What an expensive day!

So I pick up my 550 in a little over two weeks! I have my Dad's old Subaru Forester that I got all set up yesterday by putting the trailer hitch on it in my garage and wiring for the 7 pin. I dropped it off at the mechanic this morning to have the oil changed and it gone over before the trip and guess what? He called me and told me that the head gasket is blown among other things and that it is not worth fixing. In fact the old Subaru is basically worth nothing. Good thing I just put a trailer hitch on it.... A moment of panic....

I drove my little chevy which wouldn't be a great tow vehicle down to the subaru dealer...traded it in on a 2014 Outback and even got the dealer to throw in a factory trailer hitch. I'll prob have to wire it myself for 7 pin...we'll see. They install the hitch this week. The only happy person is my wife who is excited to road trip in the Outback and glad for me to have the one car instead of two. Bleh

 

You will love the outback...We also have the factory installed hitch and I just finished installing the 7 pin about two weeks ago. Got controller and everything I needed from etrailer.com. Also a great video to help with the process. Saved myself about $250 doing it myself, took about 4 hours total. The only issue I had was locating a bracket to install the female plug on the OB. Ended up mounting it adjacent to the hitch in the bumper. Can send you pictures (email) if you would like. The other thing I did was to run the wiring via the interior of the vehicle and grounded in the spare tire well all away from the elements (weather).(Etrailer had the wiring going on the under carriage frame). Took a little longer this way but a lot cleaner look. Let me know if I can be of any help...and congratulations on the OB!

 

That can be painful. Similar thing happened to me, though after I had already bought my trailer a month earlier.

Was driving across country to family gathering over T-Giving. Had a great time, on the way back my truck developed a new leak (was already dealing with small oil leak and coolant leak). Now the transmission was leaking and with 180K miles on it, I tapped out and just traded it in while in AZ. Finished drive back to Texas in a new truck.

Best part is my mileage improved greatly on the way home vs. the old truck on the way out to the gathering.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but glad it all worked out! Happy trails with your new teardrop!

 

Sorry Brett, but I bet the new OB will treat you well.

My '01 Dodge Dakota has 145k miles on it now and I fear the day when it no longer is worth trying to save. Replaced the brakes and shocks this year, the engine is still running strong knock on wood...

 

Becky, our vehicle is a Toyota 4runner and we have 128,000 miles. She's a 2004. Hope for 300,000+ miles! Good luck with your car!

 

Hi Diane,
We are beginning to look into a different TV for our new CI. Right now we have a 1998 Ford Expedition that only gets 10-12 miles to the gallon. We have been looking at an Outback, Highlander and 4Runner. May we ask what gas mileage you get with the 4Runner pulling your new CI? We love the size of the Expedition, but the gas milage stinks.

 

Just bought a new Jeep Cherokee with 3.2L engine. Designated for the CI. Gas mileage is supposed to be 29 highway. Will keep track and see how it does. Bought an alcove and set it up today in the driveway over the CI, tried the side walls too. Looks like we're ready. Now, where to go? That's a silly question, anywhere we want!

 

With the teardrop we are getting between 16 to 20 mpg. Kind of what we expected. We really like how the car handles and the cargo space. Plus Toyota makes great vehicles!

 

Thanks for all the posts. I'm pretty excited to drive the outback to pick up the camp in this week. The old forester I had only had a tape deck and the pop out cupbolders were broken just like every old subaru. I'll post when I get back on how it does. Ron was awesome and sent me pics of how his 7 prong was mounted in the bumper. I had the dealer put the tow hitch on and took it to an independent subaru mechanic, showed him the picture and gave him the adapter. He charged me less than a hundred bucks and it looks great. I pick it up in three days!

 

Haha, there's a slight chance I'll see you there on Thursday Brett! (if I did my day counting correctly). I have an appointment to tour the factory that day at 2 pm. Lady I spoke with on the phone said there was a pickup that day but that it would probably be done before I arrived.

Whether I see your or not, congrats and I hope you have a great trip back with it.

 

Becky,

The pickup that day is indeed Brett so there is a good chance you might get to meet him too and see his new trailer.

Looking forward to meeting you, being from the same home town as I am we probably have all kinds of stories to talk about.

Cary

 

I'm looking forward to meeting you as well Cary, I've heard so much from these forums (all good, hehe).

I'm driveway camping at my parents' house and I know my dad at least is interesting in coming along, my mom might too.

See you on Thursday.

 

Gina & Bob,
I know you're not towing your 560 anymore, but how do you like your Cherokee? I keep looking at Cherokees (not Grand Cherokee) online because of their affordability and features, but keep getting hung up on their poor reliability ratings.

 

I just saw your post today. I loved the Cherokee. We had the 6 cylinder with the tow package ( will tow 4500 # with the factory installed tow package). I had a trailhawk version. It pulled our 560 SUV version without any problem thru the mountains of Colorado. We really enjoyed it. I have since traded it for a Ford F-250 to pull our new airstream trailer. It had great pickup, good gas mileage and a sporty fun SUV to drive. My only complaint was the new transmission the Chrysler put in all its new trucks. There is definitely a lag in 1st and second gear and does take some time getting used to it. This is frequently mention on the Jeep forums. I still have my 2013 grand Cherokee with the hemi engine and doubt I will get rid if it unless Jeep does something about their trans. The new trans is used in other brands and doesn't seem to have a much problems. From what I could pick up from the forums, it is more a Chrysler softwear issue than actually a trans issue. I never had any reliability issues. Hope this helps.
Gina