Upgrades and Aftermarket - GeneralUpgrading and adding aftermarket equipment to your 1999-2007 Super Duty. Please confine discussion of topics in this forum to those items that are not engine-specific.
I am new to this and I am looking at a used 2001 f-350 dually to tow a 30foot 5th wheel RV. However, it has a 6 inch lift. Is this a problem for towing? Is it easy to have it restored? Does this affect how long the truck will last without too many repairs? Any other suggestions? The transmission has already been replaced with a rebuilt. Now 125k miles.
Thanks.
I've got about 4-5" lift and tow a gooseneck but I don't think I'd try a 5th wheel. What size tires are on it? Has the gearing been changed?
As far as dropping it back to the ground that wouldn't be too hard. I guess it depends on what type a kit it has.
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'02 F-350 "Babe The Big Blue Truck" 4x4, Ext. Cab, 8' bed
DP-Tuner 80T, ATS Compressor housing, DIY intake, openair CCV, 80HP 'pane shot, SBC DD all ceramic clutch, ISSPRO boost/pyro gauges, 4" lift, 255/70R22.5 tires, brake linelock, 16 flashy lights, 12 strobes, 12 switches on console, 9 switches on the dash, 7 two-way radios, 5 air horns, laptop, siren, 105 gal. in-bed fuel tank, and who knows what else... oh and a Kennesaw Mountain front bumper (now tried and true)
'66 Bronco "Big Little Monster" - 5.0L EFI, AOD, D20, 3.5" WH sus. lift, 3" body lift, 35" BFG muds, Stock Dana 30 front with Lock-Rite, disk brakes, Warn Hubs, Stock Ford 9" rear with mini spool
It sort of depends on the 5th wheel some are higher than others. My truck suspension is stock and I had to flip the axles on my Jayco
LeRoy
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Y2K F-350 Lariat SRW SC LB PSD 4X4 Man Hubs, Auto, Leather, Harvest Gold. 50 gal in the bed xfer-flow fuel tank. Banks exhaust and stinger kit. AIS cold air intake. Towing a Jayco Eagle Lite 5er 31'
Go Back to stock, with it. A 5th is serious business.
PHX
PHX, Can you please clairify what you mean by this statement?
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2003 BLACK Excursion Limited 7.3 4x4 w/DVD entertainment center, rear captians chairs, 3.73 limited slip. 4" MBRB Stainless Exhaust, AFE stage II intake, DP F5 Tuner, 4.5" Donahue lift, Rolling on 18" Jesse James Lawless 8's wrapped by 35" Toyo Open Country Mud Terains and airbags, Prodigy brake controller.
2002 BLUE F350 XLT 7.3 4x4 Crew Cab short box, BTS Tranny, 6.0 tranny cooler, 4" Silverline Stainless exhaust, S&B intake, DP F6 Tuner with 9 tunes. Line X, B&W turnover ball, Prodigy brake controller.
1968 Chevy C-10 Short Bed PRO-STREET 500+CI BBC
1991 Honda CRX-SI (Black Also)
2002 John Deere Gator Diesel 6X6
2003 Limited edition Cannondale Cannibal- With colors that woulnt run, RED, WHITE and BLUE #0000016
Owner and Dad of Godspeed MX racing. #269
as long as you have 5-8 inches of clearance between the bed rails and the 5'r overhang, AND 5'r is level, you are fine.
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All things in Moderation accept ACCELERATION!!!!
Zip ties... the duct tape of the new milenia! truckosaurus
2001 F250 Crew, 25,000+ miles, PSD, 4X2, ProComp 6" lift, Short Bed, SCMT, Tymar set up, BTM, ISSPRO Pyro, boost, and Trans Gauges, in tank mods and harpooned, 28" air horn w/ on board air and tank also full set of train horns! 6 gallons of 150 PSI air. Prodigy, Draw tite Signature series 18K 5'r hitch. TTM
2005 wildcat 29RLBS 5'r, parallel EU2000i's
2003 Explorer, EddieBower, V8 4X4
2003 Explorer XLT, V8 4X4
2002 XR50
2001 PW50
Mushey Off Road tires and a Higher Center of gravity can be really dangerous with a Big Heavey 5th Wheel trailer. However a Raised Dually set up to clear 22.5" Big Truck Wheels and Tires is a different story.
