2013 f150 5.0 and 3:55 gears
#12
Robinson
2011 5.0 w/ 3.55. Pulls really well, better than I expected. Going through some pretty steep long climbs through the columbian ice fields it dropped down to 3rd but kept me at 100k/hr when needed.
Airbags made a noticeable difference in ride stability and go the dumbo mirrors, best upgrade I've done so far. I dont think I'll have another truck without the tow mirrors.
Trailer is Jayco 221, 26ft coming at about 4600# loaded.
I average between 20 and 25 L/100km but have gotten it as low as 17 tucked in behind a semi. With a bad headwind in the open I've been up to 30 and ran between 4th and 5th gear.
Hope that helps a little.
Airbags made a noticeable difference in ride stability and go the dumbo mirrors, best upgrade I've done so far. I dont think I'll have another truck without the tow mirrors.
Trailer is Jayco 221, 26ft coming at about 4600# loaded.
I average between 20 and 25 L/100km but have gotten it as low as 17 tucked in behind a semi. With a bad headwind in the open I've been up to 30 and ran between 4th and 5th gear.
Hope that helps a little.
#14
Robinson
I found the stock suspension pretty soft, now it can be easily increased to get rid of sag if needed. I'll put 25# - 30# in before I hook the trailer up and it works great, still playing with the psi "Sweet spot" a little.
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acameron (11-18-2013)
#15
I have the SCREW 5.0 with the 6.5 bed and 3.31 gear. Toy hauler is 22 foot 8.5 wide box trailer weighing in at 5400# dry. Loaded with some camping gear, lp gas, etc and my 800 pound bike, it had to work real hard going up through the mountains of North Carolina. On the flats it tows awesome, but that 5.0 was screaming uphill.
Now, I realize I have 3.31's. I also was trying to maintain a decent speed going uphill when I should have just put the hazards on and crawled up them like the tractor trailers were doing.
After talking to other guys at the rv park with similar trailer weights, and the same bike - those that had the ecoboost didn't have the same complaints... and two of them came off F-150's with the 5.4 and said the 5.4 had to work hard too.
Now, I realize I have 3.31's. I also was trying to maintain a decent speed going uphill when I should have just put the hazards on and crawled up them like the tractor trailers were doing.
After talking to other guys at the rv park with similar trailer weights, and the same bike - those that had the ecoboost didn't have the same complaints... and two of them came off F-150's with the 5.4 and said the 5.4 had to work hard too.
#19
The truck does just fine with lots of power to pass slower vehicles. I took a trip on I 44 west through Missouri. Lots of very steep hills. I could hold 65 going up hill. It does drop down to 3rd gear (in tow/haul mode) on the steep ones. Gas mileage will go down quite a bit, but that is to be expected. I got 8 to 8.5 mpg.
The engine will run at a higher rpm when power is needed. If I remember correctly, the truck would run about 3700 rpm going up hill. It does not up shift to 6th gear very often, I probably should have just locked out 6th with the select shift. Runs 4th to 5th gear and sometimes 6th on the flats. Spent a lot of time in 4th.
I keep it at 65 or below (except briefly when passing, 75 mph no problem) because trailer tires are only rated for 65 mph.
Last edited by G_Twenty_six; 09-29-2013 at 11:25 AM.
#20
Grumpy Old Man
Your F-150 has a "tow rating" of 7,700 pounds. That means that with absolutely nothing in the truck but a skinny driver and a full tank of gas, you should be able to tow a trailer that grosses up to 7,700 pounds without being overloaded, without overheating anything in the drivetrain, and without being the slowpoke holding up traffic on normal interstate hills and mountain passes.
However, that's a very misleading number because nobody tows with nothing in the truck but a skinny driver. Your truck can pull a trailer that doesn't gross more than 7,700 pounds, but it cannot haul the hitch weight of a 7,700 pound trailer without exceeding the GVWR of the F-150.
So here's the drill.
1] Load the F-150 with all the people, pets, tools, whatever might be in the truck when towing, including the shank and ball mount from your weight-distributing hitch. Go to a truckstop that has a certified automated truck scale, fill up with gas, and weigh the wet and loaded rig. (If you don't have the WD hitch yet, add 50 pounds as the estimated weight of the shank and ball mount). Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded F-150 from the GVWR of the F-150, and the answer is the max hitch weight you can haul without being overloaded.
2] A normal tandam-axle travel trailer (TT) will have a wet and loaded hitch weight of 12% to 15% of the gross weight of the trailer. So assume 15% hitch weight and the trailer's GVWR as the wet and loaded weight of the trailer. So for a trailer with 7,700 pounds GVWR, 15% is 1,155 pounds.
If the available payload for hitch weight is less than 1,155 pounds, then you cannot tow a TT that weighs 7,700 pounds without being overloaded.
Example: If your available payload for hitch weight is 800 pounds, that's 15% of 5,333 pounds. So you shouldn't consider TTs with GVWR more than 5,333 pounds.
Note: Your 4x4 is heavier than my 4x2 by more than 100 pounds, and your GVWR is 100 pounds more than mine. My 4x2 is overloaded with my TT that has 650 pounds wet and loaded hitch weight and a wet and loaded trailer weight of 4,870 pounds.
Conclusion: Don't go by the tow rating. Determine your unused payload capacity to see how much hitch weight you can have without exceeding the GVWR of your F-150. I'll bet any TT more than 5,000 pounds GVWR will overload your tow vehicle if you don't have at least the max tow pkg, and preferably the HD payload pkg.
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JLTD (11-03-2013)