Newt's Got Some Buttons

1/20/2020

Equestrians are all about buttons. We want cute ones on our breeches, tricky ones installed on our horses, and if your truck's got some cool ones, all the better. Over the weekend, I learned how to use some of Newt's.

She's not quite this shiny anymore, although she did get to go to the car wash yesterday.

I haven't talked a lot about Newt since she joined our household, but I've sure been enjoying the heck out of her. So far, our adventures have been limited to making the trek to work to the barn, and back home again. Day after day, week after week.

One of my favorite things about the truck is the over-sized fuel tank. It holds a whopping 48 gallons. I only have to stop for diesel twice a month, and frankly, I could probably go three weeks on one tank. For convenience, I pop by the gas station every other weekend. So far, I generally put in about 35 gallons which costs me about $135.

I haven't hauled the horses anywhere yet, but over the long weekend, I thought it was high time to hook her up to my trailer again and learn how to use the manual shift option and the tow/haul button.

As I was finishing hooking up, I switch my dash screen to "towing" and got a nice little surprise.

What's behind that window?

So far so good.

That's my trailer, the Silverlite.

Let's do this.

Wouldn't want to forget that ...

And I walked behind to see that blinkers and tail lights were actually working.

Roger that.

Double checked it myself.

Didn't know it was called that, but yes.

I don't actually need any as I park on a very flat surface, but I did remove the tire covers.

They were good where they were.

I won't know until I actually have some horses in there and we go downhill.

And when you're finished, it goes in reverse.

After going through the checklist, which I found pretty cool, I took Newt for a longer drive up around our closest mountain. It was about a 40 minute round trip. When I got back, I got to try out one of Newt's other buttons. Stay tuned ...

lytha

1/20/2020 10:32:24 am

Totally my kind of geeky truck post. But...I'm in Europe. You know what they pull horses with here. Volvos and Audis.

However, since I'm a Toyota person, I recently discovered the Toyto Hilux. Big enough to pull an American sized horse trailer in Europe! Now, how to find an American sized horse trailer! OK, FRANCE.

On my way.....(Fautras Oblic 2+)

Bakersfield Dressage link

1/22/2020 05:47:18 am

HAHAHA! Europeans do pull with strange tow vehicles. When I was in the car with a driver hauling a trailer, I was a bit freaked out. Number 1, I sat on the left - freaky! Number two, the roads were NARROW. I wouldn't want to pull an American sized trailer. The thought of pulling Newt with my three-horse LQ trailer makes my palms sweaty. LOL

Sarah link

1/20/2020 11:32:46 am

You're going to LOVE the manual shifting once you get used to it! I used to set my truck to tow/haul mode all the time with the trailer on but never liked the way it shifted WAY too low downhills and the transmission seemingly yelled at me. The Manual Shift setting is so much better for us. I played around and really listened to the truck (like radio off, everyone be quiet!) listened to the trans the first few times I used it. Now it's like second nature. Hope it's as good for you and Newt on the hills as it is for me and Cookie.

1/22/2020 05:50:46 am

Thank you for sharing! That is really good to know. My one hill drive didn't offer me enough information. While I pull all over the place, the major hills/mountains I cross are two passes: one to the south and one to the east. They are long continuous uphill climbs followed by long continuous downhills. Of course, there are four lanes of busy traffic and trucks galore. Driving through LA is made more difficult because of the speeds and heavy traffic, not the up and down shifting. However, I m going to really give the manual shifting a try. Thanks!

Megan K link

1/21/2020 06:36:32 am

i LOVE that checklist!!!

1/22/2020 05:51:34 am

It's a good idea for newbies or forgetful people or someone who has OCD tendencies (cough, cough). :0)

Alanna

1/21/2020 08:43:28 am

Newt is beautiful. I can't wait to hear about your hauling experience with him.

I must admit, it would drive me crazy to have to confirm with my truck that I hooked the trailer up correctly. Is that a function that can be turned off?

1/22/2020 05:53:23 am

HAHA! No, you don't have to go through the checklist. It's just there if you want to use it. Newt has a bunch of different screens, that's just one of them. The screen I prefer is miles to empty/miles driven/mpg. That's all the stuff I really need to know.

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