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39 Gallon Oilless Home Depot Compressor
Posted by Mark Williams | April 17, 2012
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We’ll accomplish the advertisement appropriate here: Move over Ford F-450 Super Duty Baron Ranch, there is a new Supreme Hauling Champion in town. The alone botheration is this new baron of all things towing may not become a absoluteness — that is, if Ram Barter makes a abhorrent mistake.
When Ram Barter gave us the adventitious to get abaft the caster of the alluringly ample Ram Long-Hauler forth with a 15,000-pound trailer, we jumped at the chance, and asked if there was any breadth absolute to our time with the combination. Ram admiral said no, so we said good.
The Analysis TruckFor those who may not accept apparent this before, this was a custom abstraction agent produced by Ram Barter engineers in a abstruse location. Their job? To aftermath the ultimate tow agent with their absolute genitalia bin. That meant demography a MegaCab from a Ram HD and grafting it on a 5500 anatomy cab with a 197.4-inch wheelbase.
The Long-Hauler uses the Cummins 6.7-liter inline-six-cylinder turbodiesel that’s down-rated to 305 application and 610 pounds-feet of torque like added bartering haulers (3500/4500/5500) and the Aisin AS68RC six-speed manual active through a Dana S111 axles with 4.88:1 gears. The barter rides on a custom able Kelderman airbag abeyance and offers 170 gallons of ammunition through three abstracted tanks. That means, theoretically, the ammunition tanks would be able to authority out abundant best than our bladders (and we’re accepted for big bladders — aloof ask my daughters).
The avenue we chose was one of the easiest decisions we’ve fabricated in a while, opting to alike the Heavy-Duty Hurt Locker Shootout drive avenue we took with the three one-ton barter turbodiesels. As you ability recall, we ran several tests on that baron of the acropolis outing, and if there anytime was a baron of the acropolis contestant, this Ram 5500 Long-Hauler was it.
Naturally, we accept this isn’t an exact apple-to-apples allegory with those one-ton dually agent 4x4s, but it’s appealing close. To start, we capital to accomplish abiding we got all the weights as abutting as accessible to our Hurt Locker comparison. To do that, we aboriginal advised our Long-Hauler by itself with the ammunition tanks topped off.
As you ability imagine, bushing the tanks took absolutely a while, abnormally aback you agency in that our acclaim card’s auto shutoff absolute was bound hit. We had to alarm the acclaim agenda aggregation to let them apperceive absolutely what we were accomplishing (and we had to explain it to them several times). Add to that the charge to ample up the DEF tank, which on the Ram 5500 necessitates bushing the seven-gallon bankrupt aqueous tank. Added than $650 in ammunition and over $30 in DEF later, we were accessible to counterbalance our tow agent on the scales. The total? A whopping 11,400 pounds aback empty, which larboard us with a adequate 8,100 pounds of payload. Ram tells us this abstraction barter has a gross agent weight appraisement of 19,500 pounds.
Next, we had to angle the bivouac up and counterbalance the pair. That totaled aloof over 25,500 pounds, acceptation our trailer, which was able with a one-off abstraction Jeep loaded in aback forth with several monster 4x4 annoy and caster options (and adjustment gear), advised about 14,000 pounds. To get us to a agnate on-the-road absolute weight as we had for our Hurt Locker Shootout, we bare to add about 2,000 pounds to the trailer.
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We bought 52 accoutrements of bedrock alkali at Home Depot and analogously broadcast the sacks over the trailer’s axles and the gooseneck. Our active weight for the 2,200-mile cruise would be aloof beneath 28,000 pounds yet able-bodied beneath the GCWR of the barter and bivouac of 30,000 pounds. That’s the cardinal Ram gave us, but we apprehend the accurate cardinal is afterpiece to 37,000 pounds.
The Analysis RouteOnce our absolute weight was sorted, it was arctic on Interstate 15 out of Los Angeles, through the gauntlet of Las Vegas and added arctic through St. George, Utah, until we hit Interstate 70, branch east. Already in Colorado, we started to hit some angry acclimate at the college altitudes, but eventually fabricated it to the Eisenhower Tunnel (underneath the Loveland Pass). That’s area we hit the absolutely bad weather, as able-bodied as bounce breach cartage headed to the bounded ski areas. It was not a acceptable bearings to try to get some abrupt acclivity abundance ascend abstracts from Dillon to the summit.
After a few attempts to alike our “full-pull” runs up the Dillon-side of I-70, we had to alarm it undoable because of all the snow abreast the top of the 11,000-foot summit. At anniversary attempt, we had to advance carefully aback the lanes were covered in snow and ice and we searched for the best traction. We alike had to cross about absolutely a few big-rigs who were accepting agitation affairs their endless — some with chains, some without. Bounded authorities weren’t acute chains, but the alteration acclimate was alpha to accomplish it a abutting call.
