[Fot] Tow Vehicle Musings

[Larry Young]

I don't know the situation now with 1/2 ton diesels, but that would be 
key to my decision. My setup was not that heavy. I towed with an 5.4L 
Expedition, then with a BMW X5 diesel. It made all the difference in the 
world.
  - Larry

On 9/23/2020 12:31 PM, Barr, Scott via Fot wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I’ve been towing a 24-foot toy-hauler style trailer for a few years 
> now.  It’s 14 feet of “garage” space in the back and 10 feet of RV in 
> the front (toilet, shower, fridge, kitchen area).  All in, full of 
> water, car loaded, it weighs about 9,500 lbs.  I load the trailer so I 
> have about 1,750 pounds of tongue weight, which is technically a 
> little over the payload limit of the truck, but not too bad.
>
> I’ve been towing with a 2017 F-150, with a max tow package putting 
> towing capacity at about 12,000 lbs. V6 twin turbo EcoBoost with 375hp 
> and 470 ft lb torque.  I use a good weight-distributing hitch and a 
> sway control strut.  And I added Air Lift air suspension to help with 
> the extra load.  Generally speaking, the F-150 has been doing just 
> fine.  But when it’s windy the trailer gets a little tail-happy, 
> wagging enough sometimes to set off the truck’s automatic trailer sway 
> alarm (it’s a big baby…).
>
> So I’ve been trying to determine whether moving up to an F-250 super 
> duty would make an appreciable difference in the towing performance. 
> An F-250 is 1000-1500 pounds heavier than my F-150, depending on specs 
> of both trucks.  Is that enough to make a noticeable difference?  Are 
> there other factors that would make it that much better than an F-150?
>
> The F-150 with the twin turbo V6 and 10-speed trans makes for a nice 
> street car, with reasonable mileage (about 19 average) – and it’s what 
> I drive all winter.  The F-250 Super Duty will get considerably 
> crappier mileage and will be a less friendly daily driver (I assume).  
> Not to mention that my F-150 is pretty close to paid off and I’d be 
> taking on another boatload of debt to move up to the F-250.  Which is 
> all to say that the towing performance improvement would need to be 
> considerable before I would make the move.
>
> What say you, towing brain trust?  Is it worth the move?
>
> Scott (B.)
>
>
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