It's a lot of fun - 3rd year we've helped sponsor it, 2nd to show up in person... organized by Chris at High Desert Ravelco/ HDR Diesel.
There's a thread on it here somewhere - starts 8:30 Saturday morning and goes all day.
We're heading out Friday morning to have plenty of time to setup & enjoy the Friday night pre-event festivities... great bunch of folks out there and the nicest fleet of trucks I have seen yet at a GTG.

Be a little farther for you - 700 miles, unless you rode along with someone else (i.e. we have a spare seat).

 

'13FOX' - Thread HERE
Went last year-was great time!
Working this year but... next yr, "I'll be back"!

RJ

 

Thanks RJ but I'm out of anything for the next 2 weeks. Back is in bad shape and doctors orders.

 

I'll be damned!
Finally had the means and motive to test what a lot of members claim about better mileage when driving 60-65 mph.
I have never believed the 24v automatic tranny owners that claim 18 mpg regularly.

Was meeting 'Bnold' in 1.5 hrs and was only 1 hr away...... so I filled up and drove from Sherman to Grapevine at 60 mph!
Later, I was in a hurry to get home, so set cruise at 70 mph. Still slower than usual. Averaged 65 mph for round trip and filled up this AM.
Picked up 1.6 mpg averaging 65 instead of my usual 75!!!! (Got 17.9 mpg)
I guess that's no big surprise but did not expect that much better mileage.

Note: However, driving 60 mph around Texas is DANGEROUS!
Cars and trucks wizzzzzing by on the left and right (off entry ramps), tail gaters, etc. Even the cute Austrailian girl in my GPS was saying "are we there yet"!
Not a comfortable feeling!

RJ

 

So Rowland, you wouldn't believe my dad's 97 club cab 12V auto got 22mpg running 70? Just remember, you have a lot of drag from air going under your tall truck, the faster you go the more drag you create.

 

No Lifted Truck here??
But a 12v...... is a whole nother matter!

RJ

 

So it looks like I take a step forward on projects, then at least a step back. Finally got around to getting my 3rd gen track bar installed (thanks Mike!) and the front end aligned, so I was going to switch over to my 3rd gen rims sometime this week. Then when I headed to Giddings last Wednesday fighting the crazy wind, my front passenger tire decided it no longer needed tread while on I-35. It threw the entire tread at 70 and took the plastic fascia on the passenger side of the bumper and wheel well liner with it. It also managed to bang up the passenger step rail and fender corner under the door. The good news is that the tire is covered under the Discount Tire warranty, so I can get a new one for free. But since they don't sell the old style anymore, it would be one of the new BFG M/Ts. Anyone need a new BFG M/T in 285/75/16? Not sure how well a mismatched set of used tires is going to sell on Craigslist

Also trying to decide if I just want to replace the front bumper fascia or possibly go with the front end replacement I've wanted to do for a while.

 

Dang!

How old was that tire?

Never had a problem with the BFGs while on the truck, but lost several over the last couple years on the GN (our Purgatory for 16" take-offs)... whole treads come off & remove pieces of diamond plate.

I bet someone would buy that single for a spare!

 

I'd have to check on the age, but it was installed at the same time as all the others.

I did notice on the trip down that I was having to hold a little pressure to the left on the steering wheel, but I figured it was just compensation for the strong wind I was running into. But after replacing the tire with the spare, I no longer had to had that pressure on the wheel. Now it's back to tracking straight like it was when I picked it up.

Luckily it just threw the tread, but the tire didn't actually blow out. So after it was done throwing pieces and tearing things up, I was able to drive down to the next exit and change the tire in a parking lot instead of on the side of the interstate.

 

There you go - low pressure allowed too much sidewall flex at highway speed, leading to excessive temperature rise in the rubber construction... delamination was a foregone conclusion (and the exact failure mode of all the dang GN BFGs... except with tandem axles the tire diameter swells enough with RPM to hit the other tread and smoke like a freight train!).

 

Still your 4wheel drive sits high.

 

I did not think that was possible on anything but retreads??
Live and learn. Glad not a catastrophic blowout! Good Luck.


Ahhhh! Your Dad's 97 was a 12v AND a 2wd. 22 mpg is believable, IMO.

RJ

 

From looking at it in the rearview mirror, I thought it had thrown a pretty large piece of tread all together, but when I circled back after putting on the spare, all I could find were tiny pieces of M/T tread. There are still a few lugs on the edges of the tire, but the entire center section is gone down to the steel. I was just glad it held air until I could get off the highway to a parking lot. My last blowout took then entire tread as a whole ring and left me with about 6 inches of sidewall attached to the rim and nothing else, and that was on the rear axle. That would have sucked on the steer axle.

 

What are chances you create a "tire timebomb" when you haul as heavy as you do? Maybe Mike also. Or maybe old tires (I mean mfg date)?
Probably seen this before....right? http://www.abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

Just seems way outside the norm for todays tire technology.

RJ

 

My last blowout was the result of a tire going flat on the road. The apt I was living in had a bunch of construction going on around it and I picked up screws in two tires. One tire leaked down before leaving and I had it fixed, but I'm guessing the other one lost the screw while on the highway and leaked down while on the road. The low pressure would expect shearing off both sidewalls and dumping the tread as a whole.

As for this one, I'm calling it bad luck. The only other thing I can think of is that I did switch out that tire for the driver rear because of wear on the passenger side, in essence crossing the rotation instead of the standard front-to-back. I've heard warnings about not rotating radial tires from one side to the vehicle to the other since it reverses direction. Maybe I just discovered why...