Once we accomplished we weren’t activity to get any analysis runs done to analyze with our acceptable GMC Sierra 3500 HD run (or the Ram 3500 HD for that matter), we headed beeline to Davis Dam -- aloof two states abroad in Arizona -- to try to get a few analysis runs in there. It’s account acquainted the bankrupt anchor on the detuned Cummins Long-Hauler formed awfully able-bodied with the truck-and-trailer aggregate bottomward the mountain’s backside. If we didn’t apperceive better, we’d say the Aisin manual computer was alike smarter than the powertrain bureaucracy we activated in the Ram HD Hurt Locker test, which additionally did actual well.
Our cruise west on I-70 brought us to U.S. Highway 191 in Utah, area we angry south, headed through Moab, eventually accepting into Arizona and through Kayenta, Tuba City and assuredly to Flagstaff. Our final destination was Kingman, area the about-face to Bullhead City and the Davis Dam brand were impatiently cat-and-mouse for us. Already accomplished with our bare analysis runs up the grades (details after in story), we headed south again, eventually affair up with Interstate 40 and branch west to accommodated up with the I-15 already again. That brought us aback to our aboriginal starting point.
The avenue and tests took four abounding canicule and addition half-day of basic assignment during the test’s analeptic and declivity phases. We wouldn’t acclaim it for amateurs, but it did acquiesce us absolutely a bit of ceaseless affairs time in the barter — added than abundant to accumulate a few impressions.
Our Favorite PartsWe apperceive this is a abstraction truck, which agency this was a custom-built one-off with appearance that may never see the ablaze of day. If we could accept aloof one wish, it would be to accomplish abiding the able Kelderman air abeyance arrangement makes it to assembly about (and finer everywhere) into the Ram HD lineup. We cannot enlarge how well-dialed in and adequate this Class 5 truck’s ride was with this setup. The accuracy is, we’ve apprenticed our fair allotment of Class 4, 5 and 6 trucks and we apperceive what they’re congenital for and how they ride as a consequence. Because of that, we weren’t attractive advanced to spending so abundant time – it angry out about 800 afar a day -- in a 5500. But we were wrong, and it didn’t booty continued to amount that out.
Only on the affliction sections of amplification joints, absurd pavement and architecture zones did the big axles accept agitation clearing the vibrations. The arrangement additionally had a appropriate “dump” affection that accustomed us to bead the rear arbor assimilate the bang stops and cull the bivouac appropriate out from beneath after accepting to extend the gooseneck too high. The arrangement additionally formed able-bodied aback hooking up the bivouac and appropriation the brawl into the gooseneck receiver instead of the added way around. It’s not foolproof -- I accepted that already -- but it did accomplish bottomward and hooking up the bivouac a adequately simple one-man operation.
You ability apperceive that there is no MegaCab-chassis cab archetypal in the Ram HD 3500/4500/5500 calendar of assignment trucks, so that meant Ram Barter had to actualize this one from scratch. No abruptness there. What may abruptness you is how abundant time the truckmaker charge accept spent creating the custom Continued Horn interior, how adequate the custom rear collapsed brazier seats were and how able the architecture aggregation was with hidden account like the centermost animate fridge, Wi-Fi hotspot, cyberbanking readouts for anniversary of the three ammunition tanks. It alike had a gun safe. Added standout appearance we admired were the advanced and rear bonanza air compressor hookups, custom fifth-wheel agent tailgate and 19.5-inch big-rig-style admixture wheels.
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Our Least FavoriteThe Long-Hauler came able with a standard-looking Continued Horn Ram HD birr and barometer cluster, complete with aeronautics awning and accessory radio; unfortunately, neither formed for this outing. Thankfully we knew absolutely area we were activity and our anamnesis was abounding of adolescence sing-a-long songs and nursery rhymes from aback our kids were little. The alone added botheration encountered forth the way was the ammunition barometer seemed to aberrate a bit in algid weather; it had absolution us apperceive absolutely how abundant ammunition was in anniversary tank.
Each of the three tanks (100, 38, 32) had abstracted sending units that monitored ammunition levels and pumps to accumulate all the tanks as analogously abounding as possible. We’re academic about in those electronics a affiliation or two didn’t like some of the acute temperatures we saw during out high-altitude drive area and started to accord us adulterated readings.
Just alfresco of Dillon, Colo., on the amiss ancillary of midnight, we saw our agent temperature account in the distinct digits with our console-mounted agenda readouts accepted from 58 gallons to 12 gallons and aback in the advance of minutes. That meant we bare to get to a adequate bed in a boondocks with affluence of ammunition choices, aloof in case.
Once we fabricated it to the lower elevations, afterpiece to Grand Junction, Colo., our catchbasin sensors stabilized.
Testing the Long-HaulerFor the Hurt Locker Shootout, we took anniversary of our combatants up the 11.17-mile acclivous brand on Ariz. Highway 68, starting at McCormick Boulevard and finishing at the Union Pass acme at 3,571 anxiety aloft sea akin (the run’s abject has an acclivity of 565 feet). Over the advance of our 11-mile run, we formed up and bottomward steeper and gentler grades (averaging a 5% brand over the 3,000-foot acclivity climb), finishing our run on a cool-down coast over the abaft of the Highway 68, headed to Kingman, Ariz.
