It would be interesting to see if the mileage would be any better if the cab fairings were reinstalled.
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"Tiny" - A Semi Project
- Thread starter snivilous
- Start date
snivilous
Well-known member
Couple hundred miles last week driving to Grand Junction. My friend and his wife rode with us and slept in Tiny and the wife and I got the camper. Worked out great, had tons of excess space. The passenger side storage box under the bed I was able to setup so 99% of the wrenching tools were there. Tool box, all the fluids, a bag of specialty tools, fire extinguisher, extra set of wrenches, gloves, paper towels, etc. so that made it convenient so just one lid had to get popped to access everything. The jerry cans I just put under the camper where the wheel wells are and that worked out great versus trying to strap them down on the trailer.
No issues, set cruise at 75 and she was happy. Couple hills where it slowed down to 60mph but never had to downshift. I have to pat myself on the back that I think I have the shifting down pretty good, no more touching the clutch at all to shift, and I can drive through a city without issue (had to drive through Grand Junction to get to the race course through this convoluted route). An automatic would be cool so the wife would feel comfortable driving it, but I do think it's a lot of fun and satisfying to shift and time all the gears. It's satisfying to get a perfect shift in a normal truck, let alone doing it 7 times in quick succession.
Fuel mileage was the worst yet as expected. 6.5mpg, which frankly isn't that bad and I can live with it. We used a hair over 100 gallons round trip, so ~$340 in fuel.
I was worried the A/C might struggle, but it kept up fine though certainly isn't overpowering by any stretch but everyone was comfortable.
Still super happy with it. Next task is to figure out how to remove the new camper, but I got rid of the old camper yesterday so now have a spot under the covered parking to lift it up. That'll be a task to figure out in the coming days.
No issues, set cruise at 75 and she was happy. Couple hills where it slowed down to 60mph but never had to downshift. I have to pat myself on the back that I think I have the shifting down pretty good, no more touching the clutch at all to shift, and I can drive through a city without issue (had to drive through Grand Junction to get to the race course through this convoluted route). An automatic would be cool so the wife would feel comfortable driving it, but I do think it's a lot of fun and satisfying to shift and time all the gears. It's satisfying to get a perfect shift in a normal truck, let alone doing it 7 times in quick succession.
Fuel mileage was the worst yet as expected. 6.5mpg, which frankly isn't that bad and I can live with it. We used a hair over 100 gallons round trip, so ~$340 in fuel.
I was worried the A/C might struggle, but it kept up fine though certainly isn't overpowering by any stretch but everyone was comfortable.
Still super happy with it. Next task is to figure out how to remove the new camper, but I got rid of the old camper yesterday so now have a spot under the covered parking to lift it up. That'll be a task to figure out in the coming days.
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
Glad to read an update and that y’all are getting good use out of it too.
Remind me, how is “Tiny” registered?
Remind me, how is “Tiny” registered?
snivilous
Well-known member
Motorhome, and in Utah there's nothing special to do that and no special license despite being a triple axle and having air brakes. Just needs an annual inspection for $45 due to the triple axle.
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
That's awesome!
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
Got any Tiny updates?
snivilous
Well-known member
No photos of anything. In July did 1000 mile camping trip up into Wyoming, on the way back picked up a truck in Salt lake City and trailered it down. That's the only action it's had in awhile, been a busy summer so not a lot of wrenching on my own stuff. No issues with it though, it's become the dogs castle to hang out on/under.
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
Sounds good all around there!
snivilous
Well-known member
Tiny is back in the stable! 1,807,608 mile update!
I dropped Tiny off at a friend's place a few weeks ago since he was willing to do some maintenance and upgrades. I would tell my friends I'd pay them to fix the air leaks, and they'd say they don't want me to pay them but they'll help me. Yea no, the point is I don't want to fuck with the air lines
I usually like to do all the work myself, but there's a time and place where fuck that, and air leaks were one of those things for me.
A lot more work than just air leaks was done, albeit you can't see much. He changed the diff fluids, trans fluid, and front hub oil.
Transmission drain:
Front axle drain:
Rear axle drain:
He said everything looked good, though the rear diff was was half gallon low and a bit questionable but no chunks or anything alarming. He called it "excessive normal wear".
