev up as much for smaller loads which makes it even less intrusive. My microwave makes my Honda 2000 sound like it's about to take off, but the 3500 revs up just a little bit from the microwave, and even running an A/C unit from it, it was still amazingly quiet and non intrusive. My wife has this circuit ez press (basically a 9x9 iron). That thing drives my Honda nuts constantly revving it up and makes it annoying , but the HF handled it beautifully when we tried it on a friend's unit. The Preadator 3500 actually has an hour/amp/watt meter too and electric. Probably about the only thing the 3500 doesn't beat the Honda on is sipping fuel, but it has a bigger tank so you don't have to fill it as often. I've actually been very tempted to pick up a Predator 350t0 because I'm so impressed by them. HF got this one correct. Now you were comparing the predator 2000 which uses a smaller motor than the Honda 2000) (79cc I think) and probably doessn't have all the advantages of the Predator 3500. However, if you don't mind the extra size/weight, you can still buy a Predator 3500 cheaper than a Honda 2000. I haven't heard a Predator 2000 run or used one to know how well it works, but I wouldn't think twice about buying the 3500 version.

We were in Phoenix for a couple weeks in Feb and met up with Roger there and enjoyed some great boondocking in two different locations north of Phoenix. We left Phoenix and headed for Rodeo, NM to meet Jim & Teri for about a week at Rusty's RV Ranch. I know others from this forum have been there and it's very HDT friendly campground with super long pull through sites (200ft). Basically you share a pull through with your neighbor, but you are pointed in opposite directions and at the other end of each pull through so no overlapping. As much boondocking as we have been doing though, even 6 nights in a campground felt a bit too much for us. Now we are making our way to Moab via Abq. We stopped in Elephant Butte, NM and found a killer boondocking spot right off I-25 for two night. We have zero neighbors and are about 1.5 miles from the interstate. We'll head to Abq tomorrow and then continue on towards Moab where we are joining them for another Convergence.

I've been full time since Aug 2017 and I work a regular 9-5 job remotely. So far it's been good and I have really had good success working on the road. I had been working remotely for 7-8 years before we hit the road and making the transition to full time RV'ing really wasn't that much different, other than working in other time zones. I actually have a little leeway with my schedule and can work as early as 7-3 ET or as late as 9-5 ET and can fluctuate that as I need. I've been doing a lot of 7-3 ET, especially when we have been in MT as then my day locally is 5am-1pm and I have lots of time in the afternoon to do stuff. Working 7-3 in PT was a bit too much since that was like 4am - 12pm local time, but I did do it a few times. I joined Technomadio's group at RVmobileInternet.com before we hit the road and I learned so much even though I was a techie already. The biggest advantage though was getting the heads up on deals to snatch up and just staying up to date on all the latest phone plans. I lucked out than between the time I started researching going on the road and actually hitting the road, all the big carriers were having their unlimited data fights and I benefited big time. I have hotspots with AT&T, Verizon, & T-mobile. For AT&T I lucked out and grabbed the Rural Homebase 250GB plan for $60/mo and then also was able to get one of the Mobley $20/mo plans. I have the most bandwidth with AT&T so I rely on them the most. We put both our phones on the new Verizon unlimited when it came out, although it probably would have been better to maybe have an AT&T phone. We also got a Verizon hotspot, but as you may know Verizon's unlimited is only 15gb of hotspot use per line. Verizon is very important to have, but with such low bandwidth, I have to be careful how I use it. Finally we have a Tmobile 6g Simple Choice plan with binge on. This was mostly so we could stream netflix and not count against our data, but also have Tmobile as a backup as it does roll over up 20gb/mo. I have found a few cases where T-mobile worked really well, especially sometimes in busy areas where Verizon & AT&T towers were just overloaded. Trying to set yourself up right now would be tough. AT&T just phased out the use of hotspots on their unlimited plans (really wish I had picked one of those up), but I'm setup pretty well with the homebase and Mobley. Verizon still has their unlimited plans, but they are far from unlimited. Tmobile is coming along and I see good things for them as they grow their 600mhz spectrum, but that's going to take a bit. The best advice I can give is join Technomadio at RVMobileInternet and read a lot. I did get a Weboost cell booster and I haven't even hooked it up yet. I should hook it up where I'm at as this is the first place I really could use it, but it just so happens the campground wifi here rocks (very rare) and I'm running off that this week. We have started to boondock a lot more and that has definitely made the internet a lot more challenging at times. So far though I've never had a day I couldn't work, but be ready as they might happen.