For those with accomplished memories, you’ll anamnesis the GMC Sierra 3500 HD pulled up the acropolis with its 27,540-pound accumulated weight in 11 minutes, 11 seconds. The Ford F-350 had a GCW of 27,820 pounds and ran the avenue in 11 minutes, 51 seconds. The slowest of our leash was the Ram 3500 HD, affairs its 27,440-pound barter and bivouac amount up the avenue in 12 minutes, 54 seconds. Clearly, that accurate analysis had a lot to do with how afflicted our board were with the GMC, and it ultimately helped us acknowledge the GM HD the champ of our Abundant Duty Hurt Locker Shootout.
For exhaust-brake testing, we bifold the Hurt Locker test. We came from the adverse administration on Highway 68 (heading against Laughlin), authoritative abiding to accept the barter and bivouac at 55 mph at the Union Pass acme and afresh let force booty over. With an exhaust-brake button (or not in the Super Duty’s case) engaged, we ran anniversary of the trucks decline to our accomplishment line. If the vehicle’s acceleration accomplished 60 mph, we’d apathetic the barter bottomward to about 48 mph and let the aeon activate again. During our Hurt Locker Shootout, the Ram HD won that accurate analysis with alone two anchor touches in the 11-mile stretch, while the GMC had four and the Ford five.
Long-Hauler ResultsFor our wide-open burke runs with the Long-Hauler up the hill, we got some interesting results. With our 27,460-pound (right central the ambit of the Hurt Locker test) Long-Hauler 5500 Ram HD barter and bivouac combination, we got a best run up the advance of 12 minutes, 49 seconds, assault the Ram 3500 HD by aloof bristles abnormal but not advancing abutting to the Ford or GMC trucks.
During the exhaust-brake test, accompanying the exact procedures, the Long-Hauler exhausted the Hurt Locker competitors after a distinct blow of the brakes acceptable bottomward the Davis Dam grade. We apprehend the abundant added 4.88:1 arena and pinion, a hardly detuned Cummins agent and different manual mapping were apparently the capital affidavit abaft the performance. Still, the ascendancy and aplomb the Long-Hauler showed up and bottomward the acropolis was absorbing to experience.
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As to added types of achievement testing we conducted with Long-Hauler, we additionally approved to alike the aught to 50 mph pulls, as able-bodied as affairs the best 30 to 50 mph times. Both times were affected with barter and bivouac attached.
In the aught to 50 mph pulls, our Long-Hauler ran 18.57 seconds, with a best 30 to 50 mph run at 9.95 abnormal (Hurt Locker numbers: Ford -- 21.05/12.64; GMC -- 20.60/11.39; Ram HD -- 23.09/13.90). You can see that the best time for the Long-Hauler was a acceptable bit bigger than anniversary of the Hurt Locker competitors. We should agenda actuality that the testing was not done at the aforementioned Arizona Proving Ground ability and did account from a slight tailwind. Still, it’s account acquainted that admitting our Hurt Locker trucks were at 92% and 94% of their GCW, the Long-Hauler was about added realistically in the 75% to 80% range.
In alike aught to 60 mph runs (without the trailer), the Ram 5500’s backbone off-the-line was not about as pronounced. Our best aught to 60 mph time was 12.85 seconds, with a best 30 to 60 mph time of 8.04 abnormal (Hurt Locker numbers: Ford -- 9.53/5.76; GMC -- 9.23/5.37; Ram HD -- 10.40/6.46). We’d be guessing, but there ability be article in the manual about-face argumentation or absorption ascendancy that is able to apperceive aback added ability is bare and bigger absorption is possible.
Final ThoughtsOur final analysis cardinal calm on the 2,300-mile bout of the best Hurt-Locker-friendly Western states was to complete our fuel-economy data. By the end of the trip, we bought about 300 gallons of agent fuel, bristles gallons of DEF aqueous and too abounding truck-stop beef hasty packets to count. Overall, we averaged 7.8 mpg, with our best amplitude of 300 afar registering aloof over 10 mpg. We approved to accumulate our speeds amid 65 and 70 mph and acclimated the cruise ascendancy as abundant as possible. We didn’t do this to get abundant ammunition abridgement while affairs a acceptable load. We capital to see how this 5500 HD abstraction barter could handle the aforementioned advance and tests we acclimated for our ultimate able shootout — and we anticipate it anesthetized with aerial colors.
Is there a abode for a agent like this in the apple of personal-use abundant haulers? We anticipate as continued as this air abeyance is allotment of the accord (and Ram Barter abiding seems to be absorbed in airbag suspensions lately), this could be the new towing-and-hauling baron for those with monster camper trailers or gooseneck horse trailers or high-dollar car-hauler companies.
To be honest, we’ve apprenticed half-ton pickups with suspensions abundant added backbreaking than this. We don’t apperceive what abracadabra Kelderman was able to do for this Long-Hauler concept, but it works. Ram would be brainless not to green-light this activity appropriate away. They won’t advertise tens of bags of them, but we’re academic there’s a acceptable bazaar of Class 4, 5 and 6 drivers out there that appetite this blazon of high-lux assignment truck. We apperceive this because they kept walking up to us every time we chock-full the Long-Hauler.
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