I just bought a 2002 F150 this week and I'am planning to go camping tomorrow. I'll be hauling a 29' 5900 pound travel trailer. My question is that since my truck only have about 150 miles on her, so I use it to tow or should I wait a couple thousand miles to break in a bit? The trip will be short, about 40 miles each way and not too many hills. Stay home and wait or to hell with it...that's what it's for!?

 

Use it, thats what you bought it for. Its in warranty if anything happens. Just don't tell them you hauled a trailor if something goes wrong. If something does go wrong, it was going to happen anyway. Tow it!

 

It used to be that Ford said don't tow for the first 1,000 miles. I can't recall reading that in my '01 manual.

The problem with towing is the strain it puts on the rear end. The gears, when new, are soft. The mating surfaces of the gears have to work harden. If they're not work hardened properly, they'll wear down and fail real fast.

My suggestion is to drive around more before towing. If it can't be avoided, drive very gently until you hit 1,000 miles.

 

If memory serves, my owners manual said put 500 miles on before towing.
Dave

 

Hey Blake,

I recently replied to a towing question and provided several addition links for towing info.

Hopefully adding them here too will make things easier to find for some others.

Here is the general link to the 2001 towing and RV guide:
http://www.fleet.ford.com/products_...002/default.asp

Here is the general link to the 2002 towing and RV guide:
http://www.fleet.ford.com/products/r...02_default.asp

Go to the second link, then go to the section called "Things to know before you tow" and it states that you should have at least 500 miles on your truck before you start using it for towing. I've provided other links as well so good luck and spread it around. Information is invaluable.

Enjoy!

Dennis,
Where in the world did you hear that gear teeth in a differential are not hardened until they are work hardened after use. I've been around high performance cars and truck for over 25 years and I aint never heard what you stated about the gears needing to be work hardened. Every production gear tooth I've ever run across was heat treated after machining was done to acheive a Rockwell C rating which is very demanding, like between 30-50 Rc. I'd like to see where you got your information from 'cause I'd learn something if you can find it.

DaveMan

 

Gear teeth are heat treated, but they don't attain their ultimate hardness until they're work hardened. Work hardening is the process where the molecules in the metal align and compress together.

An easy way to understand this is what happens when you cut/drill stainless steel. When cutting stainless, you have to do it at just the right speed and pressure. The key is to cut it at a high enough speed that it doesn't generate so much heat that the cutting tool loses it's temper. If you don't, the stainless will work harden and be very difficult to cut. Stainless really isn't all that hard to cut, but the reason people say it's hard is because they don't understand the work hardening process and either cut so fast the tool loses it's temper or, more commonly, they cut too slow and the surface work hardens. Learned about how to cut stainless from a couple of pros, one of whom's business is based on industrial applications of stainless steel.

The gears are pretty much the same. When they leave the factory, they're hard enough to withstand everyday stress, but still not hard enough for rough duty such as towing. The gear faces have to be worked under pressure before they attain sufficient hardness to withstand the stress from towing.

Old timers used to say you had to give the gears a chance to set or wear in. What they were really talking about is they had to work harden.

The only way I know of to avoid having to go through work hardening is to get it cryogenically treated.

When you're a boat owner and like to work on them yourself, you learn a lot about metals. We change gears and props in outdrives and if you don't treat them right from the begining, they'll wear out in no time. If you break them in properly, they'll last for years. The stress the gears in a boat goes through are incredible. Not only are the gears way smaller than what you'd find in a truck, but they're spinning at 4,000+ rpm while in essence pushing a 2+ ton load uphill all day long.

Think about it. The gears are only about 3 or 4 inches in diameter and we're generally pushing between 250 and 1,000+ horsepower through them.

 

Hey Dennis,

Thanks for the explanation on the gear teeth. I'll just yeild at this point to keep from debating on a subject that I'm not an expert in.

However, I have been around a while and I have drilled stainless steel, cut it, welded it and bent it but I guess there was no way for you to know that.

