Time for a truck change....

[BCGPER]

My trailer is right around 9K, and I have towed it with my 150. I put a lot of money into the 150 setting it up to tow. Air bags in the rear, and Rancho adjustable struts up front. With 70psi in the rear, and the struts turned up to their stiffest settings, it would tow my trailer. It wasn't pretty, but it'll do it. My opinion is that that's just too much trailer for a 150, or any half ton. The 150 by far has the nicest interior of any truck on the market, and I still love mine today. But, as far as a tow rig goes, the F-150 leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[frieed]

I went to Michelin E-rated tires and Airbags. Had I not sold the trailer I was going to add a helwig rear sway bar as well.

Here is a trip we took with that load
https://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.p...-Drive-(not-a-wheeling-trip)&highlight=bataan

 

[pELYgroso]

My trailer is right around 9K, and I have towed it with my 150. I put a lot of money into the 150 setting it up to tow. Air bags in the rear, and Rancho adjustable struts up front. With 70psi in the rear, and the struts turned up to their stiffest settings, it would tow my trailer. It wasn't pretty, but it'll do it. My opinion is that that's just too much trailer for a 150, or any half ton. The 150 by far has the nicest interior of any truck on the market, and I still love mine today. But, as far as a tow rig goes, the F-150 leaves a lot to be desired.

What do you mean by "wasn't pretty?" Not enough power? Too much sway? Just looked ugly? We need details!

 

[pELYgroso]

I went with Michelin E-rated tires and Airbags. Had I not sold the trailer I was going to add a helwig rear sway bar as well.

Here is a trip we took with that load
https://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.p...-Drive-(not-a-wheeling-trip)&highlight=bataan

Awesome! How long was your trailer? 6.5' bed on your truck? Whats the best way to weigh a trailer loaded up?

 

[frieed]

Awesome! How long was your trailer? 6.5' bed on your truck? Whats the best way to weigh a trailer loaded up?

Jayco 26' RKS. 80 gal fresh water capacity. Truck bed is 5.5'. My weight was a guesstimate based on as-shipped dry weight (yellow tag) water and junk in the trailer, genny and junk in the truck bed. The most accurate way to get the real weight is to go across Cat scales at a truck stop. Once on each axle without the trailer, once on each with the trailer.

For those that feel there's no replacement for displacement, my sister and her hubby followed us to Vernal with their trailer the year before. They had a Jayco trailer with no slides that had a dry weight 2k# less than mine. On every climb, my truck would hold the speed limit with cruise on and his would start falling back. He was pulling with a '95 Chevy 3/4 ton with 454 big block engine (7.4l).
We both got about 9 mpg towing, but his got 12 mpg unloaded while mine does 18-19.

 

[Pike2350]

I have a '12 Ecoboost with 5.5' bed and 3.73 gears (max tow option) I pulled my Rodeo down to Moab and back in October with no problem. I could keep 70 the whole way (maybe drop down to 60 on the climb to Soldier Summit) but found I could do 80+ on the flat part past Price if I wanted. Overall I got 11.2mpg on the trip there and back. My trailer/Rodeo combined was probably closer to 7k though. I know the Rodeo is right around 5K, and I figure the 16' steel trailer with rails was probably around 2k. Also, mine's nothing outside of stock on tow setup...no airbags, no swaybars, stock shocks, etc.

Again, with a few times each year I think it would work just fine.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I'm a huge fan of the 8.1. You could even get it in the suburbans (but you loose the allison). Dempsey has the 8.1 in his burb.

I think a v10 makes a lot of sense too. It's the #1 engine used in gas motorhomes. Bad mpg, but pretty cheap and pretty reliable. They like to rev. Make sure to torque the spark plugs well so they don't spit any out.

 

[Gravy]

Not that this this story has anything in relation to your setup at all, but funny story...
We drove new a V10 gasser motorhome towing a RZR to KOH this year. It was hilarious. 4500 RPM for 2 days straight each way lol, 65mph was straight floored downhill.

