Greetings and salutations!
I have owned my trusty 1985 D150 for many, many... many years. Love the old gal. It is bone stock right down to the stock (replacement) muffler and hubcaps. 318 automatic.
I drive it 30 miles a day commuting. On the weekends I used to put a small pickup bed camper in it and pull my 14 ft aluminum fishing boat.
This year I upgraded to a 20 foot bumper pull camper again with my boat behind that.
This seems to be a bit much for the ol' '85. A modern 1/2 ton has absolutely no problem pulling this small camper/boat combo but the Dodge struggles. I have to get a run up to hills and even then I scrub speed down to sometimes 45 mph and I'm downshifted by then and to the floor.
So, I'm thinking of which modifications could be made to the truck to make it tow better. I am thinking that I would probably get the most improvement from a set of 3.90 or so gears in the rear.
Am I on the right path here or is there something else that would be a better improvement?
I'm not opposed to just buying a "modern" truck, but I sure would miss my old dodge!
I have owned my trusty 1985 D150 for many, many... many years. Love the old gal. It is bone stock right down to the stock (replacement) muffler and hubcaps. 318 automatic.
I drive it 30 miles a day commuting. On the weekends I used to put a small pickup bed camper in it and pull my 14 ft aluminum fishing boat.
This year I upgraded to a 20 foot bumper pull camper again with my boat behind that.
This seems to be a bit much for the ol' '85. A modern 1/2 ton has absolutely no problem pulling this small camper/boat combo but the Dodge struggles. I have to get a run up to hills and even then I scrub speed down to sometimes 45 mph and I'm downshifted by then and to the floor.
So, I'm thinking of which modifications could be made to the truck to make it tow better. I am thinking that I would probably get the most improvement from a set of 3.90 or so gears in the rear.
Am I on the right path here or is there something else that would be a better improvement?
I'm not opposed to just buying a "modern" truck, but I sure would miss my old dodge!