Here's another for you Geoff.

[Jon]

Wow,  I figured BR would be much heavier than that.

When I was towing Chester behind my dakota (~4600lbs) I didn't have the module required to allow me to use the electric brakes on the trailer. I was braking down a very steep curving hill and I could feel that the trailer was pushing my back end out a bit which was making me nervous. I'll definitely buy an electric brake controller if I ever need to tow anything that heavy again.

[guidematic]

 I was thinking that the final drive on the Caribou may be a bit tall for the weight of Big Red and the trailer combination. But it should still pull it all OK in most conditions. But you may want to consider putting on a good trans cooler.

The pickup would have had a much shorter rear so pulling it would have worked better.

When I pulled my 27' travel trailer with my '70 Fleetwood, it was quite an exercise. First, the rear gear was far too tall, keeping the transmission form doing what it was supposed to do. I had to shift manually to keep engine RPMs in the fat part of the torque curve when accelerating without holding my foot to the floor. I found that the ideal speed was about 60 MPH and no more. If I tried more, fuel economy would just tank.

Mind you, I was pushing a fair bit of air with that trailer too. That should not be so much of a problem with Big Red.

Mike

[Geoff]

I was thinking that the final drive on the Caribou may be a bit tall for the weight of Big Red and the trailer combination. But it should still pull it all OK in most conditions. But you may want to consider putting on a good trans cooler.

Mike

Funny you should mention that, I just finished installing a good size tranny cooler last week.

Pic. #1 --- Starting out, I have 2 mounting brackets clamped to the upper mounts of the cooler.
Pic. #2 --- Finished, not easy to see now that it is painted black.  I made the brackets to fit the upper and mid grille mounting bolts, it made for a solid and clean installation.

There will definitely be some test runs made with Big Red up before heading out for a trip like I am considering.

[Fins]

Now that is a cooler. 

I hope it doesn't block air to the condenser too bad. That is the problem I had. The tranny cooler was so big that it blocked cooling air to the A/C condenser and sent the head pressures up to +350psi on the high side.

With the direct drive 7 blade fan and the shroud on there, I've been good. But I have also run the trans fluid through the radiator cooler like the factory did. Now it stays a bit warmer then coolant temps. And by a bit, I mean maybe 15-20 degrees.

[guidematic]

That's a big cooler alright. It will keep that trans nice and cool.

I installed an oil cooler off a CASCAR racer on the '70. It noticeably kept the trans cooler, to the touch. If I had one of those infrared sensors, I could have gauged exactly how much.

Mike