No contest the 6.2 v8 is a better truck than the 6.8 v10
Not to mention the 6.2's have a 6 speed auto that keeps you in the RPM sweet spot vs. the 6.8's that have the old 4 speed.

The 6.8L V10 is
288 hp
424 lb/ft

The 6.2L V8 (Superduty) is
395 hp
405 lb/ft

110 more HP with 2 less cylinders means a lot less weight.

That's better (stock) power than the 7.3 turbo diesel (albeit at a higher RPM)

Even then the 6.2's are detuned for the SD. You buy a tuner and they knock them back up to the stats from the Raptor.
411 hp
434 lb-ft

 

[frieed]

Best thing about the Ecoboost (365hp 420 tq: 2013) is the torque curve. (Hint: it's the one that looks like a billiards table).
For daily driving, that means I rarely get above 3k rpm. Unloaded, pulls soldier summit @1600 rpm.

For towing, compare the difference in HP @2500 rpm -vs- the two V-8's

The new 2018 is a gen 2 with 375/470

The offer for a test run still stands.

 

[Gravy]

I like that boulder, that's a nice boulder.

 

[mbryson]

470 ft lb is nothing to sneeze at

 

[Hickey]

Not that this this story has anything in relation to your setup at all, but funny story...
We drove new a V10 gasser motorhome towing a RZR to KOH this year. It was hilarious. 4500 RPM for 2 days straight each way lol, 65mph was straight floored downhill.

No contest the 6.2 v8 is a better truck than the 6.8 v10
Not to mention the 6.2's have a 6 speed auto that keeps you in the RPM sweet spot vs. the 6.8's that have the old 4 speed.

I have a 31' class C motorhome with the triton V10. Maybe the one you had was an older 4 speed auto. The V10 has had a 5 speed auto for about 10 years now.

I spend most of the time in overdrive. I only see 4500 rpm on hills. It pulls my Jeep (5k lbs) just fine at 70 mph. It is a heavy pig, about 19k all loaded up including the Jeep behind it. I am impressed with the motor, and would definitely consider one in a pickup truck.

 

[pELYgroso]

You like your Ford and it sounds like (reading between the lines here) that it's paid for so, to me, the issue is that you need to use it more. Any vehicle you get that's sitting to be used a handful of times is going to depreciate. If the story were tipped more to getting a less expensive rig meant going out more and enjoying life, then I understand it. What are the chances that in 5 years that 99-02 is too old or worn for you? It's then that the 2014 would be an 8 year-old vehicle barely in it's prime.

I like where your head is at! Getting a different truck doesn't mean that I'll use it more or less but as new as this truck is, it is definitely depreciating. If I were to get a 7.3 for example, it would depreciate much slower than the 6.7. I sold my '95 7.3 5 speed a few months ago. I had it for 6 years and put 70k miles on it. It actually appreciated a few hundred bucks from where I bought it. Since Ford made 2 garbage engines (6.0 and 6.4) for 8 years, decent 7.3's will always be sought after at this point. That is, until you can buy a decent shape 6.7 for under $15k which I don't see happening for awhile. If I can get into a decent 7.3 with under 200k miles and only put a couple thousand miles a year on it, I don't forsee it depreciating much.

Having said all that, I am very interested in the 3.5 ecoboost after all of your suggestions and info. My dad has a 2015 3.5 that I'm going to hook up to my setup and see how it does. At this point, I'm not worried too much about the power to tow my 9k lb setup. I'm more worried about the trailer pulling the truck around too much. With airbags, appropriate tires, a good equalizer setup, and the long bed for max wheelbase, my research says that I should be good to go...and luckily there are a handful in the $20k range for sale.

