Moab and Back-Towing and Wheeling Report

[wngrog]

2700 miles in 8 days. 2200 miles pulling this load:

Clothes and food for 4 for a week
Spares for the buggy
5 gallons of gas
2 full coolers
4 mounted 33x13.50x18 Terra Grapplers strapped to the trailer
2600# Tacoma buggy
1000# aluminum trailer

 

[wngrog]

The trip staterd at 5:00 am when I met my buggy Jim in my old Duramax 2500HD and his full load of 2800# buggy, spares, tools and camping gear.

We headed out into a terrible storm and headwind toward Amarillo.

We kept a pace of around 70mpg into a 40+ mph headwind on the first 2 tanks. Mileage hovered around 7mpg on the first two tanks.

I was running the Cruiser in 3rd gear the entire time but the towing was surprisingly stable with the 3800-4200# load and the 863 rear springs.

After Amarillo, the headwind shifter to a side-wind and the towing got much better. I tried drafting behind Jim some and that did not help the mileage on the next tank. Another solid 7mpg. Speeds are around 80mph in 3rd. RPMs hover at 3600-3800 rpm for hours.

At this point, I am getting happy if I break 100 miles on a 1/2 tank and 150 before I need to fill up.

Around Clines Corners I got in front of Jim after a crowded fuel stop and hit the road at 70mph to allow him to catch up. His fuel stop lasted longer than I thought and with him running 80 he did not catch me before we stopped on the other side of Albuquerque. Running 70 with occasional use of the OD in the rig mileage jumped to a whopping 9mpg.

 

[wngrog]

Fueled (literally) with enthusiasm with this jump in mileage, I managed to stay in front of Jim through Cortez, Co keeping the 70mph pace and 8.5-9.5 tanks.

At this point, the Cruiser had only dropped below 70mph on the cruise control one time and that was pulling the long grade outside of Albuquerque and it would only go 65mph.

Arriving in Moab at 8:30 pm, the trip cost me around $500 in gas to get BOTH of my trail rigs to Moab and we averaged 63mph and my mileage averaged 8.5 mpg overall, even with the crappy first tank at 6.5 mpg.

I alternated 87 octane with 90-93 octane on each tank. I switched to synthetic oil before the trip and the Cruiser used none and barely colored it on the trip out, even with 15+ hours at 3500 rpm plus.

Having gone from a 2003 "chipped" Duramax to the 100 series was quite a jump. Mileage. of course, was the big hit but the fact that the Cruiser only dropped one time under 70mph on the hills on the way out and that the load was rock solid behind the Cruiser really surprised me.

Overall, I am VERY pleased with the towing capabilities of the Cruiser on the trip out and back.

On the way home, we spent more time at altitude cutting through SW Colorado to see Mesa Verde and ending up in Santa Fe on the first day. The Cruiser gets much better mileage when it is over 5000 ft sea level for some reason. With mixed OD and D driving around 70 mph, we got between 10 and 11.5 mpg on the leg to Santa Fe.

On the leg from Santa Fe to Carlsbad Caverns the next day I was driving faster, but I left the Cruiser in OD the entire time and let it shift itself. Mileage went back to 8.5 mpg for that leg of the trip.

The final leg from Carlsbad to Granbury Texas on Monday, I had the hammer down and ran 75-80 the entire time in "D" with a mixed headwind and mileage dripped to 7-7.5.

The trip home was a little longer in mileage, but I upped the average to 9.5 mpg and fuel costs were about the same at $500 for the return trip.

 

[wngrog]

Overall, as a tow vehicle these are my impressions.

Power-adequate. B-

In "d" if you are willing to deal with the horrible mileage, the 4.7 does a good job. 3500-3800 rpm is the ideal powerband for this engine and it never hickupped. After the 2700 mile round trip the oil looks slightly brown, but does not look in need for a change. With the synthetics, I will go 5000 miles on this oil.

Stability-very good. A-

With the Slee bumper, 863 shocks and the stock 18" Bridgestone's the stability of the towing platform was way better than I imagined. Very nice, no sway and no bounce at all. I had to make a couple of emergencey stops where the anti-lock kicked in from 70 mph to stop and the car braked the load increadible well.
Even though I have 4 brakes on the trailer, I discovered in Carlsbad (after the 2 emergency braking episodes, that only one was hooked up. The 6000# Cruiser did a GREAT job as a towing/stopping platform.

Overall the rig is a good 1/2 ton towing platform. Of course it is no Duramax, but the important point is, there is NO OTHER VEHICLE that you can tow a load like this with and then slap on your 33" AT's and hit 3-4 rated trails with 4 people and only drag the bumpers a few times.

Part 2 will concentrate on my impressions of the off-road abilities of the 100 series in Moab.

 

[spressomon]

wngrog,
Great post. I am about 30-days out from getting my AT trailer...and not having towed any trailer with my 100 I am curious, as we all are in these days of increasing fuel costs, about what type of mileage I'll get....so your stats serve as a good benchline. Also FYI: I spoke to Christo right after he recently towed a larger trailer from Denver to Texas in his turbo'd LX/100 and he did, in stretches, 75-80mph...and averaged 15mpg. Apparently with the increase in hp from the turbo the engine works alot less under load...