LOL, not at all. Sarah was loving the heat this morning! Color me impressed also.

Today marks 1 month that Sarah and I have been consistently boondocking and staying out of campgrounds with hookups (except the one night above at Holts RV to dump/fill) since we left Tuscon on Jan 12th. We dove head first into boondocking finally and we love it. We are now north of Phoenix about 3.5 miles off the paved road and Roger (HeWhoKnowsLittle) just came and joined us tonight. Tomorrow is our 6 month anniversary since we left for full time back in August and we have learned so much in that time!

Haha, guess who we just ran into in Gila Bend, AZ at the Holt's Shell station.. My wife saw the rig and the Raptor Toy hauler while she was outside the gas station and then sent me a picture (We are in the campground behind the gas station) I knew right away who it was. This is Richard's (Kingskids) old truck he just sold. We had met Davie & his wife in Quartszite with the Xscapers and had chatted with him extensively about HDT's and this truck. We had to go over and chat with Davie and his wife. They are headed back West where we just came from. BTW, this Holt's Shell station and RV park in Gila Bend, AZ is a good stop over point. (http://www.passportamerica.com/campgrounds/az/holtsshellrvpark1844) Their Passport America or Escapees rate is $11.99/night for full hook ups and you can fit an HDT in here. If you are too long, there is enough room to park your truck next to the trailer. They have laundry on site at the campground and the gas station does have free dump and water too if you are just passing through. They have both RV and truck fuel pumps too that make it easy to fill up. See my pics below of the campground space. This is the Holt's RV park. Nothing special, but for $11.99 daily rate with full hookups for as long as you want, it's a cheap place to stay.

Sarah and I have been enjoying AZ since New Years and have spent the last 2+ weeks boondocking and loving it. We first tried boondocking at Synder Hill outside Tucson New Years Eve weekend. That isn't a great spot, but it was easy to find and get to and we cut our teeth there for a couple days. We figured out though our 5500 Onan Generator under light load surges a lot and was annoying to listen to for us and I'm sure our neighbors. While we were in an RV park in Tucson, we bought a little Honda EU2000i generator and headed west to Quartszite to join the Xscapers. We spent 9 days boondocking off Plomosa rd north of Quartszite the week befor the RV show and throughly enjoyed it. We had so much fun with the Xscapers group and made so many new friends. The little Honda generator was a game changer and allowed us to run it during the day so I could work. It is so quiet and sips fuel. We visited the Big Tent and RV show on Saturday and then headed south to American Girl Mine near Winterhaven, CA (just west of Yuma) to join the 2nd part of the Xscapers annual bash. We've currently been here for 7 days and may stay another day or two before we start making our way back towards Phoenix. The boondocking is something we've been wanting to try and we are hooked. We need a few more things to make it a bit better like a good battery monitor and an inverter so I don't always have to run the generator. The 500ah of 6v batteries should be good for awhile. Solar is on the horizon too, but still researching all that.

I believe Jim & Teri (They have a newmar X-aire like you) and are near Terlingua right now. They are staying at a friend's place, but pretty close to there. I wanted to visit there, but we passed right by and headed to AZ back at the end of Dec. Been loving the desert SW.

So I've seen a few other HDT's here boondocking on BLM Land north of Quartszite. I need to go say hey to them. We are on our 5th day of boondocking on BLM land and really enjoying it. This is a whole new world and honestly we are enjoying it a lot more than being squished into campgrounds. I think we'll be working on setting ourselves up better for future boondocking. I did pick up a Honda EU2000i to supplement always having to run the big 5.5k Onan, but we still need a good battery monitor, a good inverter/charger and finally some solar & charge controller. I think as we add those items, the boondocking will be even more pleasant. We are really enjoying being here with the Xscapers too!

We decided to come join the Xscapers in Quartsziteand are really enjoying ourselves. We are boondocking for a week north of the Q.

Are you taking your HDT & 5th into Mexico?