I also specify materials in my work and select and call out heat treat processes on part drawings. I've built many gear boxes, transmissions and differentials and have never taken into consideration that the gears need to be work hardened before they will last. I've also been involved with testing of the wear surfaces of heat treated parts that are subjected to millions of cycles so I've seen the results too.

IMHO, the only ones who really know the answer for sure about the Ford truck differentials are the Engineers who designed them. However, since you sound so convincing, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you are right.

My last point is that the behavoir and wear characteristics of gears in a boat outdrives may or may not be a direct correlation to that of side gears or ring and pinion gears in truck and car differentials.

DaveMan

 

You'd be surprised how similar some things are, except for size.

Isn't it funny that people actually think stainless steel is stronger than steel? They never realize that if that were true, our drill bits would be made out of SS instead of steel.

I'm by no means an expert in metals, but you tend to learn a lot when you are into boats and you get a rude awakening when you learn that if you don't properly passivate the stainless steel used on boats in salt water, you're asking for trouble.

Anyway, we can each stand by our viewpoints. At least it gives the rest of the people here the idea that they should do more research which will enable them to make an educated decision.

I tend to err on the conservative side when it comes to mechanical things. Comes from fishing 100+ miles from shore where a breakdown can lead to death, a $15,000 tow job, or the chance at winning the $50,000 jackpot in a fishing tournament.

If treating something in a certain way leads to longer life and dependability, that's what I do.

 

Dennis,

You're right, this board is a learning place for all of us and as long as we are all willing to admit that we don't know everything then you're right, that'll probably force someone to do more research but at the same time be affected by our opinions and views.

I'm with you too, I like to lean on the safe side as well. When it comes to boats, forklifts and cars and trucks, we can take the safe side much more than normal. However, when it comes to aircraft and skyscrapers, you only have so much safety factor that you can incorporate before it either won't fly or it won't stay standing under it's own weight or maybe won't stop as in autos.

I also know what it's like to be offshore. I used to work for an Engineering consulting company and had to make trips out to the Gulf of Mexico to the drilling rigs and I got into a bad storm once while going out to a rig. The waves got so high, the captain misjudged the frequency and we ended up completely airborne in a 70 foot all aluminum crew boat. Now, that was not fun and I was saying my prayers 'cause I just knew we weren't coming home. Anyway, we made it to the rig with 20 foot swells and after a couple days on the rig, I was uncertain if I wanted to leave 'cause the weather could turn bad again. We made it home safe and had to go back several times again later that year.

Blake Bowden,

Drive your truck the recommended number of miles that Ford suggests, that's the safe route no matter what the reasons they suggest it. Good luck towing too.

Later,
DaveMan

 

Just an update...I went ahead and towed and had a great time camping! The truck performed marvelously and I'am up to almost 500 miles now. It'll probably tow even better once the mileage starts adding on

 

Hey Dave!

All's cool. Just being ultra conservative on my end.

BTW, 20' seas in a 70 footer? Try 12+ foot seas in a 25 footer or have a wave break over you while you're sitting on (well, more like hanging on) the flying bridge of a 35' Bertram. I guess it's all relative, huh?

Bet you guys got hit by a rogue wave. Sometimes, no matter what you do or how good you are, there's no way to avoid being surprised by a rogue. It's times like that you just have to pray that the boat you're in was built right and whoever is at the wheel is good enough to keep you out of trouble once the wave passes.

 

Dennis,

After we went over that rogue wave you described, the pilot or captain was knocked out of his chair and thrown into the throttles and cut the engines. We were dead in the water bobing like a cork for several minutes before the captain decided to announce that we would be gettin under way shortly but that the engine room was being inspected for damage to the engines.

When the hull struck the water it felt like a 100,000# sledge hammer had hit the bottom side and the whole structure shook violently. I was scared and so were some big Texans from Houston who were regulars on the crew boats. I took some dramamine as soon as the weather started to go down hill. My friends laughed at me but later they were sick as hell and were trying to eat a whole pack a saltine crackers but it was too late......yuk!

Trying to pee in the head was almost as bad 'cause one minute you were pointing to the left and....oopps....then right.....ooooppps.....then up....you get the idea, it wasn't fun.

Later,
Daveman