Spoke to my mechanic friend locally about the lack of power at top end with
3.9efi V8 he suggested replacing the spark plugs with bosch super 4's as well as fitting a FSE power boost valve. I dont wanna go too extreme so are these suggestions within the bounds of "Ok" ?Steve
I presume the horse is in a horse box ;)
no we roped him and tied it to rear bumper and dragged him...hehehehe...but in honesty yes in an Ivor williams 505 trailor. Our horse Dodge truck currently Sorn for the winter.
Steve
sourced the parts...85 quid for the power boost valve and under 30 quid for the plugs...umm not cheap
Have you had the compression checked? Don't waste any money on owt until the engines got a clean bill of health.
Put horse on diet!
Is this on the flat? Expecting any pull in 5th is ambitious. Horses aint light and near on every horse box I've pulled has had issues with its brakes due to being parked up for long periods.
Lee
Do you have your vehicle converted to LPG? I only ask as you don't categorically state it's running on petrol and the reason I ask is this:- Bosch super-4 plugs will give rise to big airbox-destroying backfires on a vapourmix lpg system. Don't ask me why, they just do. Another thing to consider is camshaft wear, these engines will run smooth with amazing ammounts of wear on the cam lobes but the wear and performance drop is so gradual that you don't really notice it at the time. IF, as has been suggested, a compression test is ok, and the valve lifts are all equal (measured at rockers, engine turning on starter motor to ensure lifters pressurised with oil) which would infer the cam is ok, then the best solution isn't simply altering fuel pressure (the ecu will trim it back anyway, if you have cats and lambda probes) but to talk to Mark Adams re. a replacement ecu chip. He advertises in the back of the Landy comics. Having typed all that however, I do agree with a previous reply that expecting to pull that sort of weight with any usable performance is maybe asking a bit much in 5th! Badger.
sheesh thx chaps....yes compression test ok No shes still a petrol (with no petrol magic yet added) The ecu hasnt yet been tweeked / replaced but this will be an option. As for the trailor as u know with ivor williams the brakes operate on the trailor on the RAM in the A frame being compressed as u apply brakes and the trailor shunts forward towards linkage. As long as its maintained well the brakes work well. ie greasing the ram via the nipple. but to allay fears last night i got the old forklift out and lifted the trailor (not linked up) and span the wheels - all ok. -handy us keeping horses on a farm hehe- Our gelding : "Polo" is 16'3 and weighs about 600kg. he dont need to diet hehe. with the horse on board its about 1600kg all told towing weight. trailor weighs about 950kg unladen. ill go grab some new plugs from JSF and see if they do indeed add some poke hehe. Thx once again everyone
Steve
Missed lees point about it pulling on the flat. downhill towing all 1600kg it can easily go up to 70mph plus but i wouldnt advise it and dont do it. can result in "fishtailing" and BAM...over u go. But on the straight she can easily get up to 65mph and beyond. Uphill assuming your doing 60mph at the time in 5th she'll drop to 50mph. less on a steep hill. dropping to 4th normally done in this case. thing is im spoilt. in my Artic at work dont even notice the hills.apart from really steep ones.
Steve
On or around Sun, 7 Dec 2008 13:50:41 -0000, "steve" enlightened us thusly:
you have to look at conditions and drag, too - at speeds over 50 you get significant drag, and at 50 in 5th the 3.9 is no-where near it's "top end". Use 4th instead...
to put it into perspective: the ZF auto (which is more or less the equivalent of a 5-speed) has only just locked up in 4th at 50, on some versions, it won't have. On my 3.9 auto, lockup is at about 49-50 on a corrected speedo (checked it against GPS and checked the GPS against the calibrated tacho in the bus)
At which point it's pulling a gnat's under 2000 rpm. In other words, it's geared for about 125 max at least. I've been in a 3.9i at 100 (not mine, as it happens), they will do that kind of speed or more.
Point is that it's not doing peak power or more relevantly torque at 2000 rpm. If you boot it at 50, it kicks down to 2nd.
At any sort of legal-sensible trailer speeds I'd not expect the 3.9 to pull that impressively in 5th. With the auto, I'd be expecting it to kick down into 3rd to accelerate from 50, which would up the revs to about 3000 and make it go better.
On a manual, I'd be looking to use 4th or 3rd depending on gradient. Once over 50, the auto doesn't have an option to use 4th with no lockup, which is really its only weakness in this respect.
Come and work here in .nz Steve - 600 of Cummins' finest HP and my truck is still a slug on the steep hills at 44 tonnes. Makes me glad I only ever drive when a mate is short of a driver rather than full time for a living.
Unless you have a tiny horse in a really lightweight trailer you're not likely to get any real "pull" in 5th. You may get to use 5th to cruise on the flat or downhill but all the real work should be done in lower gears.
That souinds about right it's a lot of work to maontain 60mph towing a big load uphill with a tall trailer. I 'd expect to drop a gear to maintain 60mph on any significant hill.
Steve,
speaking as one who both tows a fair few pones and also has in interest in repairing horse transport then for once I feel ok about contributing.
We've seen some trailers that have got a bent axle, and this shows itself at different speeds - indeed our own rice that we reaxled last year shows this at speeds over 45 (its like the brakes are on - efefctively the tracking is out)
Having had a loaded trailer come off (and people wonder why i'm a hitch condition zealot now) then I tend to say that 50 is an ok speed when loaded, and as others have pointed out, 5th isn't necessarily a true gear, but rather a cruising gear.
Whereabouts are you?
we're down in kent
Si
In message , steve writes
That's no more than decent sized caravan. Should have no problem towing that with a V8 FFS
In message , Austin Shackles writes
I have a 50TH Anniversary 4.0 litre V8 with auto and I pull a 1600kg+ caravan occasionally
Cruises quite happily at 60. Locks up in 4th at 55 which is a tad on the high side.
Used to have a 4.0 litre Jeep straight 6. It used to fly up over the M62 with the van on the back although it would hunt a bit on the steepest bits
Steve,
speaking as one who both tows a fair few pones and also has in interest in repairing horse transport then for once I feel ok about contributing.
We've seen some trailers that have got a bent axle, and this shows itself at different speeds - indeed our own rice that we reaxled last year shows this at speeds over 45 (its like the brakes are on - efefctively the tracking is out)
Having had a loaded trailer come off (and people wonder why i'm a hitch condition zealot now) then I tend to say that 50 is an ok speed when loaded, and as others have pointed out, 5th isn't necessarily a true gear, but rather a cruising gear.
Whereabouts are you?
we're down in kent
Si to answer GMoval..im in norwich
On or around Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:09:01 -0000, "steve" enlightened us thusly:
IRTA "phones"
On or around Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:09:01 -0000, "steve" enlightened us thusly:
Someone has to be...
and although I admit I've been reading that as GmOval for years, it is of course GrnOval, which makes more sense
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