...now if I can figure out how to pay for a turbo kit

 

[wngrog]

wngrog,
Great post. I am about 30-days out from getting my AT trailer...and not having towed any trailer with my 100 I am curious, as we all are in these days of increasing fuel costs, about what type of mileage I'll get....so your stats serve as a good benchline. Also FYI: I spoke to Christo right after he recently towed a larger trailer from Denver to Texas in his turbo'd LX/100 and he did, in stretches, 75-80mph...and averaged 15mpg. Apparently with the increase in hp from the turbo the engine works alot less under load...

...now if I can figure out how to pay for a turbo kit

Like a Diesel, you will have to tow an aweful lot to justify the Turbo just for mileage gains.

For drivability and bling, it is no match and worth the coin, but doing it to increase mileage will never pay for itself.

As for the loads, I would guess the camper trailer that Christo pulled to the Roundup was 1/2 the weight of my load to Moab.

Think about it this way. I had a Duramax that I NEVER drove unless I was hauling something.

Now I have a kick ass Cruiser that I use all the time to buzz around town and go out to dinner in and it can also tow nicely.

2700 miles averaging 8 mpg at $3 a gallon was $1000 in gas.

The same trip pushing the mileage to 13 (ike I usually got in my Duramax) would have been $650

So for $350 I got to a) drive a Cruiser and b) have my tow rig turn into my trail rig for 3 days of my trip.

 

[wngrog]

So before I get into my impressions of the 100 on the trail, I also got to spend 3 days in Moab running the harder trails in my buggy.

Specs on the buggy are Taco 2.7 4 banger, Toy 5 speed, Marlin dual transfers, D60 frnt and Tacoma rear axle.

On Sunday we did Coyote, Upper helldorado, Area BFE and Moab Rim.

Monday we went up and back on Pritchett, Hell's Revenge and played on Potato Salad Hill.

Tuesday we did a 27 mile loop of Poison Spider-Golden Spike-Gold Bar-Rusty Nail and back via Spike and P. Spider.

 

[tabraha]

If you took the buggy out first I bet the 100 felt like driving a 2WD suburban after running the serious stuff in kate.

 

[wngrog]

If you took the buggy out first I bet the 100 felt like driving a 2WD suburban after running the serious stuff in kate.

It did, and to top it off it was the first time to take it off road ever. So I had a big learning curve to deal with.

I was really unimpressed after my first trip on Fins and Things, but after I ran Moab Rim and Hell's Revenge I kinda got the "feel" for it.

 

[wngrog]

OK, back to the trip report.

After Jim left on Wed am, I headed over to the CM HQ for teck inspection and to install my tires.

In the afternoon I ran up to Grand Junction to pick up my family at the airport.

I got 14.5 mpg on the 4 hour round trip.

The next day we ran Fins and Things.

Fins and Things is a relatively easy trail at Moab. I think CM rates it a 3+ Plus meaning there are some optional lines that make it as hard as you want.

The first place I ran into a little difficulty was on the sand hill at the beginning of the trail.

I am running Nitto Terra Grapplers. 33 x 13.50 x 18 and the rears I dropped to 20# and the fronts to 25#. They bulged nicely at that pressure and conformed to the rocks well. I could have gone lower, but I am not sure that would have helped anything.

I was following a Supercharged FZJ-80 with 33's and NO LOCKERS with very mold AT's on it. The 80 went right up the sand hill and I saw no reason to do anything but crawl it.

I engaged my rear ARB and eased up the hill. THe 80 stopped dead. I backed up and floored it. The TRAC went nuts and the front felt like it was gonna rip out of the Cruiser but I struggled over.

Talking to GregB after the hill, he said he went right up with TRAC only.

Hmmm............

After that, I decided it was Julie's turn to drive the whale and I walked and took pictures.

 

[wngrog]

The next big obsticle was a steep rocky ledge that had a ton of loose stuff on it. Those of you that know this trail, it is on the first section right before you get back into the campground and there is an optional go-around on the left that bypasses this small loop.

Again, I engaged the rear ARB and started up following the open 80 series that had struggled hard, but made it.

I took a center line that ended up putting me hard on both sliders right at the top and I lost forward motion. I backed up and edged a little to the left and it went up, TRAC clacking and whacking away. Made it, but so did the open 80 series and Greg B with TRAC only right behind me.

After only making at far as the Diving Board in 4.5 hours, we tool our leave to eat lunch and go swimming with the kids.

Needless to say, I was not very pleased with my first outing in the 100 series.

Granted, it was the first trip out and I am used to driving vehicles 1/3 the weight of this and 1/2 the physical size.

Fueled with the notion the practice makes perfect, after dinner, I told Julie we would watch the sun set over the Colorado from Moab Rim, so we struck out for a little freelance run .

 

[wngrog]

Moab Rim is one of the most scenic trails in Moab in the first mile along the river.

As we pulled into the parking area at the bottom, be fell in behind 2 jeeps and a Sammi headed up. They looked at us in the family hauler a little stangely, but they said nothing.