Question: Did Ford change the ecoboost much between '11 and '15? Will my dad's '15 tow better than the '11-13's that I'm looking at? He told me that his is rated at 13k lbs towing and the 11-13's are rated for 11,300 lbs. Is that due to suspension or frame differences? Or engine mods?

Thanks for all of your suggestions guys!

I'm also looking for a 6.2 to test drive. there just aren't many of them for sale under $20k at all.

 

[mbryson]

is your 6.7L Ford a long or short bed?

 

[BCGPER]

Not to throw you a curve ball or anything but... If you're still talking F-150, you can't get the crew cab with a long bed. (I'm assuming you wanted the crew?)

 

[frieed]

Question: Did Ford change the ecoboost much between '11 and '15? Will my dad's '15 tow better than the '11-13's that I'm looking at? He told me that his is rated at 13k lbs towing and the 11-13's are rated for 11,300 lbs. Is that due to suspension or frame differences? Or engine mods?
.

The '15s dropped 700lb by going to an aluminum bed so the tow ratings went up. Engine is the same. Engine tq/hp gets a bump for '18.
For your use I'd search for two things
1: HD towing package which should get you 3.73 gears vs 3.55 (mine has 3.55 but with 33" vs 32" stock tire so equivalent 3.43 diff)
2: HD payload package which gains you stiffer frame, higher payload, and higher capacity axles (easily spotted by 7 bolt wheels vs 6)

Also note that the advertised towing capacity is the maximum possible and takes a very specifically configured truck.
You need to look at the door sticker to see the actual towing capacity for the truck as configured.

 

[Pike2350]

Having said all that, I am very interested in the 3.5 ecoboost after all of your suggestions and info. My dad has a 2015 3.5 that I'm going to hook up to my setup and see how it does. At this point, I'm not worried too much about the power to tow my 9k lb setup. I'm more worried about the trailer pulling the truck around too much. With airbags, appropriate tires, a good equalizer setup, and the long bed for max wheelbase, my research says that I should be good to go...and luckily there are a handful in the $20k range for sale.

Question: Did Ford change the ecoboost much between '11 and '15? Will my dad's '15 tow better than the '11-13's that I'm looking at? He told me that his is rated at 13k lbs towing and the 11-13's are rated for 11,300 lbs. Is that due to suspension or frame differences? Or engine mods?

No change in the Eco from 11-17 really. The only difference I've ever heard anyone mention is in '13 they put a slightly larger turbo in them...although I don't know if that's true or not...and if it is, it's pretty negligible. With the price range you are looking at, I'd guess you will be in the '11-'12 range. I think part of the reason you see the higher towing is the fact that the 15+ is aluminum bodied, and therefore can have a higher payload. I don't think there is anything actually preventing the '11-'14 from being able to pull the 13,000lb's other then the payload rating (legally speaking anyway) I hear guys on F150forum.com talking about towing heavy loads pretty frequently....although, usually it's short distances...but I never hear the truck can't do it.

Not to throw you a curve ball or anything but... If you're still talking F-150, you can't get the crew cab with a long bed. (I'm assuming you wanted the crew?)

I think he means the "longer bed", the crew cab came with either a 5.5' or a 6.5' bed. The 6.5' bed would be more ideal with the larger/heavier trailer. I believe you can also get a HDPP(Heavy-Duty payload package) on the 6.5' bed.

 

[TRD270]

No real changes in the motor until 2017, the early years there were variations on intercooler stuff. The early early ones were having moisture issues in humid climates. In 2017 the motor is claimed to be "all new" with same displacement. 2017 have direct and port fuel injection and have the 10 speed. As previously stated the longest bed you can get with a supercrew (4door) is a 6.5 foot

 

[frieed]

Oops, my bad, the new engine is in the 2017, and I forgot about the 10-speed tranny

 

[pELYgroso]

Thanks for all the info guys! I'll definitely look for the options that will get the payload #'s up. I haven't seen one with 7 lug wheels but I'll keep my eye out. I feel like that will be the tough option to find....