Chinook Baja in the Snow

[kevin donald]

Greetings, We are finally getting the chance to do some driving through snow with the Chinook. So far, so good. We are pleasantly surprised at both the traction and control on the highway as well as "off piste". Still feeling so fortunate to have this rig.
Best wishes to all.
Kevin and Maureen

[sm350bl]

That's awesome. Where was this shot taken? Were you doing some dry winter camping or just cruising around?

[kevin donald]

I was just cruising around up near the Hood River Meadows Ski Area on Mnt. Hood. I did not camp. I just returned from a 10 night trip to Santa Cruz, Ca. The more time I spend with the Chinook, the more I appreciate its layout and 21' length. I can just pull into rest areas and spend the night in the vehicles area away from the semi trucks. I see you have a 7.3 powered Chinook. May I ask what kind of mileage you get? I have owned 3 including my current 2002 but have never been able to get better that 13-14 mph. My current Red F-350 only gets 11-12. She is a gorgeous truck but thirsty.I spent a bit of dough to build this truck up to be my "overland" camper for ski and surf trips but then we found the Chinook.
FYI, my Chinook Baja has a Triton V-10 engine.
Cheers!

[sm350bl]

I was just cruising around up near the Hood River Meadows Ski Area on Mnt. Hood. I did not camp. I just returned from a 10 night trip to Santa Cruz, Ca. The more time I spend with the Chinook, the more I appreciate its layout and 21' length. I can just pull into rest areas and spend the night in the vehicles area away from the semi trucks. I see you have a 7.3 powered Chinook. May I ask what kind of mileage you get? I have owned 3 including my current 2002 but have never been able to get better that 13-14 mph. My current Red F-350 only gets 11-12. She is a gorgeous truck but thirsty.I spent a bit of dough to build this truck up to be my "overland" camper for ski and surf trips but then we found the Chinook.
FYI, my Chinook Baja has a Triton V-10 engine.
Cheers!

Just driving through the snow looks like a ton of fun.
I hope you had a good time in Santa Cruz while you were down here.
I haven't logged a ton miles in my Chinook yet, prob around 500 or so and I think i am in the 11-12 range right now. However I think there is room for improvement, I have the feeling the injectors are at mid life with a mediocre HPOP. I think If I spent the money on a fresh set of injectors, fresh hpop and other fuel injection components with new up-pipes ( mine have evidence of leaking ) I think it would make a real different. Tempted to put in a 2001-02 pcm. 2000 is just an oddball year for computer programming on these. I have a early 99 Superduty with a 7.3l and it gets the gold standard as far as mileage on these, about 14-16 mpg pretty consistently. On longer highway trips my mileage goes up to the 18-20 range. Best logged average mileage I got with the pickup was 20.8mpg on a trip form Santa Cruz to Solvang and back. The typical things kill mileage on superduty's. oversized tires and gear ratios not matching, weight, condition of engine, air filter etc etc. I would suggest scanning your truck form time to time. A sensor failure will cause the engine to read off a memorized script to fill in the blanks to be able to run but not run as well as it could. Like an ICP sensor for example.
How is your 4x4 Chinook with the Triton? I would imagine its really not a bad gig, the pcm's of that era van are much more user friendly as far drive-ability.

[kevin donald]

Thanks for all the info on the 7.3 and optimizing the mileage. My F350 is lifted with 35" tires and 20" wheels. 4" exhaust and the ambulance package charging system. I envy your mileage stats. I am selling my truck so the next owner can do what ever they feel necessary to improve the mileage.
I have put nearly 6K miles on the Chinook since last Spring when we bought it. 56K total now. A couple months ago I added a C-4 Jerry can rack to the Chinook and ended up using it to aid a stranded motorist on the trip. I was stoked that I had it.

[kevin donald]

Just had new rear porch light and under awning light installed. Pulled out the old and had a ridged metal plate cut to match the original mount. I now have better illumination when camping.
They are adjustable (fold out and flat against the wall). I kept the originals, they work well. If anyone would like them let me know and we can work something out.
Cheers!