250 mile road trip

[torquepower]

Went to Everett, WA the other day to pick up a 70 GMC 2500 Custom for my old man. It's in not bad shape, not overly rusty, will be managable, it has a 396, turbo400, ps, pb no AC.

I was towing my trailer with my 71 GMC longhorn 3500 454 Sierra Grande. This was the first big trip with my truck and was most impressed with its capabilities, I've only owned the truck a few months and have never owned a big block before. I could not believe how much power was available travelling down the I5, towing over 7000 pounds doing 60, I was able to pull into the passing lane and keep up with rush hour traffic, even on the hills. The longhorns longer wheelbase really made things feel quite stable.

I had a couple little problems though, coming on to the freeway entrance at WOT the motor started to bog and made things a little exciting for a few moments while trying to merg. I've started to look at the fuel pump and filters, lines. I've taking the pump off and it seems to work fine but the plunger seems somewhat easy to push. This should be stiff shouldn't it? Maybe it's floating at high revs. Second, one of the rear brakes was locking up and grabbing on the wet road, I'm not losing fluid, so maybe rear diff oil is getting by the seal.