TooManyIdeas wrote:The truck being towed is a 1990 toyota pickup 2wd about 2500lbs.
I thought that was wrong, but it turns out you're right:
2560 lbs.
The dolly was only going to be one of those 2 wheel uhaul jobs.
I own one. They weigh 400lbs or so (without brakes). Mine is rated for 3350 llbs "towed weight" (including weight of dolly), so I assume yours will be within spec for the dolly itself.
So you guys think it would be that bad of an idea
If you try to rent it from U-Haul . . .
You've seen the shorty '89 Aero I drive (in the pics I linked to upthread). Years ago, I used to be able to rent U-Haul's 6'x12' covered trailer, and I used to rent it about twice a year to move things covered.
Then in about 1999 or 2000, they refused to rent it to me anymore. Why? When you rent a trailer from U-Haul, they want to know what's going to tow the trailer, and they get sort of specific. About 2000 they decided that the GVW of the 6x12' trailer was too high a percentage of the combined weight. Never mind that I might be carrying a trailerfull of styrofoam: from U-Haul's perspective, I might be loading a trailerfull of broken sidewalk.
So, for a while, I rented the 5'x10' covered trailer instead. Then I got sneaky and just told them that I had the "long" version of the Aero, which is something like 200 lbs heavier, and now they don't bug me anymore. I could also have told them it's the 4WD version, which would work as well.
'Nuther story: In Feb-1981 I towed a
1959 Cadillac Eldorado/Seville (a rare combination model,
one of only 975 made) from Phoenix to Seattle. The trick is, I towed it behind a
1973 Volvo 145 Wagon. I was young and
very stupid. I have a pic somewhere buried of that combination. I have a couple of harrowing tales of the three days drive it took me to get to the PNW. Summary: I wouldn't do it again on a bet. I could have died several times, I used up a decade's worth of luck. So, when you ask . . .
So you guys think it would be that bad of an idea
I'd have to say, Yes, I think that the 720 diesel PU does not have enough margin in both the pulling and braking depts. to safely pull 3000 lbs 2000 miles in the dead of winter.
I'm not saying it can't be done -- I've proven that it can. But an older, wiser Al has to say that it wasn't one of my best decisions, even if I got away with it.
I know in gassers its a bad idea to switch to synthetic after about 50k miles is this true for diesels as well?
You are mistaken about the "bad idea" part as well.
Back in the bad old days of Mobil 1's debut (circa 1974?), shaft seal technology in automotive engines was still at the point where a good many of them were "rope" seals (really), and the rest were pre-elastomer technology that depended upon light aromatics attacking them and keeping them pliable. It was possible, therefore, to have a problem when switching to a synthetic oil that didn't have all the light aromatics, because "rubber" seals could harden without that crap in the oil, and rope seals didn't have enough heavy crap in the oil to keep them plugged. So started the "don't switch to synth. on an old engine" reasoning -- and it made sense, say pre-1980.
Engine seals are constructed of entirely different materials now. While modern seals can still harden, they do not depend upon the lube oil to keep them pliable. "Rope" seals are long history. And some synthetics even have plastisizing agents to try to keep seals pliable (this is not unique to synths: "high-mileage" oil blends are primarily STP-like polymers and seal swell agents added to regular base stocks).
The other arguement you'll sometimes hear is that the synthetic oil will "clean out" the gunk in your engine and Bad Things will happen.
1) Synthetic (or other "detergent") oil will
not clean out accumlated gunk. It is not a "cleansing" fluid. The term
detergent in the tribology sense does not refer to cleansing action, but to additives and properties the tend to reduce the suspended crud in the oil from adhering to the metallic internal parts. IOW, the rate at which crap will build up on the inside of your engine will be drastically reduced, but existing crap will not be magically (or otherwise) cleansed away. Remember this:
oil detergent additives are not like Tide.
2) If your engine has so much gunk that great sheets of it can come loose and clog some vital orifice, you don't have an engine that's going to be around for a great long while anyway.
The SD is old-tech, even for its day. However, I'm confident that switching to synthetic lubes everywhere on your 720 is a good choice, and that's what I did to mine.
All the foregoing was engine-related. Transmissions, diffs, and chassis components (as well as brakes: don't forget DOT5/synthetic brake fluid) have no problem with synthetic switchover. In the case of the trans, being as there is a known weak area (the front brgs, read
the FS5W71b thread), my opinion is that synthetic lubricant is the
only sane choice for that transmission.
Chassis lube is often neglected too. Pump the grease in and flush out contaminants, esp. the idler arm. Grease is cheap, ball joints aren't.
Clutch fluid and brake fluid: DOT3 fluid is hygroscopic (is miscible and attracts water) and should be flushed/replaced every two-four years. Usually doesn't happen, of course. I flush DOT5 fluid through, which is non-miscible and doesn't attract moisture (and is actually a lubricant to boot, which DOT3 isn't), plus it has a much higher boiling point, in case that ever becomes a concern -- such as towing.
The clutch fluid should be changed too.
If you switch to DOT5, you really do need to try to remove as much of the old fluid as possible. I budget two quarts of DOT5 when I switch a vehicle over. Yeah, you throw a lot of it away, but it's cheap insurance against for a good job.
Std. coolants are only good for two years/30k miles, and then the corrosion inhibitors (primarily silicates) die off and
your expensive oil-to-water heat exchanger starts getting eaten up. So change the coolant too.