I have seen at least 3 overturned raised Crew Cab 4X4s pulling Toy Box's (One a Dually) on Interstate 15 going north toward Vegas. I like raised trucks but If I had a 5th Wheel Toy Box or trailer I would not want a raised truck.
PHX
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1999 F250 Regular Cab 7.3L PSD 2WD.
If it has spark plugs or less than 8 lugs, it is not a truck.
as long as you have 5-8 inches of clearance between the bed rails and the 5'r overhang, AND 5'r is level, you are fine.
That's the key, a level floor (front to rear) inside the 5er when you're on the road. If the floor is not level front to rear when hooked up and ready to ride, then unhook and either lower the truck or raise the trailer until you have a level trailer.
Most fifth-wheel hitches are adjustable up and down, so you can raise the hitch to get adequate clearance between truck and trailer. But that will raise the nose of the trailer so the floor of the trailer is no longer level with the world. DO NOT hit the road with a trailer that is not level front to rear.
So if the trailer is high enough off the ground that you can hook it up and still have adequate clearance between the bedrails and the bottom of the overhang while also having a level floor in the trailer, then it shouldn't matter much if the truck is lifted.
However, as others have noted, that probably ain't gonna happen. Most fifth wheel RV trailers will have to be raised on their suspension to make them towable by a stock SuperDuty 4x4 truck, so it's not likely you can get a 5er level behind a raised tow vehicle. Some call raising the trailer "flipping the axles", but you don't literally turn over the axles. On trailers with normal leaf springs and shackles suspension, you move the spring packs from under the axles to over the axles, which will raise the trailer about 3" or 4". If that's not enough, then you can also replace the spring shackles with longer shackles if you use some really heavy iron to do it with. That can get you another coupla inches of trailer lift.
And if your trailer has the wonderful Dexter Torflex axles instead of leaf springs, I don't think there's an economical way to raise the trailer on its suspension.
So in a nutshell, if you want to tow a trailer with a lifted SuperDuty pickup, then don't choose a fifth wheel or gooseneck trailer. Go for a tag trailer instead. With a Hensley Arrow hitch, a tag trailer will tow as good as a 5er. And you can replace the receiver with one that - when combined with an expensive adjustable shank - will have enough drop to make the trailer level when ready for the road.
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My Sierra Blanca is a '99.5 PSD CrewCab hot-rod Towing Machine! BTS tranny; Ford Severe Duty Air Induction System (AIS); 4" stainless turbo-back exhaust; DP-Tuner tunes flashed into an Edge Evolution tuner; ISSPRO EV gauges and Turbo Temp Monitor (TTM); Auxiliary Idle Controller (AIC); SP-Diesel exhaust brake and torque converter controller. Top Job front end replacement. I special-ordered it new and plan to drive it until it quits.
Are you saying that all 350's need to have the 5th wheels raised to tow safely?
No, I didn't say "all", I said most. And I didn't say F-350, I said Superduty 4x4.
My F-250 4x2 is perfect for my current 5er, but my previous 5er had to be raised to tow level. And the tail end of an F-250 4x4 is 2" higher than my truck. And the tail end of an F-350 4x4 is 4" higher than my truck. So most SuperDuty 4x4s need the 5er raised to tow level behind the tow vehicle. And almost all F-350 4x4s will have to raise the 5er before it will tow level. Add a lift to the 4x4, and you can see a problem in trying to hook up a 5er so the floor of the trailer will be level and still have adequate clearance between the top of the tailgate and the bottom of the trailer's overhang.
The quick fix is a tag trailer with a Hensley Arrow hitch and a deep-drop shank.
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