He also replaced the speakers in the cab. Got rid of the rust stains on the sides and removed my huge "not for hire" stickers for some tiny ones
He also did a quick polish job on the wheels (I yelled at him to do the tanks, but his opinion was they would look horrible since your eyes would get drawn to them more then and they wouldn't look anything special, I think he's full of shit but since he refused to do it makes no difference). He replaced all six shocks, plus the four cab shocks. The cab leveling valve was all rusted and broke in the process so that got replaced. There was some air manifold under the truck as I recall that leaked bad so he replaced it. He also crawled all around it inspecting stuff, and said nothing looked bad and looked like it had been regularly greased and considering it has almost two million miles was in pretty good shape which I was stoked to hear!
It was about $1000 in parts and $1000 in labor.
And I actually noticed a difference right off the bat, because before my top speed was limited to 77mph before the front end wanted to vibrate apart, and on the drive home I set cruise control at 80mph and she was happy as a clam! Shocks definitely made a difference! And parking it, no screaming air leaks (can't hear anything leaking for that matter) and a day later and the air bags still have pressure so that's an upgrade from before
and music sounds a bit better inside too. Some very noticeable improvements, and all the fluids have been replaced now.
I'm going to make a couple convenience upgrades in the near future for strapping the buggy down. Right now I can't really run a strap to the front, so I run the front axle straps back to the mid deck mounts and then the rear axle forward to the mid deck mounts, which works but I feel like could be a bit better. I'm not sure of a good front mount for the front axle that you can easily access, so I'm thinking of adding D-rings either on the side of the deck and running straps around the tires, or add D-rings at the front/outside of the deck so the front axle straps will wrap around the tire and pull forward and then I can use the straps on the dovetail for the rear axle. Either way, if I can avoid having to climb onto the deck to strap it down that would be nice. And I'd also like to build some ramp mounts.
But in the mean time, the Tiny is back and the buggy is in wheeling form again so it's time to put miles on the two!
I dropped Tiny off at a friend's place a few weeks ago since he was willing to do some maintenance and upgrades. I would tell my friends I'd pay them to fix the air leaks, and they'd say they don't want me to pay them but they'll help me. Yea no, the point is I don't want to fuck with the air lines
I usually like to do all the work myself, but there's a time and place where fuck that, and air leaks were one of those things for me.A lot more work than just air leaks was done, albeit you can't see much. He changed the diff fluids, trans fluid, and front hub oil.
Transmission drain:
Front axle drain:
Rear axle drain:
He said everything looked good, though the rear diff was was half gallon low and a bit questionable but no chunks or anything alarming. He called it "excessive normal wear".
He also replaced the speakers in the cab. Got rid of the rust stains on the sides and removed my huge "not for hire" stickers for some tiny ones
He also did a quick polish job on the wheels (I yelled at him to do the tanks, but his opinion was they would look horrible since your eyes would get drawn to them more then and they wouldn't look anything special, I think he's full of shit but since he refused to do it makes no difference). He replaced all six shocks, plus the four cab shocks. The cab leveling valve was all rusted and broke in the process so that got replaced. There was some air manifold under the truck as I recall that leaked bad so he replaced it. He also crawled all around it inspecting stuff, and said nothing looked bad and looked like it had been regularly greased and considering it has almost two million miles was in pretty good shape which I was stoked to hear!It was about $1000 in parts and $1000 in labor.
And I actually noticed a difference right off the bat, because before my top speed was limited to 77mph before the front end wanted to vibrate apart, and on the drive home I set cruise control at 80mph and she was happy as a clam! Shocks definitely made a difference! And parking it, no screaming air leaks (can't hear anything leaking for that matter) and a day later and the air bags still have pressure so that's an upgrade from before
and music sounds a bit better inside too. Some very noticeable improvements, and all the fluids have been replaced now.I'm going to make a couple convenience upgrades in the near future for strapping the buggy down. Right now I can't really run a strap to the front, so I run the front axle straps back to the mid deck mounts and then the rear axle forward to the mid deck mounts, which works but I feel like could be a bit better. I'm not sure of a good front mount for the front axle that you can easily access, so I'm thinking of adding D-rings either on the side of the deck and running straps around the tires, or add D-rings at the front/outside of the deck so the front axle straps will wrap around the tire and pull forward and then I can use the straps on the dovetail for the rear axle. Either way, if I can avoid having to climb onto the deck to strap it down that would be nice. And I'd also like to build some ramp mounts.
But in the mean time, the Tiny is back and the buggy is in wheeling form again so it's time to put miles on the two!
Awesome! That's not a terrible bill, considering.
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
Glad to see some “Tiny” updates. 