Flatbed car hauler: 18', ~2700lbs empty, ~6500lbs w/ wife's POS chevy (when it breaks down).

18' Bass Boat: ~2500lbs

Equipped w/ Factory super cooling; added the trans cooler from a 2000 F250SD. Trans temp around town: 150F - 165F. Towing ~165F. Having to back either trailer into a tight spot (lots of backing) ~180F

 

I have a 2001 F150 Lariat...7700gvw.. I ordered for towing
has all the towing goodies, I pull a 2001...24' 5th wheel trailer
Frontier..gvw of 7000 lbs... I cross the scales at 250 lbs under
the 13500 max gvw for truck and trailer... when I am loaded for camping or holidays......this thing pulls great
I have even forgot to turn off the OD acouple of times for 3-4 miles..no problems so far...only has 8000 km on vehicle now

 

se sig for spec's

I tow a 23 5th whl - Terry - maybe #5000 loaded. South every year - thru "hilly" country (south Or. & N. Calif. etc) to the desert.

This Jan to May we did 12,000 Miles across south USA & back. Only run OD downhill with a following wind. ( from Dunsmuir to Redding)

Coming back, - through Oky & N. Tex. bad head winds made it impossable to get above 45 MPH on the I'State (40). Reved to 4000 rpm - (often hit this number climbing "hills") - Never, never reved over 4 grand, even if it shifts to second!.

Averaged 10 miles per US gallon on trip

 

It wasn't with this rig, but many moons ago when I was young and doing construction I was towing an 18' flat bed car carrier, fully loaded with all kinds of construction equipment. Had to weigh over 6000 lbs easy, but I was towing it with a 1/2 ton Chevy van using only a bumber hitch and no trailer brakes!! Not even a bumber that was designed to do this. A car like bumber with one of those bolt on jobs! Towed it from Washington DC to upstate NY and survived to tell about it

 

I pull a 26ft sunneybrook travel trailer fulley loaded at 4800
I had a 97 step side with the 4.0..she pulled it ok, but I didn't want to hurt her, so I traded it in for a 2001 XLT Super cab. 5.4
She pulls it like it isn't even there. What a difference.
Keep on RVing......

 

I regualrly tow a #6400+ travel trailer and the truck scales in at #7650 fully loaded with all the other gear and an additional 30 gallons of water for an all up gross of #14,050...

The F-250SD w/ V10/3:73LS/4R100 does just fine with this weight and returns mileage of 8-9.5 MPG... About 13 solo and if I get real lucky and am off reformulated fuel I can coax about 14-14.5 on the highway...

Best Regards,
Les

 

Les, good to see you over here from the RV boards!

 

Have a 97' F150 4X4 4.6L/SC with tow pkg. Would like to know if there are any little things I can do to improve my towing performance. Last time I towed was in the Mountains of Western NC around Ashville. Was towing a 16' trailer with 4 ATVS on the back. I think the weight was around 2500lbs. The truck had no power from around 2800 to almost 3500 rpms. At around 3500 to 4000 thought it was going to jump out of its skin!!!!! Need Help. Don't tow the trailer all the time. Would like some help if you'al can?

 

I tow an enclosed car tralier weighing about 3500lbs, plus 3600lbs for the track car (thats w/fuel, etc.) plus about 600lbs worth of equipment in the back of the truck. So total is about 7100lbs. The excursion pulls it like it was nothing! I tow this about once a month from March to September. This beast is great!!

 

I tow tractors, a bobcat loader, farm implements (harrows, balers, etc.), cows, hay, POS chevies that my stoopid friends own that break down, all with no problems. The heaviest of these loads I would estimate at around 8000#.
Our Fords trucks are just awesome. It's not in my sig, but I also have the towing package.

 

I put a WMS Velocity tube and a Dynomax super turbo exhast on my truck. Its hard to explain but sometimes the truck does very well and some times it is a little slow. ?????? But over all i am pleased. I tow a 20 ft. Nash travel trailer with all the goodies, two dogs, wood for camp fires, extra water, lots of food and beer, my wife and whatever else. I can climb a 7% grade at 45 mph.

 

i forgot to post a pic of my truck...here it is for those that are interested...this is what i tow

 

I have towed a boat weighing 6200# before, crappy gas mileage, but other than that, no problem except for slower acceleration.

 

I tow a 8000 pound 5th wheel trailer (unloaded), 8600 (all tanks full, 2 weeks of cargo).

No problems at all on the truck

Just over 51,xxx miles and its due for a tranny fluid flush and change. Could use new tires & brakes, shocks need replacing within the next year. Other than that, I love the truck.

1997 F-250 LD 4x4 XLT SuperCab 6ft styleside bed

 

At the Ranch i work at in Laramie, we have Chevys (unfortunately, but its what the boss likes) and they all have the 454, and we tow horse trailers that are capable of carrying up to 12 horses, so im guessing that the trailer, fully loaded, weighs 15000# or so, on a fifth wheel. They can do it, but the dooly we have is an auto and doesn't shift until 4500 rpms, which seems pretty weird to me, and the other one is a 4-spd w/a granny gear and you have to downshift to 2nd when going up any sort of hill, no matter what the grade, sometimes down to 1st also

Once i was using the manual tranny truck to tow a car trailer that had some planks on it. Could't have weighed more than 6000lbs, and the truck was struggling to make it up hills in 3rd gear. I had to have it floored the whole time. That seemed strange to me, because it wasn't a whole lot of weight. Guess it's cause it's a Chevy though

I've heard that you shouldn't tow in OD no matter what. Anyone else know about this?