[Fot] Tow Vehicle Musings

Wed Sep 23 19:55:22 MDT 2020

An F-350 4x4 XLT with a 7.3L turbo diesel is the hot ticket. I have an ’03 I bought damaged with 16K on it; replaced the front clip and frame and it’s been a great truck since. That was the last year of production for the 7.3 turbo option. Key improvements over a lesser truck are the brakes; axle ratings; suspension. This truck was fully loaded and has been trouble free after sorting a few things out that resulted when it came to a sudden stop prior to my purchase. (but not as sudden as the vehicle ahead of it)

Incredible torque and brakes up to the task. I tow a 24’ enclosed dual axle trailer. I also use a 34’ Ford based V-10 powered F-550 chassis motorhome when going to races. It’s a ’99 we ordered new and now has only 48K on it. The F-350 now has ~68K on it.

Not cats; no DEF to contend with. I did replace the exhaust w/ a 4”SS system which added power and mpg. Not noisy!

The chassis of the f-350 is treated every year before winter with Fluid Film, a rust preventive lanolin product. Great stuff and one of the few effective defenses against the rust in the Northeast winters.

Russ

From: Fot [mailto:fot-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Ponostyle via Fot
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 8:49 PM
To: Mike Jackson
Cc: Amici Triumphi
Subject: Re: [Fot] Tow Vehicle Musings

I’d say “who buys F250”s?? The cost difference for an F350 is trivial, especially if you buy one off the lot instead of ordering. I tow my Airstream toy hauler with mine, it’s the second F350 I’ve owned. My first one developed a serious oil leak that would have required removing the cab ?!!? to fix. I gather that removing the cab is’t the worst job in to world, but all this happened when I needed my truck in a week, so I traded it in and got a 2018 F350. The new one came right off the lot (I was in a hurry) and didn’t have all the fancy shit my previous one had. But it’s a MUCH better truck, though I can’t park it for shit. It’s a twin cab with an eight foot bed. So long, as in REALLY long. I think it’s 22’. Hook it up to Fritz, my 34’ Airstream Peyote Hauler, and it’s a solid city block. 

But the diesel engine is so quiet that people step right in front of me in parking lots—they don’t hear me coming. Weird for a Diesel. Without the trailer I get 19mpg on freeways. With the trailer I get 16 if there aren’t a lot of hills to climb. Keep your foot off the accelerator, or better yet, put it in cruise at 65—and you’re gold. 

My next truck will be a maxed out cybertruck. 

On Sep 23, 2020, at 5:03 PM, Mike Jackson via Fot <fot at autox.team.net> wrote:

I realize everyone has their own preferred answer.  That said:

I've had our 2000 Ford F350 diesel since it was new.  Heck, we've killed two trailers in that time.  It'll hit 400K miles before the end of 2020 as long as we dont have any more races cancelled.  It has a swaybar hitch that helps but an 18 wheeler passing can still cause it to get a upset and require a bit of opposite lock to keep it between the whites.

It's been quite reliable with the exception of AC systems and alternators.  I now travel with a spare alt behind the rear seat of our crew cab model.

Previous tow vehicle was a Suburban.  An uphill departure from a fuel or lunch stop made a lot of noise but very little movement for a few seconds.  The F350 diesel is like a mule, say "go" and it does.

And yes, it's my around town daily driver.

I recall asking my sales guy when we ordered it from the factory if I should consider a dually.  His reply was that I should only buy such a thing if I liked buying rear fenders or was going to tow a 5th wheel trailer.  Shortly after that I started noticing lots of duallies with broken glass rear fenders from trying to turn in places just not quite wide enough.

Just my experience.

Mike 

-----Original Message----- 
From: "Barr, Scott via Fot" 
Sent: Sep 23, 2020 1:31 PM 
To: Amici Triumphi 
Subject: [Fot] Tow Vehicle Musings 

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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