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NEW RIDE, NEW DRIVE
Goodbye Explorer, hello new van. Now that we all have our summers off together we have time to explore the country in our RV. Our Explorer had 116,000 miles on it and, while it had served us well as a tow vehicle, we wanted a more competent truck before we tackled any mountains. We decided a vehicle with a tow rating of 8,000 pounds or more would give us enough buffer to tackle anything we might encounter. Our first choice was a Chevy Tahoe but the same new job that gave us our summers off together also significantly reduced our income. No Tahoe for us. Pickup trucks were another option, but they didn't give us the interior room we wanted for the three of us, our dog, and our cat. That left full-size vans. We chose the Ford E-350 ("one ton") van with the 6.8L V-10 engine and a 3.73 rear end. That gives us a tow rating of 8,900 lbs. We custom ordered it with the Chateau package, which gives us 4 captains chairs plus a rear bench seat. There is 4 feet of storage behind the bench and the 2 rear captains chairs and the bench are removable, too. We picked up the van (which we call "BART" - "Big A** Red Truck") exactly 2 months after ordering it. The dealer (Dillon Ford in Manchester, CT ) was the same one we got our Explorer from and the salesman, Mark Malasiak, was great.
This truck likes to go. It takes a light touch to stay within the speed limit when driving solo. Of course, the V10 has a large appetite, too. We are getting about 11 MPG city.
Preparing the new van for towing was easy. It came with a Class V hitch receiver and pre-wired with a 7-pin trailer connector and wiring for our brake controller. All we had to do was mount the controller under the dash, splice the wires together, and plug a new relay (supplied by Ford) into the power distribution box. We're also working on a little desk to hold our laptop between the two front seats for GPS navigation when we're travelling.
The new truck created a problem, though. Our driveway has been a nightmare for trailer towing. To get our TT into the backyard we had to back around two 90 degree turns bordered by steep embankments. The Explorer could do it (just barely) but the van, with its longer wheelbase, couldn't even come close. So we had to change the driveway.
At the end of the driveway, next to the house, was a cement patio. The patio was about a foot higher than the driveway (see below). This kept us from driving straight into the backyard. Hence the backhoe loader...
We had the patio ripped out, the area graded, and the driveway widened and extended up alongside the house and into the backyard. Now we can tow our TT straight up the driveway, past the house, and into the backyard. Yea!
Aside from all this activity, I also had a chance to re-pack the trailer's wheel bearings, adjust the brakes, and replace some cracked clearance lights. Hooray for warm weather!
NEXT: FIRST TRIP OF THE YEAR...