F250- V10- 5th wheel survey

[jetsfan68]

Looking to upgrade to 5'er-
Have a 2001 F250SD- Crew- V10- 4.30 Short box....
What are other folks towing with the V10? How is performance??

[Aaron Ruble]

Jetsfan -- I pulled a 30' Hitchhiker from coast to coast with a '99 F-350 V-10, SRW, Short Bed. Power was not good on hills and milage was 6 MPG. I upgraded to a 2001 PSD DRW and I am much happer. If you are going to pull a large 5th wheel trailer the V-10 is not the ideal tow vehicle. Find someone who has a PSD and large trailer and get them to let you drive it a few miles -- inlcuding a long 6% up hill grade. You will see what I mean. Another consideration is the small gas tank you have. I could barely make it from one gas station to the next. Carring extra gas in the bed is not a good idea. With the diesel there are larger tanks for both midships and in bed. The don't have to love the smell of diesel to appreciate the doubling of your milage per gallon and the increase in the gallons you can carry. More accidents occur trying to get into and out of fuel stops than on the road. Just a thought. Best of luck on your decision. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/warmsmile.gif[/img] <font color="yellow"> </font>

[Benr0]

Look at the weights, F250 will not allow you to tow much of a 5th without going over the 8800 lbs. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[kanertop]

I believe he already owns the V10.

[msujon]

Well, my 99 F250 V10 with 373gear and 285 BFGoodrich's pulls my 2004 28ft Coachman fifth wheel fairly well. I could use a better gear like your 430 gear because of the 285 tires, and the trailer being about 8000 loaded, plus i pull about 2300# behind the fifthwheel with two quads, trailer, gas, 4 bikes, etc. When fully loaded, i'm about 11 grand total weight i figure. I'm sure i'm overloaded, but i only go over 60 when i'm on the highway and can get the tranny into lockout the torque converter in overdrive. i still get about 8mpg so far.

I keep test driving the 7.3 PSD's and i personally am not ready to make the move. I picked up a trailering book from ford today at the dealership and it shows your crewcab with a V10 and 430 gears should be able to pull 12500#... it doesn't get much better then that,although the diesel is a better design for pulling. but i don't just use my truck for towing, it's a everyday driver, so it's worth more for me to take it a little slower when towing, then to listen to a cackle of a diesel everyday. It's personal preference..

Hey, your crewcab with 430 wouldn't happen to be dark blue or bright red, would it? and 4x4? thinking of getting rid of it? i'm just started looking for that very vehicle after picking up the towing guide. the way i'm now, i should only be able to pull 10400 with the 373 gear.

laters

[BILLS1]

To answer your question as asked and not get into the diesel pro's and cons, do the following:
Your truck has a 8800GVWR. Go weigh it on a scale with full fuel,people and goodies ready for camping. It will probably weigh about 7100lbs. That means you can add a fiver that has a LOADED for camping pin weight of 1700lbs. Most fivers transfer 20% of their weight out on to the pin. So that means you can haul a fiver that weighs about 8500lbs loaded for camping. That includes clothes,water,food,etc. So you are not real interested in what the max. trailer weight can be as you are what the loaded for camping weight is. Normally, I believe ,if you dont get an extra heavy made fiver and dont over do the packing stuff in the truck or fiver, that you can probably get a fiver in the 28' length or less range. Now dont go by the model numbers trailer mfgs. put on the side of their fivers. Go by actual footage. BHut start with what your truck weighs ready for camping. Another thing to be wary of is the so called UUC listed on trailers. That is supposed to be what the trailer weighs empty. But each mfg. does theirs differently.
Mike