humblerb

Posted a similar post on a towing message board and got several replies that did not relate to the question.
Been towing a travel trailer with my F150 for about 5 years.
The first one we purchased (inexperienced towers) weighed in loaded at about 8500#+ wet. After 5-6 months of white knuckle towing, we bit the (financial) bullet and got rid of it.
The second (and current) weighs in at 7200# wet.
We went from white knuckle to very comfortable in about 2 hours.
The wife now needs to upgrade to a trailer that has necessities which all add weight to the trailer - King size bed (extra slide) larger tub/shower, more seating room.
We have determined that we will have to upgrade our tow vehicle in order to be able to tow an upgraded trailer.
Some have mentioned just going right on up to a one ton, rather than going to a 3/4 ton. I had not considered that, but I will.
My question (concern) is, I had white knuckle experience pulling 8500#+ with my half ton, but was immediately comfortable with the 7300# trailer.
So, will moving the tow vehicle up to a 3/4 ton (or 1 ton), make the towing experience of a 9,000# trailer comfortable, like my F150 and 7300#? Or is the weight of the trailer going to be as uncomfortable with the 3/4 ton as with the 1/2 ton?
Or is it going to be somewhere in between?
There are lots of 3/4 tons pulling these heavier trailers.
I have a hard time believing that I am just not able to adjust to heavier trailers.
But I certainly don't want to invest $50k on a new TV, upgrade to a new trailer at $30k-$40k, only to find that I've spent $100k and still am not comfortable towing this much weight.
Obviously, at $30k - $40k, we are looking at bumper pulls.
At some point, if I had a 3/4 ton, I may certainly look to upgrade to a 5th wheel.
Thanks for any input.

acadianbob

Just don't make the mistake of getting a 3/4 ton with a diesel. The drivetrain destroys the payload capacity. If you "must" have a diesel, get a 1 ton. What about a 1/2 Ford with HDPP? Heavy Duty Payload Package.

KOZ45

How was your previous half ton set up? What was your previous half ton truck?

With the Max Tow package, tow rating can get upto to 12,100

Personally, if I was towing that heavy, often, I would get a 3/4 ton with a large V8

humblerb

Yeah, I've heard that about the diesels. I never realized they had lower Cargo Capacity.

humblerb

Won't get in to the setup, except to say that it was dialed in pretty well with both trailers.
I had actually scaled the first trailer, but don't remember exactly what all the weights were from 5 years ago.
I'm definitely willing to upgrade the Tow Vehicle.
But I am leery about upgrading and getting $100k in to everything, then finding out that the 3/4 ton is not much more comfortable than the 1/2 ton was.
Not that I would haul the heavier trailer with the half ton (been there, done that), but avoiding the heavier (upgraded) trailer altogether.
Just trying to see if some can provide me with similar experiences of moving form a fairly heavy (but comfortable) trailer and a half ton to a heavier trailer with a 3/4 ton.

LariatInTheMud

The difference is that an 8500lb travel trailer is not going to push an F250/F350 around like a half ton. Those trucks have more weight and everything is bigger and beefier because they are made to tow. If you have an idea of what you are looking at getting down the road buy the truck for it now whether it be a dually or not. I dont see why anyone would want a 3/4 ton gasser, towing with the diesel is going to be night and day especially if you want to go bigger (12,000lb+ range). I can just hear that 6.2 screaming going up a hill now...

smokeywren

Assuming you're talking about a new truck and not a hand-me-down., let's define terms, using Ford as the example.


"Half ton" = F-150


"Three-quarter-ton" = F-250


"One ton" with single rear wheels = F-350 SRW


"One ton" with dual rear wheels = F-350 DRW


An excellent compromise for the max trailer weight without overloading is the F-350 SRW. It has 1,500 pounds more payload capacity than the F-250 for very little more money.


The F-250 is fine for almost all receiver-hitch TTs. But for a 5er, you will have to be careful to not exceed the 10,000-pounds GVWR of the F-250. So you'll be limited to only the smaller 5ers with the F-250, but you can go on up to a 5er that grosses over 12,000 pounds with the F-350 SRW.


So if I were looking for a new pickup to tow a medium-size 5er, I'd look at only F-350 SRWs and ignore the F-250s.


I towed an 8,000-pound 25' 5er for over 10 years and 100,000 miles with an F-250 diesel. Excellent combination. My '99.5 F-250 had only 8,800 pounds GVWR, so I was slightly overloaded on some trips. If I had the newer F-250 (2005-up) with 10,000 pounds GVWR, then I wouldn't have been overloaded.


But that was only 8,000 pounds wet and loaded trailer weight. Today's smaller 5ers tend to be 28 to 30 feet long and 10,000 to 12,000 pounds GVWR, so I'd prefer the F-350 SRW for those.


I don't agree that an F-250 with the current diesel engine cannot tow a smaller 5er. The diesel adds about 800 pounds to the curb weight of the pickup, so it reduces the payload capacity of the pickup by about 800 pounds compared to the gas engine. But very few folks agree that a gas engine in a SuperDuty pickup is a good idea.


Hard to say. Your tow vehicle was overloaded with the 7,300 pound TT, and it was severely overloaded with the 8,500+ TT. So it could have been the difference in the severity of the overloading, or maybe it was the setup of your WD hitch that caused the problem.


The WD hitch can make a big difference in the "feel" of the trailer. Don't even think about towing a 9,000-pound TT with a cheap hitch. Insist on at least an Equal-I-Zer or Blue Ox SwayPro or Reese Strait-Line. Or even better is a ProPride, but the ProPride costs more than twice as much as the Blue Ox. I use a ProPride on my TT and a Strait-Line on my cargo trailer and never have any white-knuckle moments. (We retired the 5er a few years ago.)

acdii

Difference in costs between a used 250 and used 350 is not very much, usually within $1000. The difference in mas and towing capacity though is great.

An F150 is light, and a large heavy trailer can whip it around like a little dog with a huge tail, while a massive 1 Ton can handle the larger heavier trailer like it isnt there.

You are much better off with a Used F350 than anything else since the previous owner took the depreciation hit on the diesel premium. Stay away from gas engines in this line, they are not very good for towing or fuel economy, and mainly are good for work trucks.

Once you have a 1 Ton, your trailer possibilities sky rocket and you are not limited to just bumper pulls. There are a lot of nice 5r's in the price range you are looking at, especially in the used market.

PerryB

If you're going to get a Superduty for towing an RV, don't make the mistake of getting a 250, period. Then dont make the mistake of getting a gasser.

5.0GN tow

I will second that advice. I tow large horse trailers but seriously the 350s dont ride much if any different than the 250s, fuel mileage wont be different either. I purchased a 16 XL with power, windows and doors, diesel, cruise, cloth seats, crew cab, 4x4 with auto hubs, DRW, forged aluminum wheel option and appearance package, and tow package including factory brake controller, for 44900 brand new before tax.


I added a Kenwood aftermarket touch screen stereo with features very similar to Sync, but with two back up cameras, on bumper level and one at 3rd brake light level to see the GN hitch. It also monitors all kinds of functions on the engine, from EGT, to turbo psi, to oil temp and intake air temp etc. I also added spray in bedliner and folding tonneau cover, 125k ESP. It still came out less than the cost of many of the 150s.