I was sticking close because there is a pretty nasty set of ledges 3/4 of the way up and I wanted these guys around when I tried it.

We made very quick work of everything up to the ledges. The Heeps in front beat and banged away and we just took it all in. I had picked out a nice line right of center.

We rolled up and spanked the line with the Heepers watching, Julie was reading a magazine and the kids were watching Toy Story 2.

My confidence in the beast was slowly coming back up.

At this point, I am still trying to figure out the TRAC system and am wondering if the front end is going to explode every time I get into the gas in a low traction environment.

Moab Rim!

 

[SINCITY100]

SO FAR ...SO GOOD !!

Love the part about the kids watchin a DVD while the 100 is eating up the trail !

 

[wngrog]

The next day we lined up for Hell's Revenge. I was excited to show this tril to Julie as it is, in my opinion, the prettiest trail in Moab. It is "signature" Moab with the sheep drops nex to the trail, the steep climbs and the off-camber stuff.

Most of the day went off without a hitch. A guy from South Dakota was following me in a 98 with rear locker and no TRAC. After a couple of ledges I asked him how the locker was working and he said he had not used his yet.

I was still fooling with the Trac system and rear locker combo so I decided to stop using the Locker and let the TRAC system work alone.

It was amazing to me, and there is nothing scientific to back this up, but once I stopped using the ARB, the TRAC seemed to work much better. It seemed to me that the ARB in the rear was throwing off the computer and was overcompensating in the front since the rear was not slipping due to the locker being engaged.

After that, I pulled the ABS fuse and tried some stuff open and with ARB only.

I liked this a LOT better than with ARB and TRAC in combination.

I think (personal opinion again) that the TRAC would be great on snow or slippery roads, but in rockcrawling it seemed to be overworked, especially when the ARB was on.

Again, another caviat, I wheeled 2 days with the FJ Cruiser and the 2007 version of the TRAC seemed to work much better than my 2001 version.

Where my TRAC would let the tire slip 1/4 to 1/2 revolution before catching, the FJ's system would ony let it slip an inch or so. It seemed to be a much "smarter" TRAC system.

I think the BEST thing and the easiest thing on the drivetrain would be to ad another ARB to the mix. That would eliminate all the banging ang whacking the TRAC does in the front.

My 2001 has 4 spider gears (commonly refered to as 4 pinion design) and without that, the TRAC would rip the ol 2 spider design to shreads. That is a lot of stress on the spider gears as the front locks and unlocks when a tire leaves the ground.

With IFS, the front leaves the ground A LOT. That said, the ARB would eliminate all that when engaged and you would not have to "pull the plug" on the TRAC.

I followed a locked 80 most of the day on Hells Revenge and by the end when I was running one locker and no TRAC I was doing stuff as easy or easier than the 80.

 

[Imola Red]

Wouldn't you say though that your problems with the 100 are more driver error then the car?

Just saying that since it seems that other 100's were not having the same problems.

 

[wngrog]

SO FAR ...SO GOOD !!

Love the part about the kids watchin a DVD while the 100 is eating up the trail !

Yeah, I did not let them watch on Fins and Hell's but the little evening run was more for me and the 100 (getting the feel) versus for them. I think they were kinda done with the whole wheeling thing at that time of the day

 

[wngrog]

Wouldn't you say though that your problems with the 100 are more driver error then the car?

Just saying that since it seems that other 100's were not having the same problems.

I think it was a combination of things. One, was definitely the driver. Switching rigs mid-trip so drastically was a factor, yes, but I either got MUCH better at driving or disabling the TRAC and going with ARB only was just timed exactly at the point I got the feel of the wagon.

It will take more driving to figure that out. I don't think I am going to spend the $$ on a second ARB with the amount/type of wheeling I actually plan on doing in the 100.

 

[e9999]

great read on the trail work.

A bit surprised by your mpg figures though. Seem rather low. We got 16/17mpg consistently, pulling about 2500/3000 lbs of trailer. But then we'd go only 60-65 typically. And it's a 5 speed althought I can't believe that would make it several mpg better... Probably the speed then.

 

[tabraha]

We rolled up and spanked the line with the Heepers watching, Julie was reading a magazine and the kids were watching Toy Story 2.

This is definitely one of the top 20 lines I've ever heard on this board, ROFL.

It also, in my mind, exemplifies a little of the uniqueness of the 100 currently.

Your not by yourself on the "learning curve" comment. It definitely takes getting used to driving the 100, even on pavement. Get on dirt/rock/mud and it takes even longer IMO. It is just so friggin big that you sometimes wonder what the hell am I doing putting this huge vehicle in this situation??? But it usually goes right on up/through with no complaints.

As far as MPG goes when I've towed loads of ~5k I was at 9mpg pretty consistently, no headwind/tailwind with some mild elevation change. Like yourslef I was on 33" tires and the inside of the vehicle was packed to the gills as well.

I am really enjoying reading all of the feedback threads from Moab by all of y'all. Thanks for the write-up!

 

[Kaderabek]

Here's a really crappy photo of you all on Hell's Revenge. I took it with my digital zoom because the glare off your chrome ARB bar was blinding me.

TJK