We've been in West Tucson since about Dec 29th. We were on Synder BLM land for a couple days. We are currently at Justin's Diamond J RV park west of Tucson.

I can still only see the photo in the link he posted when I click on it. I can't see either one of the pics he embeded? I even tried right clicking and opening in new tab and see the same negative sign in a circle as the person above me? This is where it tries to link from? - https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rqXhqUft9M33SulGA9h9mM5H7vBqgI87ROx6zdwWX2KvLwCkz5_42EZ3bMe79o4JdNn1M9Gp-KAcTu4oe2-VuTNFMemU-xZ5Ds4qIW0I0LEtzgTuIwKIFOMB-awpOnivB_hevN5Ggvk6M9ZS1elwqGJe2IwwvC47MyNybuMlWgbSrw_aoEt54xtOzTIj3nx1gkjbWn1R0-5q4LurzwRbVJWid-msWlF1slZC0YZM7lW1MFz4XAqR3gl91TTUt5XizWzOZYZrlYNhhOp1kbxUjzfHRco-4b-8aJCZ66V3TqPXQrYMNMkGGYVJVkJ9Iat9wIVs1u9YbukKHoF4wjkUbX_Xz9UZ9-lV-ISVO5Fw1qMUDClALI4jkgPFTqmdSb1YdODo0dnKxShYnQ6a8ETNGvpZoE8nZT1jj9ZPnlZBg0LhiIoDpKBK6QRRWWc40ZhQDxGfkqiWglHzL5GulHqRd-j5Lm6Rqt3wKWMBjUKFL5-sbPL07Im3NcZIUl7wwwQpdjbh6TWYJ6f8fE2MXbcidwynDO-hXufjyt0WT3DQsJf2sLlm3Dm_AWaT6_lqxrrm8hrBesdcN9AbkODiNPLkCkx43WmiigOLpK4F19gN=w2258-h1271-no

Yeah, I don't see a photo from Jack's post either.

They just have the file size extremely small. 1000kb is = 1mb. These days most pics are easily over 1mb. Look at the file size of the pic you are trying to upload and it's probably way over 1mb. Your best bet is to use a file hosting service or use a photo editor to decrease the quality of your picture.

We left New Orleans this morning headed to Bandera, TX. We made it to Sealy TX, just west of Katy this evening and will complete the remaining 3 hrs or so tomorrow. Houston wasn't terrible today but man that is a bit nerve racking for sure. See my other thread about being pulled over today East of Beaumont, TX. Thankfully that was a non issue, just a state trooper that needed some education on HDT's.

Now that I look at a map, I guess it isn't quite West, TX, but we are supposed to me up with Jim & Teri around Bandera, TX west of San Antonio. They are spending a month there. I'm not sure yet on how long we'll stay. Big Bend was on my list of places I haven't been yet, but want to see. May have to check out that area.

Sure, it's nothing too special. Because of the size our or rig and HDT, I asked to stay on the main gravel path where one of the spaces are right inside the gate. Some of the others are just on grass.

We left Harrison, AR on Nov 11th and headed back to GA to visit my parents and pick up my wife's Mini Cooper we had left behind. We found this coulple that has about 6-8 RV pads in their back yard in Gay, GA just 20mins south of my parents with full hookups and it's worked out great. We are going to leave Monday the 20th and head for New Orleans for Thanksgiving and then head to West TX after that. We'll probably try to catch up with Jim & Teri again in TX.

My Volvo 610 with Detroit 60 (435/1650) is singled short with no bed 10spd manual with 3.58 gearing. I get 10-11 BT (have seen as high as 12 in the right conditions). I usually avg mid 8's to 9 towing, lowest for me is about 7.5 towing with a good headwind or lots of climbing.

We pulled into Ozark View Campground in Omaha, AR yesterday which is south of Branson, MO & just north of Harrison, AR. Jim & Terri got here today also. There are some great motorcycling roads around here. This is a very nice family owned camground and the owner is very open to HDT's. I know @rickeieio has been here before with his HDT and @Mntom has been here also.

We haven't travelled too far since the Rally. We left Hutch and headed down to Goddard just west of Witchita and stayed at Lake Afton for a couple days. Then we headed East to Parson's where we are now for a couple days before heading towards Arkansas next.