Eric Kleven

It's sad that they saddled the 4.6's with too much gear. drop a 4.10 in the back and it's probably as good as a 5.4 with 3.55's.

Just gotta let it spin.

atwowheelguy

Well, post up the picture here. Also, what's your estimate of the weight of all the people and cargo you'll be hauling in the truck when you're towing the camper?

jkirksey1889

Well this is a lot of headache, lol. I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm not gonna try and use my truck to pull a camper with, regardless. I've taken too much care of it and it only has 55k miles and it's in excellent condition (like new). I'm gonna shop around maybe for an older model or something to buy that I'll likely only use to tow. I also have a tractor that will need to be towed every now and then (although I haven't towed it in 5 years).

Any ideas on finding an older model with good towing that would likely (mostly) only be used every now and then?

acdii

Find an F350, 99-03 with a 7.3 Powerstroke. You will have everything you need to tow then.

jkirksey1889

Gross Combined Wt Rating 12000, 11500 lbs 11000.0 min 15000.0 max
Dead Weight Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 5000 lbs 5000.0 min 5000.0 max
Dead Weight Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 500 lbs 500.0 min 500.0 max
Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 6800, 6300 lbs 5800.0 min 9500.0 max
Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 680, 630 lbs 580.0 min 950.0 max
This appears to be the weight info on my current truck.. Hopefully someone can explain this.

smokeywren

I bought a new '99.5 7.3L PowerStroke. It was okay for towing my 9k trailer, but it was even better when mildly hot-rodded with an 80-HP towing chip in the computer (PCM). So I had about 300 HP at the rear wheels. I put over 200,000 miles on that pickup in 10 years, with about half that towing my 9k 5er.


If properly maintained, the engine is bullet-proof and will probably last over 400,000 miles even with an 80-tow chip. But the 4R100 automagic tranny will need an overhaul at around 100,000 miles. I wanted my pickup to last "forever" so at 112,000 miles with the torque converter beginning to slip, I spent the big bucks to bullet-proof the 4R100 by having it rebuilt by the best in the business, Brian's Truck Shop (BTS). www.brianstruckshop.com

smokeywren

That's not the GCWR of your truck. That's the GCWR that can be available depending on the specs of your truck. Minimum 11,000 pounds, maximum 15,000 pounds.


That's the max gross trailer weight your receiver hitch or bumper hitch can handle without a weight-distributing hitch


That's the max hitch weight your receiver hitch or bumper hitch can handle without a weight-distributing hitch.


Where did you get those numbers? Not enough info, but it's apparently the maximum trailer weight your tow vehicle (TV) can tow with a weight-distributing hitch, depending on specs of your truck, with a maximum of 9,500 pounds for properly-equipped truck. I'm not sure what the 5,800, 6300 and 6800 numbers are for.


The 950 is the maximum hitch weight you can have with a weight-distributing hitch without overloading the hitch. I don't know what the 580, 630 and 680 number are for.

I could do a better job of explaining the "min" numbers if I knew where you got the numbers.

jkirksey1889

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/vindecoder.php

My Vin is:
1FTRX12W77FA44725

atwowheelguy

These will pretty much tell you what you can safely tow. They are not in a book or on a web site somewhere. They are stickers on YOUR truck.

This is on the driver's door.



This is on the hitch receiver.



And this. Look up your engine and rear axle ratio. GCWR is Gross Combined Weight Rating, the most the the truck and trailer together can weigh.

http://www.fleet.ford.com/towing-guides/

mass-hole

LOL. The ecoboost makes ~300 to the wheels stock out of <half the displacement. Thats progress for you.

I really wonder how much power has a hand in diesel durability. Like can a 440hp/925tq 6.7 2017 powerstroke really go that long under heavy use? You basically nearly double the 7.3's stock power